Norcold Fridge - Freezer cold, fridge not

[VetPartTimer]

2.5 year old Norcold N611FLT in a 2016 Class A

Was dry camping all week at the beach, running the fridge on propane, on the last morning I noticed the milk was not as cold as usual.

Drove home, fridge still seemed a little warmer than it should be. Freezer seemed good and cold as usual.

Plugged into electric, checked the next day both fridge and freezer are good and cold.

Switched it back to propane, checked after another day and freezer was good and cold but fridge is not.

I'm level. Was level all week dry camping.

Any ideas on what to check?

[VetPartTimer]

It was the thermistor.

Flame was strong and blue, couldn't find anything that looked wrong.
Decided to test the thermistor by unplugging and letting the fridge run overnight - my bottle of water was slushy in the morning.

Bought and installed a new $20 thermistor and tested again overnight, new bottle of water is nice and cold!

Thanks all for the tips/pointers!

[VetPartTimer]

mchero wrote:
Check the BACKSIDE of the fridge. Are the fan(s) running?
My Norcold 4 door did EXACT same thing when one if the 2 rear fans failed.
Was told MANY times it was the cooling unit.....NOT!

Will definitely check the fan(s), thank you!

[pnichols]

It's not Interstellar Rocket Science to quickly check any time what the air temperature is inside of your RV's refrigerator (residential type or absorption type) without opening the door(s) or messing with a glass of water.

Just permanently hang one of those tiny remote temperature probes from one of the refrigerator's shelves and mount it's remote digital readout somewhere in the RV where it's easy to see (the signals between the two go right through the refrigerator walls). A quick glance at the digital readout screen tells what the air temperature is inside of the refrigerator any time all of the time.

We've had one of these setups inside the RV for a year or two and it works great. The replaceable batteries inside the probe and inside the digital readout seem to last a long time, too.

[mchero]

Check the BACKSIDE of the fridge. Are the fan(s) running?
My Norcold 4 door did EXACT same thing when one if the 2 rear fans failed.
Was told MANY times it was the cooling unit.....NOT!

[VetPartTimer]

dougrainer wrote:

VetPartTimer wrote:
Appreciate all the info everyone, thank you kindly!

I spoke to Norcold Customer Service, they were very nice and provided much of the same advice that you all have suggested.

I'm going to start by unplugging the thermostat and letting it run overnight on the propane to see if that is potentially the problem because it is the easiest.

Given that the refrig seems to work fine on AC power, I doubt it's the thermostat (but you never know).

Next will be to check for a good blue flame, maybe the valve is dirty.

Hope to get to this over the weekend, will certainly update you all on my findings.

Thanks again!

You are not the only one that thinks the Thermister may possibly be at fault. BUT, that is nonsense. THINK about what you are thinking. The refer operates fine on 120. You have a problem on LP. The refer cooling unit and Thermister has no way of knowing WHAT heat source is ON. ALL it does is respond to the HEAT source. The Thermister is on the Evap fins. HOW would it know what heat source is operating the refer? It does not. Thermister's rarely fail and they never fail over different heat sources. Until you check the LP pressure AT the refer, you will never know what the problem is and you will just be wasting your time. Doug

Yes, I totally understand what you are saying.

[dougrainer]

VetPartTimer wrote:
Appreciate all the info everyone, thank you kindly!

I spoke to Norcold Customer Service, they were very nice and provided much of the same advice that you all have suggested.

I'm going to start by unplugging the thermostat and letting it run overnight on the propane to see if that is potentially the problem because it is the easiest.

Given that the refrig seems to work fine on AC power, I doubt it's the thermostat (but you never know).

Next will be to check for a good blue flame, maybe the valve is dirty.

Hope to get to this over the weekend, will certainly update you all on my findings.

Thanks again!

You are not the only one that thinks the Thermister may possibly be at fault. BUT, that is nonsense. THINK about what you are thinking. The refer operates fine on 120. You have a problem on LP. The refer cooling unit and Thermister has no way of knowing WHAT heat source is ON. ALL it does is respond to the HEAT source. The Thermister is on the Evap fins. HOW would it know what heat source is operating the refer? It does not. Thermister's rarely fail and they never fail over different heat sources. Until you check the LP pressure AT the refer, you will never know what the problem is and you will just be wasting your time. Doug

[dougrainer]

Big Katuna wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
Shouldn’t be rusty yet but clean/ check flame height, clean flue.
Get infrared thermometer and establish actual temps on elec vs gas.

