Obsolescence- finding parts
I wrote a blog post about cleaning the Norcold burner on my RV.net blog. On the refrigerator I was working on at that time (a Norcold 662), I needed to simply replace the burner.
I grabbed a new burner off the shelf, installed it, and everything was good to go.
I then went to re-order that burner, and found out that Norcold now considers anything over 10 years old to be obsolete.
Now- our current travel trailer is a 1977 model- just over 30 years old. It’s still in good shape (though it does suffer a bit from the ‘shoe makers children’ syndrome)- but I can still buy
1977 Airstream
factory parts for it, though a door lock is a mind numbing $500+, simply because it is hand machined, but I can still buy one.
On the Norcold burner, there is a new burner that will fit right in. The only difference is the original uses a compression connection, with a ferrule and copper sealing ring, and the new one uses a flare connection. A modification to a flare connection should not be at all hard, and it really wouldn’t be hard for Norcold to come up with a retrofit kit- a more reasonable one than the $200+ kit they have for the 900 series. All the kit would need would be the burner and a new tube (soft aluminum). I just cannot see telling a customer that their perfectly good 1996 refrigerator is not repairable because I cannot get a $30 part, and they have to spend $1200-1500 for a new one. On the other hand- I take a bit of liability on my shoulders by modifying a part like this, so…..
Even though I grew up in a very affluent period (relatively), a large reason was my parents remembering and observing the old adage- “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
I’ve also been running in to range parts being not available (safety valves and thermostats)- this time due to mercury content. While I understand this a bit more, it still isn’t easy to deal with.
Ah, well….
–Chris
Dometic Recall- the Saga Continues…
Well, I’ve been writing about the ongoing Dometic recall in this post and this post, and today I had an unwelcome finding- working on a refrigerator I had done the recall on nearly a year ago, but the cooling unit failed in the area concerned with the recall.
Called to order a new cooling unit, and was told that Dometic is no longer replacing failed cooling units out of the warranty period.
Needless to say, I am not a happy camper.
–Chris
Design vs. Quality vs…
I know life is full of compromises, but they can sometimes drive a person crazy. I’m always wanting features and items from each of the travel trailers and tow vehicles we’ve owned and put them all together in to one ‘perfect’ rig. Now I’m wanting to take materials and designs from different RV equipment makers and roll them in to one perfect product..
Patterns of Failure
Sometimes I run in to patterns of failure on different items- bad batches from the manufacturers, faulty designs, etc. The past few weeks I have run in to 2 different items that have been giving me problems.
The first is a fairly simple thing, but one that has potentially very bad consequences.. and that is a vent lid (yep- about the simplest thing there is). Read more
Long time, No post…
Well, I’ve been very bad about posting here- or for that matter, responding to posts and emails. It’s that time of year in sunny Florida, so we’ve been slammed with work.
A couple of thoughts… another round of owner notifications on the Dometic recall has been issued (we’re getting 3 or 4 calls a day about it). So far Dometic has been excellent about replacing failed cooling units from the recalled models- we’ve been getting them within a week now, though I’ve only done 3 failed units- a very small percentage of total that have been recalled.
A bit ago I had a customer with a busted Fantastic vent lid. I’ve always known about their “fantastic” customer service, and now I have experienced it. Called up, spoke to Bob Beratta- even though the operator (crank) was good, he insisted on replacing it as well, just in case. The replacement lid and operator arrived in a couple of days- no charge- even though this was a 10 year old vent, third owner, and it had been left open and run under a tree. If it breaks, they replace it, no questions asked.
I’m also writing a weekly (though I missed last week ;)) blog at the Affinity RV.Net Blog– if I can squeeze more writing time out, I’ll keep this blog up to date as well.
All for now
–Chris
Dometic recalls, right and wrong…
As many people have learned, Dometic has been forced to recall something over 900,000 refrigerators for the possibility of a failing cooling unit, which might result in a fire. Norcold recently went through a recall for the same reason- the heating elements installed are just too hot, along with a possibly defective weld, which results in the coolant leaking out.
Aftermarket Parts
In the auto industry, there are many, many companies producing aftermarket parts- you simply have to check out the nearest auto parts store to see that.
Many of these parts are of a great quality- designed to remedy the short comings of the stock parts and provide superior performance and longevity. On the other hand, many are…. to put it mildly… junk. Aftermarket parts are often called “will fit”, because they will fit (but whether they will last, or do what they are supposed to do…)
In the Recreation Vehicle industry, by and large, the market simply isn’t there for a wide variety of aftermarket parts- after all, even to build a cheap part takes a large investment in design and tooling.
But… there are a few notable exceptions, and because of market forces, they generally fall in to the superior category. Two manufacturers I can highly recommend are Dinosaur Electronics and Flight Systems.
Customer Service
Being an RV tech, and owning an RV repair company, my business is customer service. A person comes in with a problem with their rig, and they pay me to fix it.
Sometimes, even the best of us need help from the people who make the items in question, so we, in turn, need to call upon the “next level” of customer service, and talk to technical support. In the service industry, we have “super secret- I cannot reveal it” phone numbers for tech support- the reason being that tech support can much more effectively talk to a trained technician to diagnose a problem than trying to deal with the end consumer (you ;)). This saves time, and as long as the local tech is knowledgeable, will usually quickly result in a solution to the problem. Having a separate contact for service people really is a good thing.
