The Only Real Cure for an Norcold RV Refrigerator "Problem"

[Dr4Film]

Originally Posted by Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376

I've got a Model 1200 4 door circa 2005 in our Dolphin that's been on for 6 years and counting. It's kept our food cold and our freezer frozen running on setting 5 in the winter, 7 in the summer. It seem to be a candidate for the recall but in all honesty, why fix what ain't broke?

If you own a POS Norcold model 12XX as I do, your fridge is a candidate for the latest recall. My Norcold is going on 11 years old and it has been running 24/7 for the last 9 years. That doesn't mean that mine doesn't need the latest recall.

All of the previous recalls by Norcold for model 12XX were a waste of time and money as they were band-aids however, the latest one has done some good by shutting down units preventing possible fires. There have been some early cases where the black box brain was bad but I have heard that Norcold is now installing version E with their recall kits.

Now for the bad news; there have been a few cases where the latest recall did NOT prevent a fire with subsequent collateral damage to the coach. At least no lives have been lost since the most recent recall has been in effect.

I also believe in not fixing something that isn't broken however, in this case it is broken (Norcold has admitted that) and is an accident waiting to happen. You just don't know when.

Personally, I think that anybody that doesn't have all safety recalls done on any vehicle and equipment is a fool with their head in the sand.

I am trusting that my cooling unit will continue to perform and have done many modifications to enhance its lousy performance. One of the very first was the installation of a Halon Fire Suppression system to help put out any possible fridge fire.

When the time comes, I will install the Amish cooling unit distributed by the RV Cooling Warehouse, David Force. These units are built rugged.

A side note, when parked for a couple of months recently at Ramblers Rest in Venice FL, my neighbor was having their Norcold cooling unit replaced under warranty. it was only 6 years old. it had failed one night with a rupture. He found the yellow-green "kiss of death" powder during his inspection. It was done under en extended warranty so that is why he chose to install another Norcold cooling unit POS.

Only my opinions.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376]

Thanks, you are right. Making the call today. What was I thinking?

[stink]

I just finnished intalling the Amish cooling unit into my 02 discovery. "works great" When I pulled the ref, I found a scary sight!!! Fleetwood had installed a wiring harnes covered with convilut insulation in corner of the ref cabinet. Yes on the side with the chimney!!! The harness was to long and not fixing the problem let the harness loop in the cabinet. This harness had rubbed all the insulation above the AC heating eliments off the chimney and melted the harness cover (convelute) could have led to a fire. The Amish cooling unit has the chimney set about 2 inches closer to the edje of the frig so I had to make a heat sheald to protect the harness. But the cooling unit works GREAT!!!!!

[Gadget Man]

I just returned from my first full trip after installing my Amish built unit. I camped in temps over 100 degrees, and the refer worked like a champ. Not only did it keep my beer ice cold and my ice cream rock hard, but the recovery time from opening and closing the refer doors is much, much better. The inside temp of the old Norcold would climb as high as 50 degrees when opening/closing the refer doors in the summer, and it would take over 30 minutes to recover. This Amish built unit didn’t seem to drop much at all, and when it did, it recovered within minutes. Even when the outside temps hit 106, the refer temp never climbed above 38 degrees. I’m leaving the ice chest at home from now on!

I’m completely satisfied with this upgrade.

Craig

[jauguston]

FWIW there is a vendor on e-bay that has snap thermostats for refer fans that are lower temperature. I don't remember for sure what they are but I think they are 110 degrees instead of the stock 130 degrees ones.

Jim

[Gadget Man]

Originally Posted by jauguston

FWIW there is a vendor on e-bay that has snap thermostats for refer fans that are lower temperature. I don't remember for sure what they are but I think they are 110 degrees instead of the stock 130 degrees ones.

Jim

Jim,

That could easily help some cooling units. I purchased a new fan switch from RV Cooling Unit Warehouse when I bought the cooling unit. Not sure what temp it is set at, but it comes on sooner than before, which I'm sure helps.

