RV Refrigerator Repair
4.8★ · $59 service call · same day
Same-day slots most days, 7 AM–9 PM. 19 factory-trained technicians, 4.8★ across 1,217 customer reviews — the $59 service call is waived when you proceed with the repair.
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RV and marine refrigerator repair in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. Dometic, Norcold, Furrion, Everchill. Absorption units on gas and electric, 12V compressor units. We come to the RV park, the marina or your driveway. $59 service call, free with the repair · 4.8★ · same-day slots most days.
An RV absorption refrigerator has no compressor. It boils an ammonia and water solution with a propane flame or a 120V element, and the ammonia does the cooling as it condenses and evaporates through a sealed steel coil on the back. That is why it needs to sit level, why it takes eight hours to get cold, and why its failures look nothing like a kitchen fridge. The newer 12V Furrion and Everchill units are ordinary compressor fridges running off the house battery, and they fail like a boat fridge: low voltage, a fan, a board. We fix both, in the coach, where it sits.
Brands we work
- Dometic DM and RM series, 2-way (gas and 120V) and 3-way (plus 12V)
- Dometic Americana, Elite, DMR, NDR
- Norcold N-series (N300 through N8, N611, N811) and the 1200 and 2118 four-door units
- Furrion Arctic 12V
- Everchill 12V (WD-282 and similar)
- Isotherm and Vitrifrigo 12V galley units on boats
Have the model plate handy when you call. It is inside the fresh-food door on Dometic and on the lower inside wall on Norcold.
RV refrigerator problems, cause and fix
| Symptom | Likely cause | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cools on gas, not on electric | 120V heating element open, or the AC relay on the board. The element is a cheap part under an hour of labor. | $180 to $300 |
| Cools on electric, not on gas | Burner orifice sooted, thermocouple weak, igniter electrode fouled, or a wasp nest in the flue tube. | $220 to $350 |
| Ammonia smell, yellow powder on the boiler | The cooling unit has leaked. There is no patch. Replacement cooling unit or a new fridge. | $1,200 to $1,900 |
| Norcold shows “n” or “no co”, Dometic check light flashing | The board lost the flame or heater signal. Often a thermistor or a corroded connector, sometimes the board itself. | $150 to $450 |
| Freezes the lettuce, or barely cools | Thermistor out of range, or clipped to the wrong spot on the fin. | $150 to $220 |
| Frost on the fins, sweating door | Door gasket flat or torn; the magnet strip lets go in the heat. | $150 to $280 |
| Norcold recall sensor tripped, fridge dead | High-temp sensor on the boiler opened. It gets reset or replaced with the correct part, and we look at the boiler for the reason. | $150 to $300 |
| 12V unit dead or cycling on and off | Battery under 11.5V, condenser fan stalled, or the control board. | $250 to $450 |
Level and heat kill cooling units
An absorption cooling unit only works when the liquid inside can run downhill. Park three degrees off level and the solution pools in the wrong place, the boiler overheats, and after a few weekends the coil has a crack. The yellow powder behind the fridge is the sodium chromate corrosion inhibitor from the solution; the smell is the ammonia. Once it is out, the only fix is a new cooling unit. We swap complete cooling units on Dometic and Norcold. We do not rebuild or re-weld them in the field, and anyone who says they can in a parking lot is guessing.
Heat is the other killer. A fridge on the sunny side of the coach in an August RV park has an outside wall at 140 degrees, and the rear vent stack cannot move enough air to shed it. A pair of 12V fans in the upper vent, wired to a snap thermostat, is the single cheapest upgrade we install.
Boards, Dinosaur replacements and the recall sensor
Factory Dometic and Norcold boards die from voltage spikes, and the coach converter is usually the reason. Dinosaur Electronics makes drop-in replacement boards for most Dometic and Norcold models that hold up better than the originals and cost less; we carry the common ones. The Norcold high-temperature recall sensor, the black box strapped to the boiler tube, is a safety device. We replace it with the correct part. A jumper wire in its place is how RV fires start.
Mobile service to marinas, RV parks, driveways
We work out of the truck, so the fridge stays in the coach or the galley. RV resorts in western Miami-Dade and Broward, storage lots in Hollywood and Pompano, marinas in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach, a driveway in Delray: same rate. Tell the dispatcher where the coach sits and whether we need a gate code or a dock pass. On boats, the galley 12V unit is ours; engine-room refrigeration and marine air conditioning are not.
Typical pricing
| Job | Typical range* |
|---|---|
| Service call (applied to the repair) | $59 |
| Thermistor | $150 to $220 |
| Door gasket | $150 to $280 |
| 120V heating element | $180 to $300 |
| Burner and thermocouple service | $220 to $350 |
| Control board, factory or Dinosaur | $300 to $450 |
| Norcold recall high-temp sensor | $150 to $300 |
| Cooling unit replacement, Dometic or Norcold | $1,200 to $1,900 |
| 12V compressor unit board or fan | $250 to $450 |
*Parts and labor. Written quote after the diagnosis; the $59 service call is free with any repair you approve. 90-day labor warranty.
Repair or replace
Thermistors, boards, gaskets, elements: fix them. The cooling unit is the decision. A new Norcold 1200 four-door lists at $3,500 and up before the labor to get it through the door, and a replacement cooling unit installed runs $1,200 to $1,900, so on a coach you plan to keep it is the better buy. On a small Dometic RM in an older travel trailer, a cooling unit costs about what a new 12V compressor fridge costs, and the 12V unit cools faster, does not care about level, and burns no propane.
Frequently asked questions
Related: refrigerator repair, ice machine repair, AC repair.