Community Forums

WesPearson · 08-29-2016, 10:05 PM

I had a new Amish helium cooling unit installed in my 1200 lrim about a month ago. It cooled down to zero in the freezer and about 34 in the fridge but when the sun hit the side of the coach in the moring things realley warmed up. I finnaly got a chance to check things out this weekend. I installed two fans in top vent and it took care of the problem. I don't think the installer hooked up the two coil fan properly as I haven't heard them come on. Freezer stayed at 2 degrees and the frig was about 37 with an outside temp of 90 degrees as long as the roof fans were on. I ordered the new 3.1 ARP unit with the fan control and a blower fan that mounts to the inside of the lower vent. The ARP lets you control the fans and adjust the temp at which they come on and go off. The more ventilation you have over the coils the better.

JayGee · 08-30-2016, 07:03 AM

Is it important to have the fans thermostat controlled or is it OK to just have them come on anytime the fridge is actively cooling the fridge?

And if that is OK, any clue to where you connect the fan to have it come only when the fridge is cooling?

Milehghcty · 08-30-2016, 06:34 PM

I would think that it wouldn't make any difference when the fans are running, but it will draw more battery power if they run all the time and you aren't plugged in. You'd have to connect them to the thermostat/fan switch which is higher up on the back of your fridge to get them to turn on and off based upon the temp of the cooling unit. Probably would have to take out your fridge to get to this fan switch. I recently replaced my cooling unit with the Amish unit and dropped a couple of wires from the fan switch to the bottom of the fridge so I could wire in more fans if needed. I did keep the two fans that came off my old unit to use just in case. I'm also thinking in very hot weather and I'm plugged in, I'm going to run a cheap electric Walmart fan and leave it at the bottom blowing up. I have one, tested and it does fit nicely in my outside cavity and I can plug it in where my fridge plugs in ... this can only help the cooling when it is hot. I'm also thinking that while on gas for an overnight stop I could still run this fan via the inverter which wouldn't draw much power if hot and needed.

StevieG · 09-04-2016, 06:32 PM

Okay... It's been a crazy week. I'm selling my boat as part of a trade deal for another motorhome... A 2006 Monaco Knight 38 PDQ. So for now I'm going to be a 2 motorhome owner... Sorry I digressed. Anyway... I finally got back to my fridge today. I pulled it out of the cabinet. After some tests, I found that the thermostat switch was bad. I bypassed the switch and with power to the fans, found one fan was good and one was dead. Since I had two good fans from the fridge I took out of the motorhome I swapped the bad one out for one of the old ones. When I tested it, I found the old fan blew a LOT more air. Probably because it was almost twice as thick. There was so much of a difference, I then put the other old fan on. It creates some good air flow back there, which I found out is SUPER important. I left the switch bypassed, even though I could get one today for $11 from Camping World. The way it's set up now, if the fridge is on, the fans are on. I figure the fridge needs a lot of ventilation, and it's not a real big deal to replace fans. On the other hand, it's a very big deal to replace a cooling unit! The fridge is back in the cabinet running and the out side vent door is back on. Tomorrow I will report on the temp the fridge is at.

StevieG · 09-05-2016, 07:25 AM

Last post... Checked the fridge this morning. The fridge is at 33 degrees and the freezer is below the lower limit of the digital thermometer, which I assume is 0. This on a "7" temp setting. Had to turn it down to "6". May even go lower by the end of the day. You can hear the fans running if you listen for them, but otherwise not an issue.

Hopefully, these posts will help someone with similar issues. What I learned first and foremost is that good ventilation is the biggest factor in good refrigeration. There is very little space behind the fridge, so make sure your fans run properly. I was lucky to find a cheap replacement for my old fridge at $200. If I hadn't, I probably would have gone to a Samsung residential fridge. Who knows... I may yet... I kept the old fridge, which has plenty of spare parts including a new board and new AC heater... So hopefully I can keep this one running for quite a while...

