Forum Discussion

tinkerer's avatar
tinkerer
Explorer
Mar 17, 2016

refrigerators again

My wife thinks we should get rid of the Norcold 1210 and replace it with a residential fridge. A Samsung 18 will fit through the front door on my 2007 Discovery and without major refitting should fairly easy. We don't boondock a lot but sometimes we do for a couple of days. Just looking for comments and thanks in advance for any input. By the way I am a fellow who does most of the work on our MH,:@
  • If it will pass through the door the installation is a pretty easy and no forklift is required. I removed the doors from the fridge (Samsung RF 197) and easily carried it into the rig with the help of a friend. It is actually lighter than the old Norcold and I believe you will find that most (if not all) that performed the mod have no regrets. Good luck.

    Lou
    05 Travel Supreme Envoy
  • Wise choice. If you have access to a forklift, moving the old out and the new in is a snap...Here are some pics if they help...Dennis

    Samsung Install
  • I really appreciate having my residential fridge in my RV's. They work well, ice cream is not liquid, and they are cheaper. Downside no 12V (without inverter) or propane.
  • When the absorption fridge dies I will replace with a residential unit, or with a Danfoss compressor fridge.
  • No problem. I don't have solar and dry camp all the time. You will learn when and how much to run the genny to keep things running. I have gone 20 hours without power to the refer and everything was still frozen hard and the refer section was up to 40 degrees
  • If your genset works, or if you have extra solar panels on the roof, yeah, replace the Norcold. It is a ticking timebomb. Their 'fixes' don't really 'fix' anything as it's a design flaw of the coils, not an overheating issue. That's why there's still an active multi million dollar class action suit in court.

    Two days boondocking is easily accommodated with judicious opening of the refer door, and a couple hours per day running the genset. Longer periods can be handled with bags of ice in the refer and quickly pulling out meals from the freezer.

    At a RV park, no problem of course since you're plugged in.