Forum Discussion

tkcas01's avatar
tkcas01
Explorer
Jan 17, 2014

What did you replace your Norcold 1200LRIM with?

Well, the day has come. Today the Norcold in my 2004 coach gave up the ghost in the form of a belch of ammonia. As many problems as people have had with them, I guess 10 years of heavy use is not bad.

Since I full-time and don't really boondock, thinking residential is probably the way for me to go.

If you have replaced your 1200LRIM, please share what brand and model unit you replaced it with, and what kind of cabinet mods may have been required. I need to start shopping around while I live out of an ice chest!

One extra detail - my fridge is in an enclosure with a furnace unit below it, so about 68" of height is all I can accommodate with some slight mods.

OP FINAL REPORT

See the result of my upgrade at this thread.

26 Replies

  • Almot wrote:
    With a shore power I wouldn't think twice, residential fridge is the way to go. For boondocking - no way, unless you love listening to your generator.

    Brand doesn't matter - too much - as long as it fits. I would stay away from no-name knock-offs, they come up in big box stores once and again, and may have noisy compressors or other problems. Width is most often the problem, RV frig cabinets are not too wide. Open the outside lid and measure the cabinet width. Then go inside and estimate the height and depth to the best of your abilities, considering the trim. Then measure the trailer door width to make sure that residential will fit through. Shut the propane off and cup the fridge propane line - duh...


    Simply not true.

    There ARE MANY people out the FULL TIME BOONDOCKING with a residential fridge and they ARE NOT "listening" to a generator any more than folks who use a RV fridge. Basically adding a little more battery capacity pretty takes care of the problem (and you can not honestly tell me that you boondock full time without the aid of a generator at all).

    It is not rocket science, there is no hocus pocus going on because the newer home fridges SIP the power. That Samsung uses about 100W of power when it runs and works better than any RV fridge.

    Same can be said of nearly all home fridges, in fact home fridges are required to be energy efficient and RV fridges are not.

    My 10 cu ft home fridge is run from ONE PAIR of 6V GC batteries, in fact my entire TT runs off the same batteries. I have no problem running fridge, furnace and lights for 24hrs without the need of a generator and STILL have some leftover capacity in the batteries.

    Two pairs of 6V GC batts would give me about 48 hrs STRAIGHT without needing to run a generator.

    This forum is so negative towards residential fridges it really isn't funny. I even seen folks drive one poster away from this forum a few years ago, it is a shame.

    Almot, instead of posting such nonsense perhaps you should consider not posting at all if you personally do not like or want a residential fridge? I would rather see that than having myself post the REAL facts to straighten out your OPINIONS...
  • Almot's avatar
    Almot
    Explorer III
    With a shore power I wouldn't think twice, residential fridge is the way to go. For boondocking - no way, unless you love listening to your generator.

    Brand doesn't matter - too much - as long as it fits. I would stay away from no-name knock-offs, they come up in big box stores once and again, and may have noisy compressors or other problems. Width is most often the problem, RV frig cabinets are not too wide. Open the outside lid and measure the cabinet width. Then go inside and estimate the height and depth to the best of your abilities, considering the trim. Then measure the trailer door width to make sure that residential will fit through. Shut the propane off and cup the fridge propane line - duh...
  • Go to the post I did yesterday. I ask the same questions and was sent to a specific site in iRV2. There is one posting where the gentleman actualy took pictures and I think video of the entire procedure from start to completion. Good luck,
  • We put in a 22 cubic foot side by side whirlpool but we had to build the cabinet out 2 inches. Wanted to go with the RF197 but the boss liked the whirlpool better. Looks good. Works great.
  • Like Old Biscuit said, I put in the Samsung 197 and it is great. They did have them at Home Depot. What area are you in. If in the NW Phoenix area, I used Bullseye RV and they were excellent. I bought the unit at Home Depot and then had them put it in. Macktee
  • The SamSung RF197 ACRS seems to be the one used most when replacing the Norcold 1200LRIM......if you can squeeze it in.

    70 1/8" H
    32 1/8" W
    30 1/2" D

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