Dometic DM2652 RV Refrigerator Repair 

I feel quite accomplished to trouble shoot and repair this problem with your assistance. The same fridge in a Nomad Joey, travel trailer. Removal was tough as I did not want to pull my fridge out completely. Per video working space was a bear and the old element was very corroded. Thank you so much, this saved me $$$, and was rewarding to complete. Working Well!!Mary J. 61yr old, fixed the grandma's travel wagon. All will be happy:)

Really appreciate you taking the time to video, explain, and post this. Gives me confidence. I have to pull the same exact fridge and replace the cooling fan. Thank you and happy camping.

A great, informative video. I'm amazed by your enthusiasm and ability for tearing into just about anything. If mine ever craps out on me, and it probably will, I'll probably just replace it with a residential unit like Andrew Armstrong did. We're wanting to upgrade to solar and more/better batteries anyhow. Thanks, and Happy Camping!

Thanks for your time and effort put into this helpful video. I have the exact same model, 2010 vintage. My "boiler" leaked out the refrigerant so the entire cooling unit has to be replaced. My CO detector kept mysteriously going off starting in summer of 2014 and it didn't seem to be cooling very well (At 4 years old!) so I have ordered a NEW cooling unit engineered and built by some Amish folks. The CO detector went off to the point of having to disconnect it, didn't notice the ammonia smell but the frige was defrosted in the morning. In the Dometic owners manual it states "do not leave running every day" so I'm not going to buy another one from Dometic since they don't even expect their units to last very long versus folks from the Amish community who depend on their units to last for years while running 24 X 365. My folks had a secondhand Servel (same cooling technology) that lasted decades so a short lifespan can't be attributed to the caustic refrigerant. BTW, another guy has a video here showing how to replace the heating element without removing the unit from the wall.

Thank you Sir, this video led me to my problem. Fortunately, I was able to do the replace in my Forrest River Sunseeker without extracting the unit. It is working great again!

Great video! I'm pretty sure that I have the same fridge, so I'll know what to do if I have to. I'll also check for the strain on the connector where it's zip tied. Thanks also for the link to the service manual. I have the manual saved on my IPad in case I ever need it.

Nice job all around. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

I was able to perform the same task with a lot less hassle of removal. I opened the control board cover, unplugged element, replaced new element, zap strapped it's cables and placed sheath back on. Totally viewable from outside. Job time from start to finish 13 minutes. Place finger at lead end of element and you will feel the heat.

Thank you for this Video Ray. Mine (Dometic RM2451) is not cooling on a/c but the element is fine, Plug and cord/input is fine, the 5v fuse is ok, I don't see other fuses. I am thinking the control board. I wish I could see more of where you apply the tips of the tester for test at 14:08 :-0), Works on propane but extra waisted expenses since I am hooked up!

Best tutorial l ave found yet. Great job.

Great video thank you for taking the time to explain it and break it down I basically have the same issue with Frig in my coach

Nice video! I'll be checking mine out tomorrow.

Thanks! I wasn't sure if I could go with a different type of drain hose, but I see from a video on the subject in your channel - FordRVRefrigeration that I can use a rubber one instead. That's great because the plastic OEM one is junk, already brittle, and the local RV dealers don't even stock it.

Thank you for the detailed video. My fridge is having problems working on electric after being stored for the winter. I am looking for the cause and I think I just found it. Thanks for the information.

Thank you for this video!!

Excellent work. I learn alot. Also, I'm going check my drain hose right now. That could save some water damage.

Ray The heat element is one of the most misdiagnosed problems with the RV refrigerator that has cost the RV owners millions of dollars. Good video buddy. Congrats

Good video. I liked how you took the time to show where you had to disconnect the various screws to get the unit free so you could slide it out.... I have to replace my drain hose. I had my camper inspected and the whole hose was as brittle as rice paper. I'm using clear plastic tubing.

My Trailer sits at a camperground full time. The fridge cooling seems to fade away. If we show up on the week end, we notice everything has melted in the freezer and fridge is not cold at all. It is left on all the time. We would hit the on/off button and it will start cooling again and work all weekend like a charm. Then we leave for the week and come back the following weekend and fridge is on but again everything is melted and warm. Not sure what the problem is. However your video is the closest problem i have been able to see out of all the research i have done trying to figure this out.

