erstanfo
Northwest, Olympia WA
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Joined: 02/26/2009
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FYI My Norcold died (stopped cooling, could not find leak) 9 months after I took delivery of my 2012 journey. Norcold replaced the cooling unit under warranty. New cooling unit has no warranty, just the 3 months left on the original 12 month warranty. Hopefully the new cooling unit is better than the original. Otherwise it is a set of Amish coils for me.
Ed, Sharon & Doolin the standard poodle
2012 Winnebago Journey 36M
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MrDoneIt65
Golf Country NC
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Joined: 05/08/2010
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erstanflo: I would highly recommend you get the Good Sam Emergency Road Service and when your warranty starts to run out look into the Good Sam Extended Warranty. I have used the Emergency Road Service a couple times. Worth every dime.
I put the Amish coils in my Norcold. Better than original without a doubt. Set on #5 to keep food cool. Original was set on #9.
'02 Southwind 37U towing '05 Chevy Colorado with Blue Ox tow bar and Brake Buddy. 8100 GM/Workhorse Chassis. Retired UAW-GM.
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goofyguy
canada
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Joined: 08/02/2012
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MrDoneIt65 wrote:erstanflo: I would highly recommend you get the Good Sam Emergency Road Service and when your warranty starts to run out look into the Good Sam Extended Warranty. I have used the Emergency Road Service a couple times. Worth every dime.
I put the Amish coils in my Norcold. Better than original without a doubt. Set on #5 to keep food cool. Original was set on #9.
On my third A with a 1200 series and have never ever had to put mine over 6 and usually 5 is norm
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rrpatty
texas
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Joined: 09/25/2012
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We just purchased a 2006 Fleetwood discovery. The norcold refrigerator had just been replaced, due to a fire. First time out this weekend. Norcold refrigerator caught fire. They must be kidding nothing like selling something that is dangerous and deadly!!! Any suggestion on getting them to replace with a home style fridge???
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Hedgehog
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
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Joined: 08/30/2002
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Just my luck, motor home has been sitting in my driveway for 2 months plugged in and I'm finally leaving tomorrow for my last trip of the year and guess what comes in the mail today. It's the Norcold recall. I called them to see if its something I could have done tomorrow morning before I leave and they informed me that they ship the recall parts as needed to dealerships. They also told me that since I acknowledge the serial number is affected, it's on me if I keep using it and my motor home burns up. Now my wife's nervous about it, especially because we go out during the day and leave our dogs in the motor home. After this trip I'm done for the season, can I use it or not? I will be camping in New Hampshire so it's cooler up there if that matters.
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MrDoneIt65
Golf Country NC
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rrpatty, for get the home style fridge and Norcold won't accept any responsibility passed the recall. Do a Google and type in Amish rv refrigerator coils. Company is in Shipshewanna Indiana. The new coils come with complete instructions for your fridge. Not that hard to do.
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Hedgehog
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
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So will I be safe using it for one more week. It's been running since April with no problem. Is this fire hazard worse in hotter climates? I looked at the Amish nubile cooling unit. Do you have to charge it with refrigerant or is it a complete, sealed unit?
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MrDoneIt65
Golf Country NC
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My fridge worked fine until I got the recall notices. First one lasted about a month and then started kicking out. Second one has no reset so when it trips, it's done. The second one tripped within a couple hours and my coils blew out. Not Norcolds fault I soon found out. They did their "recall" my refrigerator was junk, they had no further responsiblility. You are on your own to buy new or install new coils.
The new coils are sealed just like the original equipment. Mine have double coils and are a lot heavier construction. No need for a recall. I also found that my cooling fans somehow got wired backwards so they weren't coming on at all. No wonder it was overheating. Don't know how that little item happened. But I am pretty handy so I followed the wiring diagram included and fixed it.
I don't think anyone is going to give you advice on continuing to use the refrigerator. No one would want that kind of liablility. You will have to make that call. Has the recall been installed yet? I would call a dealer and see if they have one in stock. Never can tell.
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plumgrubby
Florida
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Joined: 06/02/2012
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In my estimation, it's futile to keep toying with the Norcold refrigerator. The "fix" for fires is only activated when it senses an actual fire and does not prevent fires from occurring. It shuts down the unit only after a fire is detected!! I had it done to my Norcold as soon as I found out about it but then I realized that I had to keep my unit constantly on 9 to keep it cool at best.
I looked into the Amish unit and bought it immediately. What a difference. I am not trained in cooling units but it went in without a hitch and I did it by myself except for help putting the completed unit back into the opening. It's considerably heavier and MUCH MUCH better constructed than the Norcold. Now I keep it between 4 and 6 and it stays around 37 to 40 degrees.
Before I did the replacement I wasted $150.00 by having a Tech come to look at it BUT in his defense, he did find that the fans were hooked up ( wired )wrong. The 12v fan will NOT reverse if the wires are connected incorrectly and they will NOT work AT ALL in that configuration. As soon as he reversed the wires, the fans came on. Could it be that someone at the factory has been "sabotaging" the installation?
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MrDoneIt65
Golf Country NC
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I spent $180.00 on a tech to find out why my fridge wouldn't fridge. He couldn't tell us. We bought a small dorm style fridge to get us through the remainder of the season. When I got home I parked the RV on it's pad and plugged it in. I heard this noise like something frying. I unplugged and investigated. One of the heating tubes had an electrical fault. I bought two new tubes and replaced them. The fridge worked fine. Then I received the recall notices. Only they didn't fix the problem, they just removed Norcold of liability by shutting down the fridge if it overheated. I found out about the pancake cooling fans being wired wrong when I installed the new Amish unit and they never came on. I tracked them back, called the Amish supplier and he said the fans wouldn't work if wired backwards even if they are 12 volt. They work fine now and, like you, I keep my fridge on 5 to 7 instead of 9. And the new coils are definitely an improvement. Even the white color over the black looks better. Don't throw it away, replace the coils. I hope they keep their quality up as more people find out about them. With the help of my motorcycle jack I did the work on my own. Made me feel good when I turned it on and it worked great.
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