Forum Discussion

bgosden's avatar
bgosden
Explorer
Aug 24, 2020

Norcold N611 five flashes

Hello!

Brand new to the RV world, and we have a couple things we could use some help on. I will post as separate topics to keep things separate.

The first issue is our new to us Class A has a Norcold N611 fridge. {2003 Winnebago Itasca Sunova) Previous owners said no issues, but since we bought it we have had it fault coding the five flashes every day. We know how to reset the control board with the insulated wire, and have done so each time.

On reset, the fridge will almost complete a cooling cycle, then codes again. Five flashes which according to documentation means no cooling. It happens on both Electric or when running on gas. No ammonia smell, no yellow powder.

We have replaced the heating element and power cord, cleaned the igniter, same behavior.

We tested the thermister using a meter and the ice test, and it tested fine.

We replaced the control board, and the fridge worked for the first time for days! Ice cold freezer, cold fridge, no flashing- Then after about 4 days it started again.

WE attempted to inspect the flu to see if there is a blockage, but it appears the flu has some sort of insulation inside that we were afraid to disrupt as it looked like it is there intentionally.

Any ideas before we give in and have it fixed at a service center?

Thanks so much!
Class A
  • bgosden's avatar
    bgosden
    Explorer
    Aug 27, 2020
    Ok, so here is where we are with this.

    About 20 hours from hooking up the fridge to the house power, no flashes, and the temp of the glass of water was 45 degrees.

    At 24 hours, the water in the glass was 55 degrees but still no coding.

    I am thinking... Great, its the cooling unit gone bad.

    At that point, I disconnected the thermistor, and left the fridge hooked to our house power. This morning, we have a one flash fault code which I expected since the thermistor is disconnected, but the water is down to 36 degrees and the freezer is 13 degrees.

    I would think this leads to it being a bad thermistor? Any thoughts?
  • bgosden's avatar
    bgosden
    Explorer
    Aug 26, 2020
    Update on this- We do realize the issue could actually be related to the battery issues we have been having, so we reset the control board, plugged the fridge in directly to our house, and put the cup of water in the fridge compartment at about 6:30 last night. No error codes as of this morning, and frozen ice in the freezer so that is something. We will check it again and get a temp on the water after 24 hours if we do not get the five flashes before then.

    Fingers crossed!
  • bgosden's avatar
    bgosden
    Explorer
    Aug 25, 2020
    Ok, gotcha. I thought you meant just to wire the heating element alone to outside power. We did actually already try plugging in the entire coach to our house power and the fridge did fault code overnight this way. Will try the thermistor test first, then try isolating the fridge plug in alone to see if the results are the same. Thank you!
  • Executive45's avatar
    Executive45
    Explorer III
    Aug 25, 2020
    bgosden wrote:
    Ah! snip/

    We will try the thermistor, and then attempt to do the test you mentioned to test the cooling unit. I am not certain on how to wire it to outside 120v power, but my husband might know how to do this to test that.

    Thank you so much for your help.


    Your fridge is plugged in to a 120VAC receptacle behind it like your household fridge. Access thru outside panel. Simply plug it into an extension cord. 12ga. preferred. Or you could use adapters and plug the entire coach in, but I'd isolate the fridge for your check....Dennis
  • bgosden's avatar
    bgosden
    Explorer
    Aug 25, 2020
    Ah! Right you are there and it did not even occur to me that I was assuming frozen ice means cold enough. We bought this from a private party, original owners that said no issues for them but it had not been in use for over a year, aside from them going out and starting it a couple times a month to keep things moving.

    We will try the thermistor, and then attempt to do the test you mentioned to test the cooling unit. I am not certain on how to wire it to outside 120v power, but my husband might know how to do this to test that.

    Thank you so much for your help.
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Aug 25, 2020
    bgosden wrote:
    We will try disconnecting the thermistor and see what happens there.

    For the cooling unit, when we installed the new control board and things were functioning for the four days, water was freezing in the freezer no problem which would lead me to think it would be something other than the cooling unit itself. Perhaps this is incorrect?

    We did pull the rooftop vent cover, and saw no obstruction, but again, with little knowledge of what it is supposed to look like, it is hard to say if we missed something.

    We are super lacking in knowledge and trying to get to know our new RV, as well as trying to troubleshoot as many issues as we can on our own as a way to get to know the systems.


