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View Poll Results: Who should pay for the new refrigerator?
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Old 08-30-2016, 04:07 AM   #57
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new Norcold cooling unit same issue as older ones?

Thanks, BennieH

I subsequently found out from the PO that during the install of the Norcold recall high temp sensor that the tech punched the mounting screw of the sensor into a cooling tube. Needless to say, the refrigerant leaked out and ruined the cooling unit. The Norcold installer's company had to replace the cooling unit to the tune of $2,200. My question is, "Is the replacement Norcold cooling unit just as vulnerable/dangerous as the old ones?" If so, I will bite the bullet and get it replaced with the Amish unit. Peace of mind and safety are more important than $1,200 for the Amish unit, IMO.



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The ARP will prevent the fridge from getting hot enough to trip the Norcold recall unit to begin with. I installed the ARP when I had the Amish replacement cooling unit installed. If my memory is correct, the recall unit trips at +400 degrees c. The ARP trips at around 227c and it restarts. It will go into lockout after 5 incidents of high temp.
Go to ARPRV.com and read everything about the control. It is a very good read and a great product.
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Old 08-30-2016, 05:52 AM   #58
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The Amish cooling units are built better than the NotSoCold ones however they are not the complete "fix-all". I have Monaco owner friends who have had the Amish units and eventually they failed too. I have also read on this forum where owners have switched to the Amish cooling units and later had problems so they gave up and installed residential fridges.

Do some of your own research and read what others have done.

Up to you, your money, your coach, your decision.

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Old 08-30-2016, 06:18 AM   #59
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My Norcold 1200LRIM was subject to the recall and the previous owner of the coach had the recall work completed with installation of the High Temp Sensor (confirmed by calling Norcold). What additional safety benefits would accrue from installing the ARP High Temp Limit/Thermal Switch?

Thanks much.
We have the same unit in our Itasca and it has been retro-fitted 3 times with the High Temp Sensor. That is a bandaid and not a very good one. It tripped twice when I had the coach washed and the guy allowed water to get to the back of the fridge via the wall vents. There is no re-set so it cost $100+ for those repairs. Then we had the coach sitting in our driveway and the 3rd one tripped on it's own and the 8amp fuse on the circuit board was blown just as we were packing for a short trip. We decided to install a residential fridge (Samsung RF18) because this is now interfering with our ability to use our coach. When we pulled the Norcold out yesterday, this is what we found. The inside wall of the compartment was burned to a black crisp. We are very fortunate that the coach did not go up in flames. Everyone should get those refrigerators out of their coaches. The Samsung RF18 is costs around $1,000. I am doing the install myself (I have my husband help with the heavy lifting). The RF18 is only 24" deep with the doors off and will fit through our coach door. There are plenty of helpful videos on YouTube.
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Old 08-30-2016, 06:33 AM   #60
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The RF18 is only 24" deep with the doors off and will fit through our coach door.


I wish I could use the Samsung but it's too tall for my application that has a furnace under the refer. 😡
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Old 08-30-2016, 06:57 AM   #61
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The RF18 is only 24" deep with the doors off and will fit through our coach door.

I wish I could use the Samsung but it's too tall for my application that has a furnace under the refer. 😡
I know of people with Monaco coaches that installed Samsung fridges in their coach that had furnaces under their NotSoCold.

HERE is a thread where one of my friends with a Monaco did it and there are others posted on this forum. Just do some serious searching and you will have plenty to read.

HERE is another thread where the owner installed a Samsung over the furnace.

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Old 08-30-2016, 07:44 AM   #62
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film View Post
I know of people with Monaco coaches that installed Samsung fridges in their coach that had furnaces under their NotSoCold.

HERE is a thread where one of my friends with a Monaco did it and there are others posted on this forum. Just do some serious searching and you will have plenty to read.

HERE is another thread where the owner installed a Samsung over the furnace.

Dr4Film ----- Richard
I've read through those in the past. The issue is that my ceiling height is only 78" to begin with rather than the 84" of most newer coaches. I only have 64 inches of usable space above the furnace.
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Old 08-30-2016, 11:23 AM   #63
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I had the same height issue in my Camelot, thus I went with the Amish cooling unit. I know of several folks who have the Amish unit, with one of them in their 5th year with it. Saw him a month ago and he said that it works like the day he installed it. Runs the fridge at a setting of 5 and his Ice Maker works perfectly. I am sure that there are Amish units that have problems, but those I know of have not had any.
If there is a slightly smaller residential unit in the future and I have any issues with the Norcold (gaskets, etc.), I'll definitely look into the swap out.
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Old 09-01-2016, 02:17 AM   #64
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OP: Lesson #1- NEVER EVER use CW for service. Lesson learned, eh? Go over to RV.Net and you will see pages and pages of reference to incompetent work by CW regardless of what "The Profit" believes. Kudos to them for having staff to monitor complaints on RV.net, and as far as I can tell resolve most of them favorably, but allot of the complaints are simply incompetence . I like CW, but in reality I am far smarter than most of those guys in the shop and not being pushed to get something out the door to get the next one in. What I don't have is their muscle if ever needed, and that's been handled by good friends.

