UPDATE: LRIM1201fridge not cold, freezer is

My Norcold is 20 years old and I have had a number of issues with it to get it cooling again. One thing not discussed a lot on here is the burner tube slots rusting out over time. The slots get wider allowing a higher gas to air ratio which does not heat as well. Mine actually rusted out completely. I made a slider temporarily when on a trip like on a water heater to adjust the gas to air ratio. There was no direct replacement for the tube due to age so I had to flare the end of the input tube to the new burner which mad a big difference in starting the refer and cooling. The frost build up in you picture looked like mine. When I did the dollar bill test it was not sealing properly about a ft bellow the refer latch. There was no adjustment for the latch to make the seal compress more so I removed about .050 off of the back of the black plastic latch which allowed the seal to compress more and prevent the humid air from entering the refer. When I called Norcold on these issues they told me the only fix was a new refer.

Yes, with the rust that falls down the burner tube it's one more thing to add to the list of things to replace.

Cooling Unit
Fans
Burner Tube
Doors--seals are going which is why I think I have so much frost and ice. Humidity here is quite high. Apparently seals aren't replaceable--need new doors!

Getting close to the price of a new fridge! With the Canadian Dollar now so low it might make a residential fridge more cost efficient. $1000.00 U.S. is now over $1400.00 Canadian. It is prohibitive to buy in the USA having to add at least 40% to the price of everything.

i also replaced my rm1200 norcold cooling unit with an amish unit. i replaced both fans with some fans that i got at frys electronics. they moved more air. i replaced the thermostat for the fans.
i replaced the control circuit board with a dinosaur board. the norcold board had a very brown spot on where the 110 volt was supplied to the heating elements,
i would bet thats where all the fires originate. i have always ran mine on propane, so i dont know why there would be a section that was over heated from 110 volts.
the most important part i replaced, other than the cooling unit was the burner tube.
when i replaced the coil and ran the refrig, it still didnt cool to a very low temp. when i replaced the burner tube, it made an amazing difference. the man from pine refrigeration said he always replaces the burner when he does a cooling unit replacement.
i now have a refrig that works great even in las vegas during the summer. it was 115 degrees the 4 days we stayed there.
pine refrigeration is a great place to do business with
i also want to give doug credit for all those he has helped. its nice to have someone is willing to help.

Rainbird, when my 2002 LRM1200 looked like yours I proactively replaced it with the Amish Dutch Aire cooling unit along with new fans and interior fans. The performance of this cooking unit is far superior to the original Norcold. Total cost at Shepshewana Indiana was about $1400. Install took them four hours. Fridge now performs like a residential on both gas and electric.

Check out Cooling Unit Warehouse. David is a great help.

Hope your unit gets you NOB.

Bob in Maz

Thanks Doug. I really don't want to have to pull that fridge while down here--I don't have the strength or stamina to do it myself and am hesitant to have an unknown working on it. I hope to be able to just add 2 fans somewhere. Where and how is the question.

I always replace both fans and the fan tstat if I pull the refer if the refer is more than 5 years old. I also replace those fans and tstat when I replace a 1200 cooling unit. I then run a 2 wire jumper from the tstat down the back side to override the fan tstat if that tstat fails in the future or to just test the operation of the 2 fans. BOTH fans need to be operational for correct cooling. Your ambient temps are not that high. The frost on the evap fins is normal and depends on the humidity inside the RV. Remember, the fins will be 10 degrees colder than the interior temp., ICE build up will cause cooling problems. So, you do need to defrost when the ice gets that thick. Doug

The 120VAC fan is working somewhat, still not as cold as we would like but suspect that the high ambient temps ( 70s at night, high 80s t0 low 90s during the day) may be a factor.

Also the thermal switch for the fans is acting up--probably tarnished terminals--so I have bypassed it. The one remaining fan runs 24/7 as does the 120VAC fan.





Possibly new problem or related to the above? The interior fins are frosting up, much more on the right side than the left.

Thoughts or comments?




Back to the non working fans:

I am trying to get 2 120mm (4") computer fans to put it until we can get back home.

Do I just hang them with wires from and below the fins?





Or should I get some aluminum flat or angle stock and make a bracket to attach to the upper vent opening so the fans will be just below and blow upwards?



I can attach the aluminum to the RV wall at the vent opening but I doubt that I should put screws into the back of the fridge to secure the other end.





Then once I get these problems dealt with I have some serious thinking to do:

The big question is what to do when we get home? Just replace the fans? Replace the entire cooling unit? Replace the fridge with the same? OR replace with a residential compressor fridge? This would involve adding one or two more solar panels, another inverter/charger and another solar controller all to run the fridge. We would also need a switch to be able to turn off the 120VAC to that inverter/charger when running the heatpump while having only a 30 Amp connection is available, such as when we are here in southern Mexico.


A domestic residential fridge is much cheaper than a new RV fridge, even factoring in the extra solar and inverter. Just the cooling unit for our present fridge is $1100.00 US. Most of the residential fridges are quite energy efficient though what the power usage here in high ambient temperature Mexico we have yet to find out.


A lot of the above depends on the age of our fridge. Is it the original? (2002) or was it replaced before we bought it in 2008? We're hoping that we can discover that by the serial number.


Decisions, decisions.

I wish to publicly thank Doug Rainer for all his excellent help over the years. If he had a dollar from everyone who has taken or learned from his advice he would be rich man.

" So, RV refers are junk? WHERE are the Tens of millions built used and installed in the past 30 years buried???????????????? Doug"


Go to a gas refrigeration remanufacturer sometime like KOOL FUN in Irwindale, CA. There you will find ACRES of fine upstanding gas refrigerators that need six hundred bucks dumped into them or they'll never work again.

"The legions of posts here moaning and complaining about freon units serves as witness that freon is unsuited for recreational vehicles. Merciless failures. Unreliable short-lived choice."

I am not at all friendly to KRAP that cost me untold hundreds more correctly thousands of dollars in spoiled food, destroyed plans, interrupted vacations and outings. But count the posts that bemoan freon refrigeration. Yes it takes a suitable number of solar panels or charging a large battery bank to maintain an improperly installed freon unit. But finding ice-cream at zero F on a boiling hot day and hard fought purchases of groceries lasting just as long as they do at home is worth it.

RIP Norcold. Three FACTORY cooling units in four years and I dance on your grave.

Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
Thanks Doug. Now that I have the internet back (It's been down for a day) Another question.
which is more important to cool, the tubes on the lower part or the fins on the top?

I have located 2 120 cm 12V fans. I thought I would have one from the top and one on the bottom, the lower one blowing either directly against the tubes or as close to vertical possible.

There does not seem to be room to place the lower fan any where but blowing in. There isn't room for a 120 cm fan to be mounted horizontally in the lower part so that it will blow upwards.

The tubes have nothing to do with the air flow. You want to get cool air over and out the top condenser fins. THAT is where the Heat Transfer takes place. Doug