Our new Kontiki 679, along with many other motorhomes and caravans, both UK and Euro spec comes with the Dometic RMD 8555 fridge freezer fitted as standard specification. The Dometic RMD 8555 boasts a high storage capacity of 190 litres. This is an increase of about ten per cent over our previous Thetford N175, a model with a storage capacity of 175 litres. Despite the Thetford appearing to offer a lower capacity, the Dometic RMD 8555 seems to hold a lot less.
Dometic RMD fridge with extra shelf fitted.
The above photograph shows the Dometic RMD 8555 “in use”. There is a very large space between shelves meaning that it is difficult to use this storage area, more so as the fridge freezer will be bouncing along the M61. Stacking items atop each other could well get messy on arrival at destination! There is nothing worse than mixing up your mangoes with your milk shakes! As an interim solution, three plastic baskets were purchased in ASDA for £1. Using one inside the other for strength, these baskets will hold taller items such as milk shakes. Whilst bottles could go in the door bins, we try not to overload the door with weight. Remember – the loaded fridge will be doing 70 mph! We placed rubber matting underneath the basket to prevent it from sliding about once on the move.
Next up was to order an additional Dometic RMD 8555 shelf. I am unable to provide the part number for this. However, Leisure Spares at Boroughbridge may be able to assist you. Even with the additional shelf in situ, there are sill large voids of unusable space. However, there is the possibility for further shelving in certain areas as you can see from the photograph.
I think the solution is to find something a bit more “up to the job” than the ASDA baskets, perhaps a salad bin type thing to live on one of the shelves with excess space above it. This will probably be better at the lower levels of the fridge so as not to prevent the chilled air from circulating.
In other news, we find the Dometic gives poor cooling performance in hot weather! As an interim solution we fitted the Dometic fridge ventilator – see this page on the Motorhome Voyager website.
Dometic RMD 8555 – salad bin woes
Now, speaking of the salad bin, the salad bin on the Dometic RMD 8555 is not that good. The photograph shows ours with Pepsi cans in situ. These are not the usual 330ml size, these are the smaller 250 ml sized cans. I am still puzzled how to get a lettuce in that space without slicing it up first! The poor old lettuce has to be hung, strung and quite literally quartered to fit in the Dometic salad bin! The capacity and design of the salad bin area could be better.
Having read this article, perhaps you have another suggestion for improve fridge storage capacity? Fill out the “leave a reply” section with your ideas.
Hi Russell,
We also have a Dometic RMD 8555 Fridge in our Bessacarr (2014) 584 motorhome and looking for a spare shelf. I have sent a message to Leisure Spares at Boroughbridge and hopefully they will get back to us. Thank you for sharing the information re spare shelves albeit I see it was posted in 2013. However, I like the suggestion you made about using baskets from ASDA, could you possibly let me have the dimensions so I can purchase some? Look forward to hearing from you soon. Regards Pauline
Hi – the baskets are about 30 cm long, 12 cm tall and about 18 cm deep. You can often get them in “pound stores” and so on, often in bundles of three. We also use them in the pull out metal baskets in the kitchen of the motorhome.
Quite agree with all your comments.
The freezer has a shelf in it, but it moves forward and backward. No way of locking it in place. Maybe I should take the shelf out and use a basket in the freezer?
Also there was a shelf on the freezer door which was also useful for storage.
The door shelves are not height adjustable.
The middle shelf is too high, too much space above the bottles on the lower shelf and too high to store bottles , so wasted storage space on the door.
Again, the shelves in the main body of the fridge just seem wrong. I bought an extra shelf, but still struggling to use.
The salad box is not hight enough.
Also, I have this blue light in the fridge.
I would like a white light, and have emailed dometic UK, but no response.
Can’t understand why it just doesn’t seem to store as much as my 11 year old one.
The freezer doesn’t seem as cold, spoke to dometic engineer but he says OK, but I’m not convinced.
Seems a big step backward.
Would be interested in talking to the designers to hear their responses.
Thank you for your comments about the Dometic RMD fridge freezer. Ours struggled in hot weather in Italy last year, so we had a Dometic part – a fan with thermostat fitted. Unfortunately, the fridge coped no better in high temperatures, so we have now fitted two fans to the “hot air out” vent (top). These should blow the hot air out and thus the fridge should cool more efficiently.
The Thetford N175, although with a lower official storage capacity was a far better fridge in our 2011 ‘van.
Watch this website for an update with the fans. In the meantime, I’ve added a link to our Dometic fan article.