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Old 11-02-2012, 02:07 PM   #1
MuddyPaws
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Help for Norcold Refrigerators

Hi Everyone. I haven't been around here much because we sold out Montana and bought a motorhome. I've been pretty active over on IRV2 and I think I have someting worth sharing here.

I was never happy with the inside temperature of the Dometic 1200LRIM refer. The coldest spot in the box was usually way over 40F no matter what the exterior (1 through 9) setting was. That meant that the warm places were probably close to 50F.

A while back I heard of an adjustable thermostat for Dometic Refrigerators and bought one from the website hoping that it would work for my Norcold. I was wrong on that count but being a tinkerer I found that I could add about 4K to the resistance and get the Dometic unit in the range that Norcold expects. Once I had it in the range I was concerned about the longevity of the device because I had it clipped to the fin and it was not designed for that location. I contacted the engineer/designer/owner and explained what I was up to and it got him interested enough to develop a specific model for Norcold.

Over the next couple of months I tested several prototypes and they now have a very stable unit that mounts on the refrigerator wall near the fins. The advantages to that location is that its more thermally stable than the fin, and the constant freeze/thaw cycle of the system won't damage the electronics.

I just finished testing one of the first production units and I have to say that I am quite happy with how it worked out.

During our last outing the refrigerator never got over 41F during meal prep, i.e. open, close, open, close, open walk away etc. It seemed to recover to 35F faster than it used to as well. The freezer compartments were -10 on the right and +10 on the left, probably because the icemaker was making cubes. But more importantly our ice cream was not soft! Outside temps ranged from 55 to 95. In the heat of the day it went up to 38 when the sun was directly on the refer side of the coach. The external setting (1 through 9) was on 3 the whole weekend. Previously we would have to turn it up to 9 to keep things even slightly cool. I'm sure the thermostat has much more influence over the temperature than the external setting.

There's a rumor going 'round that running a Norcold above setting 4 makes it get warmer inside and my testing seems to support that.

I’m not going to say that this $23 gadget is going to fix everything that’s not quite right with our Norcolds, but it did get mine down to the temperature I wanted. BTW, the thermostat is nowhere near its coldest setting.

www.snip-the-tip.com Adjustable thermostat for most Norcold/Dometic refers.

Still missin' my Montana. But when we go back to a fiver it WILL have the auto leveling jacks! I've gotten spoiled.
 
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Old 11-02-2012, 04:46 PM   #2
DQDick
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Thanks for the info. It'll be interesting to see if they hold up over time.
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Old 11-05-2012, 06:33 AM   #3
Bigboomer
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Muddypaws,

Curious as to how you are measuring your temps in the fridge. I was getting higher than I expected readings when just using an air thermometer inside the box. After speaking with a tech at a local Keystone RV dealer he said that you cannot get accurate readings that way with an absorbtion type fridge and to put a cup of water in the fridge with a submersible thermometer. This will give you accurate readings.

Once I did that I was able to see that although the air temp inside said mid 40's the actual water temp was actually mid 30's. This is what the actual food temps would be. I was able to lower the temp setting and now running between 6 and 7 to keep the food right in and around mid to upper 30's.

Only time ice cream gets soft is when fridge goes on defrost but it quickly hardens up afterwards.

Les

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Old 11-05-2012, 12:27 PM   #4
MuddyPaws
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I used four different thermometers. A dial, liquid, digital, and a non contact IR on the outside of containers of liquid (you know......beer) I put a glass of water in the refer to verify that it was not getting lower than 32F. I was not aware of the arcane method you mention, but I suspect that the IR temp of a beer can would be a fair approximation.

I've been dealing with poor cooling in this refer since we got the motorhome. Since putting the adjustable thermistor in I have been happy with it. Problem solved.

I may still want to install fans to suck more air through the coils but I'm going to wait until summer to see if I need them.
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