Community Forums

Possum · 01-11-2013, 02:24 PM

Quote:

.......Rv fridges--recalls and replacements--hope your fire insurance policy is up todate..

I keep seeing this type of statement and can't for the life of me understand the rationel of these types of statements. Can someone give definitive information about the thousands of RV fires this problem causes. I have researched but to me the numbers are being bloated by the same incident being referred ti in a whack of posts on the problem. If incident "A" is repeated a thousand times in different articles it does not mean it happened 1000 times.

Not pointing fingers either way because I would really like to know the truth and not a perceived truth. I've written companies and got rather banal answers to my questions neither reassuring nor adding to the paranoia. Help??

az bound · 01-11-2013, 02:46 PM

There are two class action lawsuits that have been filed. One in California and one in Florida.
I have to assume there have been a number of issues, including fires, that have prompted the filing.
I would also believe there have been many more issues that have occured than we hear about since not every owner of an RV is also a member of a forum.
I have been an RV'r for over 40 years and did not participate in forums until 2005.

Ridout & Lyon LLP in California filed their suit claiming 2000 cases of fires caused by the norcold units.
I would call the paranoia JUSTIFIED.

dfunde01 · 01-11-2013, 02:55 PM

When you see smoke it is no longer Paranoia.

bluepill · 01-11-2013, 03:16 PM

My take:

I have a Norcold 1200 in my rig. It was updated with a revison D recall. I have added an extra smoke alarm near the reefer; I keep a 40BC fire extinguisher in the bedroom; I turn the reefer off if we go out and leave the dog inside, which is rarely. That's enough for me, but others go further with fire protection, replacing the refer, etc.

gonzo136 · 01-11-2013, 03:27 PM

If you want to do a little informal research (very unscientific). Go to RV Salvage Motorhomes - Parting Out Used RV Parts Repair and Accessories | Visone RV, RV Salvage Parts, Motorhome Repairable Wrecks, Used RV Parts Monaco, Prevost, Allegro, Holiday Rambler, Alfa, RV Junk Yard - Dismantler , visonerv.com? and look at the pictures of motorhomes to be parted out. Can't definitively tell on a lot of the pictures. But their are quite a few there where it is obvious that the fire was right above the frig vent.

Papa_Jim · 01-11-2013, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfunde01

When you see smoke it is no longer Paranoia.

When you see smoke, your coach is gone in 10 more minutes.

homeless · 01-11-2013, 03:43 PM

That's it, it an ice chest for me!!

Possum · 01-11-2013, 03:48 PM

I guess I didn't explain myself well. I tried finding reports of individual fridge caused firs and kept getting the same instances repeated. I will research the information shown above.

az bound · 01-11-2013, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Possum

I guess I didn't explain myself well. I tried finding reports of individual fridge caused firs and kept getting the same instances repeated. I will research the information shown above.

If you want more information on both lawsuits, do a web search for " Norcold lawsuit filed" and you will find plenty to read.

zippo · 01-11-2013, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluepill

My take:

I have a Norcold 1200 in my rig. It was updated with a revison D recall. I have added an extra smoke alarm near the reefer; I keep a 40BC fire extinguisher in the bedroom; I turn the reefer off if we go out and leave the dog inside, which is rarely. That's enough for me, but others go further with fire protection, replacing the refer, etc.

My latest revision was E so you might want to check with Norcold.

Pigman1 · 01-11-2013, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by az bound

If you want more information on both lawsuits, do a web search for " Norcold lawsuit filed" and you will find plenty to read.

Just read the lawsuites. ALL of the suite, not just the excerpts. Then decide how bad the problem really is. My opinion is that these things should have been pulled from the market years ago.

I chased problems with a Norcold 1200 for 2 years and had 2 Amish cooling units in it and still had crap for results. A 2 door Kitchen Aid 21.5 cu ft household refrigerator has solved ALL my problems for over a year, and my only regret is that I didn't do it MUCH sooner.

vegascouple · 01-11-2013, 04:29 PM

I would agree that we live in a very paranoid country. However, this is something you should be concerned about.

Two years ago a friend of ours had their catch on fire. They got the fire out but there was extensive smoke damage.

This summer another friend had just gone to bed when they heard the fire. She ran out and sprayed water on it. They thought they had the fire out. He went inside and opened the bathroom window as it was very smokey. Of course that was the wrong thing to do! He could see nothing as soon as he did that as the motor home filled with smoke. Got outside alive to see flames shooting out the roof. The motor home was a complete loss all their possessions were lost.

A few years ago we were in an rv park. A refrigerator fire broke out in the middle of the night. The 5 th wheel burned to the ground. Fortunately they heard it and got out in time.

This summer we opened our fridge. It was not cooling and smelled like ammonia. We immediately turned it off and unplugged it. If it would have happened two weeks before we would not have been there to turn it off as we were gone for three weeks.

We now have a residential refrigerator. It is take almost no electrical power. Traveling and dry camping is as easy as it was with the Norcold. It takes up the same area as the old Norcold and is almost twice the size. I can't tell you how happy my wife is not defrosting! This refrigerator is so much nicer than the one we had.

We put off doing it for a long time, as why fix something that isn't broke? I really wish I had just done it. Just for kicks talk to an RV repair shop about the number of residential refrigerators they are replacing and how may cooling units are going bad.

cvanwieren · 01-11-2013, 04:30 PM

My husband and I looked at all the disaster scenarios we could find when we made the decision to RV fulltime (not now, in the future), just so we could be prepared. We're weird like that.

When putting in the query "RV fire" into YouTube, it was kind of scary to see so many fires starting from the refrigerator. We made a decision then and there that we would not use propane to cool the fridge while driving. While I haven't read the lawsuit myself, I have heard about recent fires originating from refrigerators even when the RV was plugged into shore power. It makes me wonder if it's better to be paranoid and just get a residential fridge in place of an RV fridge when we finally do get our rig. Better safe than sorry...

gripper · 01-11-2013, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cvanwieren

My husband and I looked at all the disaster scenarios we could find when we made the decision to RV fulltime (not now, in the future), just so we could be prepared. We're weird like that.

When putting in the query "RV fire" into YouTube, it was kind of scary to see so many fires starting from the refrigerator. We made a decision then and there that we would not use propane to cool the fridge while driving. While I haven't read the lawsuit myself, I have heard about recent fires originating from refrigerators even when the RV was plugged into shore power. It makes me wonder if it's better to be paranoid and just get a residential fridge in place of an RV fridge when we finally do get our rig. Better safe than sorry...

That's just wat we did. So glad! No more wories about a fire while we are asleep or away and our two dogs are home alone. Don't know how we would handle it, if we lost our dogs and could have done something to prevent it!