Norcold 1200 Door Liner

[kentelarsen]

I have a Norcold Model 1200 LRIMSSD 4-door refrigerator/freezer in my 2006 Tradewinds. Inside the lower left side door in the refrigerator section the plastic liner panel has bulged in to the point that the adjustable shelves no longer set in as they should. Is there a fix for this? Can I replace just the liner panel or does it require the entire door assembly to be replaced? Thanks.

[jlandon13399]

When my seals went bad on my Norcold 1200 I had to replace both lower doors. Norcold would not sell just the seals or any parts for the door. Fortunately the cost was covered by my initial warranty from Lazy Days.

[hermanmullins]

Kent,

Welcome to the Forum.

When you check on the cost of replacing the doors it may shock you. With all of the problem involved with the Norcold 1200 unit you might consider upgrading to a residential unit. There have been some nice post on making the switch out. Tom Butler has some pictures of his change out. Check them out.

Keep it cool.

Herman

[wolfe10]

And, with all the 1200's being replaced, a large RV dealer may have a few "used" units that you can scavenge.

Worth a call.

[wayne77590]

A few years ago the flap seal on the right door as you are looking at the unit was torn away. Sort of looked like a paper would after folding it several times and tearin along the fold.

Gorrilla black masking Tape (think duck tape) to the rescue. I measured the distance from the inside of the seal to the outside edge. Cut a strip of gorrilla tape, placed it over the tear and folded it over the outside edge a little. It is still working.

Just this week noticed the left hand door had a small (3" tear) and I just put gorrilla tape on it. We'll see. Knock on wood that this refrigerator has been working perfectly since 2008 and it does have the safety recall done. (black box). So if you are not ready to put in the residential, think gorrilla tape for the seal.

You said bulge and shelves so Im' thinking you don't have a seal problem.

[huffypuff]

Let see, upgrading to a residential =

1 Modifying the cavity the old unit comes out.

2 Drivers window taken out and having a forklift to remove old unit and place new unit in coach.

3 Adding an inverter and more batteries to handle the load.

4 Adding auto-start to your generator if batteries run low. Try explaining that to state and federal parks that forbid running generator after 9:00 PM.

5 Another option is to add solar panels.

6 Residential refrigerators are not made to rock and roll, doors fly open and food ends up on floor.

7 Does not add value to your RV as it is market as a used car.

8 Will cost 5k or more.

9 Replacement RV refrigerator are available and total cost is less using at least two power sources.

10 Replacement cooling systems are available for even less cost than whole unit.

11 RV refrigerators NOW have a safety device built in to shut it down if it overheats.

12 Residential refrigerator are also know for fires as an internet search will bring up more residential refrigerator fires than RV refrigerators

My refrigerator is working fine and if I have a minor problem with it I don't think replacing it is the best thing to do. I will milk my Norcold for all it's worth and know there is other option than replacing with residential refrigerator.

Brett, great idea about checking for recycle parts.

[Leadfield]

Huffy Puff. Problem with the Norcold high temp fix is it does not work right. Have had to have mine replaced because the red led flashes and the refrig does not work in that mode. Some guys say you can reset with a magnet, but that did not work for me. Norcold would not send a new black box out so I had to take a whole day and drive 200 miles to an authorized service location to have them unplug old one and plug new one in.

I could have bypassed, but with over 2000 fires, I am not going to do that. As soon as I can I will be replacing with a Sun Frost and will never, ever, consider anything from Norcold again. They are not at all helpful when you call them...worse than that...they are hostile.

[jbeall]

I have all 4 doors for a Norcold 1200. Stainless steel. They are located in Texas about 80-90 miles south of Dallas.

I will be there in December. If you need them sooner I could make arrangements for someone to show them to you.

[huffypuff]

Huffy Puff. Problem with the Norcold high temp fix is it does not work right. Have had to have mine replaced because the red led flashes and the refrig does not work in that mode. Some guys say you can reset with a magnet, but that did not work for me. Norcold would not send a new black box out so I had to take a whole day and drive 200 miles to an authorized service location to have them unplug old one and plug new one in.

