Changing from Dometic RV Fridge to Household 110v Fridge - Page 2 - Luxury Coach Lifestyles
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Old 10-24-2011, 01:46 AM   #21
Richard and Rhonda
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Darlene will be so happy.

And you know what they say about Mama being happy.
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Old 10-24-2011, 02:58 AM   #22
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Looks really nice Tom. How difficult was it to cut the formica without it cracking or splintering?
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Old 10-24-2011, 03:18 AM   #23
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hi forest. i played around with different ways and bounced it off of richard and others. the way i did it was to put masking tape on the laminate. then i made a cutting guide out of 1" aluminum sq tubing. i clamped it to the wall and used it as a cutting guide. then i used a vibrating multifunction tool with the round blade on it. i tried to hold it square against the tubing and cut slow and steady. with my refridgerator area the bathroom wall is on the left side and it comes out farther than the fridge, so there was only about 2" from the cutting edge to the wall that jutted out, making it impossible to use any other cutting tool.

i did the same on both sides and the top.

finishing the corners with a japanese flush handsaw.

then i used a power sander to sand the edges smooth and flat.

i put black edge banding on the edges.

i also had to cut the drawer down and cut the face down 4 inches. i used a 80 tooth new blade on my table saw.

i had no chipping anywhere i cut, either by hand or with the table saw.

i kept small pieces of the cutout wood to experiment with cutting and drilling.

i drilled five 1" holes above the fridge. if you look extremely close, you can see some little chips but you dont notice them at all.

it is just about being careful, deliberate and remembering you can only usually cut once. so as i cut the drawer down and fit it with the right gaps, i cut a little big and trimmed it down to be an exact fit. then i used white edge banding on the bottom. (you will not see the bottom and the white is not noticeable.

i also went to a custom car paint shop and had them custom match high end paint to the color of the laminate. i can use that to cover any cracks or paint vent covers i ordered if i choose to. it is almost a perfect match.

tom
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Old 10-25-2011, 01:06 AM   #24
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A good way to cut lamite or formica is to use a sabre saw and you can get a reverse blade that cuts down instead of up so it does not break or chip what your cutting. They are available at Home Depot, Lowes, etc., and Tom's way is a good way.
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Old 02-23-2012, 03:02 AM   #25
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Default refrig door handle switch out to the 110v units

How do you keep the door from flying open during travel?? Any venting issues from heat??
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Old 02-23-2012, 02:17 PM   #26
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On our Dometic there is the black plastic latch on the upper left hand side. It has two positions that it clips into on the refrigerator, one to latch and the other to hold the door closed but still allow air to get in so that mildew doesn't form.
When we got our '82 this latch was missing so I picked up a new one.
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Old 02-24-2012, 03:52 AM   #27
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Default Handle question on the Whirlpool modification?

Thanks,
Tom, I was wandering does the home depot model that you switched out have a lockable hadle?? I would like to switch out to all electric like the mod that you did.. However a was wondering on the exact one, if you had to add something to the model #etomsrxtq 9.7CUFT whirlpool or does the handles actual lock?

AWS
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Old 02-24-2012, 11:17 PM   #28
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howdy,

i put in a whirlpool Model# ET0MSRXTB

http://www.sears.com.pr/shc/s/p_1016...0&ViewAll=true

if i remember right i paid about $300 out the door delivered on sale at lowes.

i got black.

i also disconnected the defrost heater since it takes wayyy more electricity than the fridge itself does when it is on on.

it takes about 5 min to unhook the defrost and would take the same to hook it back up if you wanted to. our use model would have the fridge only running for days or a few weeks at a time and would get naturally defrosted by turning it off when we got home.

as for the latching doors....no it does not have it.

you can use the velcro latches or a variety of things to hold the doors in. just personal choice and how you want it to look.

this particular fridge you will find that many rv'ers have used it as a retrofit for the dometics. i know that at least gordon on this site did the same fridge before i did. he had to do less modification than i did because was we know, every newell is built different.

on mine it was quite a bit of work, but you would not be able to tell that it was not originally done by newell.

tom in singapore
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Old 02-25-2012, 01:29 AM   #29
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Default Pin to hold 110v Refer doors closed

This is the pin I make up to retain the doors while traveling.

Works great.
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Old 02-25-2012, 01:09 PM   #30
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We were the beneficiaries of Tom's fridge change. Here are pictures of the fridge just after installation, and then yesterday after we installed the black plexiglass panels we bought from Campingworld....only took two tries to get the correct, undamaged panels...
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Old 02-27-2012, 12:24 AM   #31
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Thanks, Guys for the info.
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Old 02-29-2012, 02:07 AM   #32
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Our original Amana fridge had lock bolt at teh top of the frame , it would electronicly lock the the two doors at teh top , very coll idea, you just flip the swith when you are ready to hit the road and the bolt comes down and hold two small metal blades ( srewed to each door top ) Now since we did replaced to brand new FridgeAid I need to re instal the locking sytem!

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Old 02-29-2012, 10:48 PM   #33
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the propane fridges dont have that system on them.

tom
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