Refrigerator change out question

I was told our fridge was factory installed before walls and roof were added to our 1973 Class A. It failed 10 years back and the new unit was 2.5" wider than the door - yet we still got it through!

To replace it, the door frame had to be removed first. That widened the door opening, but the fridge was still an inch too wide. Then we laid the fridge on its back. The fridge had a lip/frame extending outward from the front face of the unit all the way around about 1/2" or so. That lip fit flat against the surface of the wall around the perimeter of the opening in the wall when the fridge was installed in the opening.

With the fridge on its back, the lip projected out flat to either side of the fridge. The body of the fridge behind the lip was just slightly narrower than the lip - small enough to fit through the door opening (with some pushing help), and we only had to cut a 1/8" high, 1/2" deep, notch into either side of the wall of the door opening. The fridge was then inserted through the opening, with the lip of the fridge sliding through the notches on either side. The door frame was then replaced and that covered up most of the notches we'd cut - the remainder was filled with silicone of a matching color.

Chris Bryant wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

Come back in a couple of years and report your "results" of your "repair". Even the "Amish" units fail.

And residential refrigerators catch on fire and are recalled.

Good point Chris. If it has electrical or gas feeding it, It can burn. I think the other advantages of a residential are probably a bigger consideration although I think there are some situations where they are just not suited to.

Gdetrailer wrote:

Come back in a couple of years and report your "results" of your "repair". Even the "Amish" units fail.

And residential refrigerators catch on fire and are recalled.

islandvagabonds wrote:
If your old fridge has failed seriously consider having the cooling unit replaced with one of the Amish ones from RV Cooling Warehouse. I just had my Norcold 1200 redone and the fridge is performing so much better than it did with the original cooling unit. The change out only took 4 hours and is done in the coach. Cost was about $1500 including new burner unit, fans and inside circulation fan and installation.

Come back in a couple of years and report your "results" of your "repair". Even the "Amish" units fail.

Many people HAVE attempted to "repair" these "NoColds" with very spotty results. I know of at least one that replaced the Cooling unit more than once (three failures if I remember correctly) then switched to a residential fridge and hasn't looked back (they full time without shore power).

Spending money repairing a RV fridge for the most part you may as well take your money and throw into a burn pile and watch it vanish..

As far as the OPs question, yes, windows are often removed to replace the fridge. Basically put most RV doors are very small openings and even RV fridges are often too big to fit through the door.

Sometimes even if the fridge will fit through the door it won't make any turns around walls or other fixed objects so if a window is straight in line with the fridge it is often the better route.

Sometimes the slide is removed instead, depending on configuration.

If your old fridge has failed seriously consider having the cooling unit replaced with one of the Amish ones from RV Cooling Warehouse. I just had my Norcold 1200 redone and the fridge is performing so much better than it did with the original cooling unit. The change out only took 4 hours and is done in the coach. Cost was about $1500 including new burner unit, fans and inside circulation fan and installation.

It will depend on the size of the new fridge. We just changed ours out to a Samsung 197. They brought the new one in and took the old one out through the driver side window. I am so impressed with the job and would recommend the workmanship. The fridge works so very well, and my DW is very happy. We very seldom boondock so nothing else to change out at this time. Macktee

Can this be true? I find it hard to imagine . Just wondering.

This is a common method. You need the glass people with their equipment and a new rubber seal if so equipped should be considered.

Then several people and a fork lift is real handy. The last thing you want is to drop either refer.

And if it were me I'd be sure to run the new refer for days before starting the exchange.

It's so easy to remove and replace a windshield that this is not really a big concern if that is what you need to do. You just need to coordinate the glass and fridge folks to ensure it all happens at the same time.
If you are wanting to replace and RV fridge with and RV fridge it may well go through your entry door with the doors removed. If you are planning to replace your RV fridge with a good fridge (sorry, can't stand the RV fridge) then you just need to take the necessary measurements (door(s) on / door(s) off) to determine where the best entry point would be.

with a side*side

that might be the only option

that front BUS DOOR that provides so much uninterrupted floor space
is NOT sized for passing a large fridge

and neither is the windows that are so popular with MFG