Norcold 1210 - Problem

[Carl n Susan]

Go up for colder, down for warmer. Which fin it is on is inconsequential. It is sensing the temperature at it's location.

What I don't understand is we run our Norcold at 9 and it barely keeps the box at 40 degrees. We are not in a hot/humid location. I may have to investigate this further. I have a remote thermometer and will have to place it in the various compartments to see how they measure up.

[richfaa]

quote:Originally posted by carl n susan

Go up for colder, down for warmer. Which fin it is on is inconsequential. It is sensing the temperature at it's location.

What I don't understand is we run our Norcold at 9 and it barely keeps the box at 40 degrees. We are not in a hot/humid location. I may have to investigate this further. I have a remote thermometer and will have to place it in the various compartments to see how they measure up.

Thanks I am going to put a arrow there so I won't forget again.

[mainer]

Here's an update. We stopped and talked to a very helpful service rep and he told Jim some things he can look for and try.

1. Look for yellow fluid in the outside refrigerator compartment. (we did not have any)

2. Check in the outside compartment to make sure tube looking thing was hot (it was)

3. Check in the outside compartment to make sure the circuit is not tripped. You take a magnet for that one. Just not sure if you should have a red light or not. Does anyone know? Too late to call the service guy and ask.

4. Unplug the thermistor and raise temp on frig to 9. Do not open the frig for a few hours or overnight and the frig should feel like an icebox. (3 hours later, it looks like the temp is going up)

Soooo, it doesn't look good.

Again, thanks for so much help....

Marge

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by mainer

3. Check in the outside compartment to make sure the circuit is not tripped. You take a magnet for that one. Just not sure if you should have a red light or not. Does anyone know? Too late to call the service guy and ask.

The red light being on indicates the circuit has tripped. You use a big magnet to reset it. But be sure there isn't an ammonia leak (the yellow powder is the indicator).

[mainer]

Thanks Carl. The red light wasn't on, wish it was, that would have been an easy fix. No yellow powder either.

Marge

quote:Originally posted by carl n susan

The red light being on indicates the circuit has tripped. You use a big magnet to reset it. But be sure there isn't an ammonia leak (the yellow powder is the indicator).

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by mainer

Thanks Carl. The red light wasn't on, wish it was, that would have been an easy fix. No yellow powder either.

I didn't think it would have been on as it shuts the refer down hard. It would be very warm inside after a day or so.

[JandC]

Freezer went to 22 degrees yesterday in the evening for no apparent reason. It was holding between 21 and 24 degrees for over an hour. DW had defrosted a couple days ago. Shut if off, waited a couple minutes and turned it back on. After about an hour temp was back down to 15-17 degrees. Went to Lowes today and found 1/8" thick insulating tape to seal all the doors. When I started on the project I noticed that all the Norcold factory rubber seals are magnetic. Did the "dollar bill" test and really don't think the seals are an issue, plus now I'm not so sure with these newer type of magnetic seals it wouldn't make is worse by putting extra sealing tape around it. Today frig is set on 8 and freezer is holding at 5 to 8 degrees. It just seems like every few days when it starts failing to cool I can turn the whole thing off/on and then it start doing okay.

[mainer]

Here's the latest with my frig/freezer.

We found a service tech in Oregon that was recommended to us and had good reviews. Tried different things over the weekend and it didn't help. Today we had a new cooling unit installed and so far so good. So grateful to have a service contract, we only had to pay our deductible $250.00. The company picked up the $1900.00...

Thanks to everyone for the help and information.

Marge

[JandC]

Congrats on getting it fixed. I almost wish my factory warranty would hurry up and run out so I could start using my extended. I would gladly pay my deductible rather than deal with the Montana dealers I have tried to deal with.

[PackerFan]

On the Thermistor location I used to always tell customers, when I was doing walkthroughs, this to help them remember which way to move it......

If you drive North (UP) it gets COLDER and if you drive South (DOWN) it gets HOTTER!

