Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 12-09-2019, 12:39 PM   #1
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 5
Norcold fridge

I have a 2005 Journey with a Norcold model 1201LRIM (4 door). I purchased the motor home last year. The previous owner had Amish "guts" installed in it and claimed it worked fantastic. I've not found that to be true so here's what going on - hopefully someone can give me some ideas about what might be going on and how to repair.

Top left freezer (the one with the ice maker) fluctuates temperature wildly, typically between 15-35 degrees. We have to keep the temp setting at 9 (max). If we "turn it down" to about 7 or 8 the entire unit (fridge & freezer sections) all get too warm. We have been told we should never have to turn it above 4 or 5. We have been given several suggestions such as heat the seals so they expand but this did not work - perhaps we did not do it correctly... We also talked to the dealer who installed the Amish unit in March 2016 (JC Refridgeration) who also thought it might be the seals. I've been told you have to replace the doors, the seals cannot be replaced, etc. At this point I have no idea and I'm just hoping someone who has had a similar experience and share how they fixed it.
__________________
\tm
tgmaz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2019, 11:17 PM   #2
Winnebago Watcher
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 3
Try this website:
TheNorcoldGuy.com


He may have the door seals


Tom
Engineer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-10-2019, 04:14 AM   #3
Winnebago Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Branson MO area
Posts: 667
You can test the seals by putting a tissue between in and the frame. If you can pull the tissue out without any resistance the seals are not doing there job. Have you played with the location of the thermistor? Raising it up a little may help. I know in mine the freezer side with ice maker is different temp. I believe it has somehow to do with the ice maker. I do not use ice maker anymore for that reason.
__________________
07 Meridian 36G
Roadmaster tow dolly
Great Wife!! & Max the Frisbee chasing dog.
be happy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-10-2019, 02:45 PM   #4
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 5
We have tried the tissue trick (with a dollar bill) and attempted to "expand" the seals. That did not work. Also though about the water in the ice maker but that should not raise the temp in the entire fridge. This is a tough one. I talked to a repair guy the other day and am trying something he suggested. Will post results here in a couple days.
__________________
\tm
tgmaz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-10-2019, 02:47 PM   #5
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 5
Thanks for the tip. I'll see what this guy has to say.
__________________
\tm
tgmaz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 04:29 PM   #6
Winnebago Master
 
bobmac's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Southern Ontario
Posts: 562
Your experience echos mine. Those that invested $$$ seem to like them but there was minimal improvement over the Norcold in my coach. For roughly the same cost, I replaced mine with a Samsung Res.fridge and have never looked back.
bobmac is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 04:49 PM   #7
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
We have an 08 Tour. We discovered that the Norcold fridge has caused many more fires than you might think. We got $1000 from the class action suit, and replaced ours with a Samsung residential. If you run your Norcold when the coach is out of level, the excessive heat build up destroys the anti corrosive in the refrigerant and it eats its way out from the inside, releasing Hydrogen gas, and...poof.
Cal-L is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 09:06 PM   #8
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 45
I found that adding 2 fans to the outside made a huge improvement in cooling and Iater I added a fan next to the inside find and it has been working great...
jabass is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 09:48 PM   #9
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 8
It’s not about it working, it’s about the anti corrosion stuff breaking down. The fridge will work fine, just high risk of fire. Good luck!
Cal-L is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 10:07 PM   #10
2015 Itasca Spirit 27QP
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Murfreesboro, TN
Posts: 286
I too had my Norcold fridge guts swapped out by JC Refrigeration. It took them a few days to get the unit to work properly; the cooling coil routing needed to be changed to fix the problem of insufficient cooling. Your model number is different from mine and may not have the same problem but if it isn't leaky door seals, you may need to get it back to Shipshewana, IN. Fans are not the answer if the cooling unit has issues as I think it may have, assuming the doors aren't leaking air.
JoeC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2019, 12:03 AM   #11
Winnebago Master
 
SCVJeff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Santa Clarita, CA.
Posts: 1,222
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal-L View Post
It’s not about it working, it’s about the anti corrosion stuff breaking down. The fridge will work fine, just high risk of fire. Good luck!
that has nothing to do with the primary question (a). And B, this is an after market cooling unit that doesn't have any of the construction issues the stock Norcold unit did
__________________
_______________________________

Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350
SCVJeff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2019, 07:01 AM   #12
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Ontario
Posts: 20
Is that the model that had the recall? or did the Amish guts void that out ?????
Dave9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2019, 04:25 PM   #13
Winnie-Wise
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 322
Off subject a bit but Furrion is now making a 10 CF compressor 12V and 120 model that is a direct replacement for a 8 cf fridge. Suppose to be very heavy build and made to hold up to highway travel.
What ever trailer or Class C we get if it has a 8 cf 2 way fridge it will be swapped out before the 1st night camping. I love solar so between either 2 LI's or 4 AGM's and a gen for cloudy days we will be able to keep it in electric.
Ret.LEO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2019, 07:02 PM   #14
Winnebago Owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 69
I swapped my perfectly good Norcold 4door ice maker with a home one and never looked back.
I have a Norcold for sale complete with three interiors fans and two exterior fan locations for max cooling.
Pm me
__________________
2004 Itaska - Horizon
IKS40WD 350 Cummins
2012 Jeep Wrangler
pobstlmo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2019, 08:38 PM   #15
2015 Itasca Spirit 27QP
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Murfreesboro, TN
Posts: 286
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ret.LEO View Post
Off subject a bit but Furrion is now making a 10 CF compressor 12V and 120 model that is a direct replacement for a 8 cf fridge. Suppose to be very heavy build and made to hold up to highway travel.
What ever trailer or Class C we get if it has a 8 cf 2 way fridge it will be swapped out before the 1st night camping. I love solar so between either 2 LI's or 4 AGM's and a gen for cloudy days we will be able to keep it in electric.
Great idea, but I would recommend solar too, unless you don't plan on boondocking. Inverters are also a nice-to-have option. Also, AGM batteries will take all day (12-24 hours) to properly charge without doing permanent damage to them. They have a poor cycle efficiency. Remember, with lead-acid technology, you should not go below 50% SOC; so lithium has more than 60% more capacity. Lithium would be the only way to go with 4-5 hours for a complete charge, which is not necessary, and will do no damage to the batteries if not completed.

Best wishes.
JoeC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-2019, 01:11 PM   #16
Winnie-Wise
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 322
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeC View Post
Great idea, but I would recommend solar too, unless you don't plan on boondocking. Inverters are also a nice-to-have option. Also, AGM batteries will take all day (12-24 hours) to properly charge without doing permanent damage to them. They have a poor cycle efficiency. Remember, with lead-acid technology, you should not go below 50% SOC; so lithium has more than 60% more capacity. Lithium would be the only way to go with 4-5 hours for a complete charge, which is not necessary, and will do no damage to the batteries if not completed.

Best wishes.
Hi Joe, this is the system I'm looking at:
https://battlebornbatteries.com/shop...ithium-bundle/
Ret.LEO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-21-2019, 09:13 AM   #17
2015 Itasca Spirit 27QP
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Murfreesboro, TN
Posts: 286
Ret.LEO:
Overall you are looking at a decent system. But potential issues that I
see are: 1) You likely have a battery charger that would work with the
lithium batteries, although maybe not perfectly but could be upgraded to
lithium. 2) Having a single device for battery charging and inverting is
potentially a single-point-of-failure unit that may be able to cripple
your entire power system. I worked for years as a design consultant and
never recommended systems with a single point of failure, instead, they
had at least one or more backup schemes.

There are inverters that only invert and can pass through incoming AC
shore power or generator power as a default; no power, AC or DC
required, like it's not there. But will take DC power, invert it to AC
and pass it through instead of shore power, seamlessly, should shore
power fail. Killing the inverter only stops you from making AC power
from DC. You can still charge your batteries through the generator or
shore power and your existing power converter/charger, which in all
likelihood could be upgraded to perfectly handle lithium batteries. This
is the route that I took using Renogy Solar solar panels and controller,
2000 Watt Aims direct-connect switching inverter plus a Progressive
Dynamics lithium charger upgrade to my WFCO power control system,
charging three Relion RB100-HP lithium batteries. I went with -HP as
they can supply way more than the standard 100 amps each for starting
the generator (up to 360 amp draw) or V10 engine if necessary. The only
shortcoming is that the pass-through 2000 Watt invereter only passes 25
amps (circuit breaker) of the maximum 30 amp generator or shore power.
So far, I haven't missed the 5 amps. Larger switching inverters pass
more amperage but are too large for my available space. I do use the
Victron BMV-712 battery monitor and really like it. The monitor should
also show you that inverters consume quite a bit of power when turned
on, even with no load. Therefore should be powered off when not needed,
especially when boondocking and you are counting your amp-hours.

I hope this gives you another perspective on how to design your new
lithium power system. Contact me if you have any questions. Best wishes
and good luck.

Joe
JoeC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-21-2019, 09:42 AM   #18
Winnebago Master
 
powercat_ras's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Manhattan, Kansas USA
Posts: 1,313
Check out arprv.com , they sell an add-on product called Fridge Defend that will almost eliminate the fire risk by preventing the boiler overheating that leads to the increased fire danger, if fridge is left on when the RV is substantially out of level.

That said, if the fridge already has internal damage from being operated out of level before the Fridge Defend was installed, Fridge Defend can't reverse the damage.
__________________
Randy - Manhattan, Kansas
2015 Vista 27N
2020 Ford Escape Hybrid
powercat_ras is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
fridge, norcold


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Norcold 1200 4 door fridge replacement. jgore Heating, Cooling and Appliances 11 07-02-2012 06:37 PM
Norcold LRIM Fridge Recall - Removal Problems rowesort Heating, Cooling and Appliances 13 10-02-2009 03:00 PM
Norcold Fridge Update Thudman Heating, Cooling and Appliances 6 08-29-2009 06:06 PM
Norcold Fridge compressor cycling frequently? RanchoVectra Heating, Cooling and Appliances 8 06-26-2007 12:16 AM
More Norcold Fridge questions tderonne Heating, Cooling and Appliances 9 07-19-2006 03:56 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Winnebago Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:29 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.