Refrigerator Replacement
Your Refrigerator Replacement for the 1200 Norcold 4 Door Propane System is actually pretty easy - once you accept this premise - just take it apart!!
Our 16 year old unit was getting tired, seals worn, controller unpredictable and the electronic board just as fickle!
We really liked the big 4 door, 12 cubic feet refrigerator size and method of operating. We like to live "remotely" so we were very leery of a "house-style" refrigerator that is always needing 120 volt AC house type current. The original unit operates on 12 volt/propane sometimes better than being plugged in to 120 Volt AC sometimes.
Research, research!!
Well, the decision was made - stay with the Propane type system and get a new 12 Cubic ft, 4 door complete unit. Changing out the back actual refrigeration system wasn't the answer - too many electronic problems had developed.
Being the eternal optimist, I "assumed" we could somehow get the old out our Motorhome door and the new one in - Nope!!!!
We had ordered our new refrigerator from PPL in Texas (best Price, shipping and service) and waited for it to show up. Meanwhile, we are living on a new ice bag a day....:(
Once the new one arrived, we got to work taking the old one out. Well, we wrestled with this incredibly heavy and bulky "box" for hours - trying to get it out. All we did was ruin our Naugahyde trim by our front door!! Refusing to give up, I started looking at "YouTube" to see if anyone had done it. Nobody talked about actually changing the entire refrigerator - but, lots of videos on changing out the back cooling unit to the box...... hummmmmm........
The light bulb went off - take the refrigerator apart and then take it out the door...... OMG - BRILLIANT IDEA!!!!!
CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION
Ammonia Gas inside tubes!! DO NOT PUNCTURE or BREAK any of the Refrigerant lines when taking the refrigerator apart!!!
Have kitchen windows open, exhaust fan on high and be very CAREFUL handling the back refrigeration lines/tubing.
Wear Safety Glasses also!!!!
Wow - piece of cake and extremely light and easy to handle!!! OMG!!!! We used a foot stool to slide the old refrigerator out of it's hole in the wall, turned it around while on the footstool and removed 4-6 bolts and some basic wiring and the 2 units separated instantly!!!! Carried the 2 units out the door within 10 minutes!!! YEAH!!!
Applied the same concept to the new one - took it apart outside and carried the 2 assemblies into the RV and had the unit back together inside the RV within 30 minutes. The rest was just a matter of re-attaching the wires and plugging the propane and electric back in - Viola - a brand new Norcold 1210 4 Door, 12 Cubic Ft Refrigerator..... Yes indeedy....
We inserted our old "Brown" door trim and it looks sensational - and works very well!
