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CLOC-AdminNot having a problem yet. Don’t want to do the Samsung route because the fridge IS working well. What cooling fans and mods have you done on your Carriage? We do have a full wall slide with the upper and lower vents, no roof vent. Pics, drawings, volunteers to come do this are all appreciated
!
ThanksPosted: 1:47 PM – Apr 01, 2013Our rig is going on three years old and we have not had a Fridge problem. We have not made any mods to the Fridge, everything is working as it should. Keep an eye on the Icemaker water line connection in the back of the Fridge, ours developed a leak last week. There is a light blue valve that the line connects and I had to tighten it.Nate
Posted: 3:08 PM – Apr 01, 2013this is what I did to my upper vent. I used four 12v computer fans that I bought at a local electronic surplus store. The hood, the end caps, and the screen i got from Home Depot for gutters. the clips or for storm door screen. this made a big difference in the cooling of the frig, ice cream got hard again without being on #9 setting. This worked very well in 100+ temps sitting in full sun with that side facing west.
Image no longer available. Deleted by ImageShack – Please Repost Image with new method if possiblePosted: 5:26 PM – Apr 01, 2013Great job! Thats the kind of stuff I like to see!Posted: 7:30 PM – Apr 01, 2013rvinsant,Your mod looks like a great add on. If we ever have a cooling problem, I will know how to fix it.
Nate
Posted: 7:45 PM – Apr 01, 2013Just one more thing about thee fans. They are two speed, kick into high at 90 degrees. I have them switched with two switches so that in cooler weather I just run two at a time.Posted: 7:51 PM – Apr 01, 2013Did you add a thermostat so that the high speed would kick in at 90 degrees?Thanks
Posted: 9:14 PM – Apr 01, 2013No, the fans have a built in thermistor for temperature control. And no I can’t hear them inside the trailer.Posted: 7:36 PM – Apr 02, 2013Would you happen to have a part # for those fans? Most I have found do not have the thermo control built in.
Has anyone else noticed that the lower fridge compartment is not waterproof? Just a plain ole piece of plywood. Thinking about taking a little bit of epoxy and coating it really well.Posted: 8:16 PM – Apr 02, 2013Don’t have a part number I bought them at http://www.tannerelectronics.com/. I believe they are 120mm fans. I used 4, and they were about five or six dollars each.Posted: 9:44 PM – Apr 02, 2013rvinsant wrote:this is what I did to my upper vent. I used four 12v computer fans that I bought at a local electronic surplus store. The hood, the end caps, and the screen i got from Home Depot for gutters. the clips or for storm door screen. this made a big difference in the cooling of the frig, ice cream got hard again without being on #9 setting. This worked very well in 100+ temps sitting in full sun with that side facing west.Love it. You should start a “tinkerer’s club”. I’d be first in line. Great job.
Posted: 6:44 PM – Apr 03, 2013The grill that the fans are against. Is it metal or plastic. Can’t tell on the picture. Is everything screwed together or did you rivet any of it.Posted: 8:24 PM – Apr 03, 2013handsome51 wrote:The grill that the fans are against. Is it metal or plastic. Can’t tell on the picture. Is everything screwed together or did you rivet any of it.The grill is plastic, it is a leaf guard for gutters. All fastener are stainless screws.
Posted: 2:51 PM – Apr 04, 2013Do you have a picture of the back side of the vent?Posted: 4:22 PM – Apr 04, 2013No picture of the back. I built this in June 2011. That was 3 phones ago.Posted: 6:51 PM – Apr 04, 2013On the note of fridge ventilation, I thought I’d share with you the following that I previously posted on the “other” forum back in June of 2012:Our fridge (Norcold 10 cu.ft.) is located in a slide so the air intake and exhaust vents are both on the sidewall. The fridge is equipped standard with 2 pancake pc type fans to help in exhausting the hot air. The fridge has performed awesome since we took delivery. Although we have not camped in the rig in above 85 degree weather until last week.
When the RV was parked at the house, I decided to “mod” the fridge vents with simple window screen over the vents to keep insects out. Upon inspection one day, I found a wasp nest. So easily done, I placed window screen behind the vents. Great , huh? NOT!!!
Prior to our last trip, I turned on the fridge on Thursday around noon for a Saturday morning departure. When we got to the RV on Sat morn to load, the fridge had stopped cooling due to “low power” message. The temp was 78.
