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Dennis12's avatar
Dennis12
Explorer
Jun 07, 2017

Norcold Refridgerater

My Nor-cold N611RT was put into service February of 2015. It has been running non stop since, either on electric house current, lp gas, or the coach generator. I have had no issues with the unit but was wondering what type of life expediency i can expect of the unit.
  • I talked at length with a company that rebuilds cooling units and they told me the units that are rarely turned off last the longest.
    They believe the extreme hot and cold cycles that occur when people turn them off often (especially between weekend trips) fatigues the metal.
    So I leave mine on all season. I still have the original fridge and it works great!
    Unless it has a weak pint in the tubing, I expect your fridge to last 10~20+ years baring anything electronic popping up.
  • I sold a 2000 Hurricane in Oct. 2015 and it had the orig and kept things nice and cold.
  • Depends on how many times it gets operated when in an 'unlevel' situation.

    Those quick stops along side on ramps, those short rest stop situations where rig is a bit off level, those overnight stops that it's kinda level but not really etc.

    20 minutes of -off level- operation can cause overheating issues with coolant due to disruption of gravity flow. The sodium chromate (anti-rust inhibitor) can crystallize due to the overheating......then it plates out on inside of tubing like a plaque. Damage is accumulative and permanent.

    Turning fridge On/Off or leaving running has little affect.....thermal stresses are not significant ------fridge heat source cycles on/off all the time
    Overheating/disruption of gravity flow is major source of failures.

    No 'moving parts' so nothing to wear out.....
    Keep it 'comfortably level' for longevity
  • Our 2000 still works very well. We are full-time for 7 years. Don't know how it was used before that.
  • Agree with the answers. Now for some trivia.

    Refrigerator was morphed to Frigidaire in the forties by a pioneer in freon cooling as a brand name. Shortened to "Fridge".

    I know of several SERVEL absorbsion refrigerators built in the 1950's that are still going strong.

    But RV stuff is built lightweight. If a cooling unit was made from say K-Monel it would last decades and cost a small fortune.