Craig

[madman34]

Hi All, Well my Norcold 1210 is a textbook death after far too short of a time but still out of warranty, and this is not my first personal experience with this situation. I am an engineer so I have analyzed this to death ;-) My family has had RVs and associated with RV people for 40 years, and only the units made in the last 10 years or less have had such catastrophic, expensive, and potentially problems. The Amish cooling unit looks like a better solve from what I see with more coils to distribute the heat and if true the heavier guage of the components should keep the 400+ PSI hydrogen atmosphere inside as well. I will be ordering a unit this comming week and replace mine, but I have already found and replaced it with a Hotpoint refer. I did this because it is 15.6 cu ft where the Norcold is only a 12, the unit fit in the Norcold mounting space with room to spare, and I have a 4KW true sine inverter/convertor so I have never had to use the propane. I will fix the Norcold and decide which I like better. All said though, I think we are missing a key and vital point here: If a car company has a malfunctioning design that could very easily result in injury or death of the ownder, the feds make them fix it right ! By right I mean not the Dometic deflector plate or the Norcold over temp shutdown bandaide. They are held to task and made to fix the causitive issue and recall known defective units to replace the faulty designed component. My Father had his fridge changed a few years ago for it, his coach caught on fire last xmas from the new one only 3 years old. My Mom's 04 blew a few years ago so I expect it again any day now. There are millions of them out there and more every day being sold that have not been redesigned. They are selling sticks of dynomite that just happen to temporarily operate as refrigerators and they are getting away with it. The Amish have proven that they can make it work correctly, so Dometic and Norcold should be held to task for it.

[peskyfeller]

Originally Posted by 007";776522]Make notice of note about Amish cooling units:
[URL="http://www.irv2.com/forums/NOTE! If you noticed the picture of the Amish built Norcold 1200 series cooling unit, the Amish RV Refrigeration Company have changed to a better cooling design, having 2 sets of lower loops on the back to allow for better air flow and able to maintain colder during hotter weather than before and no recall kits needed, since the complete cooling unit coils tubing are built with a 50% thicker tubing wall . Also, another added design, they built into the upper condenser fins a double pass through tubing allowing the air to pass trough the fins causing to Ammonia Vapor to condense with less air flow. All these added designs give your Amish built cooling unit a very high degree of cold during the hottest weather without causing your coils to over heat and fail.

NOTE! If you noticed the picture of the Amish built Norcold 1200 series cooling unit, the Amish RV Refrigeration Company have changed to a better cooling design, having 2 sets of lower loops on the back to allow for better air flow and able to maintain colder during hotter weather than before and no recall kits needed, since the complete cooling unit coils tubing are built with a 50% thicker tubing wall . Also, another added design, they built into the upper condenser fins a double pass through tubing allowing the air to pass trough the fins causing to Ammonia Vapor to condense with less air flow. All these added designs give your Amish built cooling unit a very high degree of cold during the hottest weather without causing your coils to over heat and fail.[/URL]

Seems they have covered the Norcold problems they also make the coils for Dometic fridge.

Hey Guys, The fires are not a result of escaping ammonia. It is the hydrogen gas. What is happening on the original units is the boiler overheats and the thin walled tubing cracks. When the tubes crack hydrogen, water and ammonia escape hitting the red hot boiler tube or gas flame and ignites. The Amish units are made thicker with much improved coils. Not only can they handle the heat the flow of liquids and air are far better.