We figured a battery issue such a bad cell or something.
So we loaded it up with all of our cold food and freezer goods, closed the door and it re lit when we plugged into the truck.
We figured it would be down to the proper temp upon our arrival. Well, it was cooler, but not in the 30’s. It was about 52 set on coldest setting of 9.
I gave it until the next morning only to get up and find that the temp had not dropped below 48! In the meantime, I had heard the cooling fans running pretty much non-stop but I figured they would run more anyway with the flue design and the outside temps in the 90’s.
This fridge has cooled fast and great compared to the old one in our old rig so I could not understand what was happening.
Then I had a thought…..obstructed/reduced air flow. So I went outside, removed the bottom cover and took off the screen. The fans were running and it was 90 degrees outside. Then guess what? Within 30 seconds of removing the upper vent, the fans went off. I removed the screen and replaced the vent cover.
Well, immediately, the fridge began to cool down. The next morning it was 30 degrees and I had to change the setting to 7. The temperature was maintained between 34-38 degrees the rest of the trip and the fans did not run continuously.
That screening blocked the natural flow of air just enough to disrupt expulsion of hot air from he flue therefore not allowing the fridge to cool.
So with the local temps at 90 degrees when I turned on the frige prior to our departure, the fans probably ran continuous. That combined with the O2 detector and the fridge electonics, the battery ran down to much to run the fridge.
We have room for a 2nd battery, so with 3 electric slides, the Big Foot Jacks, and this situation, I think we will get a second battery to enhance reserve power.
So lesson here, my good intent to screen the vent louvers to keep out insects proved to be disruptive to the cooling of the fridge. Safe travels to all, PhillipPosted: 7:13 PM – Apr 04, 2013Phillip, did you use screen wire like goes on the windows are the ones made for the refrig vents?Posted: 8:09 PM – Apr 04, 2013rvinsant wrote:Phillip, did you use screen wire like goes on the windows are the ones made for the refrig vents?Yes, I used typical fiberglass window screen of a typical weave. It is amazing how much air the screen blocked. I understnad though since the fridge venting pretty much relies on the simple pricipal that heat rises. Phillip
Posted: 6:38 PM – Apr 21, 2013Question on the fans…. Did you wire the fans to the 12 volts on the electronic board in the back of the refrig. accessed from the outside of the trailer? Do you think amp draw would be a problem?Posted: 8:30 PM – Apr 21, 2013I ran a wire to the battery. So no problem with power draw.Does anyone know of a service company in Florida that does the Amish cooling coil installation? I don’t have any issues with my refrigerator yet but I would prefer not to wait for one. According to NorCold, all the recalls were done on my unit at Carriage before it was shipped to the dealer in 2011 however I understand that there may a couple updated ones after 2011.S/F
Posted: 4:12 PM – May 31, 2013jdpm wrote:rvinsant wrote:Phillip, did you use screen wire like goes on the windows are the ones made for the refrig vents?Yes, I used typical fiberglass window screen of a typical weave. It is amazing how much air the screen blocked. I understnad though since the fridge venting pretty much relies on the simple pricipal that heat rises. Phillip
We are currently spending our last night at Cloudland Canyon State Park, GA. Our good friends just bought a new fiver with an 8 cu ft Norcold refrig with the upper and lower vents in the slide-out. Everytime I was on that side of thier RV, I could hear the fans running.
We have no screening and I have not heard ours run at all. Temps here have barely hit 80 during the day and it is very shaded. I told him to remove the screens and see if the fans stopped and of course he said he wasn’t worried about it. I know the importance of proper venting on these RV fridges. I looked athis and it is definatley installed as close to the rear wall like Carriage did ours. If the rear wall of the fridge is to far from the RV wall, the natural air draft is affected. The installation manual shows minimum and maximum distances in order to draft properly.
I’m not going to install screens after my experience. WE use our rig enough and I will just keep and eye one it. PhillipPosted: 3:49 PM – Jan 28, 2014Hi, I have been having a problem maintaining the proper temp inside our fridge and this may be the solution. How did you wire the fans?Posted: 6:32 PM – Jan 28, 2014I swapped out the factory thermostat with this one I purchased off ebay. I did help in the summer time cooling. The thermostat is adjustable. Of course, the fan ran more it helped in exhausting the hot air. The swap out was very easy – a direct swap. Phillip
http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Rodgers-3 … 232c9ff395Posted: 10:01 PM – May 24, 2014rvinsant wrote:this is what I did to my upper vent. I used four 12v computer fans that I bought at a local electronic surplus store. The hood, the end caps, and the screen i got from Home Depot for gutters. the clips or for storm door screen. this made a big difference in the cooling of the frig, ice cream got hard again without being on #9 setting. This worked very well in 100+ temps sitting in full sun with that side facing west.
