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.
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"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 at a local 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. / "

We hope this will be of help to some other RVer with a failed ( F- 5 ?) Dometic Convection Microwave?

NEW INPUT:  I have received several messages suggesting that if you "set your clock", the "F - 5" will go away and the microwave will continue proper operation. The suggestion is that there is some design anomaly that makes the unit resume normal function. This did not work for us as our clock was set.... It is also reported that Dometic knows nothing of this? I guess if they did, they would never admit it?  Sorry I can't confirm anything about this ...  It can't hurt to try !  /  Mar 2012.      Update links / Feb 2013.

"I believe so... Remember this is a two man job...

Unplug and free the cord. (Take the glass tray out too)
Remove the top horizontal vent cover which runs completely across the top.
You will see two (slotted ?) heads of shafts, running front to back, facing out at either end behind the cover you removed.
You MAY find several typical RV square head screws run through the unit sheet metal into the wood frame ABOVE.
Remove these screws (if any) FIRST. Look carefully. These were added for safety or backup by KZ.
Now unscrew the shafts a bit at a time working from side to side.
You will see the unit beginning to tip down toward you.
The rear bottom edge of the unit, is resting on the lip of the wall mounting plate.
Your helper needs to be there to accept the weight as the shafts are completely unscrewed.
Then the two of you can lift the rear of the unit slightly, and off the wall mounting plate.
Carefully pull the cord out through the hole in the cabinet above, as you set it down somewhere!

All this assumes that you have a similar Microwave to that described in my paper which is REAR MOUNTED.
Obviously I have no idea what KZ might have done on some models or at some different production time.
My unit had the Dometic name and was in fact made by LG, NOT Dometic. The GE replacement is LG too !

I should probably add that the normal kitchen unit is mounted with vertical bolts through the bottom of the cabinet just above.
Like my unit, a kitchen unit also has a rear wall bracket (plate) to support the bottom rear edge(s). I suspect this type
can be found on U-Tube in a How-To video."  Dec  2015

LINKS:

GE Profile Convection Microwave - manufacturer information

Dometic Convection Microwave - manufacturer information

New Single Bowl Kitchen Sink for RV - more project DIY information

New RV Steps Mats - more project DIY information

Roll-up Screen Door crashes ? - more project DIY information

INSTALLED PHOTO: