Installation of the Amish Cooling Coil Units
I have a 2011 Carriage 5th Wheel and I'm concerned about this Norcold refrigerator fire problem. My question is has anyone had the Amish coil cooling unit installed in there unit, if so who done it an...
Forum Discussion
I have a 2003 Monaco Dipl with a Norcold 1200 RLIM unit. I had the recall done about a year and a half ago. Until Jan of this year the unit has worked fine. In january the control board started blowing fuses. Then in February, the ammonia smell and the cooling unit failed. I spent the next month looking at cooling units made by Norcold and by the cooling Unit Warehouse (Amish). I looked at a Samsung residential refrigerator but could not make it work without doing major modifications to the refrigerator cabinet and giving up one of my furnaces.
I pulled the refrigerator to inspect the cooling unit. I did this myself without taking it to a shop. It wasn't that difficult. I built a platform with wheels and was able to remove the refrigerator from the cabinet by myself. I followed the videos and photos and instructions of those that have done this before me. There are alot of them. You can find many of them on the Cooling Unit Warehouse website.
I noticed that my cooling unit had failed at the exact place that the recall had been done. They attach a metal band with an electrode around the metal of the cooling unit and thats they're "fix". I wasn't impressed. It looked like a fairly cheap fix for a major problem. Norcold obviously came up with this "fix" but doesn't have much control over the manner and expertise in which the fix is installed.
My replacement choices were narrowed down to two. Norcold or Cooling Unit Warehouse (Amish)
I chose the Amish for the following reasons. I found that I was able to replace it myself. The Amish unit comes with a 5 year warranty. I was able to call the Cooling Unit Warehouse and speak directly to David Force who provided excellent info. Comparing the two units side by side, the Amish unit appears to be made stronger with more coils.
Now, the brand new Norcold Cooling unit is probably a good unit. Camping World is still installing them. It appears to be the same standard unit. One problem I noted is that Norcold is getting sued. Can they survive that?, dunno.
There may be other choices but that's how I went. I got a couple of friends to help me install the new amish cooling unit. We leaned it over and layed it on its face and replaced the cooling unit, new air shield, two new fans, two heating elements and a new "Dinosaur" control board. After the refrigerator was out and ready, the new installation took us 6 hours. I have about $1500.00 invested. I have the cooling setting on "2" and the unit cools to about 35 or 36 degrees. It works fine.
Again, I had no problems with my Norcold unit for 10 years. I have watched one other rv burn , we believe it may have been the cooling unit.
I'm always concerned with fires but I'm not sure I would do anything with a 2 year old unit except maybe as others have stated about the fire extinquishers.
I pulled the refrigerator to inspect the cooling unit. I did this myself without taking it to a shop. It wasn't that difficult. I built a platform with wheels and was able to remove the refrigerator from the cabinet by myself. I followed the videos and photos and instructions of those that have done this before me. There are alot of them. You can find many of them on the Cooling Unit Warehouse website.
I noticed that my cooling unit had failed at the exact place that the recall had been done. They attach a metal band with an electrode around the metal of the cooling unit and thats they're "fix". I wasn't impressed. It looked like a fairly cheap fix for a major problem. Norcold obviously came up with this "fix" but doesn't have much control over the manner and expertise in which the fix is installed.
My replacement choices were narrowed down to two. Norcold or Cooling Unit Warehouse (Amish)
I chose the Amish for the following reasons. I found that I was able to replace it myself. The Amish unit comes with a 5 year warranty. I was able to call the Cooling Unit Warehouse and speak directly to David Force who provided excellent info. Comparing the two units side by side, the Amish unit appears to be made stronger with more coils.
Now, the brand new Norcold Cooling unit is probably a good unit. Camping World is still installing them. It appears to be the same standard unit. One problem I noted is that Norcold is getting sued. Can they survive that?, dunno.
There may be other choices but that's how I went. I got a couple of friends to help me install the new amish cooling unit. We leaned it over and layed it on its face and replaced the cooling unit, new air shield, two new fans, two heating elements and a new "Dinosaur" control board. After the refrigerator was out and ready, the new installation took us 6 hours. I have about $1500.00 invested. I have the cooling setting on "2" and the unit cools to about 35 or 36 degrees. It works fine.
Again, I had no problems with my Norcold unit for 10 years. I have watched one other rv burn , we believe it may have been the cooling unit.
I'm always concerned with fires but I'm not sure I would do anything with a 2 year old unit except maybe as others have stated about the fire extinquishers.