The photo of this great mod is no longer visible. Can you please repost it? I recall seeing it and it looked like an awesome job!
Our New LS with the Norcold 12 cu.ft. fridge is not keeping up while traveling and I think it is due to the lack of natural draft (which is poor by design in the 36fw anyway).
The unit got down to 31 degrees prior to our departure and prior to loading-up the fridge. Mind you that was in the FL 97 degree heat and in a matter of 14 hours on LP. We loaded it up with only already cold items AND are using one of the cooling fans inside to help circulate the air. On our 7 hour drive with 3 stops, the refrig never dropped below 51 degrees. AS soon as we parked, the temp started to fall back down.
I have had this same issue with the Cameo prior and on another fiver prior to that. I think its the lack of draft due to wind turbulence while driving. Perhaps cooling fans incorporated into the upper vent on the exterior wall like was done in the above mod would help??? Thanks, PhillipPosted: 9:19 AM – May 26, 2014Ask and you shall receive.
Image no longer available. Deleted by ImageShack – Please Repost Image with new method if possiblePosted: 9:42 AM – May 26, 2014In order for the fridge to cool at its best it should be loaded. You may be right about the turbulence while driving. I have a 12ft Norcold we load when we turn on and while driving we have almost frozen drinks on the top shelf. They are very cold. Mine must have been made Tuesday to Thursday!Posted: 8:12 AM – May 27, 2014Proper refridge cooling is very dependent on pre-cooling and loading – especially over-loading. An interior fans help in the case of an overloaded refridge.
I have used one of the small square battery operated ones in the past with some success in improved cooling. I purchased one of the dual 12v refridge fans from ebay that has come highly recommended. I ran it during travel expecting it to help in the cooling. It was not the case nor has it been the case during our stay. I have experimented with the fan during our stay placing it in different places on the fins as well as on and off. The fan does not seem to help in cooling but does eliminate ice build-up on the fins.
We are parked in the shade in cool temps – days in the high 70’s with showers and night time lows in the low 60″s. Temp in the fridge this am when I got up was 34. It is running on AC where as in storage it was on LP, in the sun and in temps in the 90’s. I’m surprised that in these temps, in the shade, and items in the fridge that I have not been able to turn the setting down. ON past trips I have been able to turn down the temperature setting to 5 or 6. It is still running on 9. These things are so inconsistent and aggravating! PhillipPosted: 3:43 PM – Jun 14, 2014Just want to add our experience with frig cooling. We recently got our LS and it has the 14 cu. ft. Norcold. In the time we’ve used the trailer we’ve seen the same temperature variations that others have seen. We have the setting on ‘5’ and have seen the temperature vary from 31 to 41. It seems to cycle throughout the day and doesn’t matter what the outside temp is doing. We’re currently in Colorado where the outside temps vary from 40’s to 70’s. We’ve run the frig on AC and LP and that also doesn’t seem to affect the temperature variation. I did read in the Norcold manual that at regular intervals the temperature control system automatically melts most of the frost from the cooling fins. I wonder if this is related to the temperature variations.Posted: 8:51 PM – Jun 14, 2014Update- Its been over a year since I started this thread and it has lived on hopefully helping others. What I did to help improve ours was to make sure the top area of the coils was properly vented to the outside and that the factory fans actually blew out of the top vent, they were originally arrange to push/pull air in at the bottom, not draw it out at the top. That in itself made a huge difference. As I write we are sitting in south Texas with mid 90’s and the fridge side catching the afternoon sun from 1-2 pm on. The icecream is staying frozen without issue.Posted: 9:36 PM – Jun 14, 2014Our Norcold 1210 on the new LS is doing well, except as I have previously mentioned. I have installed a different thermostat on the exterior cooling fans. The factory one is non-adjustable fixed 130 degrees. I replaced it with an adjustable one that I have set on 110.
