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Norcold 1200LRIM


jimmcpheters
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Are you thinking of going residential? or staying with the same fridge?

With residential the sizes don’t match. I went with Fisher & Paykel. It’s height was just a little taller, slightly narrower, slightly deeper. And LOTS more interior space. Samsung also seems to be a popular model. 
 

you could just replace it with another Norcold. Easy to fit, but I think the quality has gone down over the years. My rig’s 1200 lasted over 20 years, took it out because we went full- time and wanted the better fridge. My Dad’s four year old 1210 (same size), died at four years coming back from Alaska - the coolant tube corroded through. 
 

a third option is replacing the cooling unit with an Amish unit. That’s what we did on my Dad’s fridge. Was not hard - 2 person job. He stayed the same propane + electric. They also have 12v compressor style too. 

Good Luck

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Yup, the price for new Norcold is astounding. 

I got lucky and found a similar "low mileage" 4 door Dometic model that was swapped out for a residential for $750.  I searched high and low for months and it finally appeared on Facebook by the tech that did the swap.  He probably got the Dometic for a song.  I got $100 for my old defunct Norcold.  They wanted the doors but it was winner take all. 

So maybe you can contact several dealers and be first on the list for someone swapping their absorption for a residential. 

Or you can drive to N Indiana and JC Refrig can swap the guts out for ~$1300.  It'll be better than new (they use thicker tubing and an extra coil).  $1300 . . . . might be the same as your diesel cost 😮

Good luck,

- bob

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I went with the the 12 volt dual compressor Amish unit and it has been fantastic. Works just like a residential fridge and cools down in about 2 hours and stays at 0 in the freezer and 36 in fridge consistently.  My Norcold 1200 box is in great shape so it was a better choice for me because I didn’t want to deal with removing windows and seats to get new residential in. 

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15 hours ago, jimmcpheters said:

Where can one find a replacement for this refridge, new preferred, for a reasonable $$$?

 

Jim McPheters, 08 dip

Hello Jim,

There are a few options for you depending on your use case.  Your Norcold refrigerator cooling unit can be replaced for a fraction of the cost compared to replacing your entire Norcold refrigerator.  And the best benefit to replacing your cooling unit is that the cooling unit performance, reliability, and safety of the aftermarket cooling units is vastly superior to a new Norcold refrigerator.
 

Here are your options depending on your use case.  Your use case has a substantial impact on which option will fit best for you:

- Option 1: If you are on the grid nearly full time and do not have significant solar power, then stay the course with your existing refrigerator, but make the following changes: 

  • This option will cost ~$5 to $10 per month for electricity if running full time using electric power (not propane)
  • Buy a new 12V compressor style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration.  Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new compressor based cooling unit.  You may also have JC refrigeration ship a cooling unit to a qualified local installer

 

- Option #2: If you have significant solar power (i.e. more than 300 watts) and have more than 200 amp hours of usable battery capacity (this is 200 amp hours of lithium or 400 amp hours of Lead Acid), and your solar power is available while your RV is stored , or you directly pay for the electricity, then:

  • Buy a new 12V compressor style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration.  Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new compressor based cooling unit.  These units only consume 60 watts when the compressor is running.  You may also have JC refrigeration ship a cooling unit to a qualified local installer
  • Another equivalent choice of a 12V compressor RV style refrigerator that has the interior storage and features of a residential refrigerator are the RecPro RV 12V refrigerators.  These refrigerators have doors that will not open when you are on bumpy roads just like your existing Norcold and they include standard mounting hardware so that you don't need to do a custom installation. The only catch is that they may or may not fit your existing opening, so measure carefully:
  • Another alternative, just for this use case, is to purchase a counter depth residential refrigerator that fits your existing opening, but keep in mind that will be a custom installation which requires that your inverter is on full time since residential refrigerators run on 120VAC.  Although most residential refrigerators run on 75-200 watts, the issue is that most inverters draw a significant amount of additional energy (typically 45-100 watts) which put a substantial additional load on your solar system and battery bank.  Be careful of advice to run a residential refrigerator without considering the additional electrical load of running an inverter full time.
    • Other big disadvantages of residential refrigerators verses the JC refrigerators compressor cooling units is that the don't have a provision to keep the doors from opening when encountering bumpy roads and they expel their heat into your RV instead of outside your RV.  Most RV rooftop ACs are barely sufficient, thus adding a residential refrigerator heat load will make make cooling your RV more challenging in the summer.
    • This option will cost $15-$20 per month for electricity if running full time

