Anyone can respond, but if you have dry camped above about 5,000 feet with an rv with a Norcold refrigerator, you may have experienced this issue.
We have a 2014 Lance 1685 travel trailer, which comes with a Norcold N611 refrigerator. We just returned from a couple of weeks north of Moab, Utah at about the 4,500 foot level. After leaving the Moab, Utah area we spent several days at the 7,200 foot level in Nevada. We were dry camping. The Norcold N611 refrigerator gave us trouble (failed to reignite, see below) at the 4,500 foot level and more trouble (tried but failed to ignite, failed to reignite, see below) at the 7,200 foot level.
At lower elevations like 3500 feet, our Norcold N611 fridge works okay, but fails to work properly at higher elevations, see details below. At both lower and higher elevations, all the other propane appliances (hot water heater, cabin heater, and cooktop stove burners) worked without trouble all the time. Here's the details.
From Sea Level to about 4500 foot elevation. During the daytime the Norcold N611 ignited normally when moving the switch to the "Auto" or "Gas" setting. The electronic ignition would go through its sparking cycle, and the propane would ignite, and the fridge cooled. After an hour or two, the fridge propane burner would shut off, and then re-ignite normally after some time (about 1/2 hour as best I remember). After reignition, the fridge cooled, then the burner shut off after an hour or two, then reignite after some time, about a 1/2 hour or so. All seemed to be working well, no problem, we thought.
At 4500 foot elevation. At night, the fridge attempts to reignite -- the sparking cycle begins but ends without reignition. There are usually a few "whump" noises (or "burp" noises or whatever you want to call them) that indicate the propane is igniting but not staying ignited. Once the sparking cycle ends without reignition, the two fridge lights flash on and off indicating the propane has failed to reignite. We move the switch to "off" and wait a few seconds, then move the switch to "gas" or "auto". Sometimes the fridge propane would fail to ignite, with the whumping/burping noise, and the two flashing lights come on. Sometimes it would reignite and burn for an hour or two, then shut off, and then fail to reignite after the sparking cycle. So every morning when we'd wake up the two lights would be flashing, the fridge propane burner not burning. During the day (warmer temperatures compared to night-time), we'd move the switch to "off", wait a few seconds, move the switch to "gas" or "auto", and keep doing that until the burner ignited properly. During the day, but not the night, the burner seemed to shut off and later reignite properly, just as it did at lower elevations.
At 7200 foot elevation. We arrive at the same camping site we've used for over a decade with our previous 5th wheel which had a Dometic fridge, which worked fine at any elevation we camped at, including campsites at 10,000 feet in Colorado. We of course leveled up, we always level up. The Norcold N611 is not burning, we move the switch to off, then to "gas" or "auto", and the ignition sparking cycle runs its course, but no burner ignition even after more than a dozen tries over at least a one hour period. We wait a hour or so, and again move the switch from off to "gas" or "auto". Several tries, each a few minutes apart, same problem. Burner will not ignite.
We get out the Norcold Owners Manual. Lo and behold! on page 8 of the Norcold Manual, it tells me that at altitudes above 5500 feet "you may experience burner outages". And Norcold says "... Norcold recommends you operate the refrigerator on AC when at altitudes higher than 5500 feet..."
There is of course no AC nearby, nor am I going to run a generator all day and all night in the mountains.
After leaving the campsite at 7,200 feet we descend to 3,000 feet and below. The Norcold N611 works normally once again. So its failure is altitude related, and I never would have purchased any camper having a Norcold had Norcold's CYA disclaimers been brought to my attention.
So far as I can tell from internet postings, some Norcold N611 fridges do work properly above 5500 feet, and some don't. If you Google the words "Norcold" and "altitude" and "orifice", you'll find further details of this Norcold problem. Hopefully you have one that works above 5500 feet!
For those of you like me, what did you do to fix the problem? I'll have my dealer check the regulator pressure, and also whether the distance from the spark ignitor to the flame is correct. Maybe that will help. I see some internet posts saying the propane is too rich at altitude (less oxygen at high altitudes), and that somebody used to sell orifices with smaller openings to fix the problem, but apparently no longer. Anybody find a source of properly sized orifices?
I called Norcold, explained my problem, and the pleasant Norcold rep told me that because of "liability" concerns, Norcold could not tell me anything. Take it into your dealer, I was told. Lance tells me to call Norcold.
Have any of you gotten practical help? Like a high altitude orifice kit? So that the Norcold unit works properly at high altitude?
Working properly at high altitude is all I want, just like my Dometic used to.
All help/suggestions very much appreciated. Just want to solve this problem, this is my first post here. Thank you.
