How many of you drove away in a used MH, and had none or almost NO problems???

[spritz]

I got to take mine out of the drive way to fuel her up today @$2.89 per Gal then other end of town for propane got home and it started to snow
I didn't see any other MH all afternoon
got to go got to go.

PLASMA800, Sorry I missed the Diesel part of your first op. Mine isn't a diesel. Sorry
But I will tell you that I do lots of other things to mine. A few of the op think we don't do anything to our MH except drive them into the ground.

O-Contra r

Oil / filter change -2 times per year needed or not
Gennie oil / filter change -2 times per year needed or not
Check belts hoses - ea. time we go on the road
Keep tires up on air
Be sure air bags are at the correct level
Change fuel filters - once a year 32 year old rig might be crap in tank
Plugs -once a year, wires every 2 years
And the list goes on.
I can assure them that is not the case with my MH
I sure have enjoyed your Forum.
Happy that there are others that have boughten older MH's with very to few problems.
Tim

[dezolen]

Originally Posted by docj

We installed a Samsung RF197 like many other RVers. It is an affordable counter-depth unit and it pretty much fits the footprint of the Norcold 1200 series. There are lots of threads on this forum about installing this unit; just search for "residential refrigerator" or "Samsung RF197".

You are correct that when we are traveling the alternator (and our small solar panel) are charging the batteries while the inverter is discharging them. These modern refrigerators are very energy efficient; the Samsung uses ~100 watts of power on the average.

Just wait till you need parts for your Samsung. My appliance repairman curses them as parts are almost impossible to get hold of.

[docj]

Originally Posted by dezolen

Just wait till you need parts for your Samsung. My appliance repairman curses them as parts are almost impossible to get hold of.

I'm not sure what your point is; IMHO a residential fridge is 1000% better than the Norcold. The Samsung is <1/3 the price of the Norcold. If one breaks I can throw away the old one and buy a new one and still be better off.

[nancie_usa]

Yea!!! Us too....double yea's all around. Just brought our 1997 serengeti home. Spent all day at the dealership as they fixed some small problems that were to be fixed while performing the $15,000 third party pre-inspection included in the price. A three hour drive home for us, in the dark and on a few "suicide alley" type roads! We had no problem pulling into our supermarket parking lot after this joy ride! The only issue we had was somehow the bathroom door got locked and I had waited to long before venturing back to use it. I did mention it was dark didn't I...had no idea where the light switches were actually. With legs crossed, informed hubby to pull over quickly. Panic setting in for him as to where to pull this monster over. Turned out fine. Pulled up a few car lengths behind a bus stop in front of an Applebee's in the middle of some small town. Right now I'm searching for info on recall's for norcold. Damn thing was working when we inspected. Now it's not! Oh, we bought a three year warranty! Takes a lot of worry away.

[ladagobago]

Originally Posted by docj

I'm not sure what your point is; IMHO a residential fridge is 1000% better than the Norcold. The Samsung is <1/3 the price of the Norcold. If one breaks I can throw away the old one and buy a new one and still be better off.

I agree too ! 14 years ago we replace a Norcold in our yacht. Most boaters refer to them as "NEVERCOLD". At the time we replaced it with a GE 9 cu ft. for a cost of only $279 VS $1300 for the nevercold. boats run on ac or dc.

On the MH we had a problem driving off the lot with the Norcold Ice Maker. We found a replacement ice maker module at Lowes for under $50. Since that time we make ice and everything runs well with the MH norcold.

one thing we did have trouble with is the propane section. What I found was that rust flakes off the exhaust stack and falls directly on the igniter. the unit goes into alarm at least to warn you of failure. it has happened twice in three years. each time had to remove the cover of for the burner and clean. why not use a stainless steel stack??

the other problem was a fuse under the left side cover blew two times. each time I had to remove all the controls in front of the black cover to replace the buss fuse. After the second time, I used a dremel tool to cut a hole where the fuse was so if it ever happened again I could simply use a needle nose plier to replace. Guess what. it happened a third time and only took two minutes to resolve the issue. Why not put a small inspection plate over that spot ??

