Fridge door latch November 29, 2009, 10:12:53 pm Yahoo Message Number: 108028Seems like only yesterday I was commenting to Mike Sylvester that the flimsy plastic one-piece latches on Dometic's doors looked as if they were bound to fail sooner or later, unlike Norcold's two-piece hinged metal latches. I've always been extra careful with mine for that reason, but a couple of days ago the latch on the fridge door snapped off. Examination showed that the one-piece latch's "hinges" were two quarter-inch-long strips of thin, hard plastic--a really stupid design that obviously failed after one flex too many. After some head-scratching, I was able to effect a repair by using two tiny screws to fasten the latch back in place, but its angle was wrong, so I also had to soften the latch with a hot metal rod and bend it to the correct angle. I don't know how long it'll hold up, though, so I guess I'd better order a replacement door handle assembly to keep on hand as a spare. Am I the only one, or has this happened to anybody else? Any better ideas for repairs?Andy Bairdhttp://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #1 – November 30, 2009, 08:43:17 am Yahoo Message Number: 108035"...Am I the only one, or has this happened to anybody else? Any better ideas for repairs?"Quote Andy Bairdhttp://www.andybaird.com/travels/Andy, go to your message 102344 for the thread on Calicia's refer door which was repaired by bumper - last year I believe.Chris
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #2 – November 30, 2009, 11:15:09 am Yahoo Message Number: 108038Quote From: chorst_2000 To: lifewithalazydazerv@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 6:42 AM Subject: [LD] Re: Fridge door latch"Andy, go to your message 102344 for the thread on Calicia's refer door which was repaired by bumper - last year I believe.Chris"Chris, I did repair Calicia's refer door last year. The lower plastic hinge had broken off. I made a thin steel plate to reinforce the hinge on the bottom and epoxied that in place (I wasn't able to use Loctite Depend 330 as what I had in stock was over a year old and it has only a 1 year shelf life - - epoxy was my second choice). There may have been some extenuating circumstances in this particular failure, as there was some cooking oil, or similar substance, within the plastic hinge and this may have degraded the plastic over time. Don't think Calicia did this - - probably a previous owner. Anyway, the point is to treat the door with kid gloves. Given the all the cost saving (to Dometic) design features of the fridge we are blessed with, I don't think I'd buy another unless there was no other choice.bumper
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #3 – November 30, 2009, 11:55:34 am Yahoo Message Number: 108039"Andy, go to your message 102344 for the thread on Calicia's refer door which was repaired by bumper" That's funny--I'm always the one telling people to "Check the archives", and here I forget to do it myself. Thanks for the reminder, Chris. :-)Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #4 – November 30, 2009, 03:41:30 pm Yahoo Message Number: 108040Our handle had broken..actually it was a spring in the latch that broke..Bought a replacement for around $15.00-$18.00 dollars ! (expensive spring) Dometic didn't sell the spring per my research..so I now have an extra handle and would love to find springs...Sylvia Hatcher "The DogHouse" '96 30 IB--
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #5 – November 30, 2009, 07:58:25 pm Yahoo Message Number: 108045"Our handle had broken..actually it was a spring in the latch that broke." Interesting. In my case (2003 chassis), the handle and latch are all one piece of molded plastic, with the latch's flimsy hinge molded as part of the piece. There's no separate spring. What was your spring made of, Sylvia?Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #6 – December 02, 2009, 02:47:19 pm Yahoo Message Number: 108088Andy, Our fridge is a 2002 Dometic Rm 2820..The springs(2) are tiny wire that go on the long thin pin. The pin is seen only when you depress the handle/latch to release..Once the fridge is open if you depress like to open you can see the pin and springsSylvia"The DogHouse" '96 30 IB
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #7 – December 02, 2009, 02:59:45 pm Yahoo Message Number: 108089"Our fridge is a 2002 Dometic Rm 2820. The springs(2) are tiny wire..." Interesting! Mine is a 2003 RM3662, and there's no such arrangement. The handle, latch, and latch hinge are all one solid piece of plastic. Sounds as if Lazy Daze changed models, and/or Dometic changed latch designs, between 2002 and 2003. Pretty clearly the one-piece design in my fridge was cheaper to manufacture--no multiple parts, no assembly required--so I suspect the latter. Typical Dometic cost-cutting. :-(Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Fridge door latch Reply #8 – December 02, 2009, 03:16:32 pm Yahoo Message Number: 108090Our fridge for whatever the reason was replaced by the original owners days before we bought it. Not sure what the original model was.Sylvia-
Topic: Fridge door latch (Read 2 times)
previous topic - next topic
Topic: Fridge door latch (Read 2 times)
previous topic - next topic