Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: PJ Corey on October 17, 2010, 06:26:27 pm
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As I was getting ready today for a two week trip to the Texas Hill Country my refrigerator door fell off. The plastic bottom mount hinge broke. I immediately went on various rv sites on the internet and found that it is not uncommon for this tiny plastic hinge to collapse under the weight of a wood panel door and food items on the inside of the door. I had not even put anything into the fridge though! I opened the door and it fell on the floor. So, out came the JB Weld and duct tape for a quick fixer upper so we can at least get on the road Tuesday morning. A cooler with dry ice is the backup. I will call Kermit tomorrow regarding a new door under warranty but assuming a new door will have the same flimsy plastic hinges I am wondering how to stabilize it in such a way that this does not happen again. Thoughts?
Paula
2010 2551S
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I'd call the fridge manufacture first thing Monday morning. Tell them your story. Maybe they have a metal replacement.
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Since my RV is over in my storage locker, I don't remember if the fridge is a Dometic or not. If so, this might be useful:
"I found out about this too late, but maybe this information will help someone else. A few weeks ago, the upper hinge on my Dometic fridge door broke and the door fell on the floor. I then noticed that the freezer door hinge was also cracked and ready to break. A call to Dometic confirmed that the only fix was to replace the doors. I invested over $300 in new doors. Today I found a post on a "Sportscoach" site that mentions a less expensive route. The following is quotation from that message. "The upper freezer door hinge broke on my Dometic refrigerator. I checked with Camping World and other sources and was told my only solution was to buy a complete door for $150 or so. Not liking this answer I called Dometic. They said that kits are available to repair all of the door hinges and are available through All Seasons RV Appliance Parts & Service in Elkhart, IN. You can reach them at 800-348-7697 or 800-344-0673. The upper and lower hinge repair kit cost $18.95, can be charged to a credit card and shipped anywhere and that they have any piece that you want. Since having this occur I have talked to two others that have paid for a full door ($350 or so) as well as a freezer door. This company is a valuable resource for us to know about.”
The most common reason for hinge failures is doors that have not been adjusted. If you refer to Technical Article # 7 on our Website www.rv-partsplus.com you will learn how simple it is to adjust the doors and eliminate the costly replacement mentioned above."
Don't Know if this helps, but hope it does.
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I just checked and there are replacement Norcold hinges and Dometic hinge repair kits available on eBay. Don't know if they fit, but you might want to check them out. I buy a lot of RV parts on eBay.
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Our door also fell off because the bottom hinge broke. I crazy glued it and was able to finish our trip. When we got home and opened the door to unload, it broke again. I called Dometic and they asked how old our door was, the model number and if the inside was smooth or quilted. I told her that it was three months old, I bought it in June and this happened in September. She said she would sent me a new door with instructions on how to remove the front panel from the old door and put it into the new door. I got the door two days later, but no instructions. After playing with it for a while, I finally got the panel moved and installed the new door. No charge to me. So call Dometic if you are still under warrenty.
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Tom, I just talked to a very helpful rep at Norcold. (The model # for the folks with Norcold fridges is N621L). We are still under warranty and a new door ships tomorrow. The rep acknowledged the broken hinge mount problem on these doors and said the new door has "reinforced hinges."
We are leaving for the TX Hill Country tomorrow. Last night we drilled a hole through the mount hinge and filled the broken plastic (which is hollow -- no wonder it broke) with JB Weld then put a long screw and nut through the hole we drilled. In other words, we fused the broken joint. It is a temporary fix which I hope lasts the two weeks we are away but it might not last getting out of our driveway. Taking a cooler with dry ice as a backup.
Paula
2010 2551S
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Can anyone post a picture of the break? Examining mine this morning, I can't picture where the high-risk area is as I think I have metal hinge brackets.
Is trhe break, the material on the door itself? That looks to be well engineered, quite strong.
