Just adding some information so when you do get the fridge working, don't expect miracles.
I had Dometic fridge in my 2005 Rockwood Freedom 2290 and my 2007 Starcraft PUPs. They operated the same. Had the same basic baffle.
During the 85 degree days, I'd see the fridge temp at 45 degrees and on 100 degrees days, it sometimes didn't cool more than 48 degrees. This was with a max setting of 7. Even though there wasn't a 40 degree constant temp, I didn't worry as an ice cooler wouldn't do much better as I verified with temp gauges.
What I did do was as Mike stated, I installed a rear fridge fan and aimed it at the fins. Not much to mount to so this was the only way I could do it. Bent the bracket and aimed up. Since it was a distance from the fins, the built in thermostat never turned the fan on so I had to bypass the built in thermostat. I also had nowhere to mount the switch but in the area seen in the pics.
Now, I leave the setting at 5 all the time and the fridge never gets above 40 degrees and goes down to about 35 degrees at night. If it's really hot at 100 degrees I may turn it to 6 out of 7.
Since hot spots do happen, use the interior blue cube fan that uses 2 D cell batteries. It circulates air inside of the fridge so that the entire interior is of one temp with no hot or cold spots.
What's even more important is to pack food correctly. Leave plenty of open areas so air can circulate around food and what ever you do, DON'T BLOCK THE INTERIOR FINS WITH FOOD. Unfortunately my girlfriend didn't listen to me about not cramming food into the fridge. She left no air spaces and blocked the fins. The interior temp went up to 56 degrees. She ended up throwing out everything which was about $60 worth of food. She apologized about not listening to me but hey, I done the same when I was a PUP newby.
One note, If it was a Dometic or Norcold factory fan fhe thermostatic control on the fan didn't work because it's designed to operate above the coils where the heat is and exhaust the hot air out the upper vent.
Mike Up - Thanks for the informative post. The repair shop installed a similar fan with a built in thermostat but I haven't seen it so I don't know where it is installed. Do you switch on the fan only when it is hot out allowing it to cycle on and off depending on temp?
When all of this confusion is fixed I plan on installing a custom baffle below and above the fins to direct the air flow up and out along with repositioning the fan if necessary.
mike4947 wrote: One note, If it was a Dometic or Norcold factory fan fhe thermostatic control on the fan didn't work because it's designed to operate above the coils where the heat is and exhaust the hot air out the upper vent.
Could it possible not work due to the poor operation of the fridge?
It's apparent from the start this fridge doesn't work correctly. Y'all can continue to suggest ventilation, but it seems from the begining that was not the cause of it's poor preformance.
OK, after almost 2 months of dealing with Dometic and the repair shop I finally got my new fridge. Dometic must have authorized the reapir shop to install 4 or 5 parts to try and fix my fridge, but none worked. They finally gave in and shipped out a new unit. They tested it and it got down to 32 at night with outside temps in the low 70s.
The repair shop reinstalled the recirculating fan with thermostat from my original fridge that Dometic paid for too. I'll consider that a gift for what I had to deal with. Anyways, it looks like I finally have a working fridge. Thanks Dometic.
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