I also installed dual cooling fin fans purchased off of ebay that do a great job. On the first trip with that fan, I had the fridge set on 4 to maintain 37 degrees! I think it does a great job, it is easily moved to different ends of the fin area and helps keep them from icing.
My problem is the fridge not being able to maintain safe temp during travel. Mind you this is after precooling to on lp to 30 degrees and stocking it (not over-loading) with pre-refrigerated/frozen items. 50 degrees on arrival after 6 hours on the road. But as soon as parked the temp starts to fall.
I really think that this is related to the poor chimney design in the full wall slide. The design itself is restrictive to natural flow and even with the fans the hot air has to vent out at a 90 degree angle. I am thinking wind turbulence down the side of the rv during travel is not allowing for the flow of air out of the restricted chimney design – even with the fans.
I have a new mod to test out on Thursday to see if I can rectify this issue. Once the results are in I will share it with everyone. Otherwise, the fridge cools great. PhillipPosted: 3:35 PM – Jun 17, 2014Monty,Great solution. Any idea what happened to your photo?
Monty wrote:rvinsant wrote:this is what I did to my upper vent. I used four 12v computer fans that I bought at a local electronic surplus store. The hood, the end caps, and the screen i got from Home Depot for gutters. the clips or for storm door screen. this made a big difference in the cooling of the frig, ice cream got hard again without being on #9 setting. This worked very well in 100+ temps sitting in full sun with that side facing west.
Love it. You should start a “tinkerer’s club”. I’d be first in line. Great job.
Posted: 10:27 PM – Jun 20, 2014jdpm wrote:Our Norcold 1210 on the new LS is doing well, except as I have previously mentioned. I have installed a different thermostat on the exterior cooling fans. The factory one is non-adjustable fixed 130 degrees. I replaced it with an adjustable one that I have set on 110.
I also installed dual cooling fin fans purchased off of ebay that do a great job. On the first trip with that fan, I had the fridge set on 4 to maintain 37 degrees! I think it does a great job, it is easily moved to different ends of the fin area and helps keep them from icing.
My problem is the fridge not being able to maintain safe temp during travel. Mind you this is after precooling to on lp to 30 degrees and stocking it (not over-loading) with pre-refrigerated/frozen items. 50 degrees on arrival after 6 hours on the road. But as soon as parked the temp starts to fall.
I really think that this is related to the poor chimney design in the full wall slide. The design itself is restrictive to natural flow and even with the fans the hot air has to vent out at a 90 degree angle. I am thinking wind turbulence down the side of the rv during travel is not allowing for the flow of air out of the restricted chimney design – even with the fans.
I have a new mod to test out on Thursday to see if I can rectify this issue. Once the results are in I will share it with everyone. Otherwise, the fridge cools great. PhillipWell, I’m sorry to say that my experiment with the refrigerator did not help at all.
The fridge was precooled to 35 degree prior to a 2.5 hour trip. We stocked the fridge with items from our home refridge or freezer.
I put the refrigerator remote temperature readout in the truck cab to watch what happened.
well, all that happened is a rising temperature in the fridge. It got up to 55 degrees in an hour. This is an on going issue with this rig. The pilot is not going out nor is there anything else not working.
I felt that the issue is related to poor chimney design and wind turbulence down the side disrupting the natural flow of the hot air from the chimney. So I installed an air scoop on the outside lower vent to help push the air out of the top vent.
I tested it for effectiveness with a leaf blower and you could feel the air being forced out of the top vent. The pilot light did not get blown out.
Well, this mod did not help at all. I removed after the first hour of the trip thinking it made matters worse since the temp was rising. Removing it made no difference.
I hate this refrigerator. It does not cool down while in transit. Don’t know what to do. PhillipPosted: 8:29 AM – Jun 21, 2014Phillip,I believe that the frig needs 12 volts when on propane to do more than operate the fan(s).
I recall your posting about weak battery affecting Bigfoot after pre cooling. My factory battery gave me problem right out of the gate and I just swapped it out for a much larger marine 12 volter, and had no subsequent issues except over winter storage where I needed to bring it home from storage and keep or put it on a smart charger.
I have the 8cf so I can’t help more than this.
