Duct Tape to the Rescue

The automatic lock on our Dometic 4-door refrigerator-freezer is broken. And when we discovered this fact, the doors were closed and locked! These two weight lifters finally forced the door open. But, how do we get it fixed? We contacted a Coach Net technician and learned Dometic had been having problems with this and a repair would require all new doors. Obviously, we aren't going to get it fixed until we return to Gold Canyon. The tech told us to have the repair shop to order doors with a manual lock, instead of the automatic lock we now have.

We have always tried to lock the doors each time they are opened and closed. Do you have any idea how hard it is to break that habit? But we don't want to end up with the doors stuck in the locked position. So I have put small strips of duct tape on the two sides of the sliding lock so it won't move.

But we still had the problem of how to keep the doors closed when we travel. With the automatic lock, each time we disconnected from shore power, the doors locked so they wouldn't come open during travel. John found two c-clamps in the tool box and we clamped the door handles together. Unfortunately, the refrigerator doors still came open about an inch--enough for the food to get too warm. So, this is what we do now on travel days: C-clamps and duct tape. I am so glad the doors are stainless steel. It will be easy to clean off the residue from the tape.

We feel so smart! 

But, how did we figure out that duct tape would hold the doors, you might ask?  Well, nearly 20 years ago, in1997 to be exact, we were driving north out of Pennsylvania after spending time in Philadelphia.  We had a 26 foot Komfort 5th wheel, which we had owned less than a year.  When we parked and went into the RV, we found the freezer door had fallen off and was on the floor!  We were new at RV travel and weren't sure where we could get it fixed.  What to do?  We duct-taped the door in place.

It wasn't the most convenient way to travel and use the freezer, but it worked.  When we got to Buffalo, New York, we found an RV repair shop and they reattached the door.  Apparently, it had not been hooked up correctly.  No surprise to us.  We always travel with a good supply of duct tape.