I could have bypassed, but with over 2000 fires, I am not going to do that. As soon as I can I will be replacing with a Sun Frost and will never, ever, consider anything from Norcold again. They are not at all helpful when you call them...worse than that...they are hostile.

You must be part of Zimmerman and Reed in northern CA who sue just about any consumer products ever made. I believe they chase ambulances also. I feel honor that you joined just to dispute my post. Yes there was over 2,000 RV fires since 1999. That's over 15 years and I bet a few was due to the Norcold. Have a few cause a fire then all fires get blamed on Norcold. Once the fire get going for any reason it can explode any appliance connected to the propane system and feed the fire.

I attended classes for absorption refrigerators and the reason Norcold didn't want you to stick your hands into it is you don't know what you are doing. Customers can cause the fire for not knowing what they are doing. There is lot of maintenance to be done by experts as consumers don't have the proper tools.

[jlgregg]

Huffy Puff. And now the rest of the story - and, yes, I am a newbie but I think I have something worthwhile to contribute. And I have never sued anyone in my life. I have to agree with Leadfield that the folks at Norcold are indeed hostile and no help at all. I won't bore you with all the details, but after numerous problems with my 1200 unit since it was new in 2008, suffering through the tedious recalls and finally experiencing total blowout of the cooling unit last year, I decided to replace it with a residential unit. Here is my experience keyed to your list of concerns:

1. Modification of the cavity was limited to installation of two small trim strips and plugging the propane line. And the new unit had a much larger internal capacity since the box could go nearly to the outside wall (no need for space for the Norcold burners/heaters/flue and coils - the cooling coils are on the bottom of the new unit)

2. Yes, the driver's window was removed and replaced, easy job for knowledgeable techs. No fork lift though, although it took 6 techs to muscle the old 1200 carefully out the window. Interestingly, it took only three of them to load the new unit through the window - what a weight savings! And this procedure would be necessary even if the replacement unit had been another Norcold so the point seems mute.

3. My original inverter and four coach batteries have handled the load just fine. Although I admit we do not dry camp for extended periods.

4. My generator can be programmed to auto-start but I have not found that to be necessary.

5. True, but I don't think they will be much help after 9 PM.

6. After nearly two years and 30k miles, the door has never opened once en route. The dealer installed a simple friction lock that is very effective. I did invest in two spring-loaded bars ($2 each) to place in front of the shelves to keep items from tilting against the door.

7. ?? I think this would be true no matter what kind of refrigerator was added.

8. My total cost was $1900.

9. True, replacements are available but they are certainly not cheap.

10. True, if you are willing to deal with that hassle and cost.

11. True, about time. And Norcold was so concerned about the fire hazard that the recall notice instructed users to immediately shut down the unit and not use it until the recall repair was made. Talk about inconvenience - Norcold would not ship parts until a serviceman had confirmed that the unit was on the recall list. It took more than a month to get mine fixed.

12. No doubt there are more fires associated with residential refrigerators than RV units, probably because there are many more thousands of residential units in use compared to RV units.

I am truly glad you have had good experience with your unit and hope you have many more trouble-free days. However, my choice was one of the best decisions I ever made, primarily because my wife loves the new unit with all the extra room and the much better cooling and especially the excellent freezing. When mama is happy, we are all happy!

[huffypuff]

It what ever what makes you feel better for what refrigerator you want. I don't think scaring someone to convert because the need of some other repair or part is something we should do as the OP asked for a part. I know it took a couple of tries to get the recall to work as it should but it does help with the problem accused by consumer. I supposed that is why the company was being so hardheaded because the consumers demanding recall parts for one not included in the recall as to hold the company hands over the fire. That is why they want only experts to handle any part of the recall including resetting the box.

