Trying to decide between 120v residential and 12v dc fridge

[birdshill123]

Has anyone here tried the JC twin compressor 120 volt?

[cbr046]

20 hours ago, jacwjames said:

I have had trouble with my Frigidaire but it was out of warranty.  I recently had to pull the whole icemaker out to defrost, it was completely frozen/iced over.  Not sure why. 

Our Samsung (home fridge) ices up frequently and I had been defrosting it first with a hair dryer and then a heat gun.  It even melted some of the plastic.  While perusing the manual recently it said NEVER EVER use a hair dryer (much less a heat gun!) but to use plain air or STEAM.  So out came the steam cleaner from the closet and made quick work (relatively) to the block of ice surrounding the ice maker.  I like @Dr4Film's suggestion if filling the bin and turning it off - there's either a defrost cycle that shrinks the cubes then ices them together or too much air entering through the ice door.  Many times the cubes will be wet. 

- bob

[vanwill52]

Had quite a bit of modification to fit the RF18 (RF197 no longer available at the time) to my 2000 Dynasty 36 with no slides just before a trip to Alaska with friends.  Suburban furnace was located below.  Suburban was rated for mounting DIRECTLY onto wooden floor.  Dropping it off the 2x4's it was mounted on, recutting the inlet/outlet screens through side of coach allowed mounting the RF18 with one hair's height above clearance above the molding.  No problems with fridge in seven years.  75% more capacity.  Flawless operation.

As reported by SO MANY posters, the change to residential fridge was a life-changer-- nearly double the space, and reliable compressor-type refrigeration unit, plus "Twin Cooling" (separate evaporators in fridge and freezer--a feature decades overdue in residential fridges) made for a quantum leap in fridge capability.  Had it for seven years.  No problems.  Fridge at 34* and freezer at 0*.  HEAVEN!

No quarrel with those that prefer absorption, or any other technology.  But my choice was PROVEN residential technology.  I've never regretted a moment of the effort to change.

[jacwjames]

1 hour ago, cbr046 said:

Our Samsung (home fridge) ices up frequently and I had been defrosting it first with a hair dryer and then a heat gun.  It even melted some of the plastic.  While perusing the manual recently it said NEVER EVER use a hair dryer (much less a heat gun!) but to use plain air or STEAM.  So out came the steam cleaner from the closet and made quick work (relatively) to the block of ice surrounding the ice maker.  I like @Dr4Film's suggestion if filling the bin and turning it off - there's either a defrost cycle that shrinks the cubes then ices them together or too much air entering through the ice door.  Many times the cubes will be wet. 

- bob

I found the service manual for my Frigidaire Gallery refrigerator and found that you can do a forced defrost by pressing the + & - buttons at the same time, DF will come up on the display and it goes through a defrost cycle. 

[jacwjames]

I also found the link on how to get diagnostic codes  for the Samsung RF18, attached is a printed page from the site.  

I have never had to try recovering codes but another member I provide the info to used it and it help diagnose the problem

 

SAMSUNG's Digital World - Support.pdf

[Mark Underhill]

I installed a JC 12V dual compressor on mine and would do it again in a heartbeat.  Didn't have to modify my cabinet and it stays nice and cool.

[AndyinMelbourne]

We bought an 11+ cubic foot magic chef at Lowe's for $400, in stainless finish and installed it in our 2005 Windsor.  Fits easily through the door and has just as much or  more usable space as the Norcold 1200 did.  Getting the Norcold out was a chore but we got it done.  We insulated the back wall with 1" foamboard insulation and used spray foam to insulate the removable panel.  This is the best project we have done.  It runs off the existing inverter using the plug that used to be used for the ice maker.  Cools down in about 2 1/2 hours (our Norcold was taking 26+ hours) and keeps the ice cream hard.  The box for this fridge is quite a bit smaller so we trimmed around it with 6" wide wood from Lowe's, stained to sort of match the existing trim (I did this myself so the stain work doesn't exactly match). The whole project took me about three weeks working on it "when I felt like it" and cost about $500 give or take.

[Robert92867]

I wonder why my 21 year old Norcold is still working. Flawlessly.  It's not fair that just the bad units get all the press.

 

[Dr4Film]

Chances are that it isn't a Norcold 1200 four door model.

Am I correct?

[birdshill123]

The problem is that the smaller norcolds use the same cooling unit as the 1200. Not big enough and it  overheats. What do they use in late model motorhomes? Did Norcold ever redesign the 1200? I never hear of anyone having trouble with the larger Dometics. I see that Furion makes a residential that is the same size as the old Norcold. RV mfrs like Furion products (Chinese)

 Even some of the microwaves are Furion. Cheap product. I read that of the mfrs. are getting parts for the infamous Schwintek slides from China

 If you have never seen those slides they are designed to fail. 

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by birdshill123

[CapnDean]

I removed the nevercold 1200 and installed a Samsung RF18.   More room and my inverter will hold the fridge well over 24 hours.   If I am going longer in a dry camp situation….I’ll run the generator some.  The huge space difference sold me.  Compared to the nevercold the RF18 has plenty of room.  
 

2008 Camelot