Dometic Starlight - Smoking grill!!

[MagicalArmchair]

So we've had our lovely (frighteningly expensive) Dometic Starlight cooker for about a year now. We've used the grill a small amount, but not a great deal. On our recent week away on Triola, my son piped up he wanted toast for breakfast rather than the sugary sawdust he normally eats. The first mate puts on the grill and I noted a plasticy burning smell. I think to myself its probably because it hasn't been used before, however, work my way to the galley to peer at the cooker.

As I get there, smoke begins to rise from the left of the grate at the back of the cooker! Needless to say I turn the cooker off and then the gas off at lightening speed.

Dometic responded with:

Thank you for your email,

When the unit is manufactured the components have a small layer of oil,

It is necessary for this to burn off on first use,

From the symptoms below we believe this may be the case,

If possible we would recommend trying the grill again for 10 - 15 mins in a well ventilated area.

If you notice anything untoward isolate the gas from the supply,

I hope this is of assistance,

Anyone else had this with a new cooker...? Think the above is safe to follow?

 

[michael_w]

Often the grill will pong a bit on new cookers, but you've had yours for a year and I guess it has warmed up a few times already. Suggest firing it up again and peering around the grill burner whilst it's alight for any stray plastic, escaped food scraps, etc.

Dometics are riveted together which doesn't make for easy maintence or replacement of parts.

 

[littleredmonkey]

Nothing new about this ,they do smoke to start with just give it a chance to settle down ,open a few windows it should be fine.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks all - just a bit alarming when you see a bit of your boat gently smoking away - time to grill some sausages me thinks...

 

[RichardS]

I installed a brand new heater matrix in a car a few days ago, the first time I've ever done that and I hope the last, and when I went for a test drive the smell of hot oil and plastic was overwhelming and I had to open the window to get rid of the fumes. At first I thought something was going wrong but by the time I got home everything had settled down.

Richard

 

[littleredmonkey]

Hi Richard , There should not be anything electrical to burn from your heater matrix in the car as it is heated by water ,if you had a electrical problem you would know about it by now. It was probably the corrosion protection on the metal that you could smell .

 

[RichardS]

Hi Richard , There should not be anything electrical to burn from your heater matrix in the car as it is heated by water ,if you had a electrical problem you would know about it by now. It was probably the corrosion protection on the metal that you could smell .

I don't understand where anything in this thread refers to electricity.

But yes, it was just the protective/manufacturing oil burning off the metal, exactly the same as in the OP's case.

Richard

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Ha, the heater matrix in my RX8 is knackered - its a job I have to do at some stage. I've flushed it a few time and that gives me some very limited heat - its a full dash out job... booo. I'll stick to tinkering with Triola rather than the eight I think

Well done doing yours! I'll let you know if my grill bursts into flames :encouragement:

 

[RichardS]

Ha, the heater matrix in my RX8 is knackered - its a job I have to do at some stage. I've flushed it a few time and that gives me some very limited heat - its a full dash out job... booo. I'll stick to tinkering with Triola rather than the eight I think

RX8 - that's an expensive car to run. Spark plugs £40 each if I remember rightly! :ambivalence:

On the Range Rover it was a complete dashboard out (3rd time!) and then either a complete air duct assembly out including disconnecting the a/c evaporator which I'd just had re-gassed or angle grinding / drilling out spot welds to remove part of the dashboard structure. I went for the metal cutting option, followed by making brackets and rivetting back at the end. Once the matrix was out I replaced it with an Audi A6 matrix which required cutting of the the duct assemby to make it fit.

Anyone who's ever owned a P38 will know why the Audi mod is worth all the trouble. :ambivalence:

Richard

 

[Otter]

We have a Dometic Starlight - love but the oven flame failure protection sometimes shuts off the gas if the oven isn't warmed up - any ideas for curing it?