SCVJeff · 09-05-2016, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WesPearson

I had a new Amish helium cooling unit installed in my 1200 lrim about a month ago. It cooled down to zero in the freezer and about 34 in the fridge but when the sun hit the side of the coach in the moring things realley warmed up. I finnaly got a chance to check things out this weekend. I installed two fans in top vent and it took care of the problem. I don't think the installer hooked up the two coil fan properly as I haven't heard them come on. Freezer stayed at 2 degrees and the frig was about 37 with an outside temp of 90 degrees as long as the roof fans were on. I ordered the new 3.1 ARP unit with the fan control and a blower fan that mounts to the inside of the lower vent. The ARP lets you control the fans and adjust the temp at which they come on and go off. The more ventilation you have over the coils the better.

There was also a change in where the thermos snap switch is located, at least in the He units. Those fans should come on within 20mins of turning it on. If they are not running and/ or you have no other ventilation, you have a problem. We spent a week at the beach in 65-75 degree wx, then returned home at 104+ for two days, and the fridge never budged off of 31 and ~5 in the freezer. I have an ARP running on it as well running additional fans if needed. If your fans really aren't running, you're gonna need to pull the fridge and find out why?

StevieG · 09-05-2016, 05:30 PM

What is the 3.1 ARP unit? I tried googling it and could find what it is... Thanks

SCVJeff · 09-05-2016, 06:03 PM

ARP

Tom Lopez · 09-07-2016, 07:11 AM

Thanks, good answers. Still trying to decide what to do as to stay with 1200 or go residential and when to make change. We don't full time and only use RV a few times a year traveling throughout Midwest. So far we haven't had any problems and the fridge seems to be working ok. It ain't broke yet so I guess when the 1200 dies I'll then have to decide, maybe I'll be lucky and not have any problems till then. 😊 I had the recall done last year and no problems with it. I always try to park level and have a remote tempeture guage so I can monitor temps in freezer and fridge. All this info being posted sure keeps it in my thoughts. Thanks to all.

rag_ftw · 09-08-2016, 10:09 PM

I am certainly not a refrigeration guy but I can report that I had a Norcold LRIM 1200 that was not performing well at all. I had a local RV shop replace the cooling unit with another Norcold 1200 only because he would not install an Amish unit. I was able to watch him complete the swap out and he indicated one of the major issues with absorption type units is to make sure you apply plenty of mastic to the cooling cools making sure they are completely sealed to the back of the refrigerator. He used every bit of mastic that came with the Norcold replacement on mine and it has worked flawlessly now for 3 years, to include weeks on end of 100+ days.

Again I don't know why mine is working or even if I have a 1 in a 100 cooling unit! All I know is what I saw the installer do while sealing our replacement cooling unit. We boondock a lot and I am really glad I was able to keep my absorption refrigerator!

I do not have an ARP installed but that is on my winter project list.

SCVJeff · 09-09-2016, 12:27 AM

He should do a little research on the differences between them. Even the finish paint is better on the "Amish". At least the Pines RV unit I installed, can't comment on the rest

rag_ftw · 09-09-2016, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCVJeff

He should do a little research on the differences between them. Even the finish paint is better on the "Amish". At least the Pines RV unit I installed, can't comment on the rest

He evidently had a warranty problem one time with them. New unit wouldn't cool and they wouldn't ship him another until he returned the bad one and they ran a series of tests in their lab. He said the entire process took over a month and his customer was a full timer that was not happy with the long wait.

SCVJeff · 09-10-2016, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rag_ftw

He evidently had a warranty problem one time with them. New unit wouldn't cool and they wouldn't ship him another until he returned the bad one and they ran a series of tests in their lab. He said the entire process took over a month and his customer was a full timer that was not happy with the long wait.

Well that's fair I guess. There appear to be several manufacturers out there, including NORCOLD which I don't believe fixes theirs at all.

StevieG · 09-13-2016, 08:32 PM

Well... It's been awhile since I swapped out the fans and wired them to run full time. They are still going strong and the fridge is keeping very cold. On a "4" setting, I'm getting 7 degrees in the freezer and 34 degrees in the fridge. I can replace the thermostat switch and they will kick on and off, but would rather have the full time ventilation. I understand I may be replacing the fans once a year, but don't see that as a big deal...