replacing norcold refrigerator in my meridian

Mike and Pat · 01-27-2011, 05:33 PM

i am replacing my norcold 4 door fridge with a residential one and will be posting pictures once it is done. I have the new one in the coach and will be removing the old one this saturday. The guy who wanted the old fridge for parts has changed his mind so if anyone is interested please let me know. I am in the Virginia Beach area. There is nothing wrong with the refrigerator. At least not right now

. But I haven't gotten it through the door yet.

"007" · 01-27-2011, 05:58 PM

Can't wait to see it, its the coming thing to do change to res, or change the cooling coils.
We had one replaced recently by Brigadoon Norcold to Maytag.
We keep this up and Norcold may not be around in near future.

smlranger · 01-27-2011, 06:31 PM

Interested in what brand, model of residential fridge you used. Also, are you upgrading your inverter or did you already have a pure sine wave inverter large enough to handle the fridge? Am anxious to see the pics and get all the details since we have considered doing the same thing in our Journey.

Mike and Pat · 01-27-2011, 07:11 PM

smlranger,
The fridge I chose is a Fisher Paykel counter depth one that is only 23 inches deep and should fit in the hole that the old 4 door one is coming out of. It is 66 3/4 inches tall and 31 1/2 inches wide. It is a bottom freezer with a door not a drawer and is made in New Zealand. I got it through Lowes and they delivered it this morning. I have plans to remove the old one this weekend and the only problem I see is a little trim work since this fridge is 4 inches less wide than the old one. The fridge is 17.6 cubic feet.
I have the standard Dimensions 2000 watt msw inverter that came with the coach. and have 3 house batteries. I got the fridge with out the ice maker or water and ice dispenser in the door so running off of the msw inverter should not be a problem. If it becomes one i may add a psw dedicated inverter later and an additional battery. I do not dry camp much so it will be used mainly on shore power or generator. Since I full time I will have plenty of time to check it out.

bluepill · 01-27-2011, 07:30 PM

I have noted the use of Halon systems, including the bottom-mounted one that failed to deploy. Has anyone put an extra fire detector in the rear of their Norcold? Just figured it may give some extra warning, especially if you are outside but not too far away.

smlranger · 01-28-2011, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike and Pat

smlranger,
The fridge I chose is a Fisher Paykel counter depth one that is only 23 inches deep and should fit in the hole that the old 4 door one is coming out of. It is 66 3/4 inches tall and 31 1/2 inches wide. It is a bottom freezer with a door not a drawer and is made in New Zealand. I got it through Lowes and they delivered it this morning. I have plans to remove the old one this weekend and the only problem I see is a little trim work since this fridge is 4 inches less wide than the old one. The fridge is 17.6 cubic feet.
I have the standard Dimensions 2000 watt msw inverter that came with the coach. and have 3 house batteries. I got the fridge with out the ice maker or water and ice dispenser in the door so running off of the msw inverter should not be a problem. If it becomes one i may add a psw dedicated inverter later and an additional battery. I do not dry camp much so it will be used mainly on shore power or generator. Since I full time I will have plenty of time to check it out.

Thanks for the info. I had been told that residential fridges may not like msw and, at least one outfit that has done a number of these conversions, installs a separate 1000W Xantrex psw inverter dedicated to the fridge. We don't full time and our 'boondocking' consists of an overnite in a Walmart lot when traveling. We also have an AGS module that will start the genny if battery voltage drops. We have the same 3 battery set up so I will also be curious to hear how well they hold.

Reading your post is giving me the encouragement to more fully explore this. We've never been happy with the inconsistent cooling ability of the Norcold, even with a couple of fridge fans in the thing.

tomgauger · 09-21-2011, 12:27 PM

Good bye Norcold!
This refers to an installation in a 2001 Monaco Exec 43DS.
Hello Whirlpool. It fits right in the Norcold 1200 space, but I lost the two drawers underneath. The installed (Beckley's in Thurmont, MD) did a first-rate job even salvaging the door panels off the Norcold to provide trim around the new fridge.
The Whirlpool isn't happy with the Trace 3kw MSW inverter so I'm going after a Xantrex 1kw PSW that will be dedicated to the Whirlpool.
Now I have rock-hard ice cream and tons of ice.
Photos attached!