IF the norcold ever craps out I will replace it with a residential machine. It cost way to much to fix or replace norcold products.

[plasma800]

Originally Posted by ernest917

Attachment 51123



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Attachment 51125

Plasma800....

Jay, here's what I did... It works off AC/DC so as I'm going down the road it switches over to 12V but when I plug in it automatically switches to 110... I now have tons of freezer space without having to give up pantry space... Simple to use and easy to get to...

Ernest...

I was looking at something just like this two days ago! At least you KNOW you can keep some stuff cold, and the new girl has a slide out tray just prefect for this, plus 110 in the bay, not sure about 12 volt in the bay though.

[plasma800]

I found THIS video both informative and amusing all at the same time on you tube about the way norcolds work.

ABC's 4 RV's Refrigerator - YouTube

[plasma800]

Originally Posted by docj

; the Samsung uses ~100 watts of power on the average.

Nice! that's a very low power draw. I need to throughly inspect the battery setup in this coach, I'm hoping the dealer will put all new batteries in, but I'm really unsure on the electrical system other than I know it's 50 amps.

I picked up all of the manuals left in the coach, and am organizing them now.

I also know that they norcold is the 12 cubic foot, not 8?

So I know this might be a novice question, but I'm a novice... when you are driving, all of your 110 plugs are up and running yes?

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by plasma800

So I know this might be a novice question, but I'm a novice... when you are driving, all of your 110 plugs are up and running yes?

Usually your inverter will be sized to power the refrigerator and a few outlets, perhaps the TV and entertainment center. Inverters are not much more than 80% efficient, so having one large enough to power most all the needs would require much bigger battery banks. Microwaves often require 1100 watts or more, an A/C unit 1800 - 2000 watts, more for 'start up.' You would quickly exceed the capacity of the engine alternator to replace the energy used and would end up at the end of the day with dead batteries!

[wildmandmc]

bought a 2000 itasca horizon DP. $35k. taking it on maiden voyage this weekend. so far (had it for almost a month). cost me abt $12. so far. seems the gate valve , that switch's from tank/city is stuck. so i pluged the end where u put hose on to fill and now have presure , from tank. only other prob. is radio in bedroom wont shut off, buttons stuck, (i have a hammer to fix that).

[docj]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

Usually your inverter will be sized to power the refrigerator and a few outlets, perhaps the TV and entertainment center. Inverters are not much more than 80% efficient, so having one large enough to power most all the needs would require much bigger battery banks. Microwaves often require 1100 watts or more, an A/C unit 1800 - 2000 watts, more for 'start up.' You would quickly exceed the capacity of the engine alternator to replace the energy used and would end up at the end of the day with dead batteries!

With all due respect this is not necessarily true. Our MH was designed to carry a 2kW inverter and virtually all outlets and light fixtures are wired to it. The pure sine wave Magnum inverter we installed as a replacement for our OEM Xantrex is rated at 90% efficiency over much of its range. Even though we don't run our microwave off the inverter, that is the way the coach was originally configured.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by nancie_usa

Yea!!! Us too....double yea's all around. Just brought our 1997 serengeti home. Spent all day at the dealership as they fixed some small problems that were to be fixed while performing the $15,000 third party pre-inspection included in the price.

Holy cow; that must be some inspection!

[ernest917]

Plasma800...

Jay....

Good thing about my set up is that it can be a freezer OR a refrigerator... Just depends on what my need might be at the moment.... Went to Huntsville SP back in October and filled it up with canned drinks and bottled water, set temp at 45 degrees and everything was perfect... On freezer setting, we fill it up set it at 25 degrees and then transfer what we might want to eat the next day from it to the inside freezer.... We used it this past summer for our 31 day trip and it ran constantly for 33 days without a single glitch.... We love it...

[justhavinfun]

We bought an '03 itasca in 2006, w/ 16,000 miles and we've never looked back.....no major problems!