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Paula
Wow! that was very nice of Norcold to ship you the door ASAP, but I am just wondering shouldn't Norcold do a total recall. I understand this is not a life threatening situation, but for those of us that just got a new RV and are still under warranty, aren't we sitting on a time bomb waiting for the warranty to expire and then the door hinge break down.
Paula, did Norcold ask for the return of the broken door? I just wonder if I should order a repair kit as a preemptive measure or should I tell Norcold that I too have a broken hinge problem so they can send me new door with re-enforced hinge. Thanks
Donald
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Ron, the break occurred on the mount the bottom hinge fits into. The hinge itself is fine but when the plastic mount the hinge sits in cracked the door fell straight down. The mount protrudes from the black strip on the bottom of the fridge. That small piece is what we fused with JB Weld and a bolt through it. I would post a picture but am stumped about how to do that on this site.
No, the customer service rep at Norcold did not ask me to return the door. It was a very smooth no questions asked transaction: serial # of fridge; VIN #; date of purchase; address. I wish I had asked what model # has the reinforced hinges. Some here may already have that door. I'm happy to post it once I get back from our trip.
Paula
2010 2551S
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The hinge on our refrigerator door also broke while in Florida. Like Paula, I called Norcold. But unlike her, we were out of warrantee. However, they shipped a new door to the nearest authorized repair center (Mary Esther), no charge, and paid for the labor too. Nice.
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I also had the bottom hinge break after only 4 uses of the refrigerator. They're sending me a new door and not requiring the old door be returned. Sounds like a design flaw. I would recommend anyone close to warranty running out to call and report broken hinge to get replacement door because it's going to happen sometime...
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When the door fell off it was one day before we were heading out on a two week trip. I think I mentioned above that we "fused" the door with JB Weld and a screw. It worked through the entire trip. In fact, it is on there so well it might never fall off again. But the new door is here and we will put that one on and save the "fused" door in case this happens again.
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Our Norcold 621 bottom door broke on our last trip. The plastic part on the bottom of the door that has a hole in it snapped at the door frame. I got online with Norcold chat and ordered a new part after giving the rep the model number and serial number. She gave me a part number and I ordered it from a local RV center. The part arrived Friday and this morning I went out to replace it. Well, wrong part and not even a part that will work on my fridge. Looking for help, I came across this old thread. I will call Norcold next week and see what they will do. According to the parts diagram I just found, this particular part isn't available so I will probably be looking at a new door. I don't know what the warranty is, but I bet my 2013 is well out of warranty.
As a warning to my fellow PCers, check your lower hinges on the door and if they are plastic, don't even think about loading the door with drinks. All those holding places are just for looks! I didn't check mine as I thought by 2013 the issue had been addressed. Mark
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Well, our bottom hinge broke last week during our 3-week cross country adventure. Duct tape and an ice chest worked for the rest of the journey. Now to figure out a permanent solution!
Judy and Jerry
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Judy and Jerry
This has happened to many folks with different RVs. There are a few fixes shown in some of the forums such as the following
http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23753243/print/true.ccm
and
http://democracydoctor1.blogspot.com/2014/02/shameful-engineering-by-norcold.html
If you do an internet search for norcold fridge door hinge broke you will see many different fixes. This might save you a few dollars.
After we saw this happen to one of our fellow PC friends we bought the reinforcement kit from Norcold as an insurance. This kit really seems to have reinforced our lower hinge.
Sue
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What I am about to describe is difficult.
I wonder if some of the problem with broken fridge hinges is related to where a free-swinging door makes contact to other things. Does the end of the door hit something like a wall for example, or is contact made close to the hinges which increases abnormal stress by many magnitudes. If this is the cause for broken hinges, I wonder if a door limiter could be installed.
Our 2007 2350 fridge and freezer doors both hit other things when fully open, but contact is made on the outer-most surface of each door. Eight years so far with lots of water and soda stored in the door and we have not broken a hinge.