This was the same problem with ours. Thanks for the tutorial!

great job!

Thank you for this!

Great Video, thanks for sharing

Thanks Ray! You've come through again. Keystone ought to pay you commissions or something. ;-) My 5ver is a 2013 and sure enough, here it is 2015 and the silly electric mode doesn't work. Betcha the element is 'toast' too.

Thanks Ray for another great video even though it's 10 years old I still found it useful. But still can't find out why my electric part of my refrigerator won't work. The gas is also quick but I think I know what's wrong with that I have a part ordered on it. I think I might go back to the old days and just put a block Ice in there😂

Thank you for your video

Excellent video with many thank yous on how to replace the heating element step by step instructions!!! Could you tell us what size drain hose you placed the old with or are they all standard size. Might as well order (along with the heating element at the same time) and replace the drain hose while I am having to replace the heating. element.

Awesome, clear, step-by-step instructions! What if my tower is warm? Does that mean the heating element is good? ...but my refrigerator isn't cooling at all...

Nice video

If u press the on bottom and it not turn on check the Temperature switch.that switch is like breaker of 12v it worked for me

When you go buy an electric element, check to see if it puts out the advertised wattage. Most aftermarket ones will not! It is easy, measure ac voltage where it is plugged in, then test amp draw. Multiply the two. It should be within 10%.

Hi I have a question I have a domestic dm2652 I just changed the thermoster the one inside the fridge because it was freezing everything and I thought it was that but it's still doing the same thing everything I put in there it freezes do you have any idea what else can it be

great video, probably saved yourself a few hundred bucks. I would replace that plastic drain hose while the fridge was out, they are known to become brittle and fall apart after a few years.....

Great video on the frig repair. Have you done anymore repair videos on the frig maintenance?

what tool / software did you use in order to avoid image shaking in your video ?

Replace that cheap plastic water drain tube with clear vinyl half inch tubing. Make sure there is a p trap bend at the bottom to keep hot air out (this can make a 9 degree difference) and put an anti wasp plug on the end!

Thanks for the video, do you need LP to run the electrical element?

Thanks for info was your element not heating at all, mine is heating but the fridge is not cooling

I have this same Fridge model, the A/C heating Element is rusted in Solid..... sprayed Kroil on it, and later some SeaFoam Deep Kreep... 2 hours later, still locked solid.

Thanks for the great video, Ray! I have the same model Dometic, but different control panel (385 04 15-01). My refrigerator works well on gas, but on AUTO it doesn't seem to get nearly as cold. Just some, but not to the same level after several hours connected to AC shore power. Should the flue feel warm to the touch from the heating element when running on AC? the flue on mine doesn't get warm when running on AUTO. Do you (or anyone reading this) know where the blue wire hanging from the eyebrow connecter (6 plug) on the upper left of the control board connect to? The blue wire on my refrigerator is terminated with a piece of black shrink tubing.

I have a dometic RM2652. The power went out a few days ago for several hours in the RV. But I didn't realize until today, that the refrigerator has been off since then. I got lights to the control panel up top, and inside the frige, but no cooling in either gas or electric.

good morning..in your video, at the point when you're removing the heater element, there are 2 red wires that go to something on that round panel. Do you know what that part is called..and...is it supposed to spin/move? On my unit, I can freely move/spin whatever those 2 red wires are connected to

I have a simular unit DM2652LBFX. My problem is it cools fine with AC, but on gas it does not. I've cleaned the burner, cleaned the jet, now I think I need to clean the baffle. Do I have to pull the whole unit (like you did) to get to the flue baffle and flue tube and clean them? Thanks for the great video and help...Terry

Thanks for this video! My implementation of the fix, however, has hit a snag. My heater element was stuck in a galvanized metal tube. In the course of trying to get it out it broke. So now I have the end of the heater element broken off in the tube. Can you tell me the purpose of that tube? Is that something I may be able to cut off or even cut open?

