Norcold 1200 Refrigerator Failure

[carlpeterson]

I have a 2006 Safari Simba 33ft. gas with a Norcold 1200 4 door refrigerator.

While preparing for a dry camping trip with the refrig. completely full, it quit working. The control panel was inoperative. I checked battery voltage,okay, but I wasn't getting 12 volt power to the control panel. I removed the outside access panel to the refrig. and saw the module that was part of the recent recall. I took the 12 volt lead going to this module and plugged it into the refrig. circuit board, and viola, I got power to the refrig. and went on my trip. I know I essentially bypassed the recall, but I had a cold refrig. for the trip. I called Bob Dues, the RV repair place who did the recall and they said to bring it in to see what failed. I will follow this up with their fix (probably a new module from Norcold), but wanted to post this in case others have this failure while on the road. Just be aware that you won't be protected from the failure of overheating that the recall protected you from.

[carlpeterson]

I just came by the RV repair place, and the new module was bad also, so They've ordered another one from Norcold. I thought the info was pertinent to other Norcold owners.

[QuiGonJohn]

Can you give more info on the recall. I have a Norcold. I fired it up today to provide a bit more fridge capacity for a party here at the house. The freezer got very cold, but not the fridge.

[wolfe10]

Can you give more info on the recall. I have a Norcold. I fired it up today to provide a bit more fridge capacity for a party here at the house. The freezer got very cold, but not the fridge.

Check again after it runs overnight. Absorption refrigerators do not cool especially quickly and do start with cooling in the freezer.

Norcold recall information: http://www.norcoldrecall.com/

[tajfish]

I have the 1200LRIM that was in one of the recalls. I had the first recall "black box" fail the day before a big trip. Was fortunate enough to have a dealer in town with a couple in stock. They installed it and we left town. Good thing we had ice chests in the basement storage because during install of the second black box, the new tech knocked some insulation into the burner chamber. We smelled it burning and shut the frig down until we got back from vacation. Of course they fixed it for us when we got back and it works like brand new now. You gotta love RVing (which I do).

The recall link is a good place to check things out for your particular unit. Norcold is owned by Thetford so www.thetford.com is also a good source.

[wbarclay]

Me too. Did recall few months ago. Refrig dead last week end. MH in shop now to replace the recall. Shop says quite a few are coming back in. Technician said if I connected the blue and red wires from the recall part on an auto 20 amp fuse, refrig would work and be protected as interim fix. Wonder if Norcold would improve quality control if they had to pay for spoiled food (about $100) and campground cancellation fees ($30) in my case, for all of us ???

[jc21014]

I am really surprised that NoCold has not been forced to take more a more comprehensive approach to repairing what appears to be thousands of potentially hazardous fridges currently in use.

I'm sure that they are also wondering if they will survive this mess financially. Personally, I wouldn't have a NoCold fridge in any RV that I now own or may own in the future. We passed on (2) previous units prior to our current one because they had NoCold units in them.

[Robert.Shelly]

I am really surprised that NoCold has not been forced to take more a more comprehensive approach to repairing what appears to be thousands of potentially hazardous fridges currently in use.

I'm sure that they are also wondering if they will survive this mess financially. Personally, I wouldn't have a NoCold fridge in any RV that I now own or may own in the future. We passed on (2) previous units prior to our current one because they had NoCold units in them.

Amen, I can't believe they have survived...Although we still have the 'Norcold' fridge, we no longer have a Norcold Cooling Unit after a failure and near fire!

Robert

2000 American Dream 40' DS

[dallas2254]

i know some of you are die hard Norcold fans out there that think propane is cheaper than diesel or running the inverter, but it took me just the first time out in our motorhome to realize that the Norcold had to go. It was working perfectly fine by anyone's standard but I was not about to become a statistic or have a wife freak out about the one in a hundred or thousand that blowup because of corrosion let alone freak electrical problems that she would not have a clue to figure out.

The best thing I ever did was replace the LRIM1200 Norcold with a Samsung residential refrigerator. The new refrigerator uses less electricity (13 amp/hrs per hour at 12 volts or approximately 1 amp at 120 volts) through the inverter (20 hours on the house batteries, I have (4) 8 D house batteries) before recharging (which cost me about 1.5 gallons of Diesel fuel per day running the generator),

The residential refer holds 50% more food and it gets cold really fast. Wife loves it and it cost me about $1100 for the refrigerator and a little carpentry work (increase the existing height of the opening by 5 inches). We boon dock when we are out in the motorhome and I sleep better without the fear of propane, open flame, hydrogen and warm milk. Everyone that comes into our coach to see this refrigerator in action sees why we did it. Just like being at home. Turn it on annd it is cold in one hour.

I choose the Samsung because it is has an extremely low electrical usage because it has mini compressors and LED lighting that makes it very efficient, and it puts out very little heat (1 degree rise in the cabinet) so I closed off the two outside ventilation areas. There is enough ventilation for the refrigerator inside the coach without any noticeable change in temperature.

$1100 for a refrigerator that is super simple to replace with another one (10 years from now??), if I need to, and will work on either modified or pure sine wave inverters. I would really consider your options before going with a rebuild LRIM.

Dallas

2004 country coach 42' intrigue

[scvjeff]

Must be nice to have the space to even carry 4ea. 8D's, but that's not reality for 99% of the rig's that have Norcolds installed.

