Community Forums

anotherone · 01-10-2015, 05:34 AM

Meanwhile back at the farm ,state farm is in federal court in Ky trying to stop norcold from using the "economic doctrine law". This obscure law would let them wiggle out of their liability. Grrrrrrrr

gbburgess · 01-10-2015, 03:10 PM

We tried the Not So Cold fixs when "free" - they did not work. We looked at the Amish stuff and the costs and then paid the same amount to install a Samsung unit that WORKS!!!. Never again - we won't get any money back however since we no longer have the 12XX unit - it got junked.

rivraton · 01-11-2015, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arizona

I wonder if dometic refrigerators have or will have similar problems? I couldn't find any posts about leaks or fires.

There have been nearly 3 times as many Dometic fires reported to the NTSB than Norcold.

RCDB · 08-01-2015, 12:23 PM

My Norcold 462 model caught fire in the driveway when my son tried to turn it on. Ours is a third-hand RV; we never heard about a recall. He put out the fire with a hose, so only the refrigerator was ruined. We didn't realize what had happened, because the RV had not been used for two years, we thought maybe an animal had built a nest. My son took off the outside panels to figure out how to repair the refrigerator and realized all the wiring had burned, not a nest. We just found out about the recalls by going on line looking to see if others had had a problem. I called Norcold, had the suggested inspector look at it, and he contacted them. They were supposed to get back to me two weeks ago. The inspector said it was not repairable. Anybody with a similar tale? Suggestions?

cimplexsound · 08-18-2015, 02:53 PM

The Norcold refrigerators are not worth repairing. They are a major fire hazard. Get rid of it and get a Dometic instead. Dometic makes the safest fridges on the market in my humble opinion. Norcold is to famous for fires. To many people have completely lost their motorhomes because of this. Trying t repair a defective Norcold is not worth the risk. It's like dealing with a time bomb waiting to go off. It's not worth losing your rv over. Just buy a whole different brand of fridge and throw the norcold to the wind. I will never trust norcold products as long as I live. I have a Dometic freezer fridge and I have never had a problem with it . Very dependable and safe.

Bob86ZZ4 · 08-18-2015, 10:12 PM

So, it looks like those Amish built cooling units are a pretty good way to go to upgrade the Norcold unit? I've got a N841 Norcold that isn't listed in the recall but it's about 13 years old so I'm now kind of worried reading all this stuff. I don't want to install a residential unit, I want to keep a propane unit in. I also don't much care for the Dometic line. Looks like the Amish cooling unit is available for about $655 for my unit. Is there only one company that makes "Amish" units? Thanks for any advice.

cimplexsound · 08-19-2015, 08:15 PM

I've not heard to much about Amish brand fridges. Only that no one has ever had trouble with one. I do know I have slightly older dometic refrigerator and I have never had any trouble with it. It works perfectly.

Jake21 · 08-20-2015, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cimplexsound

The Norcold refrigerators are not worth repairing. They are a major fire hazard. Get rid of it and get a Dometic instead. Dometic makes the safest fridges on the market in my humble opinion. Norcold is to famous for fires. To many people have completely lost their motorhomes because of this. Trying t repair a defective Norcold is not worth the risk. It's like dealing with a time bomb waiting to go off. It's not worth losing your rv over. Just buy a whole different brand of fridge and throw the norcold to the wind. I will never trust norcold products as long as I live. I have a Dometic freezer fridge and I have never had a problem with it . Very dependable and safe.

I must disagree with this statement. My norcold 1200's cooling unit failed about two months ago. I installed an Amish cooling unit and could not be happier. I did the install myself in about a day and a half. It was actually pretty easy to do.

The cost was a little over a grand. If you want to keep your absorption fridge this is a viable option.

J

Bob86ZZ4 · 08-20-2015, 09:39 PM

cimplexsound, your statements that Norcold catches fire and Dometic does not is contrary to what is said in post #45. I just don't know what to believe now.

How exactly is a Dometic fridge different so that it can't catch fire? Do they use a different chemical in the lines?

gbburgess · 08-21-2015, 07:13 AM

We did the Norcold stuff, fixes etc and then looked at the Amish replacements and cost. The replacement costs a lot and some worked and others did not. So we made one of the best decisions on retrofit we have made since we started rving in 2000 - we replaced the junk with a Samsung 3 door refrigerator - it works great all of the time and with installation and purchase cost was less than the Amish unit. It fit in the same location with minimal changes. It's a better refrigerator all around.

Bob86ZZ4 · 08-21-2015, 08:08 AM

That's great if you want to run a 120 volt unit. I want to keep a propane unit.

JC2 · 08-21-2015, 08:22 AM

I first noticed less than optimal performance when using a NoCold rv fridge starting around 2010 when we had a 2005 Winnebago class A. We replaced it as it just would not cool satisfactorly in the fridge box/freezer section even with the addition of various internal/external fan setups. The new one seemed to be working ok when we traded our MH in 2012 for the current one. Our current MH came with a Dometic NDR1062 unit and from day one never worked very well even after it was checked for any maintenance issues and the addition of internal/external fan setups. Replaced the rear coils with the Amish cooling unit in April 2013 but it never did perform as well as all the hype indicated it should. In Sept 2014, we sprung a leak from one of the welds in the Amish unit while enroute to a rally in SC but fortunately detected it in time. Upon arriving home from the rally, a replacement Amish unit was received under warranty but even that did not perform any better than the first one. I knew that the time had arrived to go a different route for fridges. After some research and talking with a number of folks, I purchased a Haier 10.2 cu ft residential and installed it in the same area as the rv fridge. Couldn't be happier as we now have a perfectly functional fridge.

It's really sad that the quality of rv fridges has gotten to this point but I was very patient with their faults and finally did what my gut instinct advised. I will not have a rv fridge in any future rvs...............

rivraton · 08-21-2015, 08:25 PM

My motorhome is equipped with a Norcold frige, it works pretty well, it does have room for improvement, the plastic door hinges suck and the auto mode when switching from AC to propane is unrelieable. As far as it's cooling capabilities, it is every bit as good as the previous Dometics that I have owned.

Redapple · 08-27-2015, 03:11 AM

I have a Dometic in my rig. The cooling coils went out a couple of years ago. Replaced them with the Amish cooling coils. Fridge works fine, but I have to say I really don't see a performance improvement over the originals. Quality hardware, but normal performance. My fridge was manufactured in 05 and went out in 13. Lasted 8 years. I do too much dry camping to deal with a residential unit.

Good luck