Robert A. Alexander closed his note with:
"So, rip those refrigerators out of your Westies, turn them upside
down
AND BURP THEM!"

Yet he began his note by saying "I have NO idea of what constitutes
proper maintenance of RV refrigerators."

I have not spent years and years servicing lots of different brands
and styles of absorption refrigeration systems.  But I was really
interested to read the second hand comments by this retired
"C/Heating/Refrigeration Business operator" who 'routinely "serviced"
RV refrigerators, yearly, by "burping" them!'

I did service and maintain my own Arkla Servel 3 and 4 ton gas fired
air conditioners for many years in running a business I owned.  I had
to open those sealed systems to "remove non condensables" which is
what their service manuals called it.  (That REALLY works well.)  I've
had a number of RV's and removed and replaced a few absorption cycle
refrigerators for various reasons.  I used to enjoy reading service
manuals much as some people enjoy reading romance novels.  In other
words, I'm not entirely green in this area.  One furnace manufacturer
made a little design change as a result of one of my many
suggestions.  So I've also been a pain in the rump to some nice
people.

I'm not convinced that this "burping" by inversion for a few hours is
always a good idea.  In fact I've heard mixed reports about how that
has affected RV refrigerators.  I have heard a few reports about
refrigerators that wouldn't work after doing it.  Granted, they
weren't these little Dometic units from Westys.  I'm not certain that
this suggestion is bad.  As a matter of fact, I don't know how anyone
outside of Dometic could be so darned certain.  I like clarity, free
lunches and simple solutions as much as anybody, but this simple
solution sounds a little scary to me.  But then, I could be wrong.

Anyone want to get an opinion from Dometic's technical department?
John