YC 1 wrote:
If it is old enough to need a cooling unit why not replace the antiquated control board as well. Just spent a week on and off helping my friend chase the bugs out of his. The original one has some small relays that became intermittent.
The fans were also controlled by the doors as well. The cooling fans "when running" would shut off when the door was opened. The new board does not control it that way.
Here are the things we changed to repair his unit. Replaced the thermostat inside the refer. Added a switch to bypass the snap control device that is attached to the cooling fins on the top of the refer just below the vent. This allows the fan to run anytime we wanted. The fan running full time keeps the refer about 10 degrees cooler when on.
His board was intermittently going into a "defrost mode" and would need to be reset. One of the reasons for replacing it.
We ordered a lower temperature snap control device and will install it lower in the refer for convenience and use the wires that we ran to the new switch. This puts the two snap devices in parallel but that doesn't matter. The old one is designed for 135 degrees. The new one will come on at just over 100 degrees.
His vent tube did not have any device on the end to prevent air from entering so we just put a lot of water in the drip cup to cover the end for now.I suspect the previous owner removed it. I suggested he just extend the tube a few inches and curve it up so a small amount of water remains in the tube.
The refer has the recall board installed but the ground it uses is clipped to the water control valve assembly which is grounded through two screws and a couple of plastic stand offs. If the screws were to corrode the ground could be lost and the refer would not run. I found several tired grounds so cleaned them and in the case of this wire I added a wire and grounded it with some other wires that have their own dedicated screw.
Hope this is not too confusing.
Had it been mine, well a new residential would be sitting in its place. More room, newer technology, reliable, won't burn down.
1. IF you used a Norcold replacement board, then the doors do indeed shut the fans off. Norcold has NOT changed that on their boards. Not just the fans, but the cooling system shuts off also if the door switch is open. This prevents the refer from cooling if the doors are open which would be a waste.
2. HOW did you know it was going into defrost incorrectly?????? The defrost is evry 48 to 54 hours and ONLY does this if left on continously and there is no indication when the refer goes into defrost other than the rv'er happening on the refer NOT on for that 2 hours. Of course, how would you know if it was in defrost or just shut off because it reached temp? How would you know it needed to be reset. Reset is only for a NO CO condition. Doug