I had the cooling unit replaced on my Norcold 1200 last fall due to constant failures with the bypass module that was put in under recall a few years ago. The RV shop replaced the cooling unit with another Norcold unit and not a Amish one. Since this unit was Norcold, it came with one of those stupid bypass boxes that I was trying to get away from in the first place. Anyway, last week the stupid box tripped again so I swapped it out. Since then, the fridge is running but I am now camping and I noticed the ice cream in the freezer is very soft. The control on the front is set to the max (9) so last night I put a thermometer in the freezer and found it to be 4 degrees. The fridge part is running around 36 degrees. What should I do now or is this normal?

I hate to tell you that much of the dislike many people have for the Norcold 1200 is not due to the fire concern but is just because it isn't a very good refrigerator. I understand that some people have units that work just fine, but many others, including ourselves, have experiences similar to yours. Part of the problem is the built-in ~48 hour defrost cycle, but some of it appears to be simply inadequate cooling. That's why so many of us have replaced them with residential units.

I can tell you one thing for sure, when it comes time to replace my motorhome, I will never get anything again with a Norcold fridge. They have and continue to drop the ball on these fridges. I looked at a brand new winnebago yesterday and it had the 4 door Norcold fridge. I popped the outside access panel off to find that they still have the bull**** bypass box but rather than it being clipped to the cooling unit, it is mounted with screws to make it look like it belongs there. All my previous campers had dometic's and I never had a problem with them. I have lost hundreds in food and probably another hundred in fuel to get this fridge repaired. Oh, I forgot to mention the cost of the cooling unit.

The operational temps of ANY RV refer isfreezer---any temp below 10 degreesrefer--- any temp below 40 degreesMOST, as long as all operational parameters are met isfreezer 0 degrees MAX tstatrefer 32 degrees max tstatNow, to complain about the recall is not accurate. The recall has NOTHING to do with operation or cooling. It is a Safety device. nothing elseIce Cream has ALWAYS been a problem in RV absorbsion refers, not just 1200 models. Ice Cream need sub 0 degree temps to be hard. Very few refers will get sub 0 degrees.Your problem may be the quality of the install of the cooling unit. They may not have installed the Thermal mastic correctly and they may not have sealed the CU to the box adequately. Doug

docj wrote:I hate to tell you that much of the dislike many people have for the Norcold 1200 is not due to the fire concern but is just because it isn't a very good refrigerator. I understand that some people have units that work just fine, but many others, including ourselves, have experiences similar to yours. Part of the problem is the built-in ~48 hour defrost cycle, but some of it appears to be simply inadequate cooling. That's why so many of us have replaced them with residential units.Really? The ONLY thing I have noticed over the years is almost everyone that has installed a residential states it is SAFETY, nothing else, NOT inadequate cooling. There is NOTHING wrong with a 1200 cooling that has ALL controls operating to specs. To NOT buy a good RV because of a 1200 is foolish. I would have no problem buying any RV with a 1200 series refer. There are MILLIONS of 1200's out there. Doug

Have you checked the placement of the Thermistor on the cooling fins?

Norcold 1200 not cold enough | Good Sam Community

dougrainer
Nomad
Jun 11, 2014
bluwtr49 wrote:
DSDP Don wrote:
Hedgehog......The 1200 will fall on it's face when set at 9. Set the temp to either 4 or 5. You will get much better results.

Why is that, seems counter intuitive to set the temp higher to get colder.

Please let us know the basis for this assumption.

Thanks

There is no basis. He is wrong. Doug
bluwtr49
Explorer II
Jun 11, 2014
DSDP Don wrote:
Hedgehog......The 1200 will fall on it's face when set at 9. Set the temp to either 4 or 5. You will get much better results.

Why is that, seems counter intuitive to set the temp higher to get colder.

Please let us know the basis for this assumption.

Thanks
xctraveler
Explorer
Jun 11, 2014
Ok, so mine is a Dometic, why am I here? This past winter we were on the move and one day I noticed that the freezer was in the 10-13 range! It seemed strange as it had been working just fine the day before. As I reflected on the day's drive I thought about the climbing we had done all day, we had gone from sea level to 7,500 feet above sea level. Absorption refrigerators lose efficiency as they gain altitude. The fix was to come down out of the Rockies and start driving east across Kansas, that fixed the freezer just fine.

Not saying this was OP's problem, but just another reason to be aware of many factors that affect the operation of parts of our wonderful motorhomes.
dougrainer
Nomad
Jun 11, 2014
DSDP Don wrote:
Hedgehog......The 1200 will fall on it's face when set at 9. Set the temp to either 4 or 5. You will get much better results.

WRONG. Doug
ljr869
Explorer
Jun 11, 2014
I just spent 3 days with mine set at 9 and and the ice maker filled itself up.
DSDP_Don
Explorer
Jun 11, 2014
Hedgehog......The 1200 will fall on it's face when set at 9. Set the temp to either 4 or 5. You will get much better results.
Ivylog
Explorer III
Jun 10, 2014
Sounds about right on the temps. Buy your ice cream in a box and put it against the back wall of the freezer which is the coldest area.
Hedgehog
Explorer
Jun 10, 2014
I've had my bypass module trip out when the coach was winterized and the fridge was shut off. It was plugged in to shore power for the batteries. The only reason I knew it tripped was because I noticed the red glow coming from the outside fridge cover. They told me it must have overheated. I told them, how can it over heat when it's been shut off for a month. That's when then decided to replace the cooling unit.
bluwtr49
Explorer II
Jun 10, 2014
Hedgehog wrote:
I had the cooling unit replaced on my Norcold 1200 last fall due to constant failures with the bypass module that was put in under recall a few years ago. The RV shop replaced the cooling unit with another Norcold unit and not a Amish one. Since this unit was Norcold, it came with one of those stupid bypass boxes that I was trying to get away from in the first place. Anyway, last week the stupid box tripped again so I swapped it out. Since then, the fridge is running but I am now camping and I noticed the ice cream in the freezer is very soft. The control on the front is set to the max (9) so last night I put a thermometer in the freezer and found it to be 4 degrees. The fridge part is running around 36 degrees. What should I do now or is this normal?

That sounds about right actually. Yep, Ice cream doesn't get hard but frozen food is frozen so I have no complaints. I suspect that absorption refrigeration is limited as to how cold it can get but for most purposes this is more than adequate.

Personally, I've always like the RV refrigeration and my 1200 RIM even at 15 years old works just fine. If it craps out I might go with a commercial or might not, just depends. I would never hesitate to buy a coach with one and don't buy into the mass hysteria regarding fire hazard if the proper recall has been performed.

But than again, I always liked the Corvair.
hottubkid
Explorer
Jun 10, 2014
I also have the problem of the black box turning off and the refer shutting down. To help cool the unit I put in two 60cfm squirrel cage fans behind the refer and for the black box I found out that if you hold a strong magnet to the upper right hand corner of the black box it should reset itself. This is after the stack cools off. I took mine in and they told me that they needed a special tool to reset the box but here on the forum someone told me about the magnet. My box set off on a trip in the middle of AZ. The dealer wanted the coach for three days and the dealer in chichgo charged me $56.00 to reset it.

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Norcold 1200 not cold enough

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