You NEVER use a IR thermometer to verify refer or roof AC temps. In a refer you put in a glass of water. After 24 hours you use a digital thermometer to measure the water temp. That tells you the actual cooling of the refer. Doug

I’m having no luck balancing a glass of water on an ac duct.

Well, follow what I stated:B I said "IN A REFER YOU PUT A GLASS OF WATER". Kind of hard for an IR thermometer to read AIR coming out of a Roof AC duct. If I ever stated to RVP or Dometic I read the Air temp of a AC with an IR thermometer, they would have a good laugh and tell me that is NOT the correct way for Air temp measurement. Same with Dometic and Norcold on refers. I do use it on the Refer Evap fins, because that will tell me the state of cooling. Doug

[Old-Biscuit]

VetPartTimer wrote:
Appreciate all the info everyone, thank you kindly!

I spoke to Norcold Customer Service, they were very nice and provided much of the same advice that you all have suggested.

I'm going to start by unplugging the thermostat and letting it run overnight on the propane to see if that is potentially the problem because it is the easiest.

Given that the refrig seems to work fine on AC power, I doubt it's the thermostat (but you never know).

Next will be to check for a good blue flame, maybe the valve is dirty.

Hope to get to this over the weekend, will certainly update you all on my findings.

Thanks again!

thermistor ----food compartment....measures Fin Temp
Electric or propane doesn't matter....same thermistor (thermostat also)

[VetPartTimer]

Appreciate all the info everyone, thank you kindly!

I spoke to Norcold Customer Service, they were very nice and provided much of the same advice that you all have suggested.

I'm going to start by unplugging the thermostat and letting it run overnight on the propane to see if that is potentially the problem because it is the easiest.

Given that the refrig seems to work fine on AC power, I doubt it's the thermostat (but you never know).

Next will be to check for a good blue flame, maybe the valve is dirty.

Hope to get to this over the weekend, will certainly update you all on my findings.

Thanks again!

[ernie1]

My experience with my brand new rv was that the refrigerator was barely cold but a warmish 50 deg F during the heat of the day and the freezer was fine like 8deg F. Manufactuer installed a new replacement gas regulator that matched the original, a Fairview brand, and temps improved a lot like an 8deg improvement in the refrigerator. Comparing notes with other rv owners of the same make and model as I had showed a high failure rate and poor performance of the Fairview regulators. A few actually fails to the point where there was propane leaking around the diaphragm!!! Not feeling totally safe even with a new regulator, I replaced the Fairview with a Marshall branded regulator. Marshall is an old company that has been in business for years and make a quality product. By the way, I did this replacement because I don't have access to any equipment to check gas pressures and for me, was the easiest approach. Once the Marshall was in place, I could hear the burner of the refrigerator roaring a bit louder than the Fairview. So now, everything is fine with the refrigerator and freezer with steady temps during the heat of the day around high 30s to 41-42 deg F. Now the next step is to keep the freezer coils frost free.....

[Big_Katuna]

dougrainer wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
Shouldn’t be rusty yet but clean/ check flame height, clean flue.
Get infrared thermometer and establish actual temps on elec vs gas.

You NEVER use a IR thermometer to verify refer or roof AC temps. In a refer you put in a glass of water. After 24 hours you use a digital thermometer to measure the water temp. That tells you the actual cooling of the refer. Doug

I’m having no luck balancing a glass of water on an ac duct.

[dougrainer]

If it works on 120, but not on LP.
1. LP pressure is not at 11.5 inches w/c. just 1 inch below will have a drastic affect on cooling.
2. The burner is dirty. Doug

[dougrainer]

Big Katuna wrote:
Shouldn’t be rusty yet but clean/ check flame height, clean flue.
Get infrared thermometer and establish actual temps on elec vs gas.

You NEVER use a IR thermometer to verify refer or roof AC temps. In a refer you put in a glass of water. After 24 hours you use a digital thermometer to measure the water temp. That tells you the actual cooling of the refer. Doug

[Old-Biscuit]

Big Katuna wrote:
Would it work on electric but not gas if that happened?

Fans controlled by that thermostat run based on Condenser Fin temps....not on which heat source is being used

Fans ON...130*F fin temp
Fans OFF...115*F fin temp

1A in-line fuse on DC + to thermostat