New project>> replacing the Norcold 1201 with a residential fridge

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John,

Installation looks great! I was a slow learner. I had the NoCold 1200 when we bought our 2000 American Dream. Put two cooling units in it before I purchased a NoCold 1210. I was working at a dealership at the time so I got a break on the cost of the units. I replaced the cooling unit in the 1210 while under warranty. Then it failed again in 13 months and NoCold would not even consider the cost I incurred with the two units so I replaced the refer with a Samsung French Door unit.

Here at Yellowstone NP I was told I will be the official ice cream keeper since our freezer is at  -2 degrees and the refer is at 36 degrees.

I have seen too many fires from NoCold units, one of which was a close friend of mine. Now I can relax a little from that fear. I had installed a fire suppression system which is now in the propane bay.
 
Thanks Jim! NoCold - that's funny!

We are very happy campers with the new Frigidaire and delighted to get rid of the trouble prone and finicky NoCold.  We've been in some hot weather with the new fridge and it's just cruising along keeping our food cold!

 
John, are you running down the road with the inverter on and the refer running?  I very hot weather like the lower 48 has seen I am curious as to how the residential fridge is maintaining it's cold when the outside temps are 100+ and the rig is not powered for 6+ hours. 
 
Marty - we were driving through Indiana with our new fridge a few weeks ago and the ambient air temps were  in the mid-100s  :eek:.  The inverter was on (it's always on unless we're boondocking) as was the fridge and there was absolutely no issue with keeping desired temps in the freezer and fridge section.

If I can get Jane to go along, we'll do a test sometime and shut the fridge off about 9 or 10 pm and see how well it holds the  temperatures overnight.
 
Getting the rig ready for a trip up to Niagara Falls and noticed temp in NorCrap was 29 in freezer and 43 in fridge (had been holding 2 degrees in freezer and 36 in fridge).  Turned it off, back on again and it is back down to 1 in freezer and 36 in fridge.  Go figure.

We will be swapping it out for the Frigidaire (or Kenmore equivalent) when we get back and before our next trip in mid October.  I will then replace the old Xantrex Freedom 1500 inverter this winter (maybe Santa Claus can bring me one ;)). 

FWIW, I am told Xantrex is not producing good stuff anymore.  JoeK's 3000W unit he put in his new Allegro Bus 3 yrs ago has already died.  He highly recommends the Magnum PSW units saying they use superior components and have great customer service.  Anyone have any experience with Magnum inverters?
 
What I heard was that a few Xantrex engineers left to start Magnum, I would have zero problems ordering a Magnum product.  If Joe's experience is indictive of Xantrex, that's a terrible shame, My RS2000 has been a stellar performer.
 
I had to replace my Source Manager in our 2000 Dream with a Magnum PSW inverter. I have not used it for boondocking much yet but, when our refer died on this trip, I was fortunate that it was a PSW as the household refer would not like the old modified sinewave unit.

All I know is it's usually quiet but does increase in noise level slightly when really working hard. I do expect better performance than my original unit.
 
This thread may go on forever.... :).

John, looking at your blog again I see you insulated the lower vent cover. 

My fridge is not in a slide so I have the standard roof vent which should do a good job of venting heat from the enclosure.  I am thinking if I leave my existing lower vent cover as is (maybe add some bug screen to keep low flying B-52's out), that will further enhance ventilation.  I would, of course, have to do something to insulate the water line and the ice maker solenoid and valve.

I guess most residential fridges are designed to pull air from the bottom front of the box.  From your pics, that fridge is open at the bottom rear so would think that one is designed to pull cool air in from the back?  Leaving my vent open should facilitate ventilation, assuming my logic is sound.

 
Gary - I insulated the lower cover to primarily keep heat from intruding in the summer or escaping in the winter.  You really don't need it open for ventilation because there is room all around the box.  It does pull air from the rear but there is plenty of space back there.

Winnebago had flexible plastic wipers that sealed the outside of the NoCold box - that would be a lot of work to implement on the Frigidaire.
 
2dalake,

I was told to cover the openings in the outside access by the tech. He said going down the road in the rain will allow water to intrude into the opening causing problems. I feel that's probably true because the steel support across the bottom has virtually rusted away! We filled it and covered it but I don't want any water getting in again.

Right now I have plastic across the inside of the cover but am looking to make it more permanent.
 
There's three ways the coils are mounted on residential refrigerators.  Some have the coils underneath, and vent their heat through the kick plate in front of the refrigerator.

Some have their coils inside the sidewalls, and specify minimum clearances on the sides of the refrigerator so heat can dissipate through the sidewalls.

I've installed two apartment size refrigerators in my RVs and both of these have exposed rear mounted coils, similar to the absorption refrigerators they replaced.  The coils use the same chimney effect as the stock refrigerator and rely on convection airflow to carry heat away from the rear of the refrigerator.

A refrigerator with front venting coils will be happy living in a sealed cabinet.  The other two types need convection flow across the sides or the back of the refrigerator to either the inside or outside air.  In my case, I decided to leave the stock chimney functional and sealed the front edge from the living areas.
 
John,

Looks like a good idea. Won't the duct tape catch dirt from the outside? Just wondering what it would look like after a few trips.  :)
 
Lou - the Frigidaire model I used seems to be an ideal choice for an RV due to the location of the condenser coil - it's all near the bottom and inside the unit (and mounted on rubber isolators), the fridge back is simply sheet steel.  See the attached picture.  Since I took that picture, I found a better way to secure the water line (the duct tape is gone  :).)

Jim - looks fine.  It's difficult to even tell there is duct tape on the inside.
 

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John,

Thanks! Duct tape was my first thought but then got concerned about the sticky outside. May try that as I know the plastic from a six pac of water won't hold forever.  ;D ;D ;D
 
Well, dang, I just discovered that the existing AC outlet for my fridge is not connected to my inverter.  I was hoping it was.  New fridge sitting at shop and waiting for the call to bring the coach in for the swap.  I will have to get them to address that issue.

I tried running the Norcold on the inverter but when I force it to AC mode (with power off to the coach and inverter on), I get a 'no AC' message along with the beeping alarm. 
 
John Canfield said:
Major bummer Gary!

Do you have an empty slot on the inverter breaker panel?
Click to expand...

John, I thought I knew the beast well but I don't recall seeing any breaker panels other than the two at the foot of the bed.  I do have one unused space in one of the panels.  I was thinking the shop could tap into the wiring to one of the outlets in the galley that is on inverter....microwave will run on inverter and outlet over the sink is on inverter. 

I think I recall seeing a junction box in the space under the fridge (mine is 8" or so above the floor to accomodate the subwoofer, the 12v breaker panel, and the LP gas leak detector).  I plan to check that to see if it might have wiring routed to the inverter. 
 
We're wired differently.  At the foot of our bed is the 12V panel, the inverter panel, and the 110V panel - makes it pretty handy.  Hopefully it won't be a big deal to get your fridge outlet wired to the inverter outlet.
 
2dalake said:
John, I thought I knew the beast well but I don't recall seeing any breaker panels other than the two at the foot of the bed.  I do have one unused space in one of the panels.  I was thinking the shop could tap into the wiring to one of the outlets in the galley that is on inverter....microwave will run on inverter and outlet over the sink is on inverter. 
Click to expand...
I can see no problem running the refer and the microwave on the same circuit. All of my RVs have had the microwave all by itself on a 20 amp circuit so adding a refer should pose no problems. If it did trip the breaker you could just turn off the refer while using the microwave.
 
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