Every Dometic absorption refrigerator built in recent decades - the RM2652 and RM2852, the two-door RM1350, the DM series and the newer NDR models - runs on two separate boards. The power board sits low in the rear vent compartment and carries Dometic part number 3850712.011 on two-way RM2652 units. It is the muscle: it switches line voltage to the AC heating element, opens the 12 volt LP gas valve solenoid, fires the igniter and watches the flame sense circuit. The eyebrow board is the thin board behind the front control strip, carrying the ON, AUTO, GAS and CHECK indicators. It is the brain and the readout: it reads the thermistor, decides whether the box needs heat, tells the power board which energy source to use and displays faults. The two talk over a multi-pin harness up the back of the cabinet, and damaging it makes two healthy boards behave like dead ones.
Owners call this a power issue because nothing happens when they press the buttons, but the fault is rarely there. Our technicians confirm heat input first, because a board switching correctly into an open circuit looks identical to one that has quit. On 120 volt operation that means measuring the element: on the RM2652 family a 325 watt element reads roughly 44 ohms across its leads with power removed, and a failed one reads open on a Fluke 117. On LP we want a real flame with the regulator holding 11 inches of water column on a manometer. The thermistor is checked second. It is a negative temperature coefficient sensor clipped to the fins inside the food compartment, roughly 7,000 to 10,000 ohms at room temperature and climbing sharply as the fins approach freezing. Unplug it at the eyebrow connector, jumper the two pins, and a live board reads a warm box and calls for heat within about a minute. The board is condemned last, never first.
A drifted or open thermistor imitates a dead board almost perfectly. The eyebrow board has no other way of knowing how cold the box is, so whatever the sensor reports is treated as fact: if it says the fins are already frozen, the board stops calling for heat and the fridge sits there warm with every indicator lit and no fault displayed. Nothing about that presentation points at the sensor, which is why so many owners order a board. The same is true in the other direction on the gas side. A blocked orifice or a corroded ground stops the board from proving flame, and the board dutifully shuts the gas off, which looks like a control failure and is not one. Working the circuit in order costs our technicians about twenty minutes on site. Working it backwards costs a board that was never faulty, plus a second visit when the real fault is still there.
When you select gas, the power board energizes the valve solenoid and fires the electrode at the burner. That same electrode doubles as the flame sensor: once the flame is burning, a tiny current passes through it to ground and the board reads that current as proof of flame. No proof means no gas, so the valve closes within seconds, and after its retries the board locks out and lights CHECK. The lockout only clears when the unit is switched OFF and back ON. A fridge that lights, runs a few seconds and drops out repeatedly is almost never a dead board. It is usually a blocked burner orifice, a wasp nest or soot in the flue, an electrode gap that has drifted outside the eighth to three sixteenths of an inch it wants, or a corroded ground path back to the board. On newer NDR and DM units with a digital display, the same failure prints as a fault code rather than a blinking lamp.
This fork decides whether you spend a few hundred dollars or replace the fridge. The electronics can only put heat into the boiler, so if heat is proved going in and the box still will not drop below the mid fifties, no board will fix it. Dometic gives no cooling failure code the way Norcold does, so our technicians take those temperatures with an infrared thermometer. A thermistor is among the cheapest parts on the appliance, a board runs in the low hundreds, and a cooling unit is another conversation. Waiting turns the cheap repair into the expensive one. That compartment is open to outside air, and at Florida latitude the UV that degrades the vent door seal lets rain and salt humidity onto the board, where a corroded terminal runs hot and burns its pad.
We are fully mobile and come to you anywhere in Florida - campgrounds, storage lots, driveways and RV parks.
Call 888-759-1438Usually yes, and usually in one visit. Our technicians come to the coach with a multimeter, a manometer and an infrared thermometer, and work the circuit in order: heat input first, then the thermistor, then the boards. Many no-power complaints turn out to be a blown fuse on the power board, a corroded spade terminal in the rear vent compartment, or a thermistor telling the eyebrow board the box is already cold enough.
Do not guess at it. The power board carries 120 volts on some terminals and 12 volts on others, and putting a line voltage lead onto a low voltage tab will destroy both boards instantly. Photograph what you have, leave everything disconnected and leave the LP shut off. Our technicians match the terminals against the wiring diagram printed on the unit, then load test each leg before power is restored.
It depends on whether heat is reaching the boiler. If the 120 volt element or the LP flame is not working, that is an electronics, gas or element fault and it is repairable on site. If heat is confirmed going in and the box still will not cool, the sealed cooling unit has failed and no board replacement will help. We establish which one you have before any part is ordered.
Rarely. Cooling on shore power proves the eyebrow board, the thermistor and the cooling unit are all fine, because the same pair of boards runs both modes. The fault is isolated to the gas side: LP pressure, a blocked burner orifice, the electrode gap, the flame sense path or the valve solenoid. Our technicians confirm 11 inches of water column at the regulator and inspect the burner and flue before touching a board.
Our service call covers the trip out and the first hour on site at the rate in the pricing table on this page; anything past that first hour is quoted and approved before we carry on. Parts are quoted separately once we know whether you need a thermistor, a board or something larger. We do not quote a fixed price on a fridge we have not seen.
That is a fair question once a cooling unit is dead, but it is the wrong question when the fault is a thermistor or a board. Repairing the electronics on an RM2652 or RM1350 is a fraction of the cost of a conversion, and a conversion adds inverter and battery load your coach may not be set up to carry. Get the diagnosis first, then decide.
Every figure on this page comes from a manufacturer document or a standards body, not from another repair site. Here is where each one comes from.
| Item | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Service call | $299 | Includes the trip out to your RV and the first hour on site |
| Work past the first hour | Quoted after diagnosis | We tell you what it will take before we carry on |
| Parts | Quoted per job | Special-order parts may need a deposit before we order them |
| Written estimate | No charge | You approve the estimate before any work starts |
The service call covers the trip out to your RV and the first hour on site. Anything beyond that depends on what we find, and we quote it and get your approval before carrying on.
The price ranges on this page come from our own recent jobs across Florida, not from an industry average. What you pay depends on the rig, the parts it needs and what we find on site, so we give you a written estimate before any work begins and you approve it first.