I had the same drip cup issue as you and I can't tell you where it came from but it has nothing to do with the cooling unit failure. I replaced mine with a Stainless Steel bowl with a magnet on it from Harbor freight.

Also, I don't know where you live, but the NORCOLD factory rep lives in the Santa Clarita area and can install the failsafe as he did mine without anything to do with CW. As for the lousy insulation, mine was the same except the fiberglass was wide open, never sealed from the factory (jerks). I caught it early, fixed it and got 10 years out of the factory cooling unit. It was working OK, not great, but I replaced it with a Pines RV Helium cooling unit anyway that is much colder and operates at much higher external temps than the original, far better construction, and 3 year extendable warranty. The entire chimney is fiberglass covered with a steel clamshell, not the lousy cover the factory uses. Also being Helium there's nothing combustible should it ever burst, and I am not aware of any failure like that outside of OEM, and that includes Dometic that has its own issues. If I were you i would think twice about another Norcold cooling unit if you can possibly avoid it. And while you're at it fix the cabinet it lives in. I lined mine with auto firewall insulation and sheet aluminum at the top. So between the clamshell and the other work done, I have zero chance of heat charring from the chimney. Do the same while its out.

Failures? Well gee.. there are thousands of after market units out there with zero failures, there's always going to be one or two, but the reality is this is a very simple design that's worked for 60+ years quite well, and done right there is no reason to fail, there's nothing short of a leak to kill it cept debris that comes internally in a variety of ways, mostly I hear from lack of use. Compressor fridges die too. Things happen and I'm about to replace mine at home due to a slow freon leak that can't be repaired in the wall. Besides, residential isn't for everyone. We drycamp 99% of the time, and for me bedtime is always around 2Am with a 20A draw throughout the the night. There is no way that the additional load on the inverter as thrifty as the Samsung is, I could maintain the batteries on Solar only, and in the winter @ Quartzsite still occasionally need to stuff the batteries to get them to a point the solar can finish it. It you are a FHU camper, then mebbe residential will work, but I'll go kicking and screaming. If these He cooling units had been around 15 years ago, the idea of residential in RV's would have never taken off. There would have been no reason.
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Old 09-01-2016, 08:42 AM   #65
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SCVJeff, We also put in the Helium unit and I am absolutely pleased with it. Also the ARP unit is a must.
I may try to get a set of doors from an old 1200 and design/make a replacement door gasket set when I retire next spring. Seems to be a issue that could be profitable and I'll need something to keep my engineering mind busy. Otherwise I'll drive my wife crazy.
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Old 09-01-2016, 10:03 AM   #66
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Got the ARP too
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Old 09-02-2016, 06:15 PM   #67
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Gettin' the ARP

Based on what I have read in this thread (thanks, OP, for starting it), I have ordered the ARP thermal limit switch with fan controller and one fan. I am going to use the fridge as an ice chest until this is installed. This is probably a stupid question but, "Is the risk factor still the same (prior to installing the ARP) whether or not the unit is running on propane or running on ac?" The next project is to replace the Norcold cooling unit with a helium charged unit.

Note: Unit is 1200LRIM.

I don't recall who posted the idea of lining the inside of the refer cabinet with automotive firewall material and sheet aluminum, but I like it.
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Old 09-02-2016, 06:54 PM   #68
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Probably me. I used foil sided firewall insulation.

I would say that the danger is still there, but with the ARP running in the background, it shuts off the fridge WAY sooner than the Norcold failsafe device that only shuts off the fridge after its dead... Hopefully. The ARP catches things soon after they exceed normal operating parameters.
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Old 09-02-2016, 10:08 PM   #69
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I just had an Amish built helium charged unit installed. Works as advertised. 90 degree OAT the freezer was 4 degrees and the fridge was 36-38. I've had an ARP unit for a couple of years and wouldn't run the fridge without one. The secret to a cold fridge is airflow over the coils. I have two fans on the coils, two in the roof vent and have ordered a new ARP 3.x with a fan controler and a blower fan to mount inside the lower vent. The biggest problem gas fridges in RV's is keeping it level within limits. If they get off level they get hot and eventually that degrades the performance and can cause cracks in the metal boiler tubing. The ARP will prevent the problem by shutting the fridge down before the temp gets high enough to cause damage. Just keep it level when not in motion and it will work great and be safe.
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Old 09-02-2016, 11:46 PM   #70
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We went to the beach for a week in 65-75 degrees, then home in 104+ for 2days. The entire time it never budged from the set temp: 31 in the fridge, and -5 to +4 in the freezer depending on where you measure. Both David Force and JR at pines RV said these perform much better in high temps.

In the fridge I didn't like the eBay fans because it's a very inefficient use of attempting draw off the fins. In mine I mounted a fan behind the light blowing clockwise around the box and making full use of drawing across the fins like this


This does what the fans in the residentials do: circulate around the entire box, not attempting to cool from the 5 fins the fans are on. Oh yeah, with the Norcold coil I NEVER EVER got ice across the entire rear fin assy
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