Forum Discussion

hamburgangie's avatar
hamburgangie
Explorer
Jul 10, 2019

Travel Trailer Norcold Refrigerator not working on AC or Gas

We just returned from a camping trip where we used AC to power the fridge for 3 days, then Gas to power the fridge for 4 days. No issues whatsoever when we were camping. However, the freezer did make a suctioning sound when we closed it.

When we returned home we parked the trailer, plugged into our house with AC power, and turned the fridge to Auto (it has 2 settings: Auto/off/Gas). It refused to cool at all. While this was happening, the green "On" light was intermittently blinking -- it would stay on for a while, blink a bit, then stay on. We were not parked level at this point. The outlets and lights were working on AC, but fridge was not cooling. Then, my husband moved the camper away from the house, disconnected from AC power, and we turned on the Gas (lit the pilot light at the back of the trailer, turned fridge switch to Gas). The Amber gas light stayed on, while the green power light blinked - still did not cool whatsoever. At this point all of the lights inside the camper worked without AC power, so the battery appeared to be functional.

Anybody have anything we can check? Most posts mention cooling on one power source and not the other -- but ours is not cooling on either source.

Thank you if you can help at all!
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jul 12, 2019
    hamburgangie wrote:
    Old-Biscuit wrote:


    It will KILL a fridge cooling unit.


    By "kill", do you mean kill forever and never recover?!


    YES...
    The Sodium Chromate (rust inhibitor in coolant solution along with ammonia, water & hydrogen gas) will crystallize when overheated and those crystals plate out in inside of cooling unit tubing....creating a restriction which disrupts the natural heat process and gravity flow.

    Restriction creates more opportunities for overheating conditions which causes more formation of crystals/more plating out/more restriction-obstructions ---process is accumulative and permanent.

    Sodium Chromate is 'yellow' when dried,,,,,so if you see yellowish residue down around burner area.....DEAD. Cooling unit has leaked
    But a leak doesn't have to happen ----tubing can become so blocked that NO Cooling takes place ....again DEAD.

    So when stationary ...FRIDGE LEVEL if turned ON
    (comfortable...no noticeable tilt/slant of RV)
    When in transit/in motion the rocking, bouncing, movement of RV will keep the coolant solution in motion and not a big concern to operate fridge while traveling.
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Jul 12, 2019
    hamburgangie wrote:
    Old-Biscuit wrote:


    It will KILL a fridge cooling unit.


    By "kill", do you mean kill forever and never recover?!


    Running off level starts a process where the ammonia "starts" to block and attaches that blockage inside the cooling unit tubing. It is very small at first but continued off level operation will then complete a blockage to where the Ammonia cannot vaporize and Liquid to cool. So, once you have a small blockage, the unit will still work, just not as well as an unblocked unit. After months or years of off level operation at various times the blockage finally stops the cooling completely. You cannot free up a blockage. It is as hard as weld slag and attached like a weld. If you would leave a refer OFF LEVEL severely for a few days, and ON, the unit will probably be destroyed. Doug

    PS, this is stated in the operators manuals of all RV refers.
  • hamburgangie's avatar
    hamburgangie
    Explorer
    Jul 12, 2019
    Old-Biscuit wrote:


    It will KILL a fridge cooling unit.


    By "kill", do you mean kill forever and never recover?!
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jul 12, 2019
    hamburgangie wrote:
    Thank you all so far - I will post the model number as I am able (I am at work, camper and manual are at home).

    I was hoping to hear confirmation that operating off level might be the issue. In your experience, will leveling out the camper and trying again after the camper has been level for a bit solve the problem? We will try shorting the circuit board. I have never done this. Any tips?

    Again, thank you. We are newbies this year and know little to nothing so far about travel trailers. We have already learned a few things, though, so thanks!



    There are 2-3 methods of 'hard reset' of circuit board so beofre attempting best to find out which one is for your circuit board
    That is WHY Model number is important.

    Off level will definitely create an 'overheating' ---lack of cooling ---condition.
    It will KILL a fridge cooling unit.
  • hamburgangie's avatar
    hamburgangie
    Explorer
    Jul 12, 2019
    Thank you all so far - I will post the model number as I am able (I am at work, camper and manual are at home).

    I was hoping to hear confirmation that operating off level might be the issue. In your experience, will leveling out the camper and trying again after the camper has been level for a bit solve the problem? We will try shorting the circuit board. I have never done this. Any tips?

    Again, thank you. We are newbies this year and know little to nothing so far about travel trailers. We have already learned a few things, though, so thanks!
  • DFord's avatar
    DFord
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2019
    hamburgangie wrote:
    We were not parked level at this point.


    You admitted you tried operating your refrigerator while it wasn't level. That could be fatal. When they're off level, nothing circulates inside them like it should and critical parts overheat quickly.

    Respond with the make and model of your refrigerator so we can be more specific in troubleshooting your problem.
  • camp-n-family's avatar
    camp-n-family
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2019
    We have difficulty with ours if the battery isn’t fully charged. Even when plugged in, the fridge won’t start if the battery is low.
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jul 10, 2019
    Would be most helpful to post MODEL number........

    Green blinking light is an error code

    Operating when NOT level WILL cause cooling issues
    Error code could have been a 'No Co' code----no cooling detected
    1st time 'No Co' error....turn fridge OFF then back ON
    2nd time....have to do a hard reset of controls (shorting circuit board)

    Course MODEL number and actual code
    Green ON flashing how many times in how many seconds before repeating
    Green ON flashes five times in 3 seconds???

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