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Old 02-18-2009, 11:05 AM   #1
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Below is from a recent article I came across from a Buckeye Bounder member about their 4-door Norcold refrigerator catching fire. I was quite concerned since our Bounder (also a 2006) has a 4-door Norcold refrigerator.

Thetford's recall page lists several models/serial numbers involved in the recall. The one for our model (1200LRIM)does not list our serial number. I contacted Thetford about this recent incident & they stated they "do not have any known issues with our current model units".

Since their statement doesn't eliminate the possibility of a problem, I thought I'd post this as a "heads up" to check on your Norcold 4-door refrigerator.

Lori-

P.S. Also, the article also made reference to a 2005 Gulfstream that its fridge caught fire, too (but I didn't post it here).

--------------------------------------

On November 2, 2008, two days before leaving
for Florida for the winter, we had dinner with ‘the kids’ and their families. Fifteen minutes before dinner my grandson went out to the family car to get something and came running back in to tell us smoke was coming out of the barn where we stored our 2006 38N. The Norcold four door refrigerator had caught fire, destroying the Bounder, the 22 foot boat parked next to it, and the 32 X 56 foot barn.
The Bounder had been parked in the barn, which has a level concrete floor, with jacks extended using the ‘automatic’ mode, so it was level. The refrigerator was in the AU mode and was running on electric all week. (Note: The barn
had 50amp service.) At no time during the week
or on the day of the fire did we lose electric to the barn. In fact, after the fire was out the firemen asked me to turn off the electric.
When we found the fire we could tell the barn
was cooling down and the firemen said when they
went in the only flames were some rags I had
washed and put on a plastic table to put away
later. They did find some hot spots in the various parts of the Bounder but they told me the barn was air tight enough that the fire burned itself out due to a lack of oxygen. The Bounder had a hole burned through the side that was 4 feet wide from the floor to the ceiling where the refrigerator stood and the roof was gone from the driver seat all the way back to the end of the Bounder and the inside was gutted.
When the fire investigator came three days later he walked into the barn and said, “This is a nobrainer. This is the third Norcold refrigerator fire I have investigated in an RV this year and this looks identical to the other two.” He indicated that in the other two cases a detailed inspection found leaks in the copper tubing welds. He took a lot of pictures of the barn and checked polarity on the 50amp service and said all was fine. He told me there was nothing I did to cause this fire and they would notify Norcold.
The 38N was our second Bounder and we have always left the refrigerator on through the summer since we used it every other weekend or more and the last two years we have wintered in Florida so the frig was on year round. We will miss our 38N, but life goes on and so will we. In fact we have just purchased a 2008 38V Bounder so we can continue to enjoy our life of Boundering when possible.
Richard & Pamela Diekmann, BOA 4427
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Old 02-18-2009, 03:50 PM   #2
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I recently attended an FMCA Rally and had the pleasure of speaking with "Mac the Fire Guy", a well known RV fire expert.

Mac told me that refer compartment fires are common. He sells a compact fire extinguisher for the outside refer compartment that automatically activates in the event of a fire. It obviously won't completely prevent fire damage, but it could certainly limit it.

Mac doesn't have this extinguisher on his web site yet. He has a whole new line that is much less expensive than his old line of products, but again, his web site still shows his old stuff. The compact extinguisher is his model SS30, and it sells for $180. I'm ordering one each for my refer and generator compartments.

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Old 02-18-2009, 04:23 PM   #3
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Here is a link to the SS-30 maybe worth the money for peace of mind.
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Old 02-18-2009, 05:42 PM   #4
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Mac the Fire Guy will be at our National Rally in June. After seeing the damage done to that 38N Bounder, you can bet I'll be first in line to ask him about that SS-30 for our Bounder!!

Lori-
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Old 02-19-2009, 07:53 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally posted by "007":
Here is a link to the SS-30 maybe worth the money for peace of mind.
Wow, same model offered by Mac, but $55 cheaper. Thanks for the tip!

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Old 02-20-2009, 05:20 AM   #6
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Based on my findings on my '05 Bounder I would be very skeptical of faulting the Norcold product. This is why I say that.

A year ago I was on my roof running some cable for my wind generator. I wanted to snake it down the reefer vent. I removed the vent cover and was shocked by what I found. The exhaust chimney from my Norcold was venting directly on to the carpeted roof material and had burnt through to the plywood underlayment. The plywood was charred. The burn area was about 6" in diameter. In my opinion, the vent hole in the roof was cut about 6" too far to the rear of the coach. I don't know if this vent hole is cut by a computer guided saw or a guy with a hand saw but if it were 6" more forward there would have been no problem.

There was a small baffle on the top of the chimney I guess to deflect the hot gases, it wasn't up to the challenge. I fixed the exhaust problem by using aluminumdryer vent hose. I formed a gradual ESS and routed it up and out the vent hole securing it with a sheet metal screw. I've checked it periodically over the past year and there are no other problems, the vent and reefer are working fine.

I e-mailed Fleetwood with my findings, they said take it to an authorized dealer and they'll look at it! I like my fix thank you very much.

So the moral is if you have a Fleetwood product you might want to check the exhaust chimney on your reefer and see if it's slowly burning your rig.
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Old 02-20-2009, 11:50 AM   #7
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Now that you mention this Tincup I had the same problem on my 96 Bounder, vent to far to rear, fixed as you did. Thanks for the reminder.
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