Norcold refer model 2118 - Montana Owners Club

andrew selkregg · 08-17-2015, 02:22 PM

I have a new 3610 Rl with the Norcold Stainless Steel refrigerator, model 2118. It's the largest RV model made I'm told and it's very nice. We picked it over the residential model when we ordered the 3610. My wife and I have been on several long trips and always precool the refer a day or two before packing it to leave. The food is already cold or frozen when it goes in. The refer is cold, 14 deg. in the freezer and 34 deg. in the lower section, when we load it.

The problem comes in when you start to use it. My wife and I are retired and know how to use a refer properly. We don't leave the doors open for long, or put hot foods in the refer, etc. We have no problems with the refers in our home, keeping foods cold.

After several days of use the refer typically is 29-30 degrees in the freezer, and in the mid to upper 40's in the lower section. This means that not everything freezes and the food in the lower compartment will spoil in a few days. It will not recover more than a deg. or so overnight. Norcold only evaluates the performance empty and says it's acceptable.

Does anyone else have this refer, and are you having problems?

Thanks,

Andy

1retired06 · 08-17-2015, 04:09 PM

Assume you mean 3610? And that frig is in a slide. Sounds like it could be heat buildup from the cooling unit not venting sufficiently. We just went thru that and you are right, those temps are too warm. Ours is the smaller four door and we put a valterra fan inside to move air around, and a four inch blade 110 fan behind the lower outside vent to help push heat up and out. Really helped ours, and now run 35-37 24/7. Again we have the smaller four door norcold, but we were experiencing the same symptoms you describe. That was after the dealer replaced the unit under warranty for a failed cooling unit. You can pick up one of those 4 inch fans from Walmart for around five dollars. Worth a try.

DarMar · 08-18-2015, 03:13 AM

You probably need to have extra cooling/air flow added to the outside cavity in order to get the hot air flowing properly out the top of the outside cabinet. You should be able to hear the cooling fans run a lot while your fridge attempts to get the interior temp down to the mid 30 range or so.

If they aren't running then you have already cooked the cooling solution in your sealed system and the only solution is a fridge or cooling unit replacement. If your bank of cooling fans seem to be running frequently you may still have a cooling unit problem with particles floating around in the sealed system.

When our fridge was replaced the techs moved the sensor/thermo switch to a hotter position on the tube in order to get the cooling fans active a lot sooner providing an overall lower operating temp for our fridge and hopefully prevent another failure.

andrew selkregg · 09-10-2015, 01:18 AM

Darwin,

I was able to jumper out the temperature switch that activates the three external circulating fans, and the unit cools properly now. I never could catch the fans running before. Can you describe or take a picture showing where the switch was moved to on your unit. Mine seems to be installed on the coolest spot of the coolest fin on the condenser.

Andy

DarMar · 09-12-2015, 10:34 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by andrew selkregg

Darwin,

I was able to jumper out the temperature switch that activates the three external circulating fans, and the unit cools properly now. I never could catch the fans running before. Can you describe or take a picture showing where the switch was moved to on your unit. Mine seems to be installed on the coolest spot of the coolest fin on the condenser.

Andy

On our Dometic we have a tube that runs from left to right across the top then it curves downward and runs through those fins from right to left and back again.
Our thermo switch was attached to the farthest left cooling fin by two screws.
Our tech moved our switch up to the top tube left side long before you get to the cooling fins and attached it with light wire wrapped around the tube facing outward. As he explained, just touch the cooling fin and it was cool but when we touched the upper tube it was quite hot. The downside of all of this is that our fans run most of the day but we take comfort knowing it is providing extra cooling than the factory setting.
We have been 2.5 months with new fridge and set up, had two very hot streaks of weather and our new fridge is performing VERY well.

NCFischers · 09-14-2015, 12:33 AM

If your Norcold refer is located in a slide, a cooling fan and baffle is required to be installed above the fins in the top vent with a heat sensor control on the bottom heat tubing. This directs the heat up and out and has made a big difference in performance.

andrew selkregg · 09-27-2015, 08:15 AM

Darwin,

I moved my switch to the top tube as you described and mine is working fine. It's better than a jumper across the temperature switch, which meant that if the refer was powered on, the fans ran.

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by DarMar

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by andrew selkregg

Darwin,

I was able to jumper out the temperature switch that activates the three external circulating fans, and the unit cools properly now. I never could catch the fans running before. Can you describe or take a picture showing where the switch was moved to on your unit. Mine seems to be installed on the coolest spot of the coolest fin on the condenser.

Andy

On our Dometic we have a tube that runs from left to right across the top then it curves downward and runs through those fins from right to left and back again.
Our thermo switch was attached to the farthest left cooling fin by two screws.
Our tech moved our switch up to the top tube left side long before you get to the cooling fins and attached it with light wire wrapped around the tube facing outward. As he explained, just touch the cooling fin and it was cool but when we touched the upper tube it was quite hot. The downside of all of this is that our fans run most of the day but we take comfort knowing it is providing extra cooling than the factory setting.
We have been 2.5 months with new fridge and set up, had two very hot streaks of weather and our new fridge is performing VERY well.

DarMar · 09-27-2015, 10:51 AM

Andrew: That is great and I firmly believe it will really help to ensure these fridges don't boil from being too hot and cook the solution. Of course as you know by now the downside is that these fans will run A LOT. Just about all day and evening if one has there unit set on the coldest 5. With ours on 4 they don't run quite as much. Good luck from here for you and all the rest of us!

andrew selkregg · 09-28-2015, 01:51 AM

Yes, it's great that it's working better. It's a shame that Montana can't deliver them working, they've been putting refrigerators into slide-outs for years. I'm also a little disappointed that I specifically ordered the unit with the RV fridge so I could dry camp if I needed to, and now, with 3 DC fans running almost constantly, I might be able to get 1 overnight stay. Probably about the same as the residential unit.

DarMar · 09-28-2015, 05:01 AM

Our decision to buy rv fridge over residential was for the same reason as you but now in hindsight we will NEVER have another rv fridge as things stand now. We would much rather mess with a generator and fuel than go through all the food issues we have had in the last year or so.

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