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Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Yahoo Message Number: 82479
Jay,

Sorry I can't help direct you to a shop, but I will say this is not a hard change out for any rv tech with refrigerator experience and knowledge. We've replaced lots of these units, I haven't kept score but I've got 3 waiting to go in with 2 more on order and have been averaging about 2-3 per week this summer. Go in to a shop and talk with the tech who would be doing the work for you, you'll know in a matter of seconds if that's who you want doing the work. If he (or she) has good knowledge from both dometic & norcold training and does most of the appliance repairs for that shop, you've probably found the right person. If you need to order the parts yourself and take them with you for the change out. I prefer to order them for my customers here at my shop because that makes us reasonable for both parts and labor and if something goes sideways the finger only gets pointed my direction.
A couple of things I recommend while doing this change out. Replace the consumables, the burner/orifice, fans, fan switch, AC heating elements (2) and the spark/sense lead . My reason is simple, you're already there (or the tech your paying) and have to touch these or remove & re-install them, so it's a good time to replace them. Sometimes you have no choice, such as the heating elements so rusted in that getting them out destroys them, fans not working or so loaded with gunk they work but for how much longer? The burner, well I've seen these still working but so distorted it's surprising.
As for the cost, yes these add up but in the scheme of things it's cheep and will insure your new cooing unit will perform as advertised.... And yes they do work! Hope you like hard ice cream... oh and a cooling unit that runs at a much lower temp.

Good luck & Safe Travels

Jim Lewis

Infinity Coach
Sumner, Wa

From:Scott
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 11:05 AM To:Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Country-Coach-Owners] Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Jay - Good idea to be proactive. All the knowledge I've been able to collect is here: http://www.muniac.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68#Post68 It is a DIY project but I'd say first time through it's difficult. If you have an ice maker make sure to inspect the water line and connection while you have access to the back of the frig. Also inspect the drain pan hose which runs through the cold pack. Looking back, I wish I had replaced the two fans with ball bearing ones. Per usual, keep an eye on the replacement and make sure the craftsmanship is there. Examine wiring too. Good luck.

At 06:49 AM 9/19/2012, you wrote:

Re: Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 82483
Hello Jim,

I very much appreciate your advice in this matter. You have obviously "been there and done that"?, and I treat your input as such.

Good plan on the consumables. I'll do it!
Question: you have replaced lots of these units - - do you mean Norcolds? Did you replace OEM with Pines (Amish) units? Roughly, what percentage of the replacements were proactive rather than cooling system failures? Did you see many (any) Norcold cooling units that showed impending, catastrophic failure?

Thanks again for sharing your expertise!

Jay

05 Inspire

Re: Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 82490
Jay,

Well I've been around..... And I've changed so many I forget, but this past year has been primarily the Norcold 1200's. Over the last year "ALL"? the 1200's we've done are with the pines (Amish) units and I see under no circumstances would I use anything but. We had a customer last week (or was it the week before?) who called me on a Thursday who had just arrived to his campsite for a 2 week stay and the refer was full of food and not working. The refer had coded "lo - dc"?, well I was 3 hours away, the coach was plugged into shore, batteries were fully charged, lights inside nice and bright. What I told him is the recall had locked out and was bleeding voltage thus coding lo dc. So he bypassed the recall (not at my recommendation, I suggested a ice chest & a service call from a local RV tech) within 3 hours the neighbors came over and asked if he was cleaning with ammonia? The cooling unit exploded and lucky for him no fire started, also lucky for him he had an extended warranty that paid for the change out.
I will say that most of the change outs this year are preventative maintenance due to the fire issue's we've all been hearing about. I know of 14 coaches that have burnt to the ground this year, 10 on AC, 3 on gas and 1 from engine. I believe all Norcold 1200's need to updated with the Amish cooling unit, replaced with a Samsung household or turned off while your in the coach sleeping or driving or your pets are in there while you're out & about.
This Amish cooling unit is such a better unit then the oem. This is the answer we've all been waiting for and I'm a believer.
When we pull the units out, the tubing is so rusted out you'd think it was exhaust pipe from an old farm truck near salt water... Not all but most

Thanks

Jim Lewis

Infinity Coach

From:Jay Williams
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 3:32 PM To:Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [Country-Coach-Owners] Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Hello Jim,

I very much appreciate your advice in this matter. You have obviously "been there and done that"?, and I treat your input as such.

Good plan on the consumables. I'll do it!
Question: you have replaced lots of these units - - do you mean Norcolds? Did you replace OEM with Pines (Amish) units? Roughly, what percentage of the replacements were proactive rather than cooling system failures? Did you see many (any) Norcold cooling units that showed impending, catastrophic failure?

Thanks again for sharing your expertise!

Jay

05 Inspire

Re: Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 82754
Hello Jay, Jim here in Mandarin. I have been watching the discussion on the refrigerator with interest to take the same proactive step. Now it is at the point I must do something.
A few days ago I was getting the coach ready for a trip down to Sigsbee. I had turned on the refrigerator on to get it ready for the trip and the next day it was cooling just fine. Then, yesterday when I went to put food in it, it was like an oven inside it. I quickly turned it off and went outside to remove the access panel and found the the labels on the heat shield beginning to turn black from excessive heat. I quickly disconnected the 120vac and 12vdc power leads to the unit and let it cool down. When I removed the heat shield, I found the case for the control board was melted and one of the control leads had all its wires melted together. No other damage was noticed, but had I not found the problem when I did, I think our coach would have been counted as one of those lost to fire. I guess we cannot expect these things to last forever. Fortunately we were not using propane and I had the propane turned off. We were using shore power.
Our refrigerator is the Dometic NDR1292 and was never included in any recall. Annual maintenance was done each year and never noticed any problem. The unit seemed to work just fine when needed. Now I have concerns about the safety of any continued use of the unit and am looking at the possible replacement with something of a better design. Hopefully, I can find a solution on our way to Sigsbee....for now the Dometic is disabled and we will use an ice chest and eat out more.

Later.....

Jim Hughes

2000 Allure #30511
"P-3's forever" I

Re: Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 82756
Jim

Sorry about your fridge problems. We have the same fridge, but with Amish cooling unit. We're at Sigsbee now, spot 23 until 10/8. C-130s forever! LOL!

Larry, 03 Allure, 30856 - USAF retired

Re: Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 82759
Jim - Glad you caught this when you did. You'll need a new cooling unit. Go with Pines RV Refrigeration. Although this isn't Dometic specific, you might find some useful information here: http://www.muniac.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68#Post68 Good luck effecting repairs.

At 03:43 AM 9/30/2012, you wrote:
 

Re: Norcold Cooling Unit Replacement - Florida

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 82765
You might consider what many others have done, install a residential refrigerator. I have never heard a complaint from those who made the change, other than the ice cream is to hard or there is too much room inside. The cost won't be too much different.

Bob Wexler
SOB