Questoin about my refrigerator???

I forgot to mention that the temp outside was about mid 80's

Thanks for all the comments. I checked to ensure the fridge was level. I ran if for several hours on propane with only 2 items in it (String cheese and a Lunchable). It got very cold using propane. I had to turn down the setting because frost was forming on the items. I switched it to the highest setting and over to electric that night and left it unopened for at least 9 hours. During that time it had warmed up inside quite a bit. I felt the cooling fins and they were not any colder that the temp inside the fridge.

ShaneThurman wrote:
My family and I went camping this weekend and my refrigerator would not get cold on electric. It is a Norcold refigerator. The freezer worked perfectly and I could get the refrigerator to get cold using gas. I checked the breakers and fuses. The on light also did not show any fault codes.

As posted, how is/was the weather where you camped? If hot and humid, yes the fridge section will struggle to cool and stay that way. If you haven't read the fridge owner's manual, take a few minutes to do so. Gas absorption refrigerators work, but not as well as a compressor type residential fridge. The freezer section chills first, the fridge section more slowly. The manufacturers of gas absorption units recommend the following tips to maintain cold fridge compartment temps:

1. Do not tightly pack the fridge. Air circulation around contents is important.
2. It is best to "pre-chill" the contents to be loaded into the fridge section.
3. If storing leftovers, they recommend letting hot foods cool down a little before placing them in the fridge. Norcold even recommends you consider food storage container type (round vs rectangular or square) because of the surface area to be chilled.
4. Especially in warm/hot weather, minimize the time and number of times you open either the fridge or freezer. When humid, you will likely notice frost or ice buildup on the fridge compartment cooling fins. If a heavy accumulation is present, it needs to be removed either by manual defrosting (no scraping the fins) or you can purchase a battery operated fan and place it on the top shelf of the fridge to move air around the fins. Also a good idea not to load the top shelf with containers that obstruct air flow around the fins. You can also search E-bay and buy an RV fridge fan that runs on the fridge's 12v. power. Inexpensive, and easy to install.

Also check the fridge and freezer doors for air loss around the door gaskets. The manual will tell you how to do this. Other things that may help: get a shaded/partially shaded campsite that keeps the fridge side of the trailer out of direct sunlight in the warmest portion of the day. If you don't have one, buy an infrared thermometer (pretty much available and inexpensive at HD, Lowe's Harbor Freight, etc). Useful to read refrigerator temps if you think there's a problem.

Good luck, hope this helps.

I always use electric the night before to cool down the frig. Check to see if there's power to the electric heater (on the frig).If there is and there's no heat then the heater element is burned out.
If your frig is cooling down using propane then at least the frig is still working. Which is the expensive part. A heater element is a whole lot cheaper than a new frig.
Good luck,

First things first:
1. the refrigerator has to be level to work properly or at all.
2. the higher the ambient temperatures, the less efficient the refrigerator will be.
3. continually opening the door and leaving the door open while retrieving items will raise the refrigerator's interior temperature that can take many (10 to 20) hours to overcome.
4. Loading the refrigerator with warm items (cans of soda or beer as an example) will raise the interior temperature and may take 24 hours to cool down again.
5. the refrigerator should be turned on and cooled down at least 24 hours before use.

As you can see, using a gas absorption RV refrigerator is not like the refrigerator in your kitchen at home.

Even if the fridge is working properly cooling the fridge in electric mode will likely take a very long time - days even. This is especially true if the ambient temperature is high.

What I and most other campers do is pre-cool the fridge the night before travel using propane. In my case the fridge would be running on propane and at the highest setting for over 12 hours before we leave and even then the fridge area is cool but not cold. We then load up with cold stuff from the house fridge and don't open the door again until we need something, usually after setup at a campground. All the while the fridge would be running on gas. Cool but still not cold. After arrival it switches over to electric, and it is only until the next morning after running all night on electricity that it is cold. After a couple more days, if we don't moderate the temp setting tomatoes will want to freeze in the fridge.

Moral of story - these RV fridges talke a while to cool even on propane, and especially if it is hot outside. I live in Texas so you can imagine. Your fridge may be working, just taking a long time to settle down. I also suggest getting a small battery operated fridge fan to help move the air around.