This always helped me to remember!

[mainer]

Thanks! Hope you can get your issues wiith your frig resolved. It's not a good feeling when you don't trust your refrigerator. Do you plan on going to the rally? We had quite a few problems with our Big Sky (we had it for 3 months) and when we went to the rally everything was addressed and fixed.

Lots of luck with yours.

Marge

quote:Originally posted by JandC

Congrats on getting it fixed. I almost wish my factory warranty would hurry up and run out so I could start using my extended. I would gladly pay my deductible rather than deal with the Montana dealers I have tried to deal with.

[Exnavydiver]

Jim, we had our cooling replaced a year ago last Feb out in Vegas. It was covered by Good Sam's extended warranty. It cost us 260, 200 deductible and 60 shipping. Over the last 7 yrs we have learned a lot about the 1210 unit. We have had sulfate crystal plugs three times which we cured twice by turning the temp to 9 on gas and left it closed for 2 days. The last time it didn't work and we got the new unit. We also have 3 extra high temp boxes. One was the replacement they installed for the recall, one I got in Rapid City when we had a gully washer 5 inch rain storm and it kicked the relay out. The last one I got was from when they replaced the cooling unit. (I never toss anything out if it still works) I can now reset the relays myself or replace them and/or the control board and I could replace the cooling unit with some muscle help. Having a rig is as big a learning curve as owning a house. You either fix it yourself or pay someone to fix it. I prefer to do it myself, all I need to do is see it done once..

[JandC]

Jim, we are signed up and planning on attending the fall Goshen rally. We only have about 4 minor problems which I hope can be resolved easily while there.

[Preston & Terri]

I couldn't prevent my Norcold 1210 from freezing stuff in the fridge compartment, heavy frosting on the fins constantly, even set on "1", moved the thermistor up and down on the fin to no avail. Checked the ohm value and compared to info found on this page ( http://www.arprv.com/norcold-thermistor.html ). Replaced with new thermistor, $24, temps back to normal. Right side freezer always frosts heavy but the door seal is not tight so that's likely the problem there.

[Exnavydiver]

Frost issues are ALWAYS due to seal issues. We spent the last 3 winters in Vegas where it is very dry most of the season. The fridge box had a fairly heavy amount of frost on the fins most of the time. When we started to get rain it got worse. I did basically what the norcold tech did and added new strips of 1/2 inch magnetic tape to the existing magnetic seals and that pretty much stopped The frost problems. Use a piece of printer paper or a dollar bill and close the door on the middle of it. If it comes out easily, or just falls out then you need to work on the seals.

[rohrmann]

We had our cooling unit replaced in Las Vegas in January, due to a crystal plug, and it failed in June, this time due to a leak in the system, and had it replaced, again in Las Vegas. After the second failure, I decided to install one of those ARP devices, with the extra fan, which prevents excessive high temps in the cooling system, which causes the crystal development, and also will shut the unit down sooner than the recall device if there is a leak failure, preventing a fire. So far, the ARP device is doing it's thing, and the fridge has never worked so well, even from when new. So far, I would recommend this device, as it costs much less than any deductible, plus we haven't had to throw out food since the device was installed.

[Exnavydiver]

ARP device???

[rohrmann]

One of the fellows at the Jackson rally suggested it, said Mac the fire guy had said it was good, and there was an artical in the Escapees magazine. So, prior to having the cooling unit replaced, I ordered one. Their web site is www.arprv.com

[rohrmann]

quote:Originally posted by rohrmann

One of the fellows at the Jackson rally suggested it, said Mac the fire guy had said it was good, and there was an article in the Escapees magazine. So, prior to having the cooling unit replaced, I ordered one. Their web site is www.arprv.com

[dieselguy]

Exnavy ... I had a post about this item a while back. It does it's job as advertised ... the sooner you decide to install one the better. The ARP will not fix an older fridge that already has a bunch of crystals built up in the system due to overheating.
http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/...earchTerms=ARP