Norcold Fire Repair Time

[tstryk]

Those of you that have had fires from a Norcold fridge - how long did the response/repair time take? We are approaching the one month mark since our fire. There was minimal damage, it seems. Mostly to the outside of the coach, and smoke damage to the inside - so it seems like this should not take so long. The insurance company is trying to get a Norcold inspector out to test the unit to find the exact cause. Does any of this sound familiar to those of you having fires?

[msmith1199]

tstryk wrote:
The fire was definitely from the back of the fridge. A man working at the neighbor's house came knocking on my door frantically telling me he heard an explosion and saw the fire. The fire origin investigator said there are so many of these that Norcold has a half dozen people that do nothing but travel the country investigating these fires. I don't mind waiting a reasonable amount of time if it helps the insurance company get some money back, but I feel that a month is MORE than reasonable!

They likely want to giver Norcold the chance to inspect it before repairs are started. And that is reasonable given that your insurance company is going to try and subrogate against Norcold, and if Norcold doesn't have a chance to look at, they just say it's not their fault. Frig fires can be caused by things that are the owners fault, such as allowed insects or birds to get flammable debris in there. What you need to do is get your insurance company to give Norcold a deadline. Tell them they have until X date to inspect it or the repairs will be started.

[tstryk]

Called Norcold today - they will be here May 1st. Only 6 weeks after the fire. Made a demand to my insurance company of waiver of deductible for my loss of use. No response yet.

[tstryk]

Cpartjr wrote:
tstryk,



I took pictures of the damage and sent them to Norcold and they called me and said they would replace the damaged cooling unit and the vent cover and the RV technician of my choice would install the unit at their expense.

Impressive! Not sure I will be that lucky, but dealing with family health issues at the moment, so I don't have much time to devote to harassing the insurance company 🙂 Hope they will do what is right, and do it fast!

[Cpartjr]

tstryk,

We had a fire in the back of our Norcold 1200 last summer, while in Colorado.

We had all the updates done prior to the fire. We were lucky, our water line to the ice maker ruptured during the fire and put the fire out with very little damage, just the vent cover and the back of the frig.

I took pictures of the damage and sent them to Norcold and they called me and said they would replace the damaged cooling unit and the vent cover and the RV technician of my choice would install the unit at their expense.

Luckly the campground we were at had a residential frig they let me use at no cost till ours was repaired.

The cooling unit arrived 6 days later, and the tech installed the next day.

So far the frig works better than when new.

Hope you get your problem solved soon.

[MrWizard]

our old 1995 Norcold blew up in 2010
but it wasn't Norcolds fault
it was a faulty repair, by the repair man that fixed it when it quit cooling

we removed it an went with a residential fridge

tell your ins company, fix it now,, they can recoup their money later..IF they can
they are stalling you..

[Tedtoo]

I had a Norcold fire in my MH in 2007. Had Progressive insurance. It took about 6 weeks to settle. About $8400 in damages and cost of new fridge. Progressive wanted Norcold to admit they were at fault-did not happen. Finally had to call the head of Progressive to get it finished because of one supervisor. Now every time the company asks me for a review, I still give them the whole story and the guy's name. D o not mess (being polite here) with little OLE ladies with time on their hands! LOL!

Just assume they will take their own sweet time. Good luck!

[xctraveler]

I seem to recall from the days I had a property and casualty license (many years ago) that your fire claim is between you and the insurance company. If they choose to go after another party that is up to them, but they are supposed to make you whole, to the extent of your policy limits, without waiting for the other party, in this case Norcold.

It may be that they feel they have a better chance of recovering if they can get the Norcold inspection done before repairs are started. Ask them if they will waive the deductible as compensation for your waiting, then suggest you will have a conversation with the state insurance office if they insist on delaying. that may be far more effective then waiving a lawyer letter at them. They have LOTS of lawyers, there is only one Insurance Commissioner per state

[John___Angela]

RayChez wrote:
I agree that the insurance company is stalling. A good insurance company would have started repairs already, then he can settle with Norcold IF the fire was caused by over heated coils that leaked.

But if the coach was equipped with the recall sensor to turn the power off if it over heats, the fire could have been caused by something else. And Dougrainer is also correct that most all the posts on the Norcold fires are hear say. I have seen only a couple that have actually come out and said that their coach was burned down because of the Norcold and the sensor had failed to shut it down. Usually it is a friend of mine or I know of somebody who had a fire etc etc.

The sensor saved the day for us. It obviously got hot enough to char the wood and cook the heat shield but it could have been worse. Glad we had the mod installed. Even happier we replaced the fridge with a residential.

I think if I had a Norcold 1200 now I would run it till it quits and then swap it out with a residential. Everyone has their own comfort zone though.

[jwmII]

ScottG wrote:

JumboJet wrote:
I have a friend that had smoke and fire damage on the outside of his 5th wheel RV from his water heater. The large paper wasp nest caught on fire when his water heater ignited.

I don't think that was a problem for Atwood.

Was the Norcold refer problem some external debris that should have been cleaned before using?

The original recall issue was tubes cracking which would spew flammable liquid onto the burner area.

Please identify the flammable liquid that was spewing.
These fridges are filled with aqueous ammonia and then capped with a hydrogen cap creating an inert atmosphere in the cooling unit to prevent corrosion. Hydrogen being the gas of choice as it is the best gas for cooling.

[RayChez]

I agree that the insurance company is stalling. A good insurance company would have started repairs already, then he can settle with Norcold IF the fire was caused by over heated coils that leaked.

But if the coach was equipped with the recall sensor to turn the power off if it over heats, the fire could have been caused by something else. And Dougrainer is also correct that most all the posts on the Norcold fires are hear say. I have seen only a couple that have actually come out and said that their coach was burned down because of the Norcold and the sensor had failed to shut it down. Usually it is a friend of mine or I know of somebody who had a fire etc etc.

[sljkansas]

I saw a coach burn, and it started behind a Norcold, talked to the fire inspector and he said it started behind the Refrigerator.
The coach had just had a recall done a t a local RV shop. Thnak God nobody was in it when was burning.

[John___Angela]

tstryk wrote:
There is a lot to be thankful for - it was in my driveway, not on the road or at the campground. Did you have to remove the windshield or window to get the fridge out and the residential one in? That is sounding like a good option to me!

In our case it came in through the window. I'm not sure it would have fit through the door but I had to change the windshield anyway. Two birds.....

[John___Angela]

Tinstar wrote:
Not defending Norcold and it doesn't rule it out but just because a fire is in the area of the fridge doesn't make it the maker of the fridge's fault. Could be electrical or a gas leak. In most cases, a gas leak would be the installers.

Looks like any good fire investigator could determine the cause.

True. In our case it was the famous Norcold Overheat. I have nothing against them but I like the replacement residential a lot better. 🙂

[Tinstar]

Not defending Norcold and it doesn't rule it out but just because a fire is in the area of the fridge doesn't make it the maker of the fridge's fault. Could be electrical or a gas leak. In most cases, a gas leak would be the installers.

Looks like any good fire investigator could determine the cause.

[tstryk]

There is a lot to be thankful for - it was in my driveway, not on the road or at the campground. Did you have to remove the windshield or window to get the fridge out and the residential one in? That is sounding like a good option to me!