RV Refrigerators Cooling Issues

Thermoguy wrote:
I have a friend with a 2 year old RV with a Norcold fridge. He is expressing the same problems you are. He had it in the shop, they had it working fine. Took it on a trip, we were there with him, same problem. He has a thermostat and it never got below 53 degrees. Has to bring an ice chest with him to keep food cold. He has had it out only a few times, but always the same problem. Turning it all the way down, he can get it to start to get cold, but then never gets cold enough. His freezer works fine, just not the fridge.

His solution is to remove the fridge and put in a Dimetic. I think there is just a problem with this Norcold fridge and it's not repairable.

I have a 2021 Jayco with Norcold (NOTCold) 12v fridge. Worked great on the last trip in Sept. First of Oct, it was not getting cold. I have an appt with service dept, but when talking to them on the phone, the tech is pretty sure it needs replacing. Lights work and you can hear the fan running. Sitting level and plugged into 30amp.

We have a class C mh.
I glued a round level next to the driver on the engine cover. And often get the mh level just by moving a few feet this way or that way, when we first park on a camp site.

There’s a slide for the table, but the refrigerator isn’t in the slide.

Is the refer in a slide room? Doug

Thanks for all the information and advice.

We’ve been in contact with a repair tech from the dealer. He had us try it on propane.. Didnt work, then had us unplug it inside the fridge to see if it to bypass the thermostat and work on a timer situation. Sorry if I’m not saying it correctly. But that’s not working either. Going to call them back and see what we’ll need.

Yes, the fridge has worked sporadically. Worked fine first camping trip in May, then every trip it was something, when we plugged in it at home, it wouldn’t work, then once we got to campground and plugged it in, it would work. Dealer looked at it after June trip, they plugged it in and it got cold and worked perfectly for them.

TT is brand new, picked it up April this year.

I have a friend with a 2 year old RV with a Norcold fridge. He is expressing the same problems you are. He had it in the shop, they had it working fine. Took it on a trip, we were there with him, same problem. He has a thermostat and it never got below 53 degrees. Has to bring an ice chest with him to keep food cold. He has had it out only a few times, but always the same problem. Turning it all the way down, he can get it to start to get cold, but then never gets cold enough. His freezer works fine, just not the fridge.

His solution is to remove the fridge and put in a Dimetic. I think there is just a problem with this Norcold fridge and it's not repairable.

Surgtech94 wrote:
Most of the time we put a bunch of beverages in the refrigerator to get cold, Should we be putting beverages in the outside refrigerator to keep cold? Thank you in advance

Umm, yeah, that is a problem especially when you are putting a "bunch" of warm/room temp beverages into a absorbsion fridge.

As I have mentioned, absorbsion fridges are very slow to recover from being opened and/or warm non-prechilled items.

If you are filling your absorbsion fridge with a bunch of warm (60F-80F or higher) beverages it can take at a min of 24 hrs to chill those down to 40F. At the same time those warm beverages now will spread their heat through the fridge and pull the cold right out of everything in the fridge making everything in the fridge warm.

You can't treat a RV absorbsion fridge the same way like you do a home compressor fridge.

If you have a second fridge which sounds like you do, they are typically small dorm sized compressor fridges, load that fridge with your warm beverages to prechill them. Then once cold, you can transfer the prechilled beverages to your absorbsion fridge as needed.

RV absorbsion fridges typically just have enough cooling capacity to KEEP COLD items cold. Loading bunches of warm items at one time will take considerable time to chill at the expense of other items getting warm.

A month ago you stated the refer was working correctly. What changed?
Is the refer in a Slide Room? Doug

LP and 120 have the same BTU's for cooling. BOTH work equally the same. That said.
1. The operating AC voltage is 112 to 122 volts. BELOW 112 volts the 120 heat Element will not get hot enough to do the job correctly. ALWAYS monitor your Line voltage inside at a 120 receptacle with a DIGITAL multitester. IF below 112 volts switch to LP, until the Line voltage comes up
2. LP is affected by a dirty burner AND LP pressure. IF the LP pressure is below the 11.5 standard operating pressure, the performance on LP also will not be good.
Now, to your Norcold. Turn the refer OFF for 5 minutes. Turn back ON and let run 24 hours. IF the refer is not operating correctly and doing a normal correct cool down, you should get a fault light and alarm. This is called a NO CO fault(NO COOL). Only Norcolds have this feature. Doug

Surgtech94 wrote:
Thanks for the replies. Seems like an issue with the ‘board’ in the refrigerator. Dealer had us try on propane, not working here either.

Burner not lighting on propane?

If burner lights on propane, seriously doubt it is the board unless it intermittently is not lighting the burner.

But, hey, if the dealer is willing to replace board under warranty at no cost to you then go for it.. If they are just throwing parts at the problem at your expense then proceed with caution.