My unit heats the flue on gas really well and also heats it on electric but not as hot, at least by touch, but neither way causes the unit to cool or freeze. Could it be the circuit board?

how do you check the AC power going to the control board?

Anyone know if it’s normal to have your refrigerator click like it’s trying to ignite multiple times through out the night? We were having a issue where the thing felt cool one minute and not so cool later then cool again like it’s intermittently having a issue. We noticed the same trip we heard the clicking 3-4 times in the night. I wasn’t sure isn’t they shut off when cold enough then reignite or if they ran all the time. We also noticed there was no heat coming from the vent outside but at times there was. I wasn’t sure if this was all normal or not. It was running on propane if it matters.

Just removed and tested my heater element. Resistance is 45.5 . Would this be a good reading ? Same make and model as yours.

My gas and AC gets element hot but doesn’t cool, checking power on fuse on control board shows no power

what is the 2 red wires on the burner unit? no one ever mention that unit. looks like a senor of some kind...Temp sensor?

At 2:46 it shows a red wire on the left bottom corner, it has an inline 3 amp fuse, It goes up towards the top of the fridge. What is this wire used to power?

My Dometic stopped working a couple years ago and I've been getting by with a little frig on a bench. When the problem first started I tried it on gas and electric and nothing. A refrig man checked it out and said I needed a new cooling assembly or a new frige. The cooling unit was about $600 and the new frig was $1600. With no money I had to let it go. Does that diagnosis sound correct to you?

Dometic rm2652 model : Heating element = 325 watts ,44 ohm ,2.7 amps Troubleshooting : Heating element =39.6 ohms Ground to one leg of heating wire = no continuity Ground to other leg of heating = no continuity Board output for heating =120 volts Problem : 5 amps Fuse blown when turn on power to ac What causing the fuse to blew ,is heating element under spec 44 ohms ,I am reading only 39.3 ohms ? Any help would be appreciated . Thanks

Mine's not working on electric. Not sure about propane since I don't have it hooked up. I looked everywhere, and couldn't find a model or name. 1984 terry, and it looks old, so I'm guessing it's original. Anywho, I was checking the two fuses in the outside access panel, and like a bone head, was using a screwdriver, and it sparked. I unplugged the ac power, but didn't think it was hooked to the battery. I think they were both fine, but I wanted to make sure, since it was dark, and the flashlight wasn't the best. Now one of them is popped, and I hope I didn't damage anything else on the electric board. The indicator lights haven't worked in awhile for gas/elec, so that doesn't help either. Any ideas? I don't hear anything running when it's on electric, and I checked after 30 min in the freezer, and it's not getting cold. I checked it's power supply with a clock radio. The outlet is good.

Hello Ray, thanks for the video. We are having a fridge cooling issue. The freezer works fine, but the fridge will get around 50* during the day and cool down at night, we have to keep it on gas because I just noticed a blown 5 amp fuse in the control module (may have been blown for quite a while I'm guessing but not sure. The door seal is not good either, we did a dollar bill test and it failed all the way around. At night it gets down to about 40, but in the daytime it gets up to 50 or 60 degrees. Any help you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ray.

Great vid! I got the black cover off the board and it turns out my 5amp fuse is blown. Any idea why? They always say to take a pic or a video before starting something like this and it turns out after I moved a few things around that I have a blue wire to nowhere. Your unit doesn't have it. It's near the top right and you only have the yellow and white. I can't find any place to stick it so the tip at the end may be rubber to seal it off. Anyway, helpful vid, thanks.

Youre saying you cant take the element out with the fridge still installed?

I can not get the heat element out. It is stuck in the holder and is all cracked damaged. Now what?

I have a 1978 Dometric refrigerator and it is always too cold. It is in the electric mode for temperature and I have it set on 1, which I think should be the lowest setting (maybe I am wrong-there are no instructions). It always has condensation on the roof of the fridge and leaks constantly into the refrigerator. Is this simply a matter of changing the setting or is this a more serious problem?

