DOMETIC DOTRC17SS CONVECTION MICROWAVE REPLACED
We replaced our five year old Dometic
Convection Microwave with a GE Profile unit
that was also made in Korea. This new unit was of similar size, similar features
and
is available everywhere around the USA at lower cost. Service and
documentation
(manuals, etc) from GE is vastly superior in our opinion. We exchanged these
units
ourselves with simple hand tools and used a battery
powered drill to add two holes
suggested below. Removing and replacing the convection
microwaves is a two person
job, as suggested in the literature. We are very pleased with this exchange and
are
fortunate to have so easily discovered that they can be mounted
identically in our RV.
PHOTOGRAPH
"Our 2007 Escalade came with a Dometic Convection Microwave DOTRC17SS, built in March of 2006. It was installed over our cook top with light and air filters on the bottom and vented outside. My wife has complained from time to time that the convection temperature was off a bit, but the unit functioned OK. Two days ago it suddenly displayed an F-5 and would not work in either mode. Repeated attempts produced the same results. Incidentally, there was no explanation of error codes (?), or troubleshooting in the Dometic manual.
I don't usually repair 5 year old electronics, especially one peculiar to the RV industry, so we looked around. A new identical Dometic from the Internet ran from $700 to over a $1000.; all too high priced.
After searching I selected a GE Profile that was the same size, power and general configuration, PVM1790SR in stainless. ( also available in white, black and bisque ) List is $699 and I found them at builders stores for a bit over $500. We got lucky and found a floor model from Sears for $400.
You might imagine my surprise when removing the Dometic unit to discover that it was installed or held-in-place differently than the typical home style unit which I had purchased. You see a home install relies upon bolts through the cabinet above. My Dometic was mounted entirely off the back wall. Hum.... what now ?
At this time, I had both units sitting out and I was beginning to think about new brackets when I took notice of the fact that both Dometic & GE had similar holes in the back near the top, where the special mounting rods on the Dometic were located. Hum.. I removed the top air intake trim from the front of the GE and to my amazement the front holes for the mounting rods were right there too ! A rear mount capability was hiding inside my new GE !
At this point I took the Dometic mounting plate off the wall and discovered that it matched the GE perfectly. I can reuse that ! Wow ! Problem solved. I removed the mounting rods (2) from the Dometic and carefully installed them in the GE. On the left side it was a simple matter of sliding the threaded mounting rod in place; identical to the Dometic. On the right side, install was complicated by sliding the cover up and the front panel forward to get the rod into place. I clipped a couple of bars off of the plastic grill cover to provide screw-driver access to the right rod and my GE would now mount on the same wall plate as the Dometic used exactly as the Dometic had done....
My install did not need the damper GE provided since one was built into the exterior wall. I also
drilled two holes in the top cover to match the two Escalade had added for additional screws in
the Dometic sheet metal top cover; added safety, I guess ?
Our new GE Convection Microwave works fine and is quite rigidly mounted.
/ "
Perhaps this will be of help to some other RVer with a failed ( F- 5 ) Dometic Convection Microwave?
LINKS:
GE Profile Convection Microwave - manufacturer
information
Dometic Convection Microwave - manufacturer information
PHOTO: