Consumer Safety Alert, Newmar Coaches

[andyshane]

It appears torsional stresses on the refrigerator faceplate caused coolant tubing failures around the Newmar door latch mounting location resulting in a release of freon into the coach. The leak began at around 10,000 miles and one year in service; failure of the refrigerator to produce any cooling was just prior to two years, at 15,500 miles. Compete discarge of freon took place while the unit was unoccupied and parked indoors powered by 50A sometime in August.

The motorhome manufacturer apparently was unaware that some Whirlpool refrigerators, including Model WRF560SEYM05 3-door refrigerators installed in 2019 Dutch Stars have coolant lines routed inside the faceplate to which they attach Newmar's proprietary latch. Red arrows point to these lines in the removed cross-section shown below. Residue from freon leakage can be seen in the photo. When technicians pressurized the system to locate leakage, there was bubbling and hissing around the Newmar latch and an oil fog formed in the kitchen and bedroom. 

I mistook freon residue on the latch last year for silicone spray used to keep it operating smoothly.

Whirlpool Customer Care told Newmar that coolant lines were not routed through the doors; from that, Newmar erroneously deduced that the cabinet was also void of lines adjacent to the doors. On that basis Newmar refused to warranty the fridge; so, I used a diamond wheel to cut out the section shown below, which clearly has coolant lines running within a fraction of an inch from the Newmar latch. One such line (inset) is displaced, the encasing foam crushed.


Whirlpool, the manufacturer of affected refrigerators, has taken a cross-section of my failed unit's cabinet and is investigating.

Owners need to watch for oil residue on the cabinet-faceplate seams adjacent to the thinner black sliding door locks installed on Whirlpool fridges. Such leakage could signal an impending freon dischage into an occupied living compartment, failure of refrigeration.


 

[hermanmullins]

Very good report Andy, please keep us informed on the results.

Herman

[elkhartjim]

Personally I don't see this as some huge safety problem. This isn't close to the Norcold issues where people lost their lives. 

[hermanmullins]

Jim you are correct but it is good information for folks that have a Whirlpool unit to know.

Andy thanks again, let us know what you find out.

Herman

[rayin]

Looks to me like the Newmar retrofit was too close to that refrigerant line is the root cause, then normal road movement did the rest.

[elkhartjim]

There are 1000's of these in service and to tag this a Consumer Safety Alert seems to be a little alarmist. I have the exact refer in my Newmar and in 4 years and 25,000 miles no issues. 

[andyshane]

On 9/3/2021 at 7:06 PM, rayin said:

Looks to me like the Newmar retrofit was too close to that refrigerant line is the root cause, then normal road movement did the rest.

That's my conclusion, after the autopsy. We'll see if Whirlpool engineers agree.

The entire reason for Newmar giving me the stiff-arm is a Customer Svc specialist's misreading of what Whirlpool sent to her.  I copied and pasted their interaction below. Of course, the Whirlpool operator is not saying that the lines don't traverse the faceplate on the front of the cabinet, as I discovered. 

So, it took abot four shop hours to remove the overhead cabinet, two to dismantle the fridge, two to build a platform for my 7-ton lift, another four to build the reinforced portable platform needed for inside the coach, and an hour to disassemble the dinette. Another hour to remove the window. At fourteen man-hours, I'm an hour away from extracting the old cabinet. I'm beginning to understand why Natl Indoor RV, my local Newmar dealer, wouldn't even quote a price. 

Incidentally, I found the exact same model of fridge, so I have spare doors, bins, shelves tucked away in air conditioned storage! That might come in handy: Ventana friends just dumped their freshly loaded fridge in a turn, broke a bin and some other parts (sadly, a floor tile too).

Photo: Ready to begin moving portable platform into the dinette area.



===============================================
Copy of Newmar's Refusal to Warranty the Fridge
 

 Andy,

I respectfully decline authorization for the replacement of your refrigerator.  I received the following information from Whirlpool regarding the model number for the refrigerator we have listed in your coach. 

 

Please see below:

Hello

Here's the information that was researched.

Where are the Freon lines in a refrigerator? WRF560SEYM 05

Refrigerant lines look like copper tubing and are usually mounted on all sides of a fridge except the doors. The lines are usually mounted just outside of the plastic liner of the unit, in between that liner and the insulation layer.
 

Sophia
Whirlpool
Trade Care Team

 

Thank you,

Mary Faulstich

Dutch Star Brand Specialist

1-800-731-8300

Customerservice@newmarcorp.com

[elkhartjim]

Wow. I removed my refrigerator and installed a new one in less than 2 hours and with no special equipment, well I did need my wife to help getting through the door. You're using a 14,000 pound lift to move a refrigerator that weighs a few hundred pounds.

[andyshane]

Fifteen hours, approximately. 

That's how much labor it took to dismantle and remove the overhead cabinet, create a springboard for our seven-ton lift, gut the fridge and pull the dinette, build a cushioned platform for the interior of the bus, remove the side window.

HERE, the wife does the honors, pushing a perfectly fine Whirlpool frige rendered useless by flexing of the Newmar proprietary latch over the span of just two years, from the rig.

 

[andyshane]

All done! About twenty hours, total, including the time needed to build a carpeted platform to enclose the dining table, removing and installing the seating. 

The overhead cabinet was a lengthy process: liners are very tight and then affixed with dozens of fine staples. 

Some notes for the DIY crowd who want to be careful and not mar surfaces:
 

• Use clamps and a piece of carpet on the exterior to protect finish
• A plastic razor will nicely slit factory window caulking, remove bulk of material before reinstallation
• Label lighting cables before cutting, and feed cut cables into the fridge closet before attempting to lower the overhead cabinet
• Recaulking can be done with a high-quality silicone that goes on white, dries to clear, for a neater line
• Consider installing the same model fridge that is being removed: that way, you have spare doors in case any swing open en route and get damaged

I installed a Watchdog water alarm with the sensor placed flat on the floor near the condensate tray, the alarm mounted inside the aft dinette bench with a test switch. That brings our number to five: one under the kitchen sink, another in the tank bay, one next to the macerator pump, and one under the bathroom sink. The under-sink units sit upright in a silicone dog feeding mat like this one at Chewy. The fridge bay alarm will sound if a cabinet spill occurs, the icemaker line leaks, or condensation tray spillage happens.

Someone mentioned that a question about the lift had been asked in a response I couldn't see.  Any light lift can be adapted to hoist a fridge. A tractor's front loader or bucket would also suffice. As would an elevated or inclined platform and a crowd of helpers. A winch or even a bifold door could also be adapted to the purpose. The fridge weighs 237 pounds, less with shelves removed. I have a little Genie Z20N30 in my shop that tips the scales at 7 tons whose basket has a 500 lb lifting limit. A simple springboard braced with nylon straps bolted to the basket floor and then carpeted did the trick. The wife provided directions and I used the base console to steer the fridge into the opening, thoughtfully dimensioned by Newmar engineers for just this purpose. Once "docked" the transfer from lift to interior took mere seconds. We'd just done the same operation on a vintage Ambassador down the street, similar timeframe: hours of careful prep, a swift transfer.

I'll follow up on this operation when Whirlpool engineers weigh in on the leakage source. Meanwhile we have a perfect fridge with spares.

Edited September 17, 2021 by andyshane
Insert photo

[dickandlois]

Andy, A nice setup ! Looking like a pro. 

Thanks for your update !

Rich.