Expanding Norcold recalls

I just received the following email. Are we going to have to ditch propane fridge units?

"WARNING: Norcold and Dometic Refrigerator Units

Ordinarily our weekly articles focus on the fun aspect of RVs and camping but today we have to pause to bring up a very serious ongoing issue with Norcold refrigeration units currently in use in many RVs. The problem has been going on for years and was initially introduced as a "limited recall". That recall has continued to expand and now covers many of their previously manufactured units.

How serious is this issue? Extremely. Apparently to date there have been over 2,000 RV fires due to this problem, with many RVs totally destroyed, and some deaths. The recall letter states "The nature of the defect is a fatigue failure in the section of the cooling unit which contains the refrigerant. This fatigue failure could allow the liquid solution to slowly leak from the cooling unit. If a leak occurs and the refrigerator continues to be operated after solution circulation has ceased the heat source could generate very high temperatures. At such high temperatures the steel material of the cooling unit could soften and rupture. If refrigerant gas is still in place when the rupture occurs hydrogen gas may be expelled and could be ignited by the high temperature, possibly causing a fire." Models included in the recall (that we are familiar with) are 4-door model numbers 1200 and 1201. However, many other models, including single door models, are now also being included.

If you have a Dometic refrigerator, you need to be aware that they have had similar recalls for similar reasons. Recall information can be found at your manufacturer's website, or just Google "norcold recall" or "dometic recall."

The Norcold factory link follows here: http://www.norcoldrecall.com/. The factory link includes detailed information on determining if your refrigerator is at risk and how to proceed with recall repair. We are purposely not including affected years because we have watched the window of defective dates expand considerably over time.

Most of the the issues we deal with here at RVReviews.net are minor (non life-threatening) but this is a major problem and should be addressed as soon as possible. We apologize for the serious tone today but many of our readers are active RVers and need to be made aware of the urgency of this situation.

As always we'd like to hear from anyone affected by this recall and their satisfaction with the fix.

John Toffler
Editor
RVReviews.net"

Are you trying to impart some new news or is this the Norcold 12xx and 8xx recall that has been going on for a couple years now? I don't see anything on the Norcold site that suggests there has been a change in the past year, neither in the affected units nor the "fix".

We all agree the situation is serious and that the Norcold "fix" is a band-aid at best. And Norcold just announced a settlement proposal for the class-action suit that does practically nothing for thousands of Norcold owners. See http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,78130.0.html

Also, are you aware of a better device for fridge boiler temperature management, called ARP? Take a look at http://www.arprv.com/

I was under the impression, the way this was written, that this was a further recall. I had not heard of the ARP. That looks interesting and makes me feel a little bit easier about buying an RV that already has a propane fridge installed, as  virtually all I've seen do. Thanks for the info. I was reading the thread about the law suit when I received this "alert".

I don't think this is new.

Many people have swapped the absorption fridge for a residential unit of suitable size. With a small inverter and a couple batteries this is practical unless you spend a lot of time without shore power.

The recalls apply to units built from 1997 to 2010.  I think the recall boxes started being installed about 2005 but that's just my leaking memory.  My last two RV's have had it.

As Gary suggested, if you're worried about it install the additional controller.  If your still worried install an automatic halon system.  If you got lots of money and you're still worried install an Amish cooling unit.

Atwood makes a refrigerator that uses Helium (non-flammable) verses Hydrogen (explosively flammable).

Article is part fact and part alarmism.. Yes. they started with a "limited recall" and expanded it a couple of times,, This has happened with many other items as well, He cites over 2,000 RV fires some of which resulted in death but he fails to provide a time frame.

This type of cooling has been used since before I was born, it pre-dates compressor driven cooling units.. It is uses in commercial buildings, on ships and in many other places,, My maternal grandfather worked on this kind of system.

How many RV's are there on the road today.. How many of these units have been installed since the first one was installed in an RV,  this is the information that was left out of the article.  2,000 is a scary number, but how many have NOT caught fire?  You can not judge a risk factor with only one data point, You must have at least two.

And also, How many RV's in that same time frame were destroyed by an electrical fire
A propane fire having nothing to do with the fridge
Smoking in bed
Engine fires (Main engine or generator).
Grease fire in the kitchen

OTHER fires.

I think if you get ALL the numbers,,, You will find the danger is not as great as the article writer wishes you to think it is...

Oh, and how many Deaths due to food spooling due to lack of refrigeration because someone was "Scared of the Propane Fridge"?

That might be interesting too.

I've been RV'ing for more than half my life and I have never seen a refer fire.  Not a single one.  If they were a common as the alarmists state we's see a mushroom cloud over every RV park in the country.

