Our Norcold 1200 LRIM has been goofy lately, with the freezer temps swinging up and down for no apparent reason. We've never been thrilled with the RV fridge so decided to replace it with a residential unit.
We initially considered a Samsung counter depth fridge but counter depth fridges are quite pricey. Based on the recommendations of another Winne owner (a Horizon) who recently swapped his Norcold for a residential unit, we got a Frigidaire 18.2 cu ft top freezer stainless fridge from Lowe's. It was $629 on sale with free delivery.
I wanted to do this myself but I have a bad back from prior surgery and DW would not hear of it. Also, most of my neighbors are not spring chickens either so we used a local custom RV shop called Motorcoach Services located in Vinton, VA. They can do most anything on an RV and seem to do it well.
The coach was there for about one week. They removed the Norcold, built a new and stronger floor to support the new fridge, modified the opening a bit to accomodate about 1 1/2" of additional height, and did some other custom work to the trim around, above and under the new fridge.
This is the finished job:
They added some stout latches to the doors and to the face of the fridge cabinet to keep the doors shut while underway. I think they will work well since the doors require a firm pull to get them open.
They secured the new fridge with a wedge-shaped cleat at the top, screws thru the bottom where the rollers are, and by drilling thru the very outer edge of the cabinet, placing screws into framing they added at the sides (this fridge is narrower than the Norcold). You can see the white 'buttons' they used to cover the screws. The shop foreman said they have never had a fridge move around in a coach using these methods.
The DW loves the results (that's a must). The Norcold was 12 cu ft and the additional 6 cu ft will just make things better. Also, no more uneven temps in the fridge and hard ice cream!
We initially considered a Samsung counter depth fridge but counter depth fridges are quite pricey. Based on the recommendations of another Winne owner (a Horizon) who recently swapped his Norcold for a residential unit, we got a Frigidaire 18.2 cu ft top freezer stainless fridge from Lowe's. It was $629 on sale with free delivery.
I wanted to do this myself but I have a bad back from prior surgery and DW would not hear of it. Also, most of my neighbors are not spring chickens either so we used a local custom RV shop called Motorcoach Services located in Vinton, VA. They can do most anything on an RV and seem to do it well.
The coach was there for about one week. They removed the Norcold, built a new and stronger floor to support the new fridge, modified the opening a bit to accomodate about 1 1/2" of additional height, and did some other custom work to the trim around, above and under the new fridge.
This is the finished job:
They added some stout latches to the doors and to the face of the fridge cabinet to keep the doors shut while underway. I think they will work well since the doors require a firm pull to get them open.
They secured the new fridge with a wedge-shaped cleat at the top, screws thru the bottom where the rollers are, and by drilling thru the very outer edge of the cabinet, placing screws into framing they added at the sides (this fridge is narrower than the Norcold). You can see the white 'buttons' they used to cover the screws. The shop foreman said they have never had a fridge move around in a coach using these methods.
The DW loves the results (that's a must). The Norcold was 12 cu ft and the additional 6 cu ft will just make things better. Also, no more uneven temps in the fridge and hard ice cream!
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