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Muddypaws · 09-08-2013, 09:44 AM

Of all the things that get discussed on this site it's one of the 'hot' items that always gets heated replies. Politics, pets, bad neighbors, campground prices, PC VS Mac and refrigerators.

For the record I am happy with my 1201LRIM. That wasn't always the case but I've worked with the engineer who invented the snip-the-tip adjustable thermistor and talked him into building some that work on Norcolds.

Unfortunately my refer did not like having the thermistor mounted anywhere but on the fin. It caused it to just shut down every 47 hours when it went into defrost mode. Apparently it did not sense the rise in temperature soon enough.

I got mine to normally run at 34F in the refer and an astounding -18F in the freezers by placing a single thickness of styrofoam from a coffee cup between the fin and the thermistor. I refer to this as 'the Muddypaws mod'.

That worked fine for a long time. But we've had some very hot days and I noticed that if the sun was beating on refer side and there was any wind blowing against that side the temps would rise up to 40F. Higher if it went into defrost mode during those conditions.

I didn't like this. More importantly the DW didn't like it either.

I bought a 4-pack of 120mm 70CFM computer fans and a single N/O 50C (122F) thermostatic switch and an inline fuse holder. The fans are attached to the upper vent with tie-wraps and the switch is mounted next to the existing one that controls the fans installed by Norcold. I also used a single Molex connector that I had in stock. Net cost? Under $20.

Result: I turned it on Thursday at 2PM. The temperature in the refer was over 100F. The next time I checked was at 11AM Friday. The refer was at 34F and both freezers were at -18.

24 to 48 hour cool-down time? Not me!

Yesterday was Even hotter. With the afternoon sun on the refer side and the temperature inside the coach sitting at 110F the refer was at 34F, freezers at -18.

I think I'm going to leave the fans Installed. Their current draw is negligible and I can stand next to the vent and still not hear them. (I can hear our residential refer from 20 feet)

I don't need no stinkin'' residential refrigerator!

Skip426 · 09-08-2013, 10:02 AM

While , I applaud , your patience and ingenuity , I would question.
Why should you have to go through this with , an appliance that should have worked properly in the first place ?

The design engineers , know where the fridge is going to be used and supply the spec's for the installation; after testing , one would presume; and still long term , operation & safety, is an issue.

jesilvas · 09-08-2013, 10:11 AM

I'm surprised there were no fans OEM on the back side. All the ones I've pulled out had fans.
Another thing to think of, some refrs have two side vents; one at top, and one at bottom. Those need fans the most.
The others have one vent on the side at bottom, the other on the roof. Those let hot air escape easier.

KSCRUDE · 09-08-2013, 10:20 AM

We loved the last and love our present Norcold. It holds great temps no matter the weather. It has never been shut off since we got the rig. Ice cream is rock hard and beer is ice cold. If it ain't broke why fix it.

if it ever stops, we will get a new one just like it.

deSanford · 09-08-2013, 10:32 AM

I got mine to normally run at 34F in the refer and an astounding -18F in the freezers by placing a single thickness of styrofoam from a coffee cup between the fin and the thermistor. I refer to this as 'the Muddypaws mod'.

My question is do you have any pictures of the "styrofoam" mounted, and how did you attach it to the refer fin? Is the thermistor already attached on the fin? My unit is on a full wall slide so I don't have a vent on the top (roof). deSanford PS do you have any fans inside the unit?

Muddypaws · 09-08-2013, 10:55 AM

It has the two normal fans. I said so in my OP.

Absorption refers installed in slides do not get the airflow that Norcold designed them for. I would suggest that having them on the street side slide is probably the worst place they could possibly be installed. Installing pull-through fans is not a new concept and I merely leveraged what I've read on this site. The two mods I've done to my refer make it excellent IMHO. I wish I could get our LG residential to hold at 34F.

I spent $20 and made it better because I like tinkering. And we occasionally go hot & windy places and she wants the coach blocking the wind and the afternoon sun. Precisely what messes up the normal (good) cooling.

If you don't like what I did don't do it to yours. If yours is awesome already don't change anything.

But if yours does what mine did perhaps I just saved you a bunch of money.

Muddypaws · 09-08-2013, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deSanford

I got mine to normally run at 34F in the refer and an astounding -18F in the freezers by placing a single thickness of styrofoam from a coffee cup between the fin and the thermistor. I refer to this as 'the Muddypaws mod'.

