Fridge / Cooler A New Freezer/fridge Option

Since my part is due to arrive today, I decided to disassemble or autopsy if the part doesn't fix the problem.

Disassembly looked horrible -- but turned out to be quite easy. The way the CF35 is assembled appears to be to bolt all the metal parts together, then to spray into the void expanding foam. The two plastic hemispheres that make up the box are effectively welded into place by the foam. These fridges are remarkably simple...

There are to major electronic components - and without a technical manual there is an upper and lower control board -- the lower control board looks primarily like a power supply regulator/regulator and motor control. It is located in a black box attached to the chassis for the compressor.

The upper control board is by the display. All of the "brains" are up top by the display. Two screws hold it, then 3 internal screws for total disassembly. Two connectors are used, a ribbon cable to the Lower Control Board and the thermistor are both socketed. Nice. Soldered connections at these points are a sure way to grind my gears.

A bit off topic, but the upper control board looks well made - The switches are tac switches which give a nice click and in my experience work well for quite a while - I don't expect them to give problems, but if they do --- easily repairable with a soldering iron, and a few minutes. The 8 segment LED theoretically is replaceable as well. I plan on replacing mine with a white one - the green is just far too dim to see in the sunlight. This has always been the weakest part of the overall customer experience with the Dometic.

Once you unplug the thermistor (2 connector socket) the wires drop down and through the compressor cabinet, then on to an entry point to get into the foam in the cabinet. Its a black tube with wires inside, and it runs to the side opposite the lower control board. 2 strain reliefs, and a glob of silicone.

The first review document and video's I saw showed separating the hemispheres and chipping away at the foam a TOTAL mess. And what I started to do before I realized it was futile to think the hemispheres would separate. Spray foam is a very good glue. For my model this was entirely unnecessary. I needed only to remove the strain relief screws and pull on the "gummy" silicone sealant plug and the thermistor pulled directly out.

Sadly so did in addition to the thermistor water poured out. Not a lot...just a teaspoon. Its safe for me to assume that the cause of death for the thermistor was water infiltration, which would explain why it failed and after not being used for a year started working again.

Steps to facilitate the repair:

1] Remove the 2 screws holding the upper control board housing in place.
2] Remove the 3 screws holding the UPB to the housing.
3] Unplug the themistor.
4] Remove the screws holding the compressor cover - It is obvious, there are about 9 or 10 small screws around the shell piece that has the vents.
5] follow the thermistor wire, through the compressor cabinet to where it enters the freezer chest area, removing the strain relief screws and any fasteners.
6] gently tug on the silicone plug, onee removed the thermistor should slide out of the shell half very easily.

Reassembly is the inverse. I will be adding a big glob of thermal grease on the new thermistor - needs to be there anyway for temperature detection, hopefully some fresh thermal grease will help prevent the new thermistor from falling. I don't see this as a long term fix - one part failed, the second eventually will as well. But its cheaper than a new fridge.

Level of difficulty is difficult to assess due to experience and aptitudes. As some one who can change his own brakes, oil, and keep an lawn mower from running without the help of a repair shop --- easy job. If your'e not sure which end of the hammer you use to drive a screw....forget about it.

Tools needed: 2 screwdrivers - #1 and #2. Some of the screws were a little fiddly.
Supplies needed: 1 replacement thermistor available on eBay, Silicone sealant, thermal grease - I used the same as they use for CPUs in computer assembly.

I'm waiting on the part to arrive. The thermistor that came out does show resistance changes to temperature, but I don't know wha the values should be --- and reports 80 degrees when dipped into ice water....update to come.

OP: Sorry, kind of hijacked this --- I've got a bad habit of doing this.

 

Sweeny, let us know how well this works out. This is a easy fix and will get extended life out of Dometic CF35.

Bill

 

The new part arrived, took me about 30 minutes to put all the parts back together nice and securely. The "new" thermistor was not identical to the factory one -- the "new" one was much better construction. The "head" was assembled in such a way there can't be any water infiltration. I needed to drill out the opening slightly -- I only went in enough to open the hard plastic shell up. I also opted not to goop up the hole---we'll see what that does to the temperatures....I'd rather give that water a place to escape. If the temperatures are wild, I'll put a glob on it.

Upon First power on, the LED reported 64 degrees --- roughly my ambient air temperature.

2 minor problems. One, I broke a 'tab' off the screen -- so I need to be a little careful and/or put some Gorilla tape to bind it tightly. Also, In the process, 3 new screws materialized on my workbench. I have no idea where they go. The holes where I thought they went...are filled... I have no idea. Ats all together, quieter than it was before, cooling and reporting "reasonable" temperatures on the display.