    You stated something that a LOT of people do not realize.
    " water was freezing in the freezer".
    Now, water freezes at 32 degrees. The operating temp of a Refer Freezer is 0 to 10 degrees. As I stated before, dishonest sellers will show ice in the freezer and the buyer assumes the refer is operating correctly. I have 41 years as an RV tech, and I see this all the time from people that come in with a refer with a bad cooling unit after buying the RV. Doug
  • bgosden's avatar
    bgosden
    Explorer
    Aug 25, 2020
    We will try disconnecting the thermistor and see what happens there.

    For the cooling unit, when we installed the new control board and things were functioning for the four days, water was freezing in the freezer no problem which would lead me to think it would be something other than the cooling unit itself. Perhaps this is incorrect?

    We did pull the rooftop vent cover, and saw no obstruction, but again, with little knowledge of what it is supposed to look like, it is hard to say if we missed something.

    We are super lacking in knowledge and trying to get to know our new RV, as well as trying to troubleshoot as many issues as we can on our own as a way to get to know the systems.
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Aug 24, 2020
    bgosden wrote:
    I did wonder if the two were related, but what led me to believe they were not is that the fridge would still fault code even if we had the RV hooked up to our house power. Would this still lead to an indication that it is linked to the battery bank issues? Perhaps I can grab a few pictures of the battery bank as well. We hooked them up exactly as they were when we bought it, but there could be something incorrect there.

    To dougrainer- It is not off level, currently just parked in the flat driveway. For voltage, we did check the plug and it tested fine. Filled the LP tank, but not sure how we would test pressure? Gas stove and furnace function fine on LP. Fridge is not in a slide out. I believe ours does not have a cooling fan from the documentation I have on it, but I can check it again. For thermistor, do you just mean disconnect entirely and see if we still get the fault code as we have been seeing?


    Documentation from Norcold does not always indicate a rear cooling fan on 2 door refers. Now, The CORRECT way and ONLY way to determine the condition of the Cooling unit is to wire the 120 volt heating element direct to 120 volts for 24 hours. This bypasses all controls. You install a small glass of water in the lower section and get the temp of the water after that 24 hours. Have you pulled the roof top vent cover(4 screws) and verified that there is no obstruction stopping the hot air from flowing out the roof vent? Last, A very common way dishonest RV sellers get away with selling a RV with a defective refer cooling unit, is to show the freezer is COLD and the potential buyer assumes it is operating correctly. a BAD cooling unit will get the freezer COLD, just not down to 0 to 10 degrees. Now, if the 120 hot wire test does NOT get the water below 36 degrees, then the cooling unit is BAD and will have to be replaced. Doug
  • bgosden's avatar
    bgosden
    Explorer
    Aug 24, 2020
    I did wonder if the two were related, but what led me to believe they were not is that the fridge would still fault code even if we had the RV hooked up to our house power. Would this still lead to an indication that it is linked to the battery bank issues? Perhaps I can grab a few pictures of the battery bank as well. We hooked them up exactly as they were when we bought it, but there could be something incorrect there.

    To dougrainer- It is not off level, currently just parked in the flat driveway. For voltage, we did check the plug and it tested fine. Filled the LP tank, but not sure how we would test pressure? Gas stove and furnace function fine on LP. Fridge is not in a slide out. I believe ours does not have a cooling fan from the documentation I have on it, but I can check it again. For thermistor, do you just mean disconnect entirely and see if we still get the fault code as we have been seeing?
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Aug 24, 2020
    The 5 flashes is a NO CO (no cooling) code. This happens when the refer CANNOT complete a full normal cool down cycle. The Control board monitors the cooling and when the refer STOPS and Plateaus above about 45 degrees and stops cooling the System assumes there is a problem. Problems can be OFF LEVEL. LOW 120 voltage. LOW LP pressure. If equipped the rear cooling fan/s are not operating. IS THIS REFER IN A SLIDE OUT?. You have to pull the refer to inspect the flue. You do NOT remove the insulation and flue cover to do this. AS you have found out, you have wasted your money on replacement parts. FYI, A BAD Thermister will test/OHM out correctly. UNPLUG the thermister and reset and test your refer again. Doug

About Motorhome Group

38,705 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 23, 2012