Mar 25, 2011

Our Norcold needs More Cold

About a month ago we had a second recall done on our Norcold Refrigerator. Mind you, our fridge is twelve years old and we have never had a problem with it. It just works. Well I can't say that any longer. I mentioned at the time we had the recall done that I was unhappy with the way Norcold has addressed this problem. Their fix is to stop their product from potentially burning your coach down and as a result being sued. I mentioned that their solution could cause you to be stranded with a non working fridge.

Well, it has happened. Yesterday we moved all of 30 miles and when we plugged back in to park power our fridge wouldn't turn on. If this ever happens to you, and you have had all the recalls done, check the module that is accessible on the outside of your coach.

 If you see a red led glowing, your fridge will not work. End of story. You will have to go to an authorized Norcold repair center to have it checked out. If the module has failed they will in most cases have to order a new one. So yes, you could easily be without your fridge for at least a week.

In our case, after making a few calls and checking a few things out, we have been advised that we need to have it looked at.  Either the latest recall saved our coach from catching on fire, or just as likely according to the service centers we talked to, the new module that was installed failed.

Either way our Norcold ain't cold.  I could easily bypass the newly installed module, but then if something fails, it's my fault. So we purchased a Dometic portable freezer for our frozen food, and we will put bags of ice in the fridge and use it as a cooler.




The portable freezer has been on our want list for a long time and will move to the basement of our coach when everything is resolved. We have an appointment Monday morning to have things checked out. Hopefully it is just the module and if that is the case this will merely be an annoying event.

However, if the fridge is bad than we are left with a difficult decision. We have already made up our mind that we will not replace it with another Norcold. We would switch to a residential style fridge. But it's not a simple switch, since we would also have to replace our inverter. Since we have an older coach that leads to some additional twelve volt upgrades and soon we are looking at a four thousand dollar price tag.

But, if we were still living in our stix and brix we could have similar recalls and other issues. So we'll take a deep breath and just deal with it, because when you're living your dream instead of dreamin it, that's what you do.

If you have experienced this problem and have any suggestions or words of wisdom we would love to hear from you.

Until later.

5 comments:

Carol K said...

John and Judy, I can identify with your Norcold problems. We had the recall done and less than a month later, our Norcold stopped cooling. In doing some research, we found that about 40% of the recall fixes haven't worked and have caused other major problems.
Our fridge happened to still be under warranty, but it was a major hassle to get them to agree to put in a new cooling unit. Everyone seems to agree that Norcold is not a good company to work with and they don't stand behind their products.
I will be interested to hear about the details of getting a residential fridge installed. We were told by three different RV service places that it isn't an option in our coach. Do you read Judy who writes "Travels with Emma"? She recently had a residential fridge installed in her Winnebago Adventurer.

Alan and Marilyn McMillan said...

We just last week had the recall kit installed on our Norcold. From reading blogs and forums was how I learned about the recalls...we never received anything from Norcold or Winnebago about recalls. We recently had friends who had to replace their cooling system -- their MH is a 2006. I want a residential -- and if that happens, I will go where Judy -- Travels with Emma -- www.travels-with-Emma.blogspot.com -- went in Louisiana to have it installed. They even "tweeked" her inverter, but of course I have no idea how much it cost.

Good luck...we will be waiting to hear the outcome.

Gail Houle said...

We too, had recall issues with the Norcold.When it came right down to it, we couldn't feel comfortable with Norcold whether the recall do-dad was installed or not.
We have a brand new Whirlpool residential refrig and couldn't be happier. It actually cools things like it should, it doesn't freeze my fresh veggies and it acts just like a refrig you would have in your home.
That's all I wanted. Absolutely love it!

I.M. Vayne said...

Life don't seem to be treetin' ya none to farely right now, but as old Preacher Stemwinder always were a sayin' "God don't give a body more than they can handle." Spect it won't be long till the tire is a swingin' back in the other direction fer ya.
Me and Nilda's blog

Donna K said...

"So we'll take a deep breath and just deal with it, because when you're living your dream instead of dreamin it, that's what you do."

Those are words to live by and words I needed to hear tonight, even if I'm not dealing with refrigerator problems!

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I'm glad I found yours!