Out goes the Norcold in with the Maytag

[a1elect]

Not that it matters but our RV came with a GE residential frig from the factory and we have had no issues since new.It was a Travel Supreme 45' select. And only vents from the front as far as i can tell. We do have from the factory an additional inverter and 4 6v batterys for those time away from power or not wanting to use the generator. This is a dedicated unit for the frig. Oh it was built in October of 2004.

[wiscjc]

what model of refrigerator did you use? Jerry@carlson-lakeshore.com Thanks for your help....JC

[rorr1821]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiscjc what model of refrigerator did you use? Jerry@carlson-lakeshore.com Thanks for your help....JC

I used a Samsung model RF197AC which comes in four finishes. This is the only refrigerator I could find that fits into a Norcold model 1210 opening after increasing the height. Other models I found required additional width adjustment.

[wiscjc]

Thank you, I have ordered this model and will start the "process" this week....

[Clifftall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rorr1821 I used a Samsung model RF197AC which comes in four finishes. This is the only refrigerator I could find that fits into a Norcold model 1210 opening after increasing the height. Other models I found required additional width adjustment.

How much height did you have to adjust for. Mine is in the slide which limits me , i think.

[Robert41]

How will you service the furnace if you have a problem?

Have you violated tyhe minimim air space requirements around the furnace?

[HD4Mark]

I can answer a couple of those questions as I have also replaced my Norcold with a Samsung RF197.

The height difference in my coach was about three inches. I don't believe the furnace air requirements will be a problem. The grate for air intake appears to be oversize for access to wiring as much as air flow. The small difference should not be a problem. As far a service on the furnace I don't believe any could have been done from above before the changes and would have been done from below to start with.

Here is my replacement story New fridge goes in through side window

[Brigadoon]

Finally got to doing this update addressing several items.

Securing the fridge- As previously stated, I had used a couple of L shaped brackets in the back to help stabilize the fridge. Additionally, I had raised the fridge with the levelers to help with the doors drifting closed when you let go of them. When I did this the fridge was solid against the upper part of the cabinet. Even though it seemed to be in tight, I did not want to rely on that setup for security. I was not sure what to do at first. However, I noticed that the bottom front of the frame of the fridge was over hanging the cabinet by a little more than 1/2 inch. So, I decided to use a piece of angle aluminum along the frame and front cabinet area. Six 1/4 x 4 inch lags were screwed thru the front of the cabinet into the new fridge support floor to secure the angle aluminum to the cabinet. Then 6 metal screws were screwed vertically into the fridge frame. This setup does not allow any movement of the fridge in any direction. To finish off the front area with the angle aluminum, I cut a piece of wood from the original wood panels salvaged from the original Norcold doors and covered the aluminum.

Inverter or no inverter- I decided to try the setup with no inverter connected to the fridge. We do not dry camp with this rv, so I was not concerned with long periods of no hookups. So far we have not found this to be any kind of liability. The longest time period that we have gone without power to the fridge is 4 hours and that seems to have had little to no impact on the internal fridge temperature. We do run the generator when we stop for lunch and that seems to take care of the remaining days drive. At this point I'm even less inclined to purchasing an inverter and/or additional batteries.

Venting- I took the advice of Bigstonebay (see previous post) and decided to seal off the outside vents to the fridge. I had installed a screened vent behind the fridge and had left the original overhead vent open. For this test I took Eternabond tape and covered the openings on my vent behind the fridge and the screen vent over the fridge. After 1 month of continuous use it seems to be working just fine.

Securing the fridge doors- We were concerned about the fridge doors coming open while traveling. Our new fridge has two handles that are side by side so we decided to take the easy (lazy?) way and bought a colorful bandana and just tie it around the handles with a square knot. This has worked great and we plan no additional action on this.


We are 1 month into a 5 month trip. So far we are very please with the performance of the fridge. We spent several days in 101* weather in central GA with the fridgerator side of the rv facing the sun. The fridge remained at 36* thru it all. That would have been near death for our Norcold.

More updates as necessary over the next 4 months.

[dsbike]

Brigaon, thanks for the update. If you ever decide to use another method to secure the doors. I think they make a child proof latch for cabinets & refrig doors. Probably can find one at Wal Mart.

[coburncliff]

Nice documentation! I did the opposite. The previous owners of our Four Winds 5th wheel put in a household refrigerator. When it went bad I replaced it with a RV dual power refrigerator. Wish I had thought to use a dolly as you did. I had to fill in for the shorter height but width was the same. One of these days maybe I'll get around to putting the matching carpet on the spacer I made above the fridge. Good Job!

[joembx]

I'm assuming you do no boondocking (learing so I'm asking)
and the amish cooling units you spoke of are they better than norcold ?
Where can I read about them ?
thanks
Joe
01 Dip

[Brigadoon]

joembx,
You are correct, we do no dry camping with this rv.

From what I have read, and what others have experienced when they changed to an amish unit, they are superior to the Norcold unit and about a third less expensive.

Here's one post where you can read about them: The Only Real Cure for an Norcold RV Refrigerator "Problem"