Extra fan for Norcold 1200

[farmer_boots]

I have the NORCXOLD 1200 series refrigerator (like so many). While camping the temperatures in the refrigerator started increasing (somewhere around 45 deg when I found it). Went outside and could not here the fans running so I removed the cover and hung an external fan to blow up through the back of the refrigerator. That worked, after a few hours you could see the temperature dropping (slow but dropping). So my assumption is something is wrong with the fans or the circuit providing power. While troubleshooting the fans started working temperatures have been in the mid to lower 30s. Maybe a bad connection, who knows but one thing for sure it will fail again when you need it the most. I have not had time to pull the refrigerator and replace the fans and thermal switch before heading out on another trip. So I am thinking about just adding a fan at the bottom of the unit until I can get it fixed. I am trying to identify a place to pick off 12 power. I see two very large wires going up the back of the refrigerator (red & black). I would think they are headed to the Fans but can't tell for sure. What else could they be feeding? My concern is their size. Is that some special insulation because of heat they may be exposed to?

Thanks

[Smitty77]

Nice looking job Dennis. I especially like them high enough that they'd have not risk of the heat from LP coming up out of the flue. (When I had talked over the install by the tech doing my Amish Cooling Unit, we had agreed to a location that was up about 8 higher, and offset to the side of directly over the flue. This would have done what I wanted. Draw air up/over/thru the air coil, and push it towards the top. It was to accompany the stock fans when they kicked in, and the lower fan when it is turned on...

You did a clean job on yours!!

Best to all,
Smitty

[farmer_boots]

I am headed out tomorrow so for now I made a bracket to hold a fan at the bottom of the frig. pointing up. Ran it all day with very hot amb temps and the frig. remained below 37 degrees with the temp setting on 6. I just used an alligator clip to pick power of the control board and ground on a bracket. When I get back I will fix it proper.

I like what Dennis and Executive have done. So I am thinking about making a fan bucket that will fit in the vent at the top. I am thinking about just cutting the plastic screen out, fit the bucket in place and drill through the plastic into the fan bucket to secure. Cover with metal screen and be done with it.

Based on what I am hearing I may need to shock isolate the fans from each other to reduce noise. Maybe I will get fancy and add a microprocessor to monitor temperature and progressively turn on fans as needed. That way at night the fans could be turned off one at a time based on the ambient temperature so it's nice and quiet.

[Executive45]

For those interested, here's what I did:

1. Removed the outer cover on the roof.
2. Removed the inner cover...plastic with screen. Many screws!
3. Made fan holder from aluminum stock from Home Depot.
4. Mounted four 120mm/130cfm muffin fans inside frame.
5. Inserted fan holder in flue opening.
6. Secured fan holder to side of flue opening.
7. Ran wires down alongside the fridge. (zip tied to solar wiring)
8. Tapped into the 12V supply on the fridge board.
9. Reinstalled the inner and outer covers.

Note: Replaced all OEM screws with Stainless Steel screws. Use suitable sealant when installing covers.

Addl notes: This was a temp "fix" as I didn't like removing the outside cover and bungee cording an A/C fan on the outside. Fans that PULL the air up over the coils are more efficient than fans that PUSH the air up and over them. Think whole house fans...that said, here's some changes I'm making over the holiday weekend...

Adding a snap switch on the upper part of the cooling unit to control the fans. (Snap switch provided by one of our members here on RV.Net :))

Removing the 12V supply from the circuit board of the fridge. The fans go OFF when the fridge is opened.:??, so I'm going to give them a dedicated 12V supply

I built the fan housing to exact flue opening sizing. This allowed me to squeeze it into the opening and simply screw it into the sides of the flue area. However, this also allows the fans to resonate inside the coach. Not much, just a low hum, but I'm anal about these things. I cut four legs that I will attach to the fan holder to lower it just below the flue opening. I should get the same air flow but without the noise.

If all goes according to plan, I'll take some pictures as I go so I can post them.....Dennis

[Smitty77]

I agree with Daytonaman on taking the time to sort out what is wrong on the OEM side of things. That being said, I have had a few different combinations of extra fans on our 1200 over the last 3 years. I also changed over to the Amish Cooling Unit instead going with the last Mickey Mouse Norcold recall.