I need to give it a few hours to cool off a payload of water, and ensure the dispaly agrees with the thermometer in the fridge --- there is a screen adjustment which gives you the ability to fine-tune.

The part is from ebay. By the time you read this, chances are they won't be there. They've sold ~500 of these thermistors. So apparently there is a demand. A search for "Waeco Thermistor Repair CF18, CF25, CF35, CF40, CF50, CF60, all VERA, all VERB" returned the right part for $26. Link HERE.

The only thing I have "doubt" over is the thermal paste -- I put about a pea size glob on the tip and drove it home. There was a paste there from the manufacturer, I have no idea if they are compable or not. If my refrigerator busts into flames this will be my excuse

Hope this helps some one else.

 

I have one of the BougeRV 30 Quart units and it fits perfectly in the designated space in my 560. The 30 Quart also fits into the zippered insulated cover for the Dometic CF-35. The ventilation holes line up but the display doesn't. BougeRV also makes a cover for these units but they are not quite as nice as the Dometic cover.

Also, I have the 23 quart Bouge RV unit. I use the 30 Quart as a refrigerator and the 24 Quart as a freezer. The 23 Quart will also fit in the space designed for a refrigerator on a 560 but the 23 Quart is not as tall. I strongly recommend the 30 Quart because milk containers, orange juice, soda bottles etc will not fit standing up in the 23 Quart model. The 23 Quart works awesome as a freezer, however. If you're looking for an inexpensive refrigerator for a Camp Inn just get the 30 Quart. If you can find a Dometic cover I would recommend getting it, otherwise,the BougeRv covers are pretty good.

For me, the 30 qt Bouge RV refrigerator rides in the slot designed for the refrigerator on a 560. My 23 quart rides in the car set to freezer temperatures.

 

Great idea...my wife suggested the same thing

 

Just a few other random thoughts about the BougeRV units. To begin with, there are coupons and specials on these all the time. I paid $165 for my 23 QT and about $225 for my 30 QT. If you join their BougeRV Facebook page it extends your warranty to 3 years. If they're willing to support them for that period of time I don't feel the quality can be too bad. Both of mine have been plugged it and cooling for almost a year now continuously with no issues. The settings on the thermostat do seem to vary a bit from the internal temperatures though. My 30 QT needs to be set to about 37° to keep from freezing everything. It does hold the temperature steady though, once you find a setting that works for you. I suspect it has to do with where they have their temperature sensors. On another note, BougeRV did have a batch of bad control boards. I suspect there were bad solder joints and/or the boards weren't potted. I haven't had any problems at all with mine and, from the looks of the situation on their FB page, they are definitely standing behind their products with replacement boards, which are very easily snapped into place in a minute or two. For the price of these, it's hard to go wrong. The 30QT fits perfectly in the slot designed for it and the table rides happily on top, just like it would with the Dometic.

 

The BougeRV 23 QT is currently available on Amazon. Be sure to search for current coupons. You can often find one somewhere for anywhere between 10% and 20% off. Also, it should be noted that BougeRV doesn't manufacturer these. They are buying them from a Chinese company that manufactures them. These same models are available under different name brands with just minor differences (usually just colors and brand labeling). Some others brands I have seen that would be the same models are sold under names like Joytutus and F40C4TMP. It wouldn't surprise me if this same Chinese company isn't making the refrigeration component parts included in a lot of the cheaper small 12V refrigerators we're seeing on the market right now. I suppose if anyone is willing to buy in large enough quantities this company will customize these for you and slap your name on them. I just went with the BougeRV brand because they offered the 3 year warranty and they have a lot of discount coupons floating around. As for the size, remember that the 23QT version fits the footprint for the Camp-Inn refrigerator travel location but it is short and the table won't ride on top. The 30QT fits very well however and the table does ride on top. Also, the 23QT is aggravatingly short as a refrigerator and doesn't accommodate gallon or 1/2 gall milk or juice containers, soda bottles, wine bottles, etc unless you lay them down, which really screw up how you pack the refrigerator. From what I can tell, the 23 QT and 30 QT use the same refrigeration system so their energy usage is going to be similar. Just go with the 30QT if you need a refrigerator and want it to fit the Camp Inn galley slot. The 23QT does work as a nice freezer though but may be even a little larger than necessary.

I kind of view these cheap refrigerators about the same way I do the Chinese copies of the Honda inverter generators. They seem to be pretty decent but, over the long haul, parts and service may be a little "iffy". However, they cost about 1/3 of what the leading brand costs so, worst case scenario, you just go purchase another one to replace a failing one. You're still better off financially.

 

Thanks for advice and comments SoutherStar. I picked up a 30Qt and found a coupon for $47 0ff. Code was AFFFRIDGE47. Total was $257.57 to door. Fits perfect and cooled well. Thanks for all that offered advice