NORCOLD Refridgerator

OK, I am really "obsessing" with what fridge to order on my 3100.  JATRAX, on the Facebook page, has recommended a Norcold marine fridge,  which I currently have on my build sheet.   

The reason for my indecisiveness is due to the horrible experience I had with a Norcold 1200LR in my 2001 Diplomat.  It was a nightmare.  Also, my inexperience with the Norcold DE0061 marine fridge. 

Long story short...I'm looking for comments about the Norcold that comes standard in a Phoenix Cruiser.  Any problems?  Does the freezer freeze?  Is the beer cold?  Have your doors fell off?  I can only assume that Norcold has made drastic improvements since the early 2000's.

I welcome any comments.

JATRAX thanks again for your input on the Facebook page.  I need to get this out of my head and finalized. 

Here are somereviews.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/norcold--de-0061-ac-dc-refrigerator-freezer-right-hinge--5388699

DC frig seems like a good option for boondocking. Just need to get a reliable one. A lot of manufactures offer residential frogs.  You may want to check other forums like IRV2.com

Ron

Only you can make the decision but being informed is always helpful.

Here are a few things that might help:
1) There are three basic types of refrigerators used in RVs:
     a) Absorption models  - used by the vast majority of Rv's, run on propane primarily though the heating element can also run on 120volt
     b) Residential models - similar or often the same as in use in a house.  Run on a 120 volt compressor and require either shore power or an inverter
     c) 12 volt marine - these are compressor types very similar in function to residential except they are designed to run on 12 volt

2) Absorption models, by Norcold and others, have been around for a very long time.  They work, require only minimal electricity to run the controls and mostly are reliable and safe.  They are however, slow to cool down and the usual recommendation is to start them up 2 or 3 days prior to a trip.  Even then putting a lot of warm food in them is going to take a long time to cool down.  They also require the unit to be fairly level so that the gas cycle works properly.  Interior space is reduced by the large cooling fins, so a compressor unit of comparable cubic foot size will actually have more usable interior space than an absorption unit.  If you understand the limitations they are well suited to RV's and mobile use.

3) However, Norcold and others ran into issues a few years back with units that were failing and starting fires.  This was blamed on shifting production overseas, but I do not know if that is 100% true.  They got slapped with a large class action suit and supposedly cleaned things up.  Yet there are some reports of issues even on the newer ones.

4) Despite the law suit and issues, absorption units are used in the vast majority of RV's and only a tiny fraction have had issues.  As you note things should have improved since the law suit and honestly the number of failures was very low anyway.  That is not any consolation to those who had a unit catch fire.

5) Residential units are tried and true, super cheap because of the huge volume and have all the benefits of compressor technology.  However, they run only on 120 volt and are not considered to be a good choice for boondocking.  If you are snow birds and set up camp with full hook ups for months on end then they are an excellent choice.

6) 12 volt marine units are designed for boats where the use of open flame absorption units is considered dangerous.  They use a very efficient 12 volt compressor that has a long history of good service.  They are not used often on RV's because the absorption units have been the standard and are cheaper. because of the limited use there is not a lot of information on them on RV forums.  But on marine / boating forums they get good marks.  Since they run on 12 volt no shore power is needed but a large enough battery bank is required and also some way to keep the batteries charged.  Combining one of these with a reasonable solar array allows boondocking similar to what you would have with an absorption unit and propane.

I chose the 12 volt marine unit because:
1) I was worried about the fire issue
2) We often go on the spur of the moment and did not want a unit that would not cool down fast
3) The usable interior space was better on the 12 volt models
4) We already had decided we wanted a solar array so having the power to run the refrigerator was not an issue

As I said at the beginning only you can choose what is best for your use.  I would not be overly concerned about the fire hazards.  I would however, think hard about how you plan to use your coach and which unit makes the most sense from that perspective.

Very VERY nice write-up jatrax!

I wanted to add our experience with the typical "absorption" type.  Our unit works on propane and 110V.  It does not have the 12V mode.  Keep in-mind that when on propane, it still requires 12V for it's electronics, though is very little.  So if the house batteries are dead or disconnected, the fridge will NOT operate on propane.

