Norcold Refrigerator Fire
We have two N841R refrigerators on our houseboat at Lake Powell. Yesterday while running the generator with the refrigerators in AC mode, one of the refrigerator powerboards caught fire where the AC ...
Forum Discussion
mike-s wrote:Jim_Arndt wrote: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.
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.
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.
I think if there was a direct short, it would of been enough current to pop the breaker.
I updated the link in the original post, with a before picture and a picture of a new powerboard. I'm not at the boat, but it looks like norcold has a special plug that goes over the spade connector on the powerboard, not sure? Also, yes the cable is clamped, you can see this clearly in the before picture.
A screw down type of clamping connector on the powerboard, similar to what you see on an AC circuit breaker, would of prevented this fire.
Link to pics:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wqr5zK7TbjtHwf373
