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Post by King Woody on Jan 20, 2015 16:39:10 GMT 10
Hi All
Has anyone had experience getting an old (1961) Norcold Amonia fridge repaired. It's an American model out of an Airstream but we just want to get the 12 volt side of it working. For the sake of originality we don't want have to replace the whole unit.
Any ideas?
Mark
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Post by akeepsake on Jan 20, 2015 20:57:08 GMT 10
Hi mark have you tried it yet? If so be patient as it may take around 45 min to start to cool.
Try turning it upside down for an hour then back the right way up and try it
If it's rated at 110 AC you could get a stepdown transformer to use it on AC
cheers Andrew
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Post by Franklin1 on Jan 20, 2015 21:06:49 GMT 10
G'day Mark, If you don't get any direct responses from people with actual experience, it might pay to get in contact with Alternate Gas Refrigeration Pty Ltd in Blacktown in western Sydney ( here are their contact details ). I'm fairly sure you live up in the SE Qld region, and Blacktown would be a long, long way away, but these guys mention the Norcold brand as one of the many brands they work on (see the second half of the website home page). You could ring them and see if there's anybody up near your area that they could recommend. And just as an aside... I rang these guys about 3 years ago to suss out having a more recent Dometic 3-way fridge overhauled. The fella was really helpful in explaining how thorough the overhaul is, and gave me a quote for $600, which I gather was the standard price back then. The rear absorption cooling unit, and all 3 heating sources (240V; 12V; and gas), would be completely overhauled and tested before I could pick it back up. A change of plans meant I didn't go ahead with having it done, but the price will give you an idea of what sort of costs are involved in fixing these old fridges up. cheers, Al. |
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Post by King Woody on Jan 21, 2015 8:15:39 GMT 10
Thanks for the response guys!
Andrew, yes we've left it on for at least three hours one afternoon. The heater element gets raging hot (as evidenced by the skin off my hand when the only way I could think of testing it was to "snake" my hand up through the back panel to reach it!) but no cooling, so we're thinking it's out of ammonia?
And Al, I am going to call Alternate Gas Refrigeration today - thank you for that. The local refrig mechanics wouldn't touch it (mainly because of the 110v - liability etc - I understand though)
Stangely enough, with only a little investigation, Norcold actually still sell the actual model!! It's identical! The internals might be updated but inside layout and dimensions are the same! From 1961 to 2015. That's not a bad product lifecycle!
Many thanks Guys!
Kind regards
Mark
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Post by King Woody on Jan 22, 2015 12:26:02 GMT 10
Just an update... The fridge, after 14 hours now has dropped down to freezing - it sure takes a while on the 12 volt setting! I've got a 240-110v step down convertor coming to check out how it performs on AC. But, thanks for the repair options guys.
Regards
Mark
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Post by akeepsake on Jan 22, 2015 13:52:02 GMT 10
Great news! don't reckon it's cause it's on 12v more likely the ammonia cocktail has settled over time.
Leave it going for 24 hours turn it off and let it get back to normal temp then try it again Should be much quicker now things have loostened up
A step down tranny will sort it ! You don't need a big wattage just check what your heating coil is rated at and go from there!!
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leeron
Junior Member
1966 Viscount Duralvan 14' 6
Posts: 69 
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Post by leeron on Jan 25, 2015 21:58:14 GMT 10
My old Atlas two way was very slow to respond as well just like you described.
Spoke with Alternate Gas Refridgeration and the guy new the model fridge and suggested getting the system hot and then towing the van around the block a couple of times to slop the liquified mix up a bit.
Well that fixed it.
Just have to fiddle the thermostat to stop everything freezing solid now.
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Post by King Woody on Jan 27, 2015 12:07:13 GMT 10
These are amazing old fridges! We've bought a step-down convertor (240-110v) and tried it out. Now it takes less than an hour to cool down to freezing!
Thanks to all for the responses.
Mark
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Post by akeepsake on Jan 27, 2015 23:04:46 GMT 10
Great news !!
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Post by greedy53 on Jan 29, 2015 21:17:34 GMT 10
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