One of the fivers I'm looking at (as a newbie to RVing) comes with the Dometic NDA 1404 refrigerator. It appears to be specially designed for RVing (we plan to become full timers) with its advertised rigid, heated (inhibits condensation) steel frame, etc. Any opinions on the quality and personal satisfaction with Dometic products versus other brands (including traditional residential ones)?

Also, it is either an electric or a propane version, not a combo. I'm thinking the electric version (we'll have four solar panels, two 12 volt AGM batteries, a Honda 6000 generator, and a robust inverter and charger) versus the propane model, and also powering it via an inverter from our planned HDT truck while in transit. Any veteran's with thoughts on this scheme?

A refer will pull alot of battery power, I think I would get a combo. We nearly always use the electric side, but the LPG is nice if you need it.

I have a Dometic that is either AC or propane. When we have shore power we always run on AC, but even with our large battery capacity and solar system (900 AH of batteries and 800 watts of solar) there is no way we could continuously run the refer on it. IMO you need propane to do any serious boondocking with a large refer. If you are only concerned about travel time from one hook up spot to another, the electric would probably be fine.

Be sure to check parts availability before acting on any Dometic refrigerator you're contemplating.

The door recently fell off of our Dometic refrigerator due to a very poor design (a metal hinge pin that rides in a plastic bushing which is retained only by a plastic trim piece). We were both amazed and mortified to find that Dometic offered no replacement door parts for a refrigerator that is only seven years old, nor do they make a direct replacement refrigerator. Replacement would have involved not only the cost of the new fridge, but the cost and inconvenience of having extensive cabinetry work done to make it fit as well. Fortunately, a good Escapees friend that lives here in town was able to repair the door by devising and using an "undocumented" repair method.

Needless to say, when the time comes that our refrigerator does require replacement, Dometic products won't be considered because of their disgraceful parts support for our current one.

We had a Dometic on our old Fiver and a Norcold on our new fiver. They both worked fine and both were propane and electric, but the old Dometic had to be manually started to run on propane and often the pilot would go out while in transit. Especially in hilly or mountainous regions. Also, I would often tear down, and pack everything up and hit the road. If I was lucky 2 or 3 hours later I would remember to stop and start the fridge up on propane, since it thaws quickly when not hooked up to power and the propane isn't running, duh! . It's just one more point of potential failure as far as I'm concerned.
So now I have my brand new fiver and it has a very snazzy looking Norcold Fridge with the wood panels on the front. It's much larger than the old Dometic and my most favorite feature on it, is that it is virtually idiot proof. The minute I disconnect the shore power, it automatically switches to propane. I don't have to think about it, aside from simply flipping a switch to turn it off when it is not in use.

I would never compromise and have a fridge that at bare minimum didn't run on propane and electricity.

Just a bit off topic, but the other thing I now gotten spoiled by is a water heater that works on propane and electricity. Wow what a luxury that is. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but I think during the two years I owned my old fiver, I only used the water heater twice, because it was a pain in the butt. I had to go out and light it manually. But now I flip a electric switch and shazam it works like a charm, with no probs, it's just as easy to run it on gas too!

Wow. I'm learning a lot from this. Thank you everyone. I'll keep up the research, and appreciate hearing helpful insights like this.

Phil, Since we both have 2002 Aspen Royals I am guessing we have the same refers too. Mine is the NDR 1492. About 6 weeks ago the door fell off. The top hinge is a metal pin in a plastic bushing that is embedded in the door trim. The door trim itself broke so it no longer held the bushing and pin. Is that what happened to yours?

I fixed mine by forming a metal plate that I screwed to the top of the door. I used an electrical box cover and cut and shaped it to fit nicely. The pin and bushing are now mounted in that metal plate which is firmly screwed to the top of the door. I think this fix will outlast the refer and you can't even see the plate. However, I still need to find some paint to match the the trim so I can fill the hole with body filler and make it look good.

You're right. A refer that costs over $4500 should not have this kind of design flaw and should have repair parts available. Other than this problem though, we love the refer.

Rif,

Ours is an RM 1272. It sounds like it may be a slightly smaller version of basically the same 'fridge, though, because our failure was identical.

Dave Mattson (Toyhauler) came and got the door one evening, leaving me a "loaner" fridge while he worked on my door. We went to Wally World, and when we got back just over 45 minutes later, he was sitting in front of our unit waiting. He found some copper tubing that he had that fit the hinge pin perfectly, shoved a long piece of it down as far as it would go into the door, and cut it off with a tubing cutter just above the top door frame. It works perfectly. I still need to do something to "finish" that upper corner of the plastic trim, but the door is fully functional.

When RV appliances sell for a big premium over home units, I don't think that it's unreasonable to expect that parts and service at least be comparable to home appliance standards, and no self respecting home appliance manufacturer would dream of dropping support for even their "entry level" products in only seven years. Dometic "orphaning" seven year old appliances is shameful.

As with yours, the performace of the refrigerator itself has been quite satisfactory. I just won't consider another because of the very poor parts experience.

Geez. We just bought a top of the line GE fridge for our stick house at $2500. So we pay another $2,000 for the propane aspect. OR is this another case of a manufacturer sticking it to us RVers because there is little competition? $4500 and the hinge pin breaks off. I just can't get my head around a $4500 appliance built like it came from China.

You're right. A refer that costs over $4500 should not have this kind of design flaw and should have repair parts available. Other than this problem though, we love the refer.[/QUOTE]

Hi,

Two thoughts about refers.

1] We don't like or need the 3 way type. [Propane, 110 elec. and 12v, if it is still offered.] We prefer the 2-way. [Propane with auto. ignition and 110 volt elec. for reasons mentioned above.]

2]If you have a lot of "systems" in your RV, sometimes you are $$ ahead by buying an extended warrantee. We did and are ahead of the ins. co. because of it.

TMitche2,

There are only two brands of absorbtion refrigerator usually found in RVs today. They are from Norcold and Dometic. Each company makes several different models and sizes. Most of the common ones in RVs today are called "two way" because they can operate on propane or 120V-ac power from a generator or shore power. There are still a few three way units sold and those can run from 120V, propane or from 12V from your batteries. The 12V side does not work as well as the other two and should not be planned on to freeze anything but to just maintain the temperature, when traveling. Most manufacture prefer to sell two way units.

The reason that an RV refrigerator is unique is that is uses heat to make the absorption system work, allowing you to operate from propane with no electricity available. They have no compressor like a home unit does. They also operate much more slowly than the home unit.

I have had both brands and have not found a major difference between the two.

Dometic

While the NDR1404 is not made anymore the NDR 1402 is a 110AC/LP Combo.

Our refrigerator is the dual type - both propane as well as electric. We run electric when hooked up and propane if electric hookup is not availale.