There have been several rev's of the fail-safe boxes, I think they are at rev.'D' or above at this point. That was just bad engineering, the company had plenty of time to beta test those before releasing them.

Robert: Did yours fail on AC or LP?

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

Our Norcold died a stinky death (ammonia). There were 5 1200's in the refer graveyard at the repair facility and that was relatively short term scrap storage. We too went to the Samsung residential. Took 8 guys to remove the Norcold, the 4 inside almost died from ammonia fumes. Took 2 guys to handle the Samsung. We shall see how the Samsung performs. So far, so good.

[Koliver]

The other alternative is the "Amish" cooling unit. Many threads on this site discussing it. None dissing it. I put one in last Nov, with labor, the same cost as a Norcold replacement without labor. Without labor, the same cost as the Samsung without labor. Saves you Norcold box, so no carpentry to do. Looks and cools better than Norcold.

[wdcbus]

This last weekend my frig failed. Lucky we had friends with us and they took our food. We were dry camped so frig was on gas,and it just got hotter and hotter. I came home and plugged it into 120v and it worked fine. Is that recall just for the gas? or gas and electricity?

[wolfe10]

This last weekend my frig failed. Lucky we had friends with us and they took our food. We were dry camped so frig was on gas,and it just got hotter and hotter. I came home and plugged it into 120v and it worked fine. Is that recall just for the gas? or gas and electricity?

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Before looking into anything else, perform the "burner area tune-up" as described in your refrigerator owner's manual It requires no special tools and no parts. Quite possible that a flake of rust, mud dubber's nest, etc is blocking the burner.

[wdcbus]

How ever did you get the old frig out and the new one in the coach? I have a Monaco and your Country Coach door is no larger than mine. The only way that I figure, is out through the window?

[wdcbus]

The burner is fine and clean, no rust flakes. I have been checking it out the last two day's. Running fine on gas now. It is in the slide out so no roof vent, two fans both working fine. I haven't found a reason for it to stop cooling. We were parked in a flat spot on cement.

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

When my Norcold was removed, the window beside the driver was removed to get it out. Just barely "squeaked" thru the opening.

[QuiGonJohn]

My Norcold is apparently not in the recall. It is a Model N611LT.

I notice a lot of negative posts here about some of the Norcold's, especially the LRIM 1200. How does my model compare with that one?

[carlpeterson]

I just returned from the repair place to have the new recall part from Norcold that supposedly prevents fire from overheating. If this one fails, I will permanently wire around the module and take my chances on a fire.

[backhoej]

Hi , I just had my Norcold refer. recall fixed (what a joke). Also had circuit board module replaced. ($650). Ripped off. Would not ignite.

Thanks BackhoeJ

[billbaldwin]

I have a 2004 Winnebago Vectra 40AD. Same problem ... recalled the recall.

Had to remove the recall fix to make my fridge work!!

[delcirose]

My Norcold 1200 also died and in the process of pulling the unit out I discovered that the area above the fridge where the flue for the refer exits was charing the baffle that was installed down from the roof. No telling how long this was going on. Could just as easy have caught fire and burned the entire rig down.

Now this had nothing to do down lower where the propane burner area is located this is above where the exhaust gases exit. Probably not an issue when running on electric-- who is to know. Without some kind of fiber optic camera that you can stick up there you can not see what is going on short of removing the refrigerator. I am completely baffled how a company can engineer a product and place it in an enclosed space and not properly vent it? Anyone else out there discovered this?

I am installing a Samsung RF197 and doing the work myself. I am lucky in that my Travel Supreme just had a drawer below the area which allowed me to drop it down almost to the floor. I just needed to allow for a kitchen drain and the hot and cold supply lines. I get the Samsung next week and I can hardly wait to have a real refrigerator and not worry about a fire anymore and actually be able to keep food for more than a couple of days...Good luck to everyone out there.

[jim5848]

My MH has a Norcold 1200 refrigerator. When the recall started I called Norcold and they sent a repairman to repair the problem. Several months later the refrigerator stopped working. Since the MH was going to be in the shop for some other maintenance I had it looked at. The shop found that the orginal recall fix had failed. The shop said that Norcold was on its fifth modification for this problem. I was given a bill for $90 for repairs. I sent the invoice to Norcold and they refused to pay for the repairs that are included in the recall. I am looking at new and used MH now. I will not buy another MH with a Norcold Refrigerator. These refrigerators are JUNK. So far their recall repairs are only temporary fixes

[dhebert]

My Norcold 1200 stopped cooling, Did not work on gas or elect. Display was working. Tried to reset still did not come on. Replaced circuit board. Came on gas & elect. Worked for 1 day and now not working again. Is it possible I have a bad board or something shorting it out?

[BONIGO]

Norcold recall fix installed; Norcold sporatically worked; Norcold stopped working; turned it off; took into RV service; they plugged in the motorhome; Norcold refrigerator still turned off; Norcold refrigerator started a FIRE!

Do not trust Norcold.

Want a residential refrigerator to replace it with. Need one to fit into cabinet 33" W x 27" D x 63" to possibly 66" H; and split doors to be able to open into the narrow passageway of 2007 Newmar Essex.

Having difficulty finding one. Suggestions needed. Mfg. and models sugested, Please. Thank you.

Bo