I saw one RV where there had been a refer fire. It had minor damage that took less than a week to repair.  When my inverter charger burned up it cost the insurance company $23,000 by the time it was fixed.

When my brother in laws waterheater went it destroyed his brand new fifth wheel, and his house.  1.2 million total losses.

I know two owners in the American Coach Owners Group who lost their entire coach to a fire in the last two years, once just recently and he had the Norcold recall box installed as well as a halon fire extinguisher in the fridge compartment. And another about 4 years ago at a park in Titusville, FL, though I didn't know those folks personally.

That said, the fires are probably rare in the N600 and N800 models and seem to be mostly in 1200 series models. The cause of the fires is different in the 6xx/8xx models than on the 12xx models. There are a lot more of the smaller 600 and 800 models, but I believe the problem units date back before year 2000 and we don't hear much of anything about them anymore. Norcold is not disclosing how many 12xx models have actually caught on fire or what percentage of units have had failures, but even a few dozen would be significant among perhaps 10,000 of the bigger model fridges.

I'm trying to find the actual recall population size (number of affected units), but that information seems to be much harder to find than with other recalls. Recall OWL says the affected number of 12xx units is 22,350, so I'm using that until other data shows different.  The April 4, 2008 recall shows a population of 264,999, but that seems very high and I'm wondering if that includes the N8xx & N6xx population too. See http://www.recallowl.com/Vehicle+Recalls/Automotive/NORCOLD/1200LRIM/9999

I'm also finding access to the NHTSA.gov website to be very slow. Norcold identifies the affected 12xx models by serial number but does not give the total number of units involved. Note that the failure is described as metal fatigue occurring in electric heat mode rather than LP gas. It also says that Norcold will replace cooling units, but obviously they found that would be too expensive and later adopted the approach of attempting to detect an imminent failure and stopping it before a fire occurs.

Hopefully the continued reporting of fires in units equipped with the failure detection circuit will result in further NHTSA action, but it hasn't happened yet. I can't find any further data on that.

Thanks for your perspectives, everyone. Having just realized about 6 months ago that there was such a thing as a propane cooler and even wondering why so many people couldn't spell domestic correctly :, I needed more experienced viewpoints.

The seriousness of this problem cannot be overstated. The risk of a Norcold 1200 fire is probably very low, perhaps 1 in a thousand or less, but any fire in an RV is almost surely catastrophic and one that starts from the interior of the sidewall is all but guaranteed to consume the entire coach. If it is at night, your chances of getting out alive are fairly slim.

But this doesn't mean that all absorption fridges are fire traps - the technology is old and sound and there are 100's of thousands in use in RVs everywhere. It's primarily this one family of Norcold products that share an inadequate  cooling unit design that are at risk.

Well Gary, Any risk can indeed be overstated...  And I personally think the risk of Fridge fires (Both major brands) has been blown out of proportion to other fire hazards.  In fact I read about the risks of Fridge Fires all the time, but I know for a fact they are not the only fires.

I have read (Once) of a fire that started in the 12 volt wiring in the cockpit area.. I read of it because the owners succssfully extinguished it.. But 30 seconds later it would likely have killed them and burned down the house.

I have seen with my own eyes a TT that had smoke damage (External) from the burning TOW VEHICLE.  Yes, it was an engine fire, Seen this in some non-tow vehicles as well, including one of my own (Only that fire self-extinguished since wife could not open the hood)

We can go on and on about other sources of fires... 

ALL Fires in an RV are serious.. Why is this: Much of what goes into an RV is 100% safe at 100 degrees F (or even 100C) but when you set it on fire the products of combustion are TOXIC (one breath, that's all you get) Odds of being burned to death in an RV fire are baically ZERO cause you won't live that long.

Thus they are indeed serious.

But should we condentrate on Fridge fires alone, or should we expande the warning to ALL fires.

Fridge, Furnace, (By the way even though it does not cause a fire, Many people have been killed by rusted out heat exchangers in the furnace)
Water heater
Stove fire in the kitchen (Or oven)
Engine fires
Electrical fires
Smoking in bed
And more

ALL are serious.  And I suspect 99% of RV fires (if not more) the vehicle is toast.

OK, John. I certainly would not want to suggest that fridges are the only source of RV fires, or that others aren't equally serious. ANY RV fire is a serious concern, and having a Norcold 12xx fridge adds to the existing risk.

I own a 1200LRIM, live several months a year in the coach and haven't tossed the Norcold in the trash, so do not think I can be accused of being a "chicken little". But I am concerned about it, watch its performance closely, and have installed an ARP to help monitor operation.