Now watch one break on us this season because I said this. :)
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Ron,
From the broken doors I have seen it doesn't matter how it swings, how heavy it is loaded but boils down to design of the hinge. The hinge is sitting on a piece of plastic, heavy as it looks, it is not strong enough. Norcold should do a recall but instead they made the reinforcement kit. The reinforcement kit is made out of "metal" not plastic. Before we ordered the kit I called Norcold and spoke with them about this. This is definitely not a fix once the hinge breaks, this kit is to be used on an unbroken hinge to prevent it from breaking. Only time will tell.
Sue
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Our hinge broke as well. Very poor design. It was not under warranty.
I took piece of aluminum, used the screw holes on the bottom of the door, cut the hole for the hinge pivot. Then bought a nylon washer with the inside diameter to match the hinge pin, drilled out the hinge pin hole to match that washer, added more screws to the bottom. I then shaped the aluminum to the bottom of the door and painted. No problems since.
Norcold's fix might be less labor intensive but I do know that my fix should hold.
George
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The really sad thing about this refrigerator hinge failure is that when I looked at the models of the PCs in these posts that have had this problem, it is clear that the problem has been around for at least five model seasons. Wouldn't you think that is long enough for the manufacturer to correct the problem and wouldn't you think that when they did they would at least do a repair solution kit for free on request? When I searched on other forums about this problem, a lot of failures pop up.
The problem is that companies like Norcold and Dometic are international companies and the rv industry is fragmented. Even the largest rv manufacturers are small potato customers to these kinds of companies. RV manufacturers have no purse persuasion muscle like, for example, Ford or Toyota or Nissan. So, those folks making rvs are at the mercy of the makers of all sorts of components and have no leverage.
How smart in the first place do you have to be to know not to make any part of a door hinge out of plastic?
My PC is in storage for a couple of weeks, then we are going on a lengthy trip. When I get it home before the trip I am going to examine that hinge and receiver and see if I can anticipate problems and reinforce it with J&B before the darn thing falls off. Also, I am going to take the measurements and fabricate a METAL solution to carry with me. When you boondock for weeks at a time, it is can be a long way to town for repair parts.
I am very, very appreciative of those that posted about their doors and warned the rest of us about this potential. Thank You!
Paul
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The sad thing is Norcold doesn't even have a fix once the hinge is broken. They want you to buy a new door and then buy their reinforcement kit. Like George said, he had to fabricate something himself and his will probably outlast anything Norcold could do.
Their reinforcement kit is to be used on a door that has not been broken yet. Very sad indeed that they anticipate their design will eventually break!
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I found this on Amazon. I wonder if this is the right repair kit????? Might be worth the price to just have it ready and save time and trial of my own fabrication.
Does this sound like what we need? Pretty limited info and no picture of the product.
http://www.amazon.com/Norcold-634166-Door-Hinge-Retrofit/dp/B008KWP6MC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434898912&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=norcold+door+reinforcement+kit&pebp=1434898922865&perid=0VDBEZJ6HGZZ5C35PSMT
Paul
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Paul,
Yes, that is the right kit. We ordered that exact one from Amazon. But beware, this is NOT a repair kit or a fix for a broken door. It is to be used on an unbroken door hinge. It actually attaches to the bottom of the hinge and reinforces the area so that the weight of the door is not supported by the plastic but by the reinforcement piece. We put it on after we saw what happened to George and Judi's. They had very little stored on their door and it just gave in on them. We are hoping this kit prevents our door hinge from ever breaking.
Sue
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George, you gave me inspiration. I decided to make my own hinge. Using the part they sent me, the hinge that fits on the fridge not the door and cut off the bracket. From what was left over, I was able to drill some holes and attach it to the bottom of the door. The repair should be permanent. It's not beautiful, but it's much stronger and you won't notice it unless you look. I took some pics and will post up soon.
The problem is the door can't handle the weight of 18 12 oz drinks bouncing down the highway even with the door shut and our 18 drinks generally include some glass bottles. My recommendation is to only put light weight products on the door and you will likely never have a problem. I'm not sure how the reinforcement kit works, but it is probably good insurance if it is metal. Otherwise, if you are handy with tools and can cut, sand, grind, glue, and swear, you can probably fix it after it breaks.
