Are Dometic Water Heaters Junk?

[@eman7274]

As a former Dometic CSR, I can tell you there are a LOT of incompetent people in the tech service department. Kinda like our current VP.

[@chastityelizabeth]

We have a 2022 camper and the first thing to go out was the dometic water heater in the first month of ownership. We didn't bother with repairs as we knew it would always be an issue. We replaced it with a tankless propane gas Rinnai and it has been wonderful. Bonus: No calling dometic customer service. 👍🏼

[@craigjohnson3603]

Good video, looked like a frustrating one!😊

[@JamesBoatfield-x7u]

Good job taking to the customer service

[@steveh7920]

I never saw you use the old board after replacing the thermal fuse. It also didn't look like you tested the the thermostat with the thermal fuse plugged in at both terminals to see if power was going through the thermal fuse or even testing continuity through just the thermal fuse. You tested the thermostat with one wire unplugged which of course would show no power on the other side of the thermostat. I suspected from the beginning it was only a bad thermal fuse

[@Hugo-Hernandez]

Great video Kenny, you would think tbey would have real techs working at Dometic.

[@hillbillyrv]

You would think

[@dukesworld3020]

Sounded like the first tech didn't like her nap being interrupted. If it can go wrong, it will.

[@hillbillyrv]

You made me laugh out loud. Thanks

[@2284esther]

I gave up on my propane heater and installed a 115 v bullet element that inserts in the drain plug. Done! she doesn't heat as hot as gas but your plugged into shore power anyway.

[@dk4622]

Can't get any worse. I learned in Aviation, everything has to be triple checked.

[@RandallW20]

Good gosh… I don’t know how many times you had to tell her. I think they just have a flowchart and just step through the chart without having any clue how the products work…

[@hillbillyrv]

Yes

[@roysims7710]

Seems lots of junk parts

[@jerrywiese9722]

Working on that water heater could give you an Elmer Fud stutter that might last a week!

[@chastityelizabeth]

Haha!

[@Re-engineer_everything]

I have told you before that I will swap out every Dometic that I have in my trailer as they go bad. I really don’t like Dometic.

[@chastityelizabeth]

Same here.

[@RevGerryRM]

WOW! I'm exhausted 😮 Good job 👍👍👍👍👍

[@BruceBarrick-cv8rt]

Had to be a parts replacer on that water heater cause all them parts were bad, or ended up being bad. Good call asking for another tech. Great job as usual Kenny. Way to go hanging in there and getting your customer hot water.

[@mxslick50]

To answer the title question, yes. All RV specific water heaters, fridges, A/C units and furnaces are overpriced junk. The only decent RV appliances are the propane stoves/ovens, especially those made by Magic Chef and the like.

[@criticaltemperature3343]

Tech support is hit n miss. I do commercial hvac, some are good. Diy car guy, Ford performance tech support was awesome back in the 2000s. Occasionally ill work on commercial kitchen ovens. One company (will not be named) is absolutely awesome, providing great suppoert and part numbers.

[@Capt-John-T-Moore]

You are now know as the Hillbilly bulldog….didn’t let it defeat you! Great Job! I love watching your videos. It helps me keep my 4 Rv’s (don’t ask) working!

[@hillbillyrv]

4 ???

[@Capt-John-T-Moore]

@@hillbillyrv personal use and Arb&b at an Rv resort

[@Imagashole]

Aren’t the temperatures listed on the t stat and the eco?

[@46fd04]

Excellent job! Just to confirm, once you got it working, I would have re-installed the original board to see if it worked.

[@jimmymcclosky3786]

Wow!!

[@douglasmayherjr.5733]

Wow, Kenny. That takes customer support to a whole new level. I was getting frustrated when she kept interrupting you. You probably still need the dual wall switch. 😂 Thanks for letting me know that I’m not the only one dealing with stuff like this.

[@hillbillyrv]

She had me pulling my hair out.

[@dannachel6980]

Sounds like a lightning strike

[@scotthill1278]

One positive note.......they spoke English.

[@daviscrt]

What are the odds of that happening. For Hillbilly RV, 50/50. LOL Thanks Don

[@hillbillyrv]

Ha ha

[@jeffsteele1295]

I love it when they read instructions from a book and you can tell they are. Then they have to put you on hold while they ask someone else. Its that someone else is the person I wanted to talk to the first time not you LOL . I know they are trying to help but most of the time they just P*ss you off to the max. I had on tech support person ask me how do I know my volt meter was working correctly. I told her it just read 13.6vdc what do you thing ?

