Norcold Refrigerator Fire

Jim_Arndt wrote:
Wow, ok, so the fuse would not blow? There is a 5 amp fuse on the powerboard, and a circuit breaker at the main ac panel.

The fridge won't draw more than 5 A normally, so that's the fuse size. It might try to pull, say, 4 A, but instead of powering the fridge, the power goes into the resistance of the bad connection, which heats up. 4 A @ 12 V is 48 watts, and confined to a small area that equals lots of heat. It's not quite that simple, but the concept is close enough.

Any time smoke comes from the area of a connection, suspect a bad connection. It may not have been the screw terminal, it could also be a crimped connection. Kinda hard to tell from the photo, not enough resolution.