Great video. I have the same fridge, brand new. On Electric it’s insufficient cold, cold but won’t make ice in freezer. On LP, there is no flame. When I open the panel outside to watch, it will click click try to light the flame, but no LP comes out and it gives up after 45 seconds, check light comes on. My stove had propane working just fine. What could be the problem? Thank you very much.

we are having problems with our fridge in or rv always shutting off and not switching between the gas and electric. it seems to drain the batteries when plugged in to electric..why would this happen? Bonnie

While you had it out your should have done something about that cheesy insulation yuk..... plus foam would improve your cooling and cut cost to run Proper insulating is one of the best ways to improve cooling

i have a dometic 2652 and my freezer works fine but the refrigerator dont get cold and i tried pushing the slide all the way up for it to get colder but no luck so what can i do now ?

Great video, I have a question.. anyone can answer this if someone has an idea what I'm talking about. I have the exact same fridge and the way you were explaining it just stopped working You notice your ice wasn't cold then you switched it over to LP didn't work mine did the exact same thing so my question is for some reason I was thinking it was something to do with the board because I wasn't getting power or the button is on top of the fridge right above the freezer like if you push the LP it will light up green or whatever If you switch it over to electric you would light up did yours stop lighting up also on that board. Hopefully you can make sense of that either way I'm going to test my element tomorrow I'm pretty sure it's the same thing what's going on with mine thanks again

Were you able to obtain the part locally same day and get the fridge back in operation same day? I see you listed Amazon for the part, but thought I'd ask anyway. Thank you.

I have a 1976 dometic rm66E model RV refrigerator that I want to run off of my RV 12volt house battery. Do you know what power consumption this model uses? Amp hours? How can I figure this out?

Now you know if this refrigerator stop working all together an after you have check all the other thing, sometimes its the refrigerant and to fix that you must take the refrigerator out and turn it on its top for 24 hrs and turn it up right for 24 hrs and do this for 3 days and this will make it start back to work only if you don't have a leak.

My dometic dm2652 I can smell ammonia. The power light won't come on now. Wonder what part I need.?

Any idea why my freezer is working great but the fridge will not cool down less than 47 degrees

dometic has taken a easy fix and went full metal stupid on the dm 22652

I accidentally opened the refrigerator and freezer doors during a power outage not realizing that the on button was pushed. Well, electricity comes on and several days later we walk into rv and saw light on in refrigerator. Well now the refrigerator doesn’t seem to work. I hear the gas turn on but not cooling. Is it a goner? Help!!

My Refrigerator is not cooling down on the bottom part, the freezer is working like 50% What I Should Do?

When u said that u didn't have to disconnect the propane line at all. U said to unscrew this two screws there and the other two and the third one on the burner flame . That way after u disconnect wiring u were able to pull the fridge fine. Unfortunately your video was unfocused and u didn't show with you two fingers the first two screws that have to be unscrewed that are attached on the back of the fridge and it only video show the first three screws and that is a issue. I almost break the propane pipe! Your video was helpfull but the video has to have more open screen for everyone understanding what they are watching. Thanks

One would think that they would design it so you could change the element without removing the whole refrigerator!

www.loveyourrv.com/dometic-dm2652-rv-refrigerator-repair/ #RV #Refrigerator #Repair #Fix

My Sony Camcorder has built in image stabilization and I let RU-vid fix it for me when asked. I'm not that worried about it as it's just a quick how-to video.

I have a Dometic RM2652. It isn't operational at all, will not work on gas or elec. None of the indicator lights on top of the fridge work (Auto, On/Off, etc.). None of the PC board fuses are blown, AC coming in at about 119V, DC coming in at 13V. Gas is available (I loosened the line slightly and gas started to escape). My AC heating element rings out at about 40ohms. Elec. board above fridge looks fine. HELP!

Was all that necessary? Seems like a bunch of work, for such a small problem

Would it not have been easier to bypass the control section and run directly to the heating element and do a 24 hour op test? If the refrig freezes the heating element is good and if not the heating element is bad. Use Ohms law for testing the correct element.

my rv freezer is around 5 degrees, but the refrigerator is 60 degrees.

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Well i dont think dometic is a very good brand..every dometic ref i've owned has needed repair in the first couple of years..one the element like you and one the register ..