Larry W
Based on your "join date", you might not be aware of the major fire issues of the Norcold 1200 5 or 6 years ago. Norcold did a retrofit of those unit adding a monitor on flue temperature that would shut down the unit to avoid a fire if the temp limit was exceeded. There were many RVs with that unit completely destroyed by fire. So yes there is an issue with certain vintage 1200 models and yes a replacement of that vintage will reduce the risk.
Your tone in replying reflects the fact that you were unaware of that issue.
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Bob
09 Journey 39Z
Southern Ontario
Based on your “join date,” bob, I’ve been RVing thirty years longer than you have....1978 Beaver truck camper. Built in El Monte, California, under license of Beaver motorhome company. Your tone indicates you believe the forum joining date reflects when someone began to RV. Such an assumption is not supportable.
Rather than go through the issues with my Norcold I would like to say that the best move I made was replacing it with a Samsung Residential unit. Yes I had to change the 2 - 12volt batteries with 4 - 6 volt AGM batteries and replace the converter with an inverter / converter, however it was well worth it. The food stays cold regardless of how hot the RV gets and besides having more internal space my ice cream is now frozen. Incidentally the refrigerator is the only thing plugged into the inverter and i have boon docked for 3 days and other than running the generator for a couple of hours in the evening I have never had an issue. Go for it. By the way, the old and new unit came in through my entrance door
Larry
These forums are to help others. Your posts are critical of other posters and not constructive or necessarily helpful.You need to accept that not everyone shares the same opinions as you do or I do. Not everyone understands what they need to know about their coach and are able to increase their knowledge and enjoyment with what they find here. My suggestion to you is to take the "high road" in you posts and value the differences in opinions that don't align with your. Good luck.
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Bob
09 Journey 39Z
Southern Ontario
If I bought a new RV it would no doubt already have a residential refrigerator in it. There is a reason for that. Plus with pure-sine inverter being the standard these days, and that you will get 4-6V house batteries, the only other thing I would do to this setup is add 4-100W solar panels on the roof from Renogy and a MNPT solar controller.
If I were to by a used RV I would definitely only buy one that I could yank that old "fire trap" and P.O.S. (aka Norcold or Dometic) out of the hole.
Note: Some RVs mounted the gas-frig on top of the room heater so you may have to go with a 10-CU residential refrigerator in these situations from Avanti, which is okay, and which you can get at Home Depot for less than $300. However, in most other RV models you can install a 16-CU refrigerator and an ice maker. I chose a stainless steel door and I used a bright Popular Wood base board... with some "swim noodles" to line the sides for insulation and I used the 120 volt outlet already plumbed in my 2004 Itasca "Horizon" to power the new AC residential refrigerator.
Note: I think the 16-CuFt residential refrigerator weighed slightly less than the 10-CuFt double-door Norcold. What you need to consider is that your front door jam may limit the size of the refrigerator you install... and be prepared to remove the passenger front chair.
I would also agree you can keep your quaizi-sine inverter by Sennata "Dimensions" as this is a very good inverter for an older 2002-2010 vintage RV, but the lower quality inverters that are not pure sine wave may indeed shorten the life of your residential refrigerator from 10 yrs to 5 yrs, but that's still okay since you are taking about a $300-$600 refrigerator.
You know there are many people who have spent $2,000 maintaining their 10 year old gas frigerator and that does not even begin to speak to all the food they lost or inconveniences they have had... vs... a residential refrigerator that is "on" all the time and works perfectly all the time. Mine is 3 years old and I see no issues with it. Plus when you are docked in an RV park you are getting 110-120AC anyway! So I don't expect any less longevity just because I use a quaizi-sine inverter on the road or when boondocking....In my opinion, the only reason techs will not endorse AC residential refrigerators is because that they make (stiff) you thousands of dollars for every gas-frig on the road!
Back to other considerations: If you RV does not charge the house batteries while you are driving, then you can add a VSR or "battery isolator" to do that job for $125. I bought this one from Keyline (140A) and it's been woring seamlessly for me... and for more than 3 years now.
As for resale, I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER buy an RV I cannot put a residential refrigerator in. And I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER spend $1200 to overhaul a gas refrigerator that may not work right even after I through that much money at it!
However, if you only have 2-12V house batteries on your rig, then I would not put in a residential refrigerator in your rig as you will be replacing house batteries every 1-2 years. ...Remember, lead-acid batteries are best maintained above 60%, which basically means you only have 40% or 225AHx4/2x60%=270AH of useful life (between battery charges) if you want your batteries to last 3-5 years!
If you didn't follow that, what I am saying is that you don't want your house batteries to fall below 12V-DC if you can help it. (See State of Charge Chart approximated for battery voltage.)
My experience is different than others have had. I had a 2016 Mobile Suites with a 22 cubic whirlpool refrig., 2 6 volt batteries and a Magnum 1000 watt inverter charger. We had forgot to plug unit in one weekend when we returned from a trip. 24 hours later I realized what had happened and the refrig. was still working fine. Since then we bought a used Itasca Suncruiser. I removed the Norcold 1200 and installed a Samsung Residential refrig. The norcold had burned a spot about 8” in diameter in upper left corner. When we saw that we were very happy we made the change. At the same time I installed a 1000 watt inverter charger ( magnum 1012 ) dedicated to the refrig. only. I left the 2 -12 batteries in to try it. We went to Quartzite during RV week. Ran generator 1 1/2 hours in the morning during breakfast and the same at night. We had absolutely no problems we refrig. Eventually I will replace the 2-12 volts with 2-6 volts. That has been our experience. Of course if you are going to run other items you will need more batteries. We also ran wifes C-Pap on 12 volts at night.
Fulltimers for last couple years but RVers for 40 plus years.