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Sue, thanks. I will order that baby and put it on as insurance. We want to put reasonable amounts of stuff in the door but a six pack of coke is 4.5 pounds and you can go from there. you can get up to fifteen or so pounds pretty easily and that is the weight of a bowling ball.
I fully understand this is to prevent - not repair - the potential problem. Reading these posts and thinking of the horror of a full refrigerator's door tumbling down is enough for me to take action. Thanks to all that posted on this.
I suspect Norcold will correct this problem at some point in time...probably when several someones have a foot broken by a full door falling on them and they get dragged into court in a class action petition.
Isn't that sad?
Paul
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I just examined our hinges and all four look fine. But reading about the fridge hinge problem here and also on other RV forums, I decided to be proactive rather than regretfully reactive. Thanks all for the great information and clarity about it.
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This is a picture of the Norcold reinforcement kit 634166 that we ordered off of amazon. The instructions are not very clear but if you remember once you remove the door the part attaches to the bottom of the door. It is a 5 minute job once you realize how it attaches. Remove the door, slide this piece of metal on the bottom lip of the door, add the spacer, reinstall the door and you are good to go.
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Question for Barry-Sue. They are mirror image parts so I assume you use both parts on the same fridge door. If I want to reinforce the freezer door as well, I would then need two kits....right?
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Ron,
Yes, they are mirror images, you get a right hand swing and a left hand swing. Two kits are needed if you want to do the freezer door. I do not put anything heavy on the freezer door so chose not do reinforce that hinge. We are hoping George and Judi can use our extra one for their feezer door. I think their door swings the opposite of ours.
Sue
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Sue,
Looking at our freezer door, the hinge is on the right. We would love to have that extra part.
Judi
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When reinforcing one door, is there a benefit to installing the other piece up top to reinforce it as well? Or is it a throw-away/give-away/sell-on-ebay component?
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I just checked my door and the bottom plate that is attached to the refriderator is metal. The part attached to the door is plastic. When I had to replace the hing on my other PC, Norcold told me only some of the N621 models have the breaking hing problem. If I was worried about it, I would get my model ans serial numbers and call Norcold or get on their website and chat with them before getting new parts. Just me.
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Ron,
It can be put on the top of the door, when speaking with Norcold they say you can use it for top and bottom. I can't see a purpose for using it on top since you would be putting it on the top of the plastic portion of the hinge that would be carrying no weight. It might reinforce the metal post portion of the hinge but that is not what is breaking on these doors. It probably wouldn't hurt but I do not know if it would affect the closing of the door since we ony installed it on the bottom hinge.
I have talked to Norcold three different times and got different answers each time. The documentation that came with the kit says "retrofit hinge-left", "retrofit hinge-right".
Sue
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Ron,
Which way does you door open, mine is on the right if your is on the left I'll mail you that part, just order the kit from e-bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Norcold-634166-RV-Refrigerator-Door-Hinge-Kit-/321253813258?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4acc382c0a
$29.99 with free shipping, best price I could find
Jim
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Thank you so much Jim for your generosity but I just bought a pair of kits on Ebay for $49 to reinforce both doors. I'll just sell what I don't use on ebay to recover some of the cost to keep my investment under control as usual.
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When reinforcing one door, is there a benefit to installing the other piece up top to reinforce it as well? Or is it a throw-away/give-away/sell-on-ebay component?
2 pieces, one for the bottom of each door. Or so it seems, but in any event...of course the top hinge takes stress. Consider a loaded door that is open, but instead of the hinges you stick your finger in the top. I guarantee you it's going to pull away at the top and towards you at the bottom.
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I have talked to Norcold three different times about why there are two retrofit hinges in the retrofit kit and got different answers each time. The documentation that came with the kit says there is a "retrofit hinge-left", "retrofit hinge-right".
