Dometic STX12

[tonyiiiafl]

I did a recon visit tonight. I ran the unit and saw a drip coming from the feed in raw water hose. I pulled the hose and cleaned it up and reattached. It appeared to be A OK. However, the corrosion is rampant! The shroud is eaten away some, as are the lower fins of the condenser. I would need to pull the unit and clean it out while out of the boat. I am concerned with all the corrosion, that whatever I use to clean it will result in another leak, as some parts look very fragile. WHat are your thoughts on replacing with another unit, as the Dometic will require a new control to function. I have enough room to move it a bit, and also just don’t want to put a lot of labor into something I will not trust.

Also, since the connections are only a feed wire and a pump wire, does it really matter if I use a different make unit? I was thinking of a Mermaid unit, as I have owned them previously.

[tomschauer]

You can clean it up good, let it dry and paint the damaged surfaces. You will probably get a couple more years out of it.
A few missing evaporator fins wont hurt anything.

[tonyiiiafl]

Good thought, but I have ordered a replacement. By the time i get it out, clean, dry paint and re install, I have wasted more time that I could be enjoying the old girl, as it is already August. I wasn’t looking forward to spending $2500.00 but with the labor involved, I am once and done. So,new unit arrives Friday with new controller, so I hope to have it all buttoned up by Saturday evening, and auto pilot installed. Let’s see how well (or poorly!) I do!

[tomschauer]

After you install the new one, maybe clean, paint and sell the old to help ease the pain on the wallet.

[tonyiiiafl]

Yes, I am going to clean it up and test throughly, then I would see if it may lessen the pain a tad. I just hate to do the labor twice, especially during the last two moths of the season!