[@hillbillyrv]

They can be very frustrating

[@redc8783]

What a pain in the butt, I think some Tech’s need to practice some listening skills. 😅

[@skypilot7103]

Great job sticking with it Kenny I would have had to sleep on it and stay up all night wondering the different scenarios Ed

[@coreymerritt7742]

Wow crazy dealing with customer support total frustration 🤬

[@stevelange819]

The whole situation was frustrating and I bet customer tech support ( 2 of them eventually on Kenny's call) probably had no experience with 3 failure points all at once as Kenny finally realized and corrected. And I guess being "first in queue for next support technician" is OK but frustrating if there are at least 2 techs and they're already engaged in long phone calls with troubling issues of other field techs like Kenny. Maybe Kenny is correct in asking if Dometic water heaters are junk - - fairly obvious the components fail over time, sometimes in pairs, in triplets on this call.

[@hillbillyrv]

Totally

[@hillbillyrv]

Thanks Steve

[@kylethompson2017]

I hate that all tech support and customer service reps and everyone else using headsets. It's like speaker phone. Continuous cutting each other off. Makes for a very difficult phone experience.

[@albertschneider5978]

Poss hit by lightning

[@ipcamper9940]

I have one of those water heaters in our TT. So far, I have had to replace the thermal fuse once. We used to have a popup, it had a gas only water heater. It lasted 20 years with no problems! Just light the pilot light and forget about it the rest of the trip!

[@thomaswarren6882]

PARTS!!! CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP in quality anymore. Lol.

[@billhillegass946]

3 items at the same time WOW . Just wondering if the power switch on the inside of coach has a loose connection . Glad it’s working now .

[@russellfogg7800]

As always Kenny, you figure it out. Without much help from those, I guess you could call them people, I have things like this all the time go wrong. My water heater still acts funky turn everything off and it still gets the water hot. And then sometimes it doesn't work and I have to reset it time and time again. Oh well live and learn. Great job on it explaining.

[@JohnnyRacerX]

Murphy works for ALL of the RV manufacturers and ALL of the parts manufacturers !

[@rickyroten2410]

Power surge maybe?

[@46fd04]

Haven't finished the video yet. Does it have a 2nd electric switch like the Suburbans use? My Suburban has 3 switches; one to operate the LP, and 2 for the electric (one inside the trailer, the other is at the water heater)

[@hillbillyrv]

No

[@JimBrown-nc]

That first support call was painful. I work for a unnamed company in their largest lab where they test the devices they make and half our stuff is not available to the public as it is too new. That stuff we can't even call in for since there are no parts for the new stuff from them. We get that stuff from engineering/ But the older stuff support make it so hard to get the parts we need. They make us jump thru hoops to get what we need. It is like I know more about this then you do just send me the parts. They say they need to verify everything first. I am like why don't you just fly here and fix why do they need me if you are going to make me do things that make no sense since it can't be that because there is no power no lights anywhere so just send me the board!

[@hillbillyrv]

The larger the company, the stupider their practices.

[@madjack7979]

Alls i can come up with is wow holy moly Good work

[@waynec3121]

Talk about poor tech skills.Hope you had a great holiday

[@brucetifer]

Was there a power spike?

[@michaelconner2950]

I have a 2001 RV with the original water heater that is gas only and have never had to replace the board but have replaced the thermostat buttons twice. The tank is aluminum not steel and never leaked. I flush the tank periodically. I think the quality has downgraded over the years.

[@bertkelly7650]

If the tech didn't talk over you she wouldn't be so bad. My water heater went out and I called tech. They didn't do the run throughs like they did you. He just said replace the board. I bought a new board. Didn't work. I didn't smell gas figuring the actuators weren't working. Bought new of them. Nope. Found I wasn't getting gas. I had to undo the gas line and blow the line out making a big pop sound. Worked ever since.

[@hillbillyrv]

It ain’t go no gas in it. Say it with sling blade accent.

[@criticaltemperature3343]

"Brand new board" don't mean its a good board. Been there done that. New, in box, bad part. Multiple failures at one time is a coincidence. Been there done that too. Cant explain it, shite happens.

[@timhughes5939]

Say if it’s gas or electric or combined

[@hillbillyrv]

Both

[@rlmc29er]

I enjoy most of your videos. You called Dometic tech support for help but you weren't helpful in your response to them to help diagnose the issue. Not the biggest fan of Dometic products, but you kind of threw them under the bus on this one.

[@KevinCoop1]

Great job figuring it out! Really? The RV 13.6 volts is different than your 13.6 volts! I liked that one. NOT! Possible lightning strike near the RV? Did you verify that the heater was original to the RV? So, Dometic is to run on gas OR electric, not gas AND electric?

[@hillbillyrv]

It probably was not original

[@KevinCoop1]

@@hillbillyrv I just looked up the installation manual. It shows two separate switch install and a single assembly install. Beware of the blue light. It is some kind of lockout light.

[@NathanBrannock]

Great job one in 1,000,000 3 things will go wrong at one time I would’ve been pulling my hair out again great job and don’t you enjoy talking to some text while I would’ve did the same thing could you give me another text tech have a great day