The Only Real Cure for an Norcold RV Refrigerator "Problem"

[Dr4Film]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376 I've got a Model 1200 4 door circa 2005 in our Dolphin that's been on for 6 years and counting. It's kept our food cold and our freezer frozen running on setting 5 in the winter, 7 in the summer. It seem to be a candidate for the recall but in all honesty, why fix what ain't broke?

If you own a POS Norcold model 12XX as I do, your fridge is a candidate for the latest recall. My Norcold is going on 11 years old and it has been running 24/7 for the last 9 years. That doesn't mean that mine doesn't need the latest recall.

All of the previous recalls by Norcold for model 12XX were a waste of time and money as they were band-aids however, the latest one has done some good by shutting down units preventing possible fires. There have been some early cases where the black box brain was bad but I have heard that Norcold is now installing version E with their recall kits.

Now for the bad news; there have been a few cases where the latest recall did NOT prevent a fire with subsequent collateral damage to the coach. At least no lives have been lost since the most recent recall has been in effect.

I also believe in not fixing something that isn't broken however, in this case it is broken (Norcold has admitted that) and is an accident waiting to happen. You just don't know when.

Personally, I think that anybody that doesn't have all safety recalls done on any vehicle and equipment is a fool with their head in the sand.

I am trusting that my cooling unit will continue to perform and have done many modifications to enhance its lousy performance. One of the very first was the installation of a Halon Fire Suppression system to help put out any possible fridge fire.

When the time comes, I will install the Amish cooling unit distributed by the RV Cooling Warehouse, David Force. These units are built rugged.

A side note, when parked for a couple of months recently at Ramblers Rest in Venice FL, my neighbor was having their Norcold cooling unit replaced under warranty. it was only 6 years old. it had failed one night with a rupture. He found the yellow-green "kiss of death" powder during his inspection. It was done under en extended warranty so that is why he chose to install another Norcold cooling unit POS.

Only my opinions.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376]

Thanks, you are right. Making the call today. What was I thinking?

[stink]

I just finnished intalling the Amish cooling unit into my 02 discovery. "works great" When I pulled the ref, I found a scary sight!!! Fleetwood had installed a wiring harnes covered with convilut insulation in corner of the ref cabinet. Yes on the side with the chimney!!! The harness was to long and not fixing the problem let the harness loop in the cabinet. This harness had rubbed all the insulation above the AC heating eliments off the chimney and melted the harness cover (convelute) could have led to a fire. The Amish cooling unit has the chimney set about 2 inches closer to the edje of the frig so I had to make a heat sheald to protect the harness. But the cooling unit works GREAT!!!!!

[Craig P.]

I just returned from my first full trip after installing my Amish built unit. I camped in temps over 100 degrees, and the refer worked like a champ. Not only did it keep my beer ice cold and my ice cream rock hard, but the recovery time from opening and closing the refer doors is much, much better. The inside temp of the old Norcold would climb as high as 50 degrees when opening/closing the refer doors in the summer, and it would take over 30 minutes to recover. This Amish built unit didn’t seem to drop much at all, and when it did, it recovered within minutes. Even when the outside temps hit 106, the refer temp never climbed above 38 degrees. I’m leaving the ice chest at home from now on!

I’m completely satisfied with this upgrade.

Craig

[jauguston]

FWIW there is a vendor on e-bay that has snap thermostats for refer fans that are lower temperature. I don't remember for sure what they are but I think they are 110 degrees instead of the stock 130 degrees ones.

Jim

[Craig P.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jauguston FWIW there is a vendor on e-bay that has snap thermostats for refer fans that are lower temperature. I don't remember for sure what they are but I think they are 110 degrees instead of the stock 130 degrees ones. Jim

Jim,

That could easily help some cooling units. I purchased a new fan switch from RV Cooling Unit Warehouse when I bought the cooling unit. Not sure what temp it is set at, but it comes on sooner than before, which I'm sure helps.

Craig

[madman34]

Hi All, Well my Norcold 1210 is a textbook death after far too short of a time but still out of warranty, and this is not my first personal experience with this situation. I am an engineer so I have analyzed this to death ;-) My family has had RVs and associated with RV people for 40 years, and only the units made in the last 10 years or less have had such catastrophic, expensive, and potentially problems. The Amish cooling unit looks like a better solve from what I see with more coils to distribute the heat and if true the heavier guage of the components should keep the 400+ PSI hydrogen atmosphere inside as well. I will be ordering a unit this comming week and replace mine, but I have already found and replaced it with a Hotpoint refer. I did this because it is 15.6 cu ft where the Norcold is only a 12, the unit fit in the Norcold mounting space with room to spare, and I have a 4KW true sine inverter/convertor so I have never had to use the propane. I will fix the Norcold and decide which I like better. All said though, I think we are missing a key and vital point here: If a car company has a malfunctioning design that could very easily result in injury or death of the ownder, the feds make them fix it right ! By right I mean not the Dometic deflector plate or the Norcold over temp shutdown bandaide. They are held to task and made to fix the causitive issue and recall known defective units to replace the faulty designed component. My Father had his fridge changed a few years ago for it, his coach caught on fire last xmas from the new one only 3 years old. My Mom's 04 blew a few years ago so I expect it again any day now. There are millions of them out there and more every day being sold that have not been redesigned. They are selling sticks of dynomite that just happen to temporarily operate as refrigerators and they are getting away with it. The Amish have proven that they can make it work correctly, so Dometic and Norcold should be held to task for it.