Norcold Refrigerator Rescue

[Sammie]

I have owned several motorhomes over the last 30 years. All with their share of problems of one kind or another. In the past several months, I've followed post after post about the failures, fires and so called fixes of the Norcold refrigerators. This has been a major concern for me and my family as we love to travel in our motorhome and up until recently have felt reasonably safe while traveling. With all the concern about fires and patch job recall fixes, I decided to order one of the Amish Built Cooling Units from RV Cooling Unit Warehouse for my Norcold 1201 and do the conversion myself.

Now please understand, Im no spring chicken but I do like to try to do as much maintenance on my Winnebago Journey as possible. So I figured that I would try and tackle the job myself. I ordered the unit on a Monday and picked it up on Friday. By that time I had already pulled the fridge out and had it laying on the floor of my coach. I took my time over a period of several days (just wanted to do it right the first time) and also to make a few modifications.

Along the way I took pictures of the work and made a short slideshow video to post on "YouTube" so that all who may want to see what is involved in this conversion can do so.

YouTube - ‪Norcold 1200 to Amish Cooling Unit Conversion.mpg‬‏

I now have a excellent working refrigerator that is holding a temperature of 34 degrees, for the last four days, on a setting of #4 with an outside temperature of 90 in the shade. The installation of the SS-30 Halon Remote Fire Extinguisher is an add bonus in that me and my wife and my little doggie can sleep comfortably without one eye open worrying about a potential fire.

Thanks,
Sammie

[FreeByrd]

Sammie,
Let me be the first to congratulate you on not only a Premium Installation but a superior video/slidewhow of the step by step procedure for changing one of these out. You are providing folks, who might be unsure of their ability to do this,(as I once was) yet another example of just how simple this really is. You took your time, planned your work and followed the instructions. Really like your fan bracket and Allen Head Fastener enhancements. (and the nice mellow Jazz Sax in the background didn't hurt either.)

For those fellow RV'ers who are over the "NORCOLD FIX RODEO" ,this is one of the finest "New" cooling units out there; at a price that is less than you would pay for the Norcold POS (Prehistoric Old Style); with a superior warranty and is built like a tank. And David Force is only a phone call away for any questions or installation issues. He also sells the SS-30 Halon Fire Extinguisher system and it's just "another ounce of prevention" you can put in place and for us, was worth the several pounds of "peace of mind" it provides.

Hope you post this on some other forums so that more folks can see that most of us are capable of doing a Cooling Unit change out.

[Sammie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreeByrd Sammie, Let me be the first to congratulate you on not only a Premium Installation but a superior video/slidewhow of the step by step procedure for changing one of these out. You are providing folks, who might be unsure of their ability to do this,(as I once was) yet another example of just how simple this really is. You took your time, planned your work and followed the instructions. Really like your fan bracket and Allen Head Fastener enhancements. (and the nice mellow Jazz Sax in the background didn't hurt either.) For those fellow RV'ers who are over the "NORCOLD FIX RODEO" ,this is one of the finest "New" cooling units out there; at a price that is less than you would pay for the Norcold POS (Prehistoric Old Style); with a superior warranty and is built like a tank. And David Force is only a phone call away for any questions or installation issues. He also sells the SS-30 Halon Fire Extinguisher system and it's just "another ounce of prevention" you can put in place and for us, was worth the several pounds of "peace of mind" it provides. Hope you post this on some other forums so that more folks can see that most of us are capable of doing a Cooling Unit change out.

Mike, Thank You for the kind words, but if I didn't have you and your video for my inspiration I don't think I would have started the project. Once I started the job I was able to see that it wasn't going to be so bad as I had thought. I actually went around to a couple of RV repair shops in my area to get prices for the installation, but being the stubborn do it yourselfer that I am I figured that even if I screwed it up, I could still drive it somewhere to get it fixed.

Now that it's complete and working flawlessly, i'm glad I did the work myself and it also gave me the option of installing the SS-30 Halon Fire Extinguisher (like you did) for the added security of the DW and Dog.

I would also like to post my conversion in the Winnebago section so that some of my friends over there will see what can be accomplished, but I'm not sure if thats legal to do.

Thanks For Getting My Butt Off The Couch,
Sammie