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

Got a check yesterday. Whoopi

This is a happy tour for me to read on this post. After reading the whole post, we can get solutions to deal with the trouble quickly and safely. Thanks for your nice sharing.

Well, it finally happened my Norcold refrigerator overheated and caught fire while we were returning from a trip. Fortunately I had the water pump on and the water line to the icemaker extinguished the fire after being burned through. The unit was on the recall list and fix had been installed but failed to shut down unit to protect against fire hazard. Refrigerator is not salvageable and will need to be replaced. Am now awaiting costs and disposition of damage reimbursements.

MamaGoose wrote:

RayChez wrote:

Move the thermistor up about half an inch and you will see a big difference. I done that to my 1200 LRIM and now I just set it on 6 and it keeps the refrigerator nice and cold. Freezer has always froze everything solid, so I never have had a problem with the two freezers, but I did with the refrigerator. NO More!

What's a thermistor?

If you have a Norcold 1200 LRIM, on the inside of the fridge there are some fins on the back wall. On the far right is a sensor attached to the fins. That is called a thermistor. Slide it up about half an inch and your fridge will cool more.

Tried to send you a private message, but you have it to your buddy list only.

RayChez wrote:

Move the thermistor up about half an inch and you will see a big difference. I done that to my 1200 LRIM and now I just set it on 6 and it keeps the refrigerator nice and cold. Freezer has always froze everything solid, so I never have had a problem with the two freezers, but I did with the refrigerator. NO More!

What's a thermistor?

BennieH...If you family should suddenly start to talk funny, like with a high pitched voice, and they giggle a lot, check for a leak in your fridge. LOL (Just Kidding) They didn't have the helium filled coils when I got mine about 5 years ago. Or the salesman didn't mention them. But my fridge wouldn't freeze ice cream before. Now it does.

No more recalls for us.
We replaced our cooling unit with the Amish(Dutch Aire)cooling unit. We opted for the unit with the Helium fill gas instead of the Hydrogen that is normally used (extra $200- good piece of mind).
When we bought this rig, I knew the cooling unit was getting close to replacement time since the coils were rusting pretty badly. Had JC Refrigeration in Shipshewana, Indiana do the change out.
At a setting of 5 the Refer is at 35 degrees and the freezer is at -1.
PLUS - No More safety switch to act up, Their unit does not need it.

Edit - Forgot to add, on the way to have the unit replaced we got the Red Light of doom from the stupid recall box. Glad to be rid if it.

Make sure your cooling fans are working and wired properly. There is a white and a black wire. If they are backwards they don't work. Our freezer would work but not our fridge until we replaced the coils. I actually put gallon jugs of water in the freezer and then put them in the fridge compartment. Then they did the 2nd recall and the coils blew.

MamaGoose wrote:
@Williamh:

Water definitely trips the sensor. We have a piece of plastic we just cover the sensor with when we wash the motorhome, but if we forget and water gets in there, the sensor trips.

We've been looking at the Amish unit as well, and I think that's what we'll end up going with. As it is, our fridge has to be set on 9 and it's still not satisfactory. We had a 2 door Norcold refrigerator in our 5th wheel, and we had to keep the setting below 3 or the produce would freeze. With this one, we put a block of ice in the bottom compartment to help the fridge along. Not satisfied with that. The freezer compartments work fine, but I think the cooling method itself in a large fridge such as this one is just inefficient.

Move the thermistor up about half an inch and you will see a big difference. I done that to my 1200 LRIM and now I just set it on 6 and it keeps the refrigerator nice and cold. Freezer has always froze everything solid, so I never have had a problem with the two freezers, but I did with the refrigerator. NO More!

@Williamh:

Water definitely trips the sensor. We have a piece of plastic we just cover the sensor with when we wash the motorhome, but if we forget and water gets in there, the sensor trips.

We've been looking at the Amish unit as well, and I think that's what we'll end up going with. As it is, our fridge has to be set on 9 and it's still not satisfactory. We had a 2 door Norcold refrigerator in our 5th wheel, and we had to keep the setting below 3 or the produce would freeze. With this one, we put a block of ice in the bottom compartment to help the fridge along. Not satisfied with that. The freezer compartments work fine, but I think the cooling method itself in a large fridge such as this one is just inefficient.