If it works on shore power on a hot afternoon with the sun on that frig side, and also works “in camp” with charger/converter plugged into shore power and the frig manually set on propane/12 volts on a hot afternoon with the sun on the frig side, this is a battery, turbulence, or a going down the toad unlevel front to back or left to right issue. If turbulence, everyone with the 36fws and 10 cf frig in the south would have your problem. Unless, see below, you have some excess construction materials on your vent chimney area.
Folks from 90+ weather, the 36fws, and 10cf frig please chime in!
One more thought in closing. Maybe there is an extra piece of insulation or other obstruction (cardboard?) floating around in the frig vent chimney area (the wood duct area behind the frig) that gets moved up into just the wrong place when traveling, and falls back down again when stopped. Your leaf blower test might not catch this as the insulation may not be obstructing flow to the top outlet, just restricting flow to the coils needing to be cooled or the the sensor that tells the fan to turn on. I think you could see this extra insulation or loose obstruction with a mirror, flashlight, and a lot of contortions on your part; or maybe a series of flash photos with a small phone or camera – far easier than pulling the frig. Use your leaf blower when taking some but not all pictures.
Posted: 10:04 PM – Jun 21, 2014Thanks for the tips. However, I know it is not a battery issue as it always will precool down below 35 degrees – even in 90+ degree heat – prior to travel. That is on 12V and LP power. This unit will also offers several fault codes one of which is “low battery” which I have had once before back when I was having my battery issue. I have not had that again.
I have replaced the single group 27 battery with 2 6 volt golf cart batteries. My battery issues and lack of power to operate the Big Foot, etc., are over. When we left on Thursday, the battery still said 2/3 and that was after being in storage 2 weeks, running the slides in/out a few times, and operating the Big Foot. Also, the rig tows perfectly level nose to tail.
The same thing happens when traveling home after being on shore power and the refrig performing just fine. The temperature rises the entire way home.
I have inspected the rear of the unit as best I can when I changed out the fan thermostat and found no obstructions, etc. The pilot is not being blown out and no codes. It is so strange to be that the units temp rises during travel. It makes no sense and is so perplexing AND unacceptable.
If anyone else has noticed this issue please comment. I don’t know how many others monitor their refrig temp as I do. I have a remote temperature sensor inside of it and have always monitored it during travel on every trip. So if others are having this issue, you may not have noticed unless you are watching the temps like I do. PhillipPosted: 11:10 AM – Jun 22, 2014Have you reviewed all of the Nor old installation documents? There are vary specific clearances and baffling specs to provide the proper chimney effect on the sidewall venting. Might get lucky and find something missing or not installed per spec. Our 12 cu ft unit works very well. Arrive at our destinations with beer REALLY cold.Posted: 12:04 PM – Jun 22, 2014jdpm wrote:
Well, I’m sorry to say that my experiment with the refrigerator did not help at all.
The fridge was precooled to 35 degree prior to a 2.5 hour trip. We stocked the fridge with items from our home refridge or freezer.
I put the refrigerator remote temperature readout in the truck cab to watch what happened.
well, all that happened is a rising temperature in the fridge. It got up to 55 degrees in an hour. This is an on going issue with this rig. The pilot is not going out nor is there anything else not working.
I felt that the issue is related to poor chimney design and wind turbulence down the side disrupting the natural flow of the hot air from the chimney. So I installed an air scoop on the outside lower vent to help push the air out of the top vent.
I tested it for effectiveness with a leaf blower and you could feel the air being forced out of the top vent. The pilot light did not get blown out.
Well, this mod did not help at all. I removed after the first hour of the trip thinking it made matters worse since the temp was rising. Removing it made no difference.
I hate this refrigerator. It does not cool down while in transit. Don’t know what to do. PhillipPhillip, just a data point for you. Our frig didn’t work on LP during our trip from Texas to Colorado. The first day we didn’t notice til we did a gas/rest stop about 2.5 hrs into the trip. Frig temp was 44 deg. (we have 2 digital tem indicators that hang on the shelves at the front) and outside temp was mid-80’s by that time. That day we were able to get the frig going on LP. Second day we couldn’t get the frig working on LP at all & we towed in 90 degree weather for several hours and the frig temp got to 48. Third day same thing, no LP. We traveled for about 4 hrs. before reaching the campground in Colorado & were in cooler outside temps for much of it due to the higher elevations. Frig temp was mid to upper 40’s (can’t remember exactly). Issue turned out to be a faulty igniter. It would ignite some, but not strong or long enough. We’ve got a 37CKLS so frig configuration may be different than yours as far as baffling for cooling.
