Brand new Dometic fridge is worthless

Join the club.  I've fought this problem all summer and discovered the Dometic is only capable of cooling about 45 degrees below ambient temp on LP and about 48 degrees below ambient temp on Electricity.  I had mine back to the dealer and they had it out twice, working with Dometic.  It works fine in their shop where it's cooler and in the shade, but as soon as they put it back in the pod it won't keep up.  Dometic claims it's Forest River's fault (they didn't install them properly.) . Forest River won't even reply to my dealer (a Forest river dealer, by the way) when he sends them all the information on the tests he ran and Dometics take on the problem.  They won't talk to me about the problem, neither FR nor Dometic.  I discovered it was slightly more efficient if I pulled both vents off the trailer, then I discovered that by adding two fans to the top vent it does work better. Today it's 90 degrees and I'm getting 43.5 degrees in the refer on LP.  I could get it down to about 41 on electricity (42 is considered the limit for dairy products).  In the past, all absorption refers were more efficient on LP than on Electricity, but several of us on here have complained that LP is the worst of the 3.  Camping is not viable with an absorptions refrigerator until the OAT gets down to about 85 degrees for your daily high.  Like you I carry a real refrigerator/freezer (Engel), 12volt in my truck.  I got so tired of the Dometic in my last RV that I installed a built-in Engel in the RV and threw away the Dometic.  BTW, mine is a brand new 2018 RP176.  Without the fans running, right now instead of 43.5 degrees I'd be running 48 degrees.  When it was 99 degrees outside, without fans mine wouldn't get below about 51-57 degrees.

2-year warranty, but Dometic says "it works fine on the bench but not in the camper...that means it's Forest River's fault.  NO WARRANTY FROM US."  My truck has a towing package with a larger alternator so powering the 12 volts on the road is no problem.  For those guys that complain that their alternator on their TV can't keep up have no option but to run on LP, or don't camp in weather hotter than 85 degrees, or buy a real 12 volt refrigerator and either replace the Dometic or carry it along for a backup. (that's what I'm currently doing.)

I'm running it on propane, I lived in trailers and toter homes traveling all over the country for about 7 years and found propane to be the most efficient, easiest to deal with set it and forget it setup out there.... until now.  I've never had a problem with it before, just regular maintenance and everything stayed cold just as it should.  Funny that my 1977 Layton trailer with the original fridge will freeze soda cans to the point of bursting as soon as you go past setting 5 out of 10 in the same weather, but this brand new latest and greatest can't get below 60 degrees.  

I've owned a couple dizen Res and never found a single door refer that would keep up in 90+ degree weather. The double door ones seem fine. Most people on this forum that claim theirs work ok are not camping in 95-100 degree temps.

To answer Tars Tarkas question, Dometic knew it is on the bench because the dealer was working closely with Dometic on the phone while running all the tests with Dometic's tech. Another dealer couldn't do more than that. !

Originally posted by Casey Right now it's dead on 100 degrees outside. The fridge is 57, and the freezer is 45. I fired up my 1977 Layton's fridge just for comparison's a few hours ago, and it is already cooler than the brand new one. I'll look for a nearby dealer on Tuesday and see if I can get it checked out because this just isn't going to work