Given our rig is 11 years old, we might have dodged the "China Made" start-up issue.

About the door hinges breaking, it is seemingly a common issue with older models, on other forums .  They break primarily for two reasons working together.  First is having a lot of weight in the door shelves.  Second are rough roads jarring that heavy weight.  If a door hinge breaks, the door MUST be replaced.  It cannot be repaired because the hinge is molded into the door being all one piece.

I don't know if Norcold redesigned the main door since we bought our PC, so I was proactive and installed a Norcold hinge reinforcing kit on both the fridge and freezer door, both top and bottom hinge.  You can see what I did by clicking HERE and scroll down to #25.

As far as the performance of our propane/110V absorption fridge is concerned, it cools down in 3 to 4 hours at room temperature on propane, and keeps things at the proper temperature.  We operate with propane much more often than 110V.  We have never complained about it's performance.  Admittedly we have not yet traveled in temperatures over 100 degrees so we don't know how it would perform in such extreme conditions.  Another point to make is, our fridge is NOT in a slide out and it has the roof-mounted vent, not the upper wall vent used in recent years.  The design deviation might or might not make a difference.

One final comment.  Our fridge uses so very little propane, never concerned over propane consumption.  On one 3 week trip, we used the fridge on propane the entire trip (also cooked often and used the furnace one night) and never filled the propane tank.  It did run out just a few hours from home.

We have the Norcold N621L in our 2012/2551 installed in the slide out.  We are very pleased with its operation.

We did have an issue where the refrigerator portion was too cold and the fins would ice up but soon discovered it was a bad thermistor.  I think it was a $35 part and was fixed in a few minutes.  We found the service manual here

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/ncoldnnewnseries.pdf

When replacing the thermistor we called Norcold for advice on where to place ice cream in the freezer compartment.  They said always place ice cream on the bottom shelf/ left side.  Our ice cream is always frozen nicely.

We do keep a wireless thermometer to monitor the temperature since we camp in a variety of temperatures, from 10 degrees to 105 degrees.  We also keep a small circulating fan running in the fridge.  We are pleased with its operation.  It cools down in about an hour when hooked up to electrical and is ready to load.  And yes, the beer is nice and cold.

We have experience with a three way unit as well, we found the DC setting would maintain the temperature but not as well as the electrical setting.  We thought we would miss the three way unit but we do not.

Our 2018 came with the standard Norcold which I did not like until I actually read the temp settings on the panel (1 is warmest, not coldest!)
We just spent 3 nights out, pre-cooled the fridge for 12 hours on 110v. Only loaded cold food. The freezer maintained 5° with a couple of steaks and a frozen gallon of water. The fridge section stayed around 40°, not great but ok. You must be really quick in removing/replacing items so the cold air does not fall out.

Why does fridge have a 'd' in it yet refrigerator does not?

Steve

We picked up our new 2552 last week.  After a couple of days, we noticed the refrigerator door was not locking (with a lot of stuff in the door).  Bob at Phoenix fixed the issue in about 5 minutes by adding a couple of washers on the bottom hinge pin - works great now.  When he was fixing it, he pointed out that the newer Norcold models have steel hinges - they fixed the earlier problem with the plastic lower hinges.  I thought the refrig worked very well, at least for over the 2 weeks we used it.

.....he pointed out that the newer Norcold models have steel hinges - they fixed the earlier problem with the plastic lower hinges......

Awesome!

Quote from: tswhitewater on April 30, 2018, 07:06:57 pm

.....he pointed out that the newer Norcold models have steel hinges - they fixed the earlier problem with the plastic lower hinges......

Awesome!

In my 2001 motorhome, I got up in the middle of the night, opened the fridge and the right-hand door literally fell off.  Only fix is new door.  Sometime later, the same door fell off...again!  I examined it and fixed the plastic/nylon pin with JB Weld.  It lasted until I replaced it with a residential fridge.   Glad to hear that Norcold has improved this.  It seems that some problems still exist with the Norcold units, but when you consider the thousands that are out there, still functioning, maybe it is not as bad as it may seem.  You rarely read comments from the majority who are happy.