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What is a "residential" refrigerator? One similar to the one used in houses, does it refer to another specific type used in RVs, or is it an actual brand? I have not heard the term until now.
What is a "residential" refrigerator? One similar to the one used in houses, does it refer to another specific type used in RVs, or is it an actual brand? I have not heard the term until now.
Yes, it refers to the compressor-driven type of refrigerator typically used in houses.
There are also newer Norcold RV refrigerators that are compressor driven that will run on 12 volt, too. It's getting more complicated.
We had a totally 12vdc little refrigerator in our 1972 chevy (equpped by Travco) camper van. Worked great.
Had the Norcold in the 2008 no the Whirlpool residential. So much nicer with a residential.
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Wayne MSGT USMC (Ret) & Earlene (CinCHouse)
2015 Winnebago Tour 42QD - 2020 Lincoln Nautilus Reserve (TOAD)
(RVM-14) It is what it is, and then it is what you make of it.
Just an aside from the sailing community. If you have the means ($$$$), buy Lithium batteries.
I have had several large boats and yachts with both 12VDC deep cycle marine type batteries and multiple golf cart 6VDC battery setups. Personally, I like the golf cart battery configuration (2ea, 4ea, 6ea, 8ea in series). Boats rock and so do solar panels but RV are steady and have no upper rigging to shade the panels. Panels are cheap these days.
Most sailors are trending towards lithium these days. Ok, it is 5x as expensive but it charges a lot faster (if you have the panels and charger hardware) AND you can deplete them much lower that golf cart batteries. A golf cart batter can go to 50% capacity and still make 1000+ charging/discharging cycles. A Lithium can go to 20% or more for many more multiple 1000's of times, A Lithium also has a lower internal impedance and can supply more amps without heating too much. On the negative side (if you are a sailor on the ocean), they can become self-incendary. Mostly this is a non-issue with smart Lithium that limit their charge/discharge rate.
Ok, by now you think I am a crank or a something like that but having designed thousands of solar/lead acid battery installations for roadside implements of equipment, I am not without credentials. Bottom line, if you have the cash for 6+ solar panels in the 200W range, 4 to 6 Lithium 12VDC batteries and a real Sine Wave Inverter in the 2000W range then go for the boon docking in comfort. If not, then run your generator like I do and sweat.
Larry, what a great idea! Partnering with a sailor's forum! As an knuckle dragging old flange head who fought his way from fo'scle to wardroom and along the way made many a happy passage behind the wheel of Catalina 27 and Catalina 37 sloops, I agree with you that yachties and RV'rs have tons in common, the biggest difference is that RVs have wheels.
Aside from a propensity to travel, one of the reasons this old below decks snipe loves RVing is that every system is analogous to shipboard systems. Propulsion Engine - got it. Water tanks, waste tanks - got 'em. Emergency diesel generator - got it. Antenna array - got 'em. ABT's/MBT's - got 'em. Shore power/hotel connections - got 'em. Bridge to bridge radio - got it. Depending on the state we are rolling through - likely to have an active main battery. Requires constant maintenance - in spades. And so on. Oh, and refrigerated spaces -- I think that was the original trend of this thread
If you ever run into us hove to on some BLM parcel, I like my tonic short and gin long.
Fair Winds and Following Seas!
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Terry & Rosalina
2007 Winnebago Journey 34SE
Retired Navy Mustang & Navy Wife
Looking for some guidance whether to swap out our Norcold RV refrigerator for a residential. I know there are many, many posts on this topic and I have read most of them. But looking for some recent experiences and opinions.
Here is our situation. Our current Norcold 1200 rarely gets below 45 degrees in the refrigerator. The unit is ~5 years old having been replaced by the previous owner due to recalls and repairs. From what I can tell, it has all the proper recall items, the rear air space is clear, and does not have any obvious issues. The freezer does get cold, but the refrigerator rarely gets below 45 degrees. Being in Texas, our outside air is pretty regularly in the high 90s. I have owned several RVs and I find this pretty normal when the outside air is so high.
We are typically connected to power or have the generator running, even when driving down the road. Simply to hot to not have the basement AC going. We are at times, of course, not connected to power (such as when staying overnight at a Walmart or similar) and if cool enough we do not run the generator all night. We still have the original Domestic inverter (modified sign wave) and three standard deep cycle house batteries.
Looking for thoughts on this. For those of you in the hot south, have you found a way to get your RV refrigerator to stay at a safe cold temperature? For those of you who have switched to a residential unit, are you happy?
Not looking to debate one or the other, simply looking for some positive guidance.
Thanks.
We are strongly considering making the swap. Our Norcold has worked for years, but, of late, can't keep the temp down while underway. We've done the fans, the snap switch, an ARP, and will pull this week to try to reseal any penetrations in the back panel. Hopefully that will do the trick, but we know the door seals are weak and the fridge is 14 years old. We have 3 main issues to address with the residential install:
1. Battery, inverter, and charging (solar) upgrades to support the small amount of "boodocking" that we do.
2. Fit. Our Journey 36G has the circuit breaker panel and speaker below the Norcold. Not undoable, just requires some rework, either increasing the height, or decreasing the width if we go with a small (11-16cf) fridge.
3. Reliability. Reading the reviews for most of the less expensive residential refrigerators these days is NOT an encouraging prospect. Once the expense goes up, the reliability seems to as well...but for the additional cost (fridge plus supporting mods), I could go with a new absorption unit and not need the other mods.
Bottom line, we haven't decided yet. Still trying to keep the Norcold alive for a bit longer until we can find the "right" replacement.
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2004 Winnebago Journey36G, 2 humans and 9 dogs racing our way across the country!
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Requires constant maintenance - in spades. And so on. Oh, and refrigerated spaces -- I think that was the original trend of this thread
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