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Pigman1 · 07-17-2012, 01:41 PM

Just a note on large refrigerators. We travel a lot with our RV, over 67,000 miles in a bit over 4 years. We had no problems with our Norcold 1200 fridge for just under 2 years and then the "fun" began. Freezer cold, refrig part too hot. We changed out just about every part on it, including putting in 2 Amish cooling units. One I replaced and the second (shipped under warranty) was done by a professional absorption refrigeration specialist in Tucson. The longest it worked was 3 months before we were back to the same problems. DW and I finally threw the whole box out and put in a Kitchen Aid KSRS22MWMS02 side by side 21 cu-ft box. That model was driven by width and height considerations.

Since we're going to be traveling soon, I plugged the box in to pre-cool it. We have the RV in a fully enclosed metal pole barn and over the last few days temps in the barn and in the RV have been over 100 degrees every day. Temps in the refrig have been between 38 and 41 and the freezer has been from -10 to -4.

I should have done it sooner!!!! How Norcold can continue to provide the garbage it does to the RV community and still stay in business is beyond my understanding.

Bigblue12v · 07-17-2012, 05:05 PM

If you don't need to run it on gas I think you made a good choice. Did you consider swapping to Dometic unit?

**CLIFFTALL** · 07-17-2012, 05:09 PM

That's the first I've heard of problems with the Amish cooling unit. Can you detail what the issues were?

Mr_D · 07-17-2012, 05:30 PM

I would be very surprised to hear that two Amish units were faulty. In fact, I've not even seen reports of one being bad. Not saying it couldn't happen but the odds are against it.

Pigman1 · 07-18-2012, 09:07 AM

Yeah, no clue about the reason for the Amish units giving us problems. When I called about the problems with the first one, they thought it might be bad and replaced it immediately. No cost to me for shipping, either. Super good service there. I was concerned that I might have done something wrong putting it in, so I hired the refrig guy in Tucson to do the second one. He said he couldn't see anything wrong with my installation. I also added more fans to the back and a switch that allowed me to bypass the thermistor on the top rear that controlled the fans. The second Amish unit worked OK for the trip from Tucson to DE, but on the trip up to Alaska it started showing somewhat high box temps. Once we were established and not traveling in AK, it worked OK, but outside temps wer in the high 50's low 60's. On the way down, temps got higher and higher in the refrig side, as day temps got higher. By the time we got to Ohio, the refrig was at 70 degrees and all the food was in some very large ice chests. No one was able to explain to me how the freezer could maintain temps but the refrig was so warm, and also why the Amish units would work for a while and then give up.

As I said, I finally was sick of trying to fix the unfixable and had no intention of messing with another absorption refrigerator after the problems, time and money I invested in the old one, so we went Household. If you're having issues it's something to consider.

ps: The first bad Amish unit was shipped back to them. I never followed up to find out if they ever found what, if anything, was wrong with it. The second unit is gone along with the box and all of my problems.

Perry White · 07-18-2012, 09:12 AM

Putting the Amish coil in is still like putting"Perfume on a Pig".

JC2 · 07-18-2012, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pigman1

Yeah, no clue about the reason for the Amish units giving us problems. When I called about the problems with the first one, they thought it might be bad and replaced it immediately. No cost to me for shipping, either. Super good service there. I was concerned that I might have done something wrong putting it in, so I hired the refrig guy in Tucson to do the second one. He said he couldn't see anything wrong with my installation. I also added more fans to the back and a switch that allowed me to bypass the thermistor on the top rear that controlled the fans. The second Amish unit worked OK for the trip from Tucson to DE, but on the trip up to Alaska it started showing somewhat high box temps. Once we were established and not traveling in AK, it worked OK, but outside temps wer in the high 50's low 60's. On the way down, temps got higher and higher in the refrig side, as day temps got higher. By the time we got to Ohio, the refrig was at 70 degrees and all the food was in some very large ice chests. No one was able to explain to me how the freezer could maintain temps but the refrig was so warm, and also why the Amish units would work for a while and then give up.

As I said, I finally was sick of trying to fix the unfixable and had no intention of messing with another absorption refrigerator after the problems, time and money I invested in the old one, so we went Household. If you're having issues it's something to consider.

ps: The first bad Amish unit was shipped back to them. I never followed up to find out if they ever found what, if anything, was wrong with it. The second unit is gone along with the box and all of my problems.

Was your fridge in a slideout?

Pigman1 · 07-18-2012, 01:00 PM

Definitely agree with the perfume on a pig comment. Actually it demeans the pig. I raised them for 15 years. LOL

Fridge is NOT in a slide in the 40' QSP. It's about half way into the hall to the rear which is why we needed a 2 door side by side.

Sky_Boss · 07-18-2012, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perry White

Putting the Amish coil in is still like putting"Perfume on a Pig".

Now THAT hurts. LOL

Listen, I was not convinced that a residential unit would work for my situation. I can only say that before I had it installed, the refer was useless in hot temps. Now, with the Amish unit, it does keep temp regardless of how hot or exposed it is. I have been able to move the setting from 9 to 6 and will test 5 this weekend. It still has the temp recovery issues all absorption systems have if you try to load too much warm stuff in it but it handles those situations MUCH better.

If we upgrade, we will definitely investigate a residential unit. Till then, I have one that now works as advertised.

OINK OINK!

paz · 07-19-2012, 09:36 AM

I installed a residential refrigerator (Samsung RF197) about 6 months ago. One of the best moves I have made. Now, I have to get the ice cream out of the freezer 10 minutes before we're ready to eat it for it to soften up a bit so I don't bend the spoon scooping it out. And that is with triple digit temperatures outside. If we still had the Norcold, we would have needed a straw for the ice cream.

RVRon · 08-01-2012, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigblue12v

If you don't need to run it on gas I think you made a good choice. Did you consider swapping to Dometic unit?

Not a good idea either. My NDA1402 Dometic side by side died last year and now Dometic cannot fix it and would replace it (I have an extended warranty), but there are no more 1402's. I'm definintly going the residential refrigerator route. Had it with this insanity.

TurtleKent · 08-01-2012, 06:51 AM

I always thought it was 'Lipstick on a pig'...

336muffin · 08-01-2012, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perry White

Putting the Amish coil in is still like putting"Perfume on a Pig".

Mine is working fine and would do it again. Does yours not work after the conversion?

RLKBOB · 08-01-2012, 08:29 PM

I gotta ask. Does the fridge have cooling fins in it like my norcold has in my 1995? Were the fins frosting up? We were just on vacation for 2 weeks and after about a week my fridge was getting a little warm(about 40 deg vs its usual 30 deg) but the freezer was still cold. The cooling fins were getting pretty frosted up, probably from kids opening it too much. I put the stuff in a cooler, turned it off and defrosted it with a hair drier. After drying it out with a towel I turned it back on and it was cold again by morning. Doesn't take as long to get cold as when first lit off while warm, the freezer was still cold so it only had to get the fridge cold again. Fridge was 24 deg by morning.
I've seen a couple posts like this one so I just wonder if the fridge needing defrosting was the issue. I would hate to think somebody got rid of a fridge thinking it was bad when it just needed defrosted but we've all made dumb or uninformed decisions. Hopefully this will help somebody though, if it happened to me I'm sure it happens to others too.