My question is do you have any pictures of the "styrofoam" mounted, and how did you attach it to the refer fin? Is the thermistor already attached on the fin? My unit is on a full wall slide so I don't have a vent on the top (roof). deSanford PS do you have any fans inside the unit?

I have no fans inside the refer. If your thermistor is clipped onto a fin you pry it off, bend the clip out a bit and slide in enough foam cup material to cover the inside surface of the thermistor and then push it back onto the fin about where it was. The foam needs to be between the thermistor and the fin.

I'm packed up and leaving for some sailing in a few minutes. I'll get some pictures this evening if I don't drown.

Muddypaws · 09-08-2013, 05:34 PM

deSanford,

I tried to get a good picture but because of where the thermistor is I was unable to get anything that showed the foam.

PS
I didn't drown. Barely even got wet!

Winepress · 09-08-2013, 08:27 PM

I replaced my Norcold not because of the temperature, but more for the potential fire issue. When lightly loaded, it was fine, not so much when it was packed full. I added fans and got it to work to an acceptable level, but when I busted my windshield, it was a no brainier decision to go with the Samsung. Unfortunately can't get away from the fire issue.

Ray,IN · 09-08-2013, 08:27 PM

I appreciate your experimentation and results muddypaws, thanks. I'm going to do the styrofoam trick to my 1200LRIM, and add more fans as you describe.

deSanford · 09-09-2013, 04:23 PM

Thank you Muddypaws I think I got it. Will let you know in the future how it works for us. deSanford

Radarman · 09-10-2013, 04:21 PM

The problem(s) with the Norcold is not that you can't get it to work by additional tinkering. I had the Norcold 1200LRIM, and after a year of off-and-on working on it, it worked quite well and we were happy with it in general. The problem is the Thin-wall Tubing of the cooling unit that Norcold went to to save money. The old Thick-walled cooling units on gas absorbtion frigs. have been around forever and would last at least 20 years or more--no problem and hardly ever a leak. The new thin-wall design is costing Norcold big-time with at least 3 recalls which you have to do or your warrenty/insurance will probably be void, lots of negative publicity over a problem that could have been fixed early in the game, and several law suits due to fire damage and total loss of the RV. It is a miracle they are still in business. It will be just a matter of time, and you will have a cooling unit failure or possible fire. By the way, the 3 recalls were just bandaids--don't fix the problem, and a fire is still possible if the leaking ammonia comes in contact with your AC heaters (You can have a fire in the AC mode too) or the furnace flame during the LP mode. This has been proven after many RV fires. Then the Amish cooling unit costs more than a new residential frig.--no brainer. After 3 years of reading horror stories and 3 recalls that don't fix the real problem, I made my mind up it wasn't worth it anymore especially since we rarely dry camp. Even if you do it is up to temp. in 1 hour, and you can always shut it down for quite awhile. Just run the generator in the morning. Went to the residential frig. and couldn't be happier. More capacity in the same or smaller space (16.5 Cu. Ft.), perfect temperature control all the time, NO defrosting the freezer compartments every month or two. Clean steel exterior. Ice maker works great. Just MHO, but sooner or later you will have to make the same decision lots of us already have, and it wasn't easy to make because my Norcold worked good. Just ask your wife what she thinks after learning of all the fires caused by this poor design. Not worth it. By the way, the Dometics have similar problems. They have caused fires too. I am not familiar with them, and I don't think it applies to all of their models.

Muddypaws · 09-10-2013, 06:53 PM

Any post about Norcold elicits a response about fires.

I'm not saying they don't happen. I'm saying that if they were as common as some choose to represent we'd see them every day. We use our RV a lot and have never seen a single one in 44 years of camping & RVing.

I'm actually more worried about our residential refer catching fire. The last one smoked up the house twice before we got rid of it. We paid almost $3000 for it and dumped it for $200 two years later. It was on it's third motherboard.

BTW, It was a GE Profile French Door.

denbob4369 · 07-23-2014, 11:56 PM

did you ever get pics of the MP mod, or the fan fix? I would love to try both on mine. are the fans in the back access of the unit? I have a 2005 Tiffin Allegro Bus with a Norcold 1200LRIM. was working fine until we returned from a trip and shut it off for a month. When trying to turn it back on, nothing, no code, no lights. Black box had red light. Took it to a dealer, Norcold "allowed" a second recall, but now can only run on LP, not A/C. on a week trip, and going to bring it back to dealer, but found your fix very interesting. I am vry handy, but not totally understanding your mod, pics would help.
Thanks.