[madman34]

Everyone monitoring this thread should take note that even the coach builders are getting the message. At the 2012 RV show I saw an interesting trend taking place. Just like air bags, anti-lock brakes, and HID headlights started in the most expensive vehicles first, then became available options in lower trim levels, then standard in lower trim options, the manufacturers are doing this now on coach fridges. Used to we would see house units as options and then standard in the million dollar plus units, then a few years ago I had a friend buy a Zephyre for far less with one in it from Tiffin, but at the show I saw units as low as 125k with them from fleetwood and Winni. I hope to see this more and more so these crooks that make these unsafe RV units on purpose get pushed out of the way in favor of a better idea. The Hotpoint unit I put in mine is far better functioning than the Norcold ever worked and I am not looking back at the Norcold as even a remote possibility, it can sit in the garage forever as far as I am concerned. I hope people see the new units with home units in them and replace theirs as well.

[GSGracie]

Is there any difference between Dometic and Norcold? I have a Dometic that is giving me problems, but I want to check if it is worth repairing or replacing. If they are no better than the Norcold units, I will simply replace it.

[Geppy]

My Norcold 625 does everything it should electrically and on LP except the most important it never gets cold. LP fires up, works on auto etc...all circuits and fuses test good. The only problem is it won't get cold inside. Can you help?

Originally Posted by TXiceman

Gary, a compressor driven unit is not any safer or more functional than an ammonia absorption unit.

Ammonia has been used as an industrial refrigerant since before 1900. In addition to ammonia, there was Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and methylchloride. When duPont came on the scene with the "Freon" (Chlorine based) refrigerants, ammonia was pushed to the rear and a lot of the ammonia technology was lost.

Ammonia is still the most widely used refrigerant in large cold storage and food preparation installations. Ammonia is the most efficient refrigerant in use today and it is even used in the cooling system on the International Space Station. I doubt if it would have been used there if it was so unsafe.

Ammonia will burn, in a very narrow combustion range, but only in the presence of a flame. No flame, no fire.

I have been in the industrial cooling field since 1970 and worked with numerous ammonia systems, both mechanical and absorption and have not had one blow up or catch fire due to the refrigerant being ammonia.

I have a question, my oldster Norcold 625 won't cool. Secondly I'm an Electrician/HVAC guy and know the basics so I was able to troubleshoot the units electrical and LP systems. It all works, the LP lights with no AC, switches back to AC when plugged in. The controller on top of fridge works fine, you get it heating whether in Auto or LP. The issue is it never gets cold. Can you help me out?


The newer ammonia absorption units are not being built to last as long as the older units. Our 1979 Silver Streak had the unit finally stop cooling when it was 29 years old. No leaks, no fires, etc. The systems have an anti corrosive agent in the mix to stop the corrosion.

Mechanical units are actually more prone to failure, due to the moving parts and they are also subject to electrical fires.

Let's not give ammonia a bad reputation based on hear-say and speculation.

Ken

[Gadget Man]

Originally Posted by GSGracie

Is there any difference between Dometic and Norcold? I have a Dometic that is giving me problems, but I want to check if it is worth repairing or replacing. If they are no better than the Norcold units, I will simply replace it.

They work essentially the same and both brands have their own issues. RV Cooling Unit Warehouse sells replacement cooling units for Dometic AND Norcold.

Originally Posted by Geppy

My Norcold 625 does everything it should electrically and on LP except the most important it never gets cold. LP fires up, works on auto etc...all circuits and fuses test good. The only problem is it won't get cold inside. Can you help?

Doesn't sound good. By all means have it checked out, but that usually means your cooling unit is shot.

Craig

[ladyoftravel]

My fridge has been off a couple of months. I want to make sure its working ok. I plugged in tt and left it overnight, did not cool. What do I need to do?

[jauguston]

The $1025.00 Amish Cooling Unit for the Norcold 1200 is not the magic cure all. I had one installed in our refer and it lasted two days and quit. It took 5 weeks of discussion and failed call returns from David Force and having him pass the buck to the manufacturer before we got them to agree it wasn't working and send a replacement. Because I paid for the unit instead of the RV shop it cost me another $400.00 to have it replaced. The RV shop could not get a dealer price reduction on the unit so had me order it. It has been working 5 days so far and my fingers are crossed it keeps working.

Jim