- Option #3: If you are not on the grid nearly full time and do not have significant solar power, then stay the course with your existing absorption refrigerator, but make the following changes: 

  • This option has the highest monthly electricity cost at ~$30-$45 if running full time using electricity, but also has the benefit of running on propane.
  • Buy a new absorption style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration.  Also, buy the ARP Absorption Boiler monitor (Called the Fridge Defend) from https://www.arprv.com to eliminate the potential of a cooling unit fire.  Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new absorption based cooling unit with the ARP Fridge Defend boiler monitor.  The ARP Fridge Defend will also substantially increase the lifespan of your absorption cooling unit by protecting against boiler overheating conditions which lead to internal corrosion and failure of the cooling unit.  For additional peace of mind and an absolutely "safe" refrigerant for an absorption cooling unit to make a fire impossible, JC Refrigeration also offers  helium based absorption cooling units so you can optionally select a helium based cooling unit instead of an Ammonia based cooling unit:

Above all things, your personal safety comes first.  So, if you fit into use case #3 above, be advised:

  • In all cases, never buy the Norcold or Dometic OEM new gas absorption refrigerators or their associated replacement cooling units due to the risk of fire.  Although both Norcold and Dometic have partially addressed their fire issue via safety cutoff safety switches for runaway boiler overheating situations, their cutoff switches don't turn off the boilers until a much higher temperature is reached versus the ARP Control.  Also, the JC Refrigeration units have much thicker tubing than the OEM units and are MUCH more efficient at keeping your refrigerator and freezer temperatures down in the safe range.  
  •   The #1 insurance claim in the RV insurance industry is refrigerator fires.  NEVER run an ammonia based cooling unit without an ARP Fridge Defend and / or a fire suppression system attached to the cooling unit.  If you are depending on the Norcold and Dometic recall kits alone (i.e. thermal runaway switches) then you are at risk for an ammonia fire when the thin OEM cooling unit tubing corrodes and dumps flammable ammonia on your open propane flame or electric heaters.  I have personally been there and done that with my Norcold OEM cooling unit when it failed and was very fortunate. 
  • The JC refrigeration Helium based absorption units are vastly superior to the OEM ammonia based cooling units from a safety perspective as there is no potential for fire as Helium is not flammable.
Edited by CAT Stephen
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15 hours ago, jimmcpheters said:

Only interested in new replacement, have considered other options, coolant unit already replaced in 07, I haven't checked reviews on the 1210. Thanks

Jim,

Then you best option, provided that you have a Refrigerator opening of sufficient size, is option 2b.  This option is vastly less expensive than a new Norcold refrigerator, is not a fire hazard, and is very efficient with a massive interior space uplift versus the Norcold:

  • Another equivalent choice of a 12V compressor RV style refrigerator that has the interior storage and features of a residential refrigerator are the RecPro RV 12V refrigerators.  These refrigerators have doors that will not open when you are on bumpy roads just like your existing Norcold and they include standard mounting hardware so that you don't need to do a custom installation. The only catch is that they may or may not fit your existing opening, so measure carefully:
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The large 1200 nocold  was a bad design from day one. The cooling system is not large enough. I would have to disagree with cat Stephen. There is a reason why all high end units come from the factory with residential fridges. Even entry level rv s offer a house fridge as an option

 Our Dynasty has zero solar but does have 8_6volt batteries. If one uses the electronics in your unit: large TV,sound system microwave, charging cell phones  laptop etc. You have to run the genset at least once a day. We boondocks without any worries of losing battery power

 No Norcold has the capacity of a residential fridge

 Our Jennair is 21 cu.ft.  

