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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
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12-25-2008, 15:52
Post: #11
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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
Ryan,
Not every LXi is all electric. We have a propane four-door Norcold and an exterior propane outlet for a grill. We had one problem with the Norcold. On one leg of a trip between Bryan and DFW, the box went from 40 to 73 degrees. That's the only problem we ever had and we never figured out what caused it. It's worked perfectly ever since. I think that's the frustrating part diagnosing whether it's the gas, the flame, the flue, the electric heating element, the control board or some other problem.Even with everything else electric or AquaHot, we still have 9 batteries in the rear and 1 for the generator. I guess you need another couplebatteries or maybe solar panels to handle the extra charge load of a homerefrigerator. When you're ready for my LXi, I'll buy youthe new refrigerator if you'll pay to have it installed. Brad Barton 00LXiDFW bbartonwx@... To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com From: ryanpwright@... Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 19:32:51 -0800 Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Dometic, Norcold, or..?
Brad, Yup! You really did nail my personality dead center and I take no offense. My old Travco pushed me right into a Wanderlodge for the same reason, trying to make it something it wasn't. Here I had this '66 Dodge that I absolutely loved, rebuilt engine, beautiful interior, all done by my grandfather and everything great "but" it sat for a decade after he died and a few of Grandma's "friends" borrowed it once or twice and lost/damaged things. By the time Grandma was emotionally able to part with it and I bought it from her, the generator was shot, it was in desperate need of paint and had a "soft spot" in the floor that Grandpa "fixed" 15+ years earlier by sliding a piece of 1/8" steel under the carpet. We enjoyed it as-is for awhile but I longed for more, so one day I began tearing the floor apart to fix that "little" soft spot and found the entire floor rotted, all window seals shot and had been slowly leaking into the walls for decades and a family of squirrels had been living under the bathroom. I gutted the bus, put in a new floor, then started scheming. I mean, while it was all torn apart, why not make it like a "real" coach? I talked to fabricators about custom water tanks, bigger fuel tanks, looked at sunroofs, new genset... By the time I added it up I was going to be into it for thirty grand & a years' worth of hard labor and still not have what I "really" wanted. So I gave it to a friend and bought my Wanderlodge.  I'm very, very happy with my coach. I also watch eBay auctions and have fallen in love with the LXIs, and that causes me grief ;-). When I first read of the all electric coaches here, I thought they were silly. Propane is great, why wouldn't you want it on board? But now I long for a full size fridge with ice & water in the door, a diesel fired burner for heat & hot water and a bigger shower, and I remember that I don't need the complications of propane with a solid bank of batteries and a powerful genset. Then I think about the extra 3 feet on a 43' model along with a potential side or two and ideas for cutting expenses and scraping together the extra dough begin to fill my head.... Such is life. In the meantime I'll keep sprucing up and loving what I've got and one of these days, when I can no longer resist the upgrade bug, somebody is going to get a heck of a nice coach off me. -Ryan '86 PT-40 8V92 On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 6:31 AM, brad barton <"bbartonwx@hotmail.com"> wrote: > Ryan, > You sound like me with my '86 Newell. I just couldn't spend enough money on > it to make it like a brand new coach. I'm not criticizing, just remember my > drive and enthusiasm to make it as trouble-free and foolproof as possible (I > eventually got over it). Life on your PC is safer, easier, and more enjoyable with Windows Vista®. See how |
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12-26-2008, 01:30
Post: #12
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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
We have been rving for 40 years. Twice I had cooling units replaced.
Bad idea. Your box is 22 years old. If the fridge quits just throw the whole thing away. If you replace the cooling unit I can almost guarantee that something else will go very quickly. The replacement cooling units rarely last more than 3 to 4 years. When we bought our 88 FC the fridge worked but was very rusty inside. I replaced it within 4 weeks of buying the unit! Bruce 88 FC 35 |
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12-26-2008, 14:54
Post: #13
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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
We also have a Dometic inour coach,though not the original. Wetoo boondock mostly and have had no problems YET. (I'm realistic enough to know we will eventually). However, on the really warm days I found that a computer fan in the chimney helps a great deal. BB left way too much space behind the refer for convection to work properly, in my opinion, thus the fan to force the circulationof air. I think that would probably be the case with any brand refer in my coach for that matter. I used to think wewere lucky to have the Domatic because of all of the recalls and fires that Norcold was having. Now Domatic seems to be having like issues. I would probably buy either brand depending on what was available at the time though I prefer Dometic. Don't know why, just do.
Dick Hayden - '87 PT 38 - Lake Stevens, WA
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12-26-2008, 15:02
Post: #14
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Dometic, Norcold, or..?
We replaced the standard 2-door Dometic in our 86 Newell and it went right in through the doorway. I agree with an earlier post that it's ideal to replace the wholesystem including the box, controls, etc. But if you have to go throughthe windshield on yours, I can see why replacing the cooling unit is more appealing.
Our current 4-door Norcold failed once over a year ago and hasn't since I threatened to shoot it, I guess. Brad Barton 00LXiDFW bbartonwx@... To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com From: rhhayden@... Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:54:40 -0800 Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Dometic, Norcold, or..? We also have a Dometic inour coach,though not the original. Wetoo boondock mostly and have had no problems YET. (I'm realistic enough to know we will eventually). However, on the really warm days I found that a computer fan in the chimney helps a great deal. BB left way too much space behind the refer for convection to work properly, in my opinion, thus the fan to force the circulationof air. I think that would probably be the case with any brand refer in my coach for that matter. I used to think wewere lucky to have the Domatic because of all of the recalls and fires that Norcold was having. Now Domatic seems to be having like issues. I would probably buy either brand depending on what was available at the time though I prefer Dometic. Don't know why, just do.
Dick Hayden - '87 PT 38 - Lake Stevens, WA
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