Sue
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Our refrigerator bottom door hinge broke on a return trip from Florida in May. We have always been cautious about not letting the door swing open and hit the opening to the bedroom area. However we have probably put some heavier items in the door, but not necessarily overloading the door shelves. For the rest of the trip home I folded cardboard from a cereal box to put under the door to keep the spacing correct and keep the fridge seals tight because we continued to use the fridge to keep the food cold. I used Gorilla tape (would not travel without it) to hold the door in place.
Now for the fix - I used the slow curing JB Weld to set the broken piece back onto the base of the door hinge. If you do this you need to be sure that the broken part is correctly positioned to fit on the hinge pin later. To hold everything in place I used masking tape and also filled the "pocket" of the hinge with JB Weld. For additional support I also filled all the "pockets" of the other three hinges on the fridge and freezer. After the epoxy dried I used "Wrought Iron" black paint from a craft store to match the existing color/texture of the fridge trim.
Next I ordered Norcold Retrofit Door Hinge kit, part #634166, from Amazon for $26.51. This kit comes with two hinges, two flat washers and very poor instructions. One hinge is for a right hand door and the other hinge is for a left hand door. I used the right hand hinge on the bottom and secured it with small self piercing screws. I used the left hand hinge on the top of the fridge door for added support. Instead of using the larger flat washers from the kit I used #12 stainless steel flat washers which are the perfect size for use on the hinges. To install the door, I put some silicone lube on the bottom hinge pin, placed a washer on the pin, set the door, used another washer and then used washers above and below the top hinge as I inserted the top hinge pin. The end result is a very solid repaired door system reinforced top and bottom with JB Weld, metal hinge supports and flat washers that remove any vertical movement. So far has worked great...
For those who have not experienced this you might want to take preventative measures.
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Yesterday I installed the support kit to make sure the infamous door falling off problem was prevented. Also - thanks to some posts here on this forum - I filled the hinges on the door with J&B Weld. I also went ahead and filled the freezer door while I was at it. It seems highly improbable that the freezer door would fail, but I did it anyway because I was rather shocked at how poorly designed the thing is and, yes, it is hollow and not webbed on our coach . Filling it with J&B can't hurt and sure could help. I took a plain old waterproof laundry marker Sharpie and "painted" the gray J&B and it is totally unnoticeable.
I post this report just to pop the topic back to the top of the forum in case someone sees this thread now that missed it earlier. I really appreciate the contributors to this post or I would have never known about this potential disaster........until it became fact for me. tymote
Paul
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Thank you so much Jim for your generosity but I just bought a pair of kits on Ebay for $49 to reinforce both doors. I'll just sell what I don't use on ebay to recover some of the cost to keep my investment under control as usual.
Getting ready for our big trip, I'm going through my 2350 to-do list.
I finally installed the fridge door reinforcements, deciding to install both top & bottom since both fit fine. Who knows, maybe the top one will do some good. The large thick washer that came with the kit fit very sloppy with the inside diameter way too large for a nice centered fit. It also stuck our far beyond the rest of the hinge, not a nice look at all. I decided to replace it with two smaller and thinner conforming stainless steel washers, placing one at each hinge to assure there is no binding as was intended by Norcold. I will keep an eye on them to make sure they do the job well. If not, I will replace them with larger, but still thinner ones. It is done easily enough.
The installation took all of about 20 minutes for both doors. Now I'll rest easy, not worrying about them any longer. The reinforcements look nice and I understand now how they offer reinforcement, though I am not sure "how much". I wonder why Norcold is not installing the reinforcements on all fridges sold. Maybe the latest models have them or something equivalent better integrated.
For those who wonder what the reinforcements are, here is what they look like, big pictures to see the detail better.
Notice how huge the original washers are?
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/$(KGrHqJ,!g4FC4b!3S-SBQ-Z+sY63Q~~60_57.JPG)
Here you can see both top and bottom reinforcements and the thinner & smaller diameter stainless steel washers.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/356/20256234988_c5b9db6815_b.jpg)
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3769/19821570814_b3da3f5e08_b.jpg)
I will be putting this into the Tips & Tricks area.