Some good dealers keep the recall kit in stock. My dealer installed it on my coach last spring of 2013 when in for check up for that summers travel. If there is no major problems with my current refrigerator I can not justified replacing it for I use it only a few months out of the year. Of course if I was full timing I would consider it as well as a for other upgrades such as large screen smart TV's

[jleamont]

I am pulling my Norcold 1200 out this weekend with a few friends, if anyone needs cabinet parts please feel free to e-mail me at leamontmobileservice@verizon.net. Everything on the box looks good, and the burner was replaced when the last recall was done this year.

I bought a residential fridge for our Holiday Rambler the fridge cost me $700.00 it is slightly narrower but will fit in the hole. I measured the passenger side windows over the couch and both refrigerators will fit thru it.

I tested the replacement unit by running an extension cord from the coach to the unit sitting in the garage and after two days my generator auto started and ran for about 2 hours, I had a concern it would not run off of the invertor, it worked great. Funny thing is the interior space is a huge difference from the Norcold unit; we have a lot more space. As far as the doors opening while driving, I bought a latch from Fleetwood that they install from the factory on the 2014 Excursion, they too switched to residential refrigerators from the factory, I bought a GE unit that looks just like the one Fleetwood utilizes.

We very rarely dry camp at the most two days and I usually run the genset for an hour a day anyway for cooking (convection oven)

As far as my Norcold 1200 it had all of the recalls completed and it still almost burnt the coach down, not sure what good the recall will do if it shuts off the gas and power after the fire has started.

Here is how our almost disaster was avoided; I had my cooler next to the coach, I was going for a beer when noticed the unit was running on gas but it was set to "auto" I am thinking to myself why is that running on gas, I am connected to shore power, with that I open the side vent look around inside the access panel (it had a hot smell and I could feel excessive heat, anyone that ever worked on trucks or cars can relate to this), I walk around to the tower to make sure the power didn’t go out, it was still on, so I go inside and shut the unit off, (now I have had enough with this, as it was the inside of the fridge was already 52 degrees) in about 5 minutes we got an odor of ammonia thru the coach, I walk outside, and reach for the gas valve behind the fridge and gas burner attempting to relight itself (keep in mind the unit is off) I shut off the gas now the cooling unit is leaking bad and the burner is still attempting to light, in fear it will succeed and ignite the ammonia I grabbed a hand full of wires and pulled, tore it all out of the back while I am attempting to hold my breath from the ammonia gas. We were convinced this was by design to destroy all evidence of what actually caused the fire. I am just glad I was there to stop the disaster from occurring.

To each his own with your preference, I did consider switching to a Dometic but the $2995.00 price tag made me rethink that idea. I did also consider switching the cooling unit out with the Amish made design but my wife told me she will not be able to sleep anymore if that Norcold is still in the coach after what had just happened.

I hope if yours fails the way mine did you have the ability to catch it before life or property loss happens.

[tbutler]

Great discussion, good back and forth from all. I think I'll go get a really cold Diet Coke out of my residential refrigerator!

[huffypuff]

I'm not saying it couldn't fail. All refrigerators do in time if not falling apart. Just no need to replace if minor part is needed. Residential refrigerators came a long way and was a huge power hog. Still if I was full timing and had major problem then it would be worth changing. It's only my home a few months out of the year. Of all the ones that failed which year coach were they in?

Tom, you need a diet Pepsi instead.

[huffypuff]

To all that don't like Norcold 1200 or 1210, you should read this description of this model just for fun.

http://norcoldparts.com/norcold-1200-1210-refrigerator-parts-products/?sort=featured&page=2

[hermanmullins]

Puff,

That is the best use of an ad agency uses of the information given and how it is phrased. No matter the subject there is always a fration of truth.

Herman

[obedb]

We have a Dometic NDR 1292 in our 2003 Phaeton. We bought it in May of this year from the original owners and when not in use it was garage kept on a level concrete floor. It performs beautifully. We set the unit on #2 because anything up the scale to #5 freezes many of the contents. Couldn't be happier with the unit. Do we have anything to worry about?