- 1st added the SS-30 Extinguisher and a Smoke Detector to the back cabinet
- 2nd I wired in a pancake fan at the bottom of the coils, pointing up and thru the existing coils. This was on a switch that I turned on when in real hot weather.
- 3rd I add solar panel vent powered fan, switched to go on when the fried was running. This fan was also installed at the bottom of the coil.

When we went to Amish Cooling unit, we:

- Removed the pancake fan from the bottom, and had it mounted at the top to draw the air up
- Removed the roof top solar panel vent, as the Camco unit had stopped working within a year. (This was after I had first ran caulk all around the small SP edges as I was concerned about longevity. At $100+, this unit should have ran more then a year.)
- We retained the Camco Fan down at the bottom of the coils, now switched controlled and hard wired into the 12V power supply

We've been very happy with the Amish Cooling Unit performance, and feel with the extra fans available and the SS-30 that we have a safe unit.

One recent development, was the discovery that the tech that had moved the pancake fan towards the top of the unit, had placed directly above the flue. The smell of plastic is what us into this area to find out what was up. The fan body had actually melted enough that the fan blades no longer turned. (This was at the RV Service shop I used to go to, and was from what had been that shops 'go to tech'. We found this after we stopped going to this shop for other quality, communication and lack of confidence after another serious safety related service mistake. Glad we found it before it caught fire:)!)

Our fridge was installed in a non slide.

If you have a fridge in a slide, any fridge but especially the 1200, take a very good look at the ventilation designed into the install. IMO, many manufactures did not provide adequate ventilation out the upper side of these slide installed fridge cabinets. The preemptive install of added fans maybe a good safety move to consider. And at such a small cost, the SS-30 was a no brainer decision for our coach.

Best to all, have fun, be safe,
Smitty

[Daytonaman]

Download the manual and print it out for the 1200lrim norcold. It will help yout troubleshoot the box. The 2 fans have a thermostatic control mounted on the fins. They don't always run. Cut in at 120 I think. You can also put the box in the diagnostic mode which will continually read out the fin temp.

[farmer_boots]

Dennis, I was going to do just what you stated but the vent on the roof has a screen (plastic) to keep stuff out. Did you cut through the screen to install the fans? I could make a bracket to hold two fans and a thermostat and then pass the wires down the back of the refrigerator to tie into 12v power. Should add a on off switch so they don't run when the unit is turned off.

On a earlier unit I replaced the cooling unit and found the replacement cooling unit required additional cooling at the condenser. I added fans and used an attic fan thermostat to turn them on and off. It was adjustable so I could set it for what temperature worked best. As I remember the condenser needed to be around 95 deg for the unit to cool.

For this trip I am going to add clips to the fan leads such that I can clip onto the 12 power feeding the refrigerator, that will get me through the next trip. Then I have to fix the problem.

Thanks

[Carvin_Marvin]

Dennis. Great idea. How do you control the fans? Thermostat or manual switch? Did you pick 12v at the board? I made the mistake of putting a remote thermometer in the refer. What a wide temp range at different locations in the refer. 32 degrees to 43. Maintains 2 degrees in either freezer, it's a 1200. Before the thermometer I didn't know the temps so didn't have a problem. Oh Well.

[Airstreamer67]

I fit a four-inch 120vac van at the bottom of my fridge. It is plugged into the ac outlet near the back of the fridge used to power the electric heating element. The fan is pointed upwards to blow air through the coils. It fit in a small space and is held it in place with some bracing from the hardware store.

When my rig's plugged into shore power, the fan runs. If it's cold outsides, I unplug it.

When the rig is moving on the road, the wind velocity keeps the fridge well cooled.

Of course, the fan won't work if dry camping unless a generator is running.

Works for me.

[Executive45]

There may be other wires going up to the roof. If the red and black are 10 ga or so, they probably feed your solar panel. The 12V feed is on the computer board and should be black and may have a 18-22 ga black wire attached. The ground will be white and right next to it on the board....

My fans worked intermittently so I simply went up on the roof, removed the vent cover and put 4 muffin fans up there and wired them direct. I made a metal box for them to fit into and screwed it in the opening in the roof. Very efficient and works like a charm. To access your fans, the fridge must be pulled forward far enough to get up and work behind it. That seemed like a pretty big hassle compared to adding the extra fans. My fridge had two and now I have 4 130cfm ea. up there....Dennis