My 2 year old Norcold 4 door refrigerator is dead with leaking cooling unit

[dhaile]

I have a 2014 GD 355TH. It has a norcold 1210 4 door refrigerator. This is the notorious refrigerator that has a class action lawsuit (possible now settled for 33 million) for leaking cooling units that can cause fires/explosions and even some deaths. The manufacture did not do anything to correct the issue , they just issued a recall to install a heat temparature sensor that would shut the unit down if it started to overheat. Again, the recall did not address the issue of what was causing the problem, they just tried to stop the units from blowing up. You can google norcold class action for more info.

Back to my problem. My unit has a serial number that is not part of the class action (too new) It's cooling unit has failed with a least three pinholes that are leaking. I called the dealer and also a couple of RV repair places and they all said "good luck" but even if norcold sent you a replacement cooling unit , it would also fail. These cooling units are $1200-$1800 plus at least 5 hours labor to install. New refrigerators are 4K! I can't believe this !! We have such a nice RV with no refrigerator! I don't know what to do. BTW , this is not a Grand Design problem but I hope they quit using Norcold if they have not already. This is a major issue because some of these units have exploded even with the recall device installed. If you don't think that is a problem, then think about that RV neighbor of yours that is right next to you in the RV park with one of these ticking timebombs. I am trying now to decide if I want to try one of the amish built cooling units (about $2200.00) installed or go to a residential refrigerator. I have pictures if interested.

thanks for listening.

[TucsonJim]

Wow - that's terrible. I'm not so sure I'd want to repair that model no matter what repair parts are available. Is there another brand that would fit in the location of the Norcold? I'd love to have a residential reefer, but we dry camp a lot and I don't want to run a big battery bank or generator to keep one running. You're kind of in a hard spot right now.

Might I suggest you talk to one of the GD customer service folks and see if they might be able to come up with some suggestions for you? It can't hurt.

Jim

[dhaile]

Thanks Jim,

I believe dometic makes a fridge that will fit but they are 4 grand. I don't want to use a residential either because we also dry camp. I can't believe Norcold continued to make these cheap cooling unit with very thin lines that are subject to pin holes for all of these years even after they knew of the problem. They just kept lowering their warranty from 3 years now down to 1 year in effort to avoid replacing all of them.

[Paul & Deb]

Yeah, that blows and makes all of us with Norcold units somewhat concerned. Our's is working fine as of now but will cross my fingers. I wonder how much an after market extended service contract would cover on replacement? I suspect you didn't purchase one since you didn't mention it. I say this because I purchased one on my last trailer then I had a major failure and paid to fix it myself and forgot I had the extended coverage! DUH

[dhaile]

I knew nothing about refrigerators or how these type work with (ammonia and hydrogen/ chromium mixtures) until 2 days ago when our unit went out. I then started reading and got more information than I bargained for! I had no idea these refrigertors cost so much! I do not have extended warranty so I am perplexed.

[LCBoyer]

There was a recall on those, and recently a class action suit settlement

[Joscelyne3]

Hi @dhaile. I know what you are feeling. I just had the cooling system on my Norcold replaced. It was two years old. Fortunately I have a extended service contact. I took it out for 7 years, and the cost was added into the financing.
The cooling unit it self was 1589.99 and the dealer cost for labor was 6.90 hours @ 118.00 per hour totaled 814.20. Complete job was 2553.73. I had a $100.00 deductible and the service contract covered 2385.90. I paid 167.83. Unfortunately, they replaced it with another Norcold 1210 cooling system. There are other compatible system out there that have thicker tubing walls and cost about 1100 to 1500 . There is also a good utube video out there that shows you how to replace it yourself if you are handy.
Good luck and hope this helps sheds some light for you.
Safe travels to all.
John Joscelyne

[dhaile]

Thanks John! I have read about the other manufacturers cooling units (Amish built and others) and I am thinking of going that route. I am pretty handy and will probably wind up doing this myself, I just don't want to do it!

[Pioneer_SX1250]

There are some absorption type reefers our there made for people who are off-grid. Sunfrost is one brand that I can remember. Still expensive, but they are likely of higher quality. You might check into them and see if one fits your size requirements.

I can remember when Norcold was the brand to have. How the might have fallen.

[cjrhea]

I did an Amish cooling unit replacement for an older RV I used to own. Nicely designed and not bad to self-install. Much cheaper than a new fridge if the doors and interior are in good shape.