Posted: 1:29 PM – Jun 22, 2014Thanks for the info. However, ours is running strong on LP.
HOWEVER, we had a revelation today on the way home. The fridge was at 37 when we awoke this AM. I switched it over manually to LP prior to leaving to make sure there was not an issue with the LP side heating up prior to hitting the road. No problem. It maintained and we hit the road with the remote temperature monitor in the truck.
Initially it was doing fine even dropped a degree. Then sure enough…..the temp started to climb. We stopped at a rest area to make sure there were no fault codes or lack of power. All was good. What I DID discover was that the door latches are not allowing the door seals to seal tightly at the bottom. The latches have a lot of play in them and I think once under way, bumps and vibration causes the improperly adjusted door latch to allows the door to “unseal”. I have always felt the door latches were a bit squirrely. They just don’t seem to latch tight and you actually have to manipulate them a bit. In looking at the doors and latches, I ran my hands around the door seal at the bottom. the right door inside bottom corner has a definite air leak due to the crappy latches. I can lift up on the door at the hinges and the door latches soundly.
The owners manual under trouble shooting mentions checking the doors seals and have adjusted by a dealer if found to need adjustment. Well, ours do and I think this is the issues. I’m going to educate myself on how to do so and adjust the doors to latch better and seal tighter. I’m 99% confident that this is the issue now. I’m going to do my due diligence to get the doors adjusted to seal tight prior to the next trim in 2 weeks. I will report my results in 2 weeks after the next trip.
Thanks again to all who have responded about this issue and to anyone who may respond in regard to adjusting the doors. PhillipPosted: 2:29 PM – Jun 22, 2014Phillip,I have the 8cf so latch may be different. My latch is to lock the door slightly open so mold will not form when in storage. For normal operations or to travel down the road, I just close the door.
Posted: 3:30 PM – Jun 22, 2014Phillip,For an easy gauge of the issue, and a possibly very easy fix, try removing the door and putting a washer under the hinge. We did this, and it improved our door fit nicely.
Comeupwithsomething wrote:Phillip,For an easy gauge of the issue, and a possibly very easy fix, try removing the door and putting a washer under the hinge. We did this, and it improved our door fit nicely.
Yep, from looking around on line and that is what it is going to take. When I lift up on the hinge side of the bottom of the door, the latch clicks more positively securing the bottom of the door. There is a definite issue with the door alignment/sealing/latching relationship. I know myself…..I will get it figured out and I DO believe this is the issue. I could feel the cool air coming out of the bottom of the door. Right our of the Norcold manual it states to use a dollar bill on all four corners of the door to check the seal and that if you do not feel a slight drag on each corner to have the doors/seals serviced by a Norcold dealer. Phillip
Posted: 1:50 PM – Jul 06, 2014Ok, just returned home from another weekend trip. Fridge still cools poorly during travel. I did make some adjustments to the doors and while it did not help the cooling issue, they do open and close much, much more tightly and easily now.
As always, the fridge was precooled to 37 degrees on LP, stocked (not overloaded) with ALL pre-cooled items. By the time we started the 90 minute trip, weather moved in and the outside temps dropped to 73 degrees. Despite that, the fridge temp gradually climbed to 50 degrees during our 90 minute trip. The burner was burning strong, no error messages, etc. The unit precools great on LP prior to a trip, cools great while at our destination running on a/c, and then warms back-up again on the journey home.
I had thought that is was a door leak but I’m sure that is not longer a possibility. I thought maybe it was a wind turbulence issue down the sidewall but I am leaning away from that, as well.
I have even made sure that both roof vents are closed during travel just to make sure there is not some type of venture effect on the fridge.
I can’t imagine taking it to the dealer as they are not going to pull it around to duplicate the problem and it cools fine while parked.
If anyone has any suggestion, please advise. Thanks, PhillipPosted: 6:48 AM – Jul 07, 2014Wish I could help, but have no ideas. Those kind of problems drive me crazy. Good luck. Maybe others are better at this one than me.
RayPosted: 1:20 PM – Jul 07, 2014Ask the dealer what documentation they’d accept? I’m thinking you could video at launch, then again at a rest stop part way, then again at destination. Just pick up an large print version of an LED thermometer and use that as proof. I’d involve the dealer as this occurs on the propane side only.Best of luck either way.
