Fire Hazard Appliance Recalls UPDATED NORCOLD INFO 11-20-2010

When that so-called "recall" finally quits working or your coils blow out DO NOT THROW THE FRIDGE AWAY. There is a company in Shipshewana, IN that makes coils for RV and Marine applications. The so called "recall" blew the coils out of my Norcold. Naturally I have been told that is wrong but my coils blew out AFTER they did the recall. It is a simple fix to replace the coils and they are better made than the OEM. I also put 2 4" pancake fans in the compartment to blow air across the coils.

And I am not going to argue about the recall. My fridge worked fine until they started doing the recalls. The Chinese sensor lasted about 4 hours and then my coil blew out. It cost me approximately $1,000.00 to replace the old OEM coils with the new Amish made coils.

I recently had the recall part on the rear of the ref. of the Norold replaced for the 5th time. I was working when I got it home after the repair. Hopefully it will be working when I go to use it next time. I would like to know if anybody knows where i can get a magnet strong enough to reset the recall part. I would like to have one just in case this last recall part does not work. Thanks in advance for any information. William

Hey guys! :)

As a result of this forum posting, I linked to a recalls site and searched my unit. I found our Dometic Frig by model/serial listed there as needing an after market repair kit. It had been recalled in '08! I contacted the company, and discovered that Stoltzfus and Camping World stock the kits and it's simply a matter of scheduling the appointment to have it installed.....FREE.

Whew!....(another close one!)

Thanks for all the great support! :)

As a result of another forum posting, I linked to a recalls site and searched my unit. I found our Dometic Frig by model/serial listed as needing an after market repair kit. It had been recalled in '08! I contacted the company, and discovered that Stoltzfus and Camping World stock the kits and it's simply a matter of scheduling the appointment to have it installed......FREE!
Whew!....(another close one!)

I think we'll be looking at the Amish unit as well if/when the time comes to replace the cooling unit. We've been checking prices on replacing parts vs replacing the entire refrigerator, and it's still a lot less expensive to replace the cooling unit. We're farmers and quite used to having to do some machinery repairs ourselves. I think if we had to install the Amish unit ourselves, we could, provided we were at home where all our tools are. (If we happened to be snowbirding it in the U.S. when the fridge failed, in that case it might be less expensive to have it done in a shop. Depends what tools are required, I guess. There will be some kept in the motorhome, but not the full line we would have in our shop.)

The way these RV's last for so many years and change owners, often through private sales, I'm sure a lot of people don't know about this recall. I found out about it by accident as well. After our first outing with our motorhome, we were getting the "no LP" alarm on the fridge. We eventually got things straightened out ourselves once we did some homework on the internet and found out what to do, but in the meantime, I had e-mailed Norcold to ask for advice. I told them the make and model number of the fridge in that e-mail, and the rep who wrote back to me told me about the recall. I had suspected, from my searches re this fridge, that ours was under recall and that e-mail confirmed it. So we got our RV registered and we got the work done.

We'll be packing a strong magnet with us for our next outing in case the sensor gets wet and trips.

I just took my unit which is a 1200 in last Thursday, for the recall, it took about half an hour to install. I did watch to see just what was done. They place a thermocouple about 6 - 8 inches above the burner. When he cut the insulation off in this area, that boiler area is quite rusty. They place this TC tight against the boiler tube, and use a stainless steel hose clamp and torque the clamp with a small torque wrench. I can see that if this area is real rusty, and they were to tighten this clamp too tight it could possibly rupture the tube. So far mine is working ok. I did not even realize that there was a recall, on these units until I got to snooping around these forums. My fridge was likely built in the 2000-2002 time frame, and did have to replace the board, and used a Dinosaur, replacement. I also replaced the flame sensor/sparker at the same time, as the board. The unit has served me well so far. I certainly would recommend the Dino board, to anyone that should happen to have a failure of there board. I guess if my cooling unit does happen to fail, I will have to look at the Amish replacement. So far since the high temp sensor install its doing ok. George

OK, I feel stupid. :o

Hubby just told me there is a clear cover over that panel in the picture I posted. I guess, however, it's still not enough to stop water from getting in there and tripping the sensor, but at least we know it's not completely unprotected. It looks like there was at least some attempt to shield it from the elements.

They did what they had to do to comply with the recall. I never had a problem with my fridge until they did the recalls and then they blew out my coils and said it wasn't their problem. I don't really think Norcold gave a******about how the sensor was installed or what happened after it was installed. They just didn't want to get sued by you or me. I don't have a sensor. I have a refrigerator that works better than it did when it was new.

I started a thread on the subject of recommendations for other brands of RV refrigerators, and I mentioned what had happened to ours with the recall kit. It was mentioned that washing the RV will trip the sensor. We applied a stong magnet to ours today and it reset. We're leaving the fridge on for a few hours to make sure everything is OK and then we'll power it down again.

I see the problem with the sensor--either poor design or poor installation. I'm attaching a picture of ours. Wouldn't you think it would be better protected than that? Given that the wiring is that exposed, it would be easy for it to get wet when one is traveling in wet weather or even parked during a rain storm, or when one is washing one's RV.

I have posted this response enough times that everyone should be able to see it. If you need further info on what I did then you can e-mail me. I won't be posting this response again. Good Luck! And Happy Camping!