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clubacoustic's avatar
clubacoustic
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014

Norcold 1200LRIM Cooling Unit Failure

Our Norcold refridgerator stopped cooling. We confirmed both AC/DC power and circuit board ok. LP comes on when AC off. Neither mode cools. Local RV repairman said heating side of unit was working, but the cooling unit was not. Said we needed new cooling unit, estimate part $1200-1500. If circulation to cooling side blocked, cannot this blockage be cleared without buying a new unit? Getting firm estimates later for cooling unit and refurbished refridgerator (carrying 3 year warranty). It just seems that if the circulation is not occurring, there should be a technique to clear the blockage. Help!
  • 1. The REAR fans should be operating
    2. You HOT wire BOTH 120 elements for 24 hours to verify cooling unit
    3. If a Blockage, it is INTERNAL and the blockage is as hard as a weld and is also "welded" to the inside upper cooling unit tube. Rebuilders have to cut out th section of tubing on the CU and replace that section when a blockage happens as you cannot remove it.
    4. If you have a LACK of ventilation (blocked, not just fans not running) that will "cook" a cooling unit and once that happens the CU is bad and must be replaced.
    5. Usually, the recall box will trip from a bad cooling unit, but not always. Doug
  • Once it's toast, it's toast...You'll get lots of posts from the Norcold haters, but I'd consider one of two options....replace the cooling unit with the Amish made one....which is what we did....or replace the fridge with a residential one....the Samsung 197 is the closest fit but mods will have to be done to your coach to make it fit. The Amish unit does not require the recall fit from Norcold and will make your existing fridge cool like it was new...if you have an extended warranty, see if they will cover all or part of the cost. Ours covered the replacement. Below is the link to the Amish unit..if you call David Force, he'll give you more information than you'll ever want to know.....took the tech one day to remove the fridge, replace the cooling unit and reinstall everything. I replaced the cooling fans and the heating elements at the same time.....Dennis


    Ask for David Force
  • Another option for rebuild is National RV Refrigeration in Shipshewana IN. It is another Amish owned company who did our 1210 cooling unit that was rebuilt in house for $950 installed in 2012 . The web page is down, his phone # is (260) 768-7059. Our refrigerator temp for the freezer runs from 0° to 5° all the time about 20° cooler than when it was new.
  • My response is my experience with the Amish cooling unit. I had a Dometic 12 cubic foot refrigerator cooling unit fail after 13 years of constant use since we live in our motor home full time. Since neither Dometic or Norcold make a replacement refrigerator that would fit in the same opening as the original Dometic I felt the only choice I had was to replace the cooling unit.

    I had heard a lot of good things about the Amish cooling units and contacted Davis Force to order one for my refrig. It arrived on time, I picked it up and took it to my local certified dometic repair facility and had them do the installation. Drove the rig back to the rv park where we stay and after three days of operation the refrigerator still would not cool. Took it back to my installer and after doing the required testing deternined that the new Amish cooling unit was leaking. I notified the Amish cooling unit manufacture and they said they would send another unit ASAP and pick up the failed unit.

    The 2nd new unit arrived and I had it installed and after another three days it still would not cool and this is after all the electronics had been replaced. I called the Amish CU factory again and told them what was going on and I had decided to go ahead and replace my old refrigerator with a residential model instead. They said that they would refund all my money including the origainal installation costs.

    I should have gone with the residential unit in the beginning instead of trying to deal with the repair of the old Dometic. We found a nice 10 cf frost free for $350 which fit in the existing cabinet opening. Also because the new refigerator was 12 inches narrower than the old Dometic we turned that space into a pull out pantry and gained a lot of extra storage space. We already had a large battery bank and a 2000 watt inverter/charger off of which the refer works just fine when boondocking. My next project will be to install an automatic generator start to the coach.

    They whole ordeal above took about three months during which time we had to live out of a large ice chest.