Posted: 4:07 PM – Jul 07, 2014Just like wind chill there is wind impact on cooling. 90 degree weather standing still takes less to cool than 90 degrees blowing past at 60 mph. Yes, beating sun is slightly reduced. Just maybe the propane line is kinked or squeezed just enough to work standing still, and even better when the slide is open, but squeezed too much to let enough propane past with the wind impact. Not enough propane means the heater does not get hot enough to deal with the wind impact.If your frig doors are still an issue, closing the roof vents during travel would reduce the flow of air through the 5er and past the frig door.
End of guesswork.
Posted: 6:01 PM – Jul 07, 2014I really like the restricted gas flow idea. There were a couple of posts about thus a few months ago. It would be interesting to watch the line as the slide closes and see if you can see how the line folds in the arm.Posted: 9:44 PM – Jul 07, 2014JohnD222 wrote:Just like wind chill there is wind impact on cooling. 90 degree weather standing still takes less to cool than 90 degrees blowing past at 60 mph. Yes, beating sun is slightly reduced. Just maybe the propane line is kinked or squeezed just enough to work standing still, and even better when the slide is open, but squeezed too much to let enough propane past with the wind impact. Not enough propane means the heater does not get hot enough to deal with the wind impact.If your frig doors are still an issue, closing the roof vents during travel would reduce the flow of air through the 5er and past the frig door.
End of guesswork.
My modifications to the doors worked out great. The doors close very easily and tightly now.
I have traveled with the roof vents open and closed and that does not seem to have made any difference.
Our rig is parked in a storage lot between trips with the slides closed. The fridge cools down to about 37 prior to loading and that is with the slides in.
It seems that if the lp line was an issue with the slides in, the unit would not cool down as well as it does during the precooling cycle. Since it is cooling with the slide closed, I am doubting that it is LP flow. I will check the line, however, to make sure it doesn’t look restricted.
Thanks, PhillipPosted: 5:10 PM – Jul 08, 2014If this were my rig, I would look at the following:1) What happens in the freezer compartments while this 90 minute temp rise occurs?
2) It seems to me that a 13 degree rise, in a fully stocked and cooled to 37F is a lot in 90 minutes. I would cool the fully stocked fridge to 37F and then turn it off for 90 minutes, without opening the doors. What does the remote temp sensor show? What temp does your remote sensor measure? Air temp? Cooling fin temp? Do you have an infrared temp gun? What does a can of beer or soda measure before and after the 90 minute test?
3) If your freezer back wall temp remains constant during the 90 minutes, then I would suspect warm air is getting in to the fridge. Could one of your fridge doors be opening and closing when you are moving? A left turn opens a door and a right turn closes it.
4) Finally, if your test in #2 confirms a 13 degree rise in 90 minutes is normal, then I would remove both outside covers for the fridge and travel with them off. What happens?
Good luck and I look forward to your results.
Posted: 7:50 PM – Jul 08, 2014retiredfields wrote:If this were my rig, I would look at the following:1) What happens in the freezer compartments while this 90 minute temp rise occurs?
2) It seems to me that a 13 degree rise, in a fully stocked and cooled to 37F is a lot in 90 minutes. I would cool the fully stocked fridge to 37F and then turn it off for 90 minutes, without opening the doors. What does the remote temp sensor show? What temp does your remote sensor measure? Air temp? Cooling fin temp? Do you have an infrared temp gun? What does a can of beer or soda measure before and after the 90 minute test?
3) If your freezer back wall temp remains constant during the 90 minutes, then I would suspect warm air is getting in to the fridge. Could one of your fridge doors be opening and closing when you are moving? A left turn opens a door and a right turn closes it.
4) Finally, if your test in #2 confirms a 13 degree rise in 90 minutes is normal, then I would remove both outside covers for the fridge and travel with them off. What happens?
Good luck and I look forward to your results.
Awesome response and thank you!
I never really thought to monitor the freezer temp to see it is rising during travel. Great idea. If the freezer is maintaining, then it must be some type of air leak in refrigerator box. If that is the case, then it is just a process of finding the leak in the refrigerator box.
I totally agree with you about the door latches and doors staying closed securely at all times. The latch design of the double door Norcold is very poor at best. Yes, I felt that the right side door was not staying securely closed during travel. I have remedied that with some mods to the door latches. They don’t budge now and close easily and tightly now. I have used my infrared temp gun around the perimeter of the door seals and have found them consistent all the way around.