Your mentioning door latches is anextreme  comment

 There are dozens of good add on latches.  The door gasket on a Norcold is not available. You have to buy the doors for over $1000. The hinge pins are also a problem

 I have never read where someone regretted changing to house fridge.

 

 

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Our Norcold worked marginally the whole time it was in the coach.  I installed 2 remote temp sensors with the displays easily viewable so we could monitor the temps.  I added extra fan in the rear of the fridge, I added a auto fire extinguisher behind for safety and kept a 20lb fire extinguisher next to my bed.  We kept big ice blocks in the freezer and when we saw the fridge temps starting to dip we'd move ice blocks.  Usually no rhime or reason for the temps to fluctuate but they did.   Played with the controls and thyristers to try and improve temps to no avail.   No telling how much food we threw away over the years. 

So when the Norcold died I didn't shed a tear, it wasn't a matter of IF but WHEN.  I was prepared, I had bought a Samsung RF18 on clearance at Lowes for $865 and had it ready.  Installed the Samsung in 2019.  Yes, I had to remove one of the larger windows to bring it in but this is not a big deal.  I had to do a lot to get it to fit, I have the furnace under the fridge, had to remove and lower it, then build a lower support to get all the clearance I could (had good advise from Nodine & VanWill).  This project was a 4 on a scale of 5 as to difficulty due to the amount of work to modify the cabinet and lower the furnace.

But the end result was worth it.  Start the Samsung and it is cold within 2 hours and will have a bunch of ice in the tray after 24 hours.  It will drop ice all day long no matter what the temp.  Camping in ND 2021 in +100F temps, sun beating down on that side of the coach the fridge never missed a beat. 

I do have 325 watt of solar, I run my generator for ~1-1.5 hours at night to top of the batteries, but I had to do that with the NOcold anyway.  Don't miss it a bit.

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1 hour ago, birdshill123 said:

The large 1200 nocold  was a bad design from day one. The cooling system is not large enough. I would have to disagree with cat Stephen. There is a reason why all high end units come from the factory with residential fridges. Even entry level rv s offer a house fridge as an option

 Our Dynasty has zero solar but does have 8_6volt batteries. If one uses the electronics in your unit: large TV,sound system microwave, charging cell phones  laptop etc. You have to run the genset at least once a day. We boondocks without any worries of losing battery power

 No Norcold has the capacity of a residential fridge

 Our Jennair is 21 cu.ft.  

Your mentioning door latches is anextreme  comment

 There are dozens of good add on latches.  The door gasket on a Norcold is not available. You have to buy the doors for over $1000. The hinge pins are also a problem

 I have never read where someone regretted changing to house fridge.

 

 

I agree with your assessment that the Norcold cooling units are insufficient.  That is why I referenced the JC Refrigeration cooling units.  I own a JC Refrigeration cooling unit on my Norcold  1200 and it keeps my freezer at -5F and my refrigerator at 28F on a 95F day on a setting of 7 (I can adjust to 9 which is colder).  Much better performance that the factory "Nocold".  I did not recommend a Norcold factory cooling unit above because the performance is poor and the tubing has very thin walls which creates a fire hazard.

Edited by CAT Stephen
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Since we are moving today, I figured I would post my easy solution to the doors opening on my residential. There are lots of ways to do this. 
 
My fridge in storage mode…

D9EDA217-7C74-4888-91E2-C6A68634D18B.thumb.jpeg.9c91139a794555a365edc57a4b55214b.jpeg
 

The straps just easily slip on and off  

 

D277C736-593F-4A4E-9A07-AD4FDFA1BA5D.thumb.jpeg.a629f6f54dc60e1d46791b4219994405.jpeg

 

Got them from Amazon- Bimini top strap holders. 
 

I got the “ manual” ice maker… it dumps ice whenever I crack the tray and turn it upside down. I didn’t want an auto one cause they take up too much room in the fridge. 
 

Good Luck

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I did this last year, a poster on IRV2 had this design.   This is a push button type lock used on car hoods.  Second picture shows the individual parts.  I had posted on how this is made before.

My wife took one trip with it and it worked, jury is still out on long term fix!

fridge lock 2.jpg

Fridge lock parts.jpg

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