RV fridge reliability concern

[CELL3910]

I'm looking in to buying a 2005 28' Jayco Jay Flight travel trailer. I'm concerned about buying it because of the Norcold refrigerator. We had an older wilderness trailer that had a Norcold refrigerator and had problems. We purchased a new one and was told that the Norcold ones are junk. So I'm concerned. Does anyone have input about the reliability?

[norty1]

I have had both brands, Norcold and Dometic. Never had problems with any of them.
My Norcold has worked flawlessly for over 6 years. With the number of any product in service, it's easy to paint all of them as bad if you are having problems with yours.

Both brands have had recalls and some problems that the mfg. has fixed. I would not rule either out because of a few complaints.

[markscns]

We had issues with our brand new 2018 Jayco not running on propane, it was just a minor adjustment of the flame and igniter to get it working again. Jayco comes with a two year warranty, that should provide some piece of mind, if any issues it can be fixed for free.

[Mark S]

If you are buying a 13 year old camper I would think some things will go bad and need repair or replacing.

If the Norcold refridgerator was "junk", I think it would have gone bad years ago.

I would budget for replacement items with anything of this age.

[Siamese]

My wife and I got back into trailering this summer after a 15 year hiatus. For several months, I've been reading many hundreds of posts on this site, both past and current. I've gotten a pretty good feel for what goes wrong with a trailer based on how often people complain or ask for advice about a particular component or system.

Refrigerators are seldom mentioned. They appear to be one of the more reliable components on a trailer.

[Tunce the traveler]

My Norcold is a 2010 and it has run flawlessly with over 1-3/4 years of use in both very hot and cold conditions. Now I always level my trailer using the manufacturer's recommendation of the 3deg.5deg rule for optimal running operation. That means your leveling your refrigerator and not the trailer when you do your 1st. set up with your levels that you mount on your trailers rear wall and drivers side wall near the front.

[ALJO]

In over 50 years I had never trouble with either Norgold or Dometic.

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by CELL3910

I'm looking in to buying a 2005 28' Jayco Jay Flight travel trailer. I'm concerned about buying it because of the Norcold refrigerator. We had an older wilderness trailer that had a Norcold refrigerator and had problems. We purchased a new one and was told that the Norcold ones are junk. So I'm concerned. Does anyone have input about the reliability?

No matter what brand anything you buy there is one or two that will have issues. I wonder what issues you had in the past. These newer ones have electronic ignition, so you need to provide at leat 12volt to it. Spiders seam to love the smell of propane and commonly build nests/webs in the burner tubes. Most people think they should cool down faster, but with no fan, they will not. So plan 24 hours to cool down.

Other than those few things, I cannot day I have heard people having much issues.

[bdreinv]

We have had Norcold in are last two campers over 12 years no complaints.We did just order an inside cooling fan to circulate air over coils in are model 1210. Seems like several members are satisfied with the results!

[Rustysocket]

You have somewhere around 2 choices. Dometic and Norcold. They both operate on essentially the same technology and either can have issues.

I have had both brands. Both have taken some maintenance. One needed a board replaced, which I did myself with a generic part from ebay. I forget which brand fridge it was.

If the rest of the trailer meets your needs and budget. I wouldn't get too worked up over which brand fridge it has.

[Imazman]

I think the newer Norcolds are bad products. I have a 2018 and it has cost me over $300 in multiple trips to the service center and it still doesn't work. But I am not the only one with this problem. Check the forums and you will see. If going with something post 2017, I would stay away from Norcold.
- J is for junk

[ALJO]

Less caring and high demand are a negative towards processes.

[dennis b]

Since it's a 2005 and it works on both elec. & gas now, I wouldn't worry to much. I'd worry more on a newer model

[travelingjw]

We have a Norcod in our 2017 MRB and it has performed perfectly.

[Florida Ranger]

In my 30 yrs. of RVIng approx. 10 yrs is a good life span for a Norcold . I was a RV dealer for many years also.