How Many Dollars to Go Residential

noleakman wrote:
Does anyone know how much to have the Amish cooling unit installed in the Norcold 1200 Is this unit work better than the original cooling unit? Does the chance of fire go away with changing this unit?

Howdy. Anywhere from 1400 to 1900 should be safe numbers to use. A lot will depend on shipping and labour. There is always the chance of fire with any unit including residential refrigerators. In my opinion the chance of a fire in a Norcold 1200 is probably higher but I doubt it is crazy high although I have never seen any statistics. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Safe travels.

Does anyone know how much to have the Amish cooling unit installed in the Norcold 1200 Is this unit work better than the original cooling unit? Does the chance of fire go away with changing this unit?

I replaced my Norcold 1200 with a Samsung RF197 last month. I had the work done by Precision Painting in Bremen Indiana, and they were able to do it without removing a window. Total cost was right at $1800 for the whole thing. I already had a inverter/charger and 4 golf cart batteries, so no additional costs there. Best move I ever made.

Don Parrish wrote:
Would like to hear the dollar amount to take the Nevercold thru the front window (one piece), replace with a residential, make the necessary inverter and battery change to make it all work. I assume there would be some cabinet work regardless of coach. This would be an '09 CC Inspire, kitchen forward floor plan.

Thanks for any input. Purchase of coach may hang in the balance.

Don Parrish

Here's a ... Fridge
that should work. You already have enough batteries and a converter/charger for going down the road and short dry camping use, so all you need is a 1000W inverter and an outlet up to the back of the unit.

Depends on what you already have. If the residential you are installing needs a sine wave inverter and you don't have one you'll have to upgrade. Are you a once in awhile dry camper or often. If often then you'll want to add more batteries and solar panels. So best case sceenario around 2000 and worst case probably around 4000. We already had 8 batteries, a robust solar system and sine wave inverters. It was simply a matter of getting it inside and installed...and a little trim work. Good luck with the project. You'll love the results.

Don, if you do a lot of boon docking you may want to add another inverter/charger.
And more batteries. Not so much for more amp/hours but for more charging amps.

The Samsung 197 is nice and very popular as a replacement for the Norcold. However, it is a counter-depth fridge which makes it pretty pricey compared to standard depth fridges. When we replaced our Norcold in our previous coach, we got a Frigidaire 18 cu ft stainless Gallery series fridge at Lowe's for about $700.00 and it fit fine in the same space as the Norcold (1200LRIM 4 door). We did pay about $2,000 to an RV remodel shop to do the install but I think you can find shops that will do it for less. They removed the Norcold and brought the Frigidaire thru the coach entry door by removing the passenger seat. Some new trim around the new fridge was required and they needed to increase the height of the opening by about 1 1/2 inches. I did also replace my old MSW inverter with a Magnum Energy 2012 PSW 2000 watt inverter but I had planned to do that anyway.

Obviously, you can save a lot of money if you can do the lifting/work yourself.

Don Parrish wrote:
Would like to hear the dollar amount to take the Nevercold thru the front window (one piece), replace with a residential, make the necessary inverter and battery change to make it all work. I assume there would be some cabinet work regardless of coach. This would be an '09 CC Inspire, kitchen forward floor plan.

Thanks for any input. Purchase of coach may hang in the balance.

Don Parrish

I did my own install over two years ago of a Samsung RF197 to replace the death trap Norcold. The Samsung has been purring like a kitten on the Modified Sine Wave Inverter for that time and only the original 4 six volt golf cart batteries. You do not need a Pure Sine Wave Inverter for the Samsung. That is the reason the Samsung is so popular for RV change over to residential. Samsung states that their frig will work on the MSW Inverter.

Our Norcold went out the door and the Samsung came in the same way. That was with the doors off, the passenger seat out, the interior grab handle removed, and the door keeper removed so the door could be tied back at 180. I removed the cooling unit on the Norcold to make it lighter. The Norcold is a lot heavier than the Samsung.

For the most part my cost was the Samsung and about $200 of materials.

Here is a link to my install:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/samsung-rf197-installed-in-2006-diplomat-40pdq-102210.html

Your installation my be quite a bit different. If you do not have a furnace below the frig you are in tall cotton (that's Southern for at an advantage).

Good luck,

Bob

I would check to see if you have a modified sine wave or sine wave inverter. If you have sine wave, you are good to go. If not,plan on upgrading, but don't throw away the $500 used inverter, either get a trade up value for it, or something, sell it on Craigslist or something.

I would pick a Outback inverter, or perhaps Xantrex 1800 to 2,000 watt pure sine wave with built in transfer switch (like you have now) and built in charger. The smart remotes, so you can control the charge rate, perhaps even have auto generator start and timer lockout of the generator auto start (so it will not start on you at 2 am while boondocking) is al possible with the right inverter remote control, and a installer capible of installing and programming it correctly.

I would try one of the side windows, as it is possible to crack the windshield while removing or re-installing it. The side windows pretty much bolt into place, and are easy to remove, easier to caulk than the windshield, and easier to get replacements - than the windshield.

Fred.

Last week I had the Samsung 197 installed frig cost $1079 on sale at Best Buy and the labor to install $980, that was to remove a side window, table, valance, plus install a new Magnum 2812 inverter all in 7hrs. Everyone said it will work with the Xantrex Freedom 458 but I just wanted to do it one time and I have 4 coach batteries.
JR