Thanks again for the input and I will report my future findings as they develop. I will have the rig out again on July 14. Thank, PhillipPosted: 6:01 PM – Jul 10, 2014I phoned Norcold today in regard to this issue.
Per my description, they feel it is a wind turbulence issue sucking the air out of the refrigerator box due to a leak in the box such as the insulation around the cooling unit. They said the unit would have to be pulled out and inspected for obvious areas of poor insulation.
As far as flame out, it all depends on several factors before a fault code would appear. It depends on how many times the burner is blown out and relit within a certain amount of time without manually turning off the unit before a fault code would appear.
I told the rep that I have tried to blow out the burner with a leaf blower and he agreed that if the leaf blower didn’t blow it out that it is probably not getting blown out.
The refrigerator box has only 2 openings – the one for the drain tube and the cut-out for the aluminum fins. In my opinion, the area around the fins would seem to be a culprit s there is a gap between the base of the fins and the plastic cut-out area. It seems that area should be sealed. PhillipPosted: 5:18 PM – Jul 16, 2014Phillip here with an update on yet another trip report. I don’t want to repeat all that I have done trying to rectify this situation but will only report what I did differ on this trip. None of the previous attempts to keep the unit cold during travel has worked.
Using my camera as an eye into the lower refrigerator vent, I was able to identify that there are 2 cooling fans as shown in the Norcold 1210 manual. This also revealed what appears to be compromises in the back of the unit as foil was curled-up around some areas.
I taped those areas up (and pretty well, actually) from the lower exterior vent with gorilla tape. Honestly, I thought I had found the culprit. NOT!!!
Monday morning, the refrig was at 34 degrees. Great! I put my 2 nights worth of refrigerated stuff inside and continued my prep to hitch up and leave. The temperature had stabilized at 38.3. Great!
Within in 1 hour, the temp had rising to 45.9. Upon arrival at my destination, it was 55 degrees! The drive down was in upper 80’s outside air temp.
Upon arrival and setting up the temp began to drop to 33-34 degrees for the entire stay. This in south FL with uppers 80’s and high humidity. refrig was set on 9 and ALAWYS is.
This morning, prior to getting ready to depart, I switched the refrig to LP to give it time to “adjust” from ac to lp.
So now for what I did different today……I have thought that wind turbulence was affecting the draft or exhaust of the hot air. A scoop to force more air into and up and out the top vent made no difference. So this morning, I taped up 2 of the 3 rungs of vents in the upper and lower vents. The fan thermostat is set at 105 so I figured during travel with the fans, the venting would be adequate and perhaps would eliminate any wind turbulence.
At the time of departure, the temp was 35.1. One hour later it was 43.7. Another 30 minutes brought the temperature to 49.5. By this time, the outside temperature was in the mid 70’s and it was pouring rain. Didn’t matter…..still cooled for c__p!
Two hours later upon arrival at the storage lot, the outside temperature was 85 and the refrig was 53!
Nothing I have done makes a difference in the cooling of the refrigerator during travel and that is regardless of outside air temperature.
I’m at wits end. PhillipP.S. From this experience, let me suggest to anyone ordering a new unit…..do yourself a favor and just get the residential refrigerator option!!!
Posted: 8:40 PM – Jul 16, 2014Phillip,I’d sure go back to Lifestyle on this. Either your unit does not cool on propane, which a tech should be able to diagnose, or they have a different design issue.
Sure sorry to hear about the challenges, but it sounds like it’s time to bring in the big dogs.
Posted: 10:00 PM – Jul 16, 2014The unit cool great on propane…..just not during travel. Oh, yeah….I don’t think it is a Lifestyle issue. I have been in touch with them. I have feelers out on another forum or two. Seems the 1200 series Norcold is a real winner! NOT! Besides all the fires and recalls, not cooling during travel due to poor sealant during build is common. I am calling tomorrow to see when a local Norcold service center can pull the unit to work their magic. Sounds like it will have to be replaced as a previous poster on anther forum had the same issue. I sure wish I had ordered the residential refrigerator option! Thanks for the good wishes. PhillipPosted: 2:57 PM – Dec 20, 2014I added this fan on the inside of our 1200 norcold it moves air great.
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2007 Carri-Lite XTRM5
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