Amish CU install on Norcold 1200LRIM

[Tincup]

This post is addressed to only those of you that have installed the Amish CU on your 1200LRIM.

1. When you installed the new unit and were replacing the screws in the freezer and fridge, was it difficult to get the screw started? Did it appear the old screws were too short?

2. On the Amish CU, were the cooling tubes protruding from the cooling plate about 1/4" or were they even with the plate?

Thanks for your time.

[texnet]

1. It was hard to get the screws started, but it was because my helper was not pushing hard enough on the cooling unit and the holes were out of alignment.

2. Don't remember...

New item 3. Install additional FANS as no matter how good the Amish CU is it still works on the principal of getting the hot air out of the compartment. Ours worked great until Texas hit the record 100+ days then it wasn't cooling. Added 4 fans to the top and now works great.

[Tincup]

Thanks texnet, my fans work fine but i'm also adding two or three to the top.

[Sammie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tincup This post is addressed to only those of you that have installed the Amish CU on your 1200LRIM. 1. When you installed the new unit and were replacing the screws in the freezer and fridge, was it difficult to get the screw started? Did it appear the old screws were too short? 2. On the Amish CU, were the cooling tubes protruding from the cooling plate about 1/4" or were they even with the plate? Thanks for your time.

Tincup, Take a look at my picture slideshow to see the 1 inch stainless screws I used to reattach the cooling unit to the fins and freezer section. I also found them to be short and didn't have help when installing the Amish unit.
Also I found the evaporator tubes to protrude out about 1/4 inch further than the plate. As long as you used plenty of the thermal mastic caulking on the tubes before reinstalling the foam block back in place you should be good to go.
Very important is while installing the foam block use the instant foam all around the edge of the foam block as this is what will keep any hot air from entering that area or cold air from escaping.
Once you have the cooling unit back in place and secured, add more instant foam wherever you can to complete the seal. When the instant foam has cured you can easily trim the excess off and complete the seal using a good foil type duct tape to all around the coolin pack.

Sammie

Norcold 1200 to Amish Cooling Unit Conversion.mpg - YouTube

[336muffin]

I had a little prob getting the screws started but with patience and going a little bit at a time and around the screws in a random pattern they finally got tight. Don't remember any tubes that protruded toward the fridge. It was all flat. I second about the addition of fans! I added 4 in the rectangle hole in the roof. This helps so much, it cools the inside temp 5 degrees in as little as 1 hour! Best mod I have done yet! The fans came from Radio Shack for $11 each and a switch!

[dforce1]

Just wanted to add some information about the tubes in the foam pack and short screws. When the OEM cooling unit was mounted to the refrigerator there was no foam on cooling unit coils during the manufacture process, so Norcold could use very short screws since longer screws not needed, if you noticed the removed Norcold screws there was a few longer than the others. Those were used by Norcold so if a replacement unit is installed the longer screws would need to be used to start first in order to pull the foam pack in because of touching the side walls. With it tight against the side it would help the replacement seal better. With the raw cooling unit inplaced it's foaming during manufacturing would fill all areas making the tube level with foam and air tight sealed. When a replacement is used the tubes must be above foam in order for the complete suface of freezer wall and fins to make a metal to metal connect with tubes with no foam holding them apart. The thermal mastic, cold transfer compound insures the cold transfer from tubes to freezer and fins. The foam, for air tight seal, is about the most important part of the change out. Without a perfect seal around the foam pack would be like leaving the doors cracked or having bad door gaskets. The difference with the foam pack leaks, the hot air leaking in at that rear points is in the 100 plus degrees and a bad door gasket leaks only have warm air in the 70 to 80 degree. The next thing that most change out tech's use is the tape to seal, the tape is not a sealer, but only used for looks around the backer to give a nice clean finish look. The tape does help, but not supplied to be the sealer for air leaks.
Now to answer the fans questions: The more heat the coils remove from the inside food zone is tranfered to the coils back side, the more air flow going through the coils (not around coils) at the back gives the cooling unit more room to remove move heat from inside. It does not make a difference if out side temp is 60 degree or 100 degree it would still be a lower air temp than the coils. Let say, if the 100 degree air flow was going through the coils slow it pulled off the heat slow, inside temps cooled down slow, added fans still pulled in 100 degree air, but moved air through the coils faster to remove heat faster so the inside cools down faster. This works only if the foam pack has no air leaks.

[Sammie]

dforce1, Thanks David for all your help! It's been a learning experience for me doing the installation myself. Also the wife feels alot safer now that the old cooling unit has been replaced. One question maybe you could answer for me. My buddy has a Dometic NDA 1402 and I think he needs new 120 vac heating elements. How do you test the elements to see if they are putting out the right amount of AC current?

Thanks, Sammie

[dforce1]

To test the elements, first confirm input AC voltage during the operation mode not before. Once the AC Voltage is confirmed in a correct range take an amp draw of each element several times just in case the elements work good till they get to very HOT mode. Another way, but not a way to confirm. If the refrigerator works/cools correct in the LP mode and not in the AC mode that would tell you that the heat source for AC somethings wrong. Since the refrigerator does not work from AC or LP gas, only works from a heat source. It so happens your refrigerator has 2 heat sources that are the same in BTU's, so the cooling for both would be the same. The same would only come in play, if the specs for each are the same during time of use, it should be. With campground use the AC voltage would be low, so the cooling would be less. If LP gas gave a problem, AC is good, lp bad. In those cases not a cooling unit problem. If the unit does not cool correct on either heat source, an the values needed to confirm AC heat values are correct, the cooling could be bad/going bad. Notice I did not say cooling unit is bad. There's more questions needed to be answer before we jump the gun and say bad cooling unit.