Norcold 4 Door Fridge Not cold enough

[kozzy]

Does the residential fridge fit in the same location? I didn't see anything with the thermistor, this last trip, it was great, then started to get a little on the less cool side, but by the end of the 4 day trip, was great again. Seems to happen when I have more items in the fridge. I notice it when my milks is not as cold as it usually is...very strange. My unit is out of warrantee, but I do have the extended warrantee.

[kozzy]

I measured the temp of my fridge today. Freezer at back wall is 12 degrees F
Fridge at the fins is 33-35 degrees
bottom shelf of fridge is 45 degrees

I have it set at 8, 9 is the coolest. Its about 80 here today.

What is the normal range??? anyone know?
thanks

[jeff_banning]

Originally Posted by kozzy

I measured the temp of my fridge today. Freezer at back wall is 12 degrees F
Fridge at the fins is 33-35 degrees
bottom shelf of fridge is 45 degrees

I have it set at 8, 9 is the coolest. Its about 80 here today.

What is the normal range??? anyone know?
thanks

That's pretty close to real usable I would think - I don't know what RV normal is but the FDA recommends -

"To ensure that your refrigerator is doing its job, it's important to keep its temperature at 40 °F or below; the freezer should be at 0 °F. Since few refrigerator controls show actual temperatures, using an inexpensive freestanding appliance thermometer will allow you to monitor the temperature and adjust the setting"

[mjammersc]

Your numbers are about the same for my freezer but I usually see below 40 in my fridge. A couple tips from my experience to get better temps in the fridge:


Make sure the center flap/overlap piece on the left door is snapping fully in place (hard to describe but if you look you'll know what I am talking about) as mine sticks often.


When you stock the fridge, make sure you don't have any large flat items, especially something like bacon packages or similar, that are on the upper shelves that would hinder good air circulation/convection.


If the fridge is on a side of the trailer that is exposed to the sun, it will have to work harder unless shaded.


Make sure the external cooling fan is running to help vent the fridge - you should be able to hear it outside of the rig by the fridge vents when it runs.


Consider adding one the cheap circulation fans to see if that helps. I run one but haven't done any real comparative tests to see how much it helps but it is cheap insurance. I am referring to one of these (I have the gray one)
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...-airator/21016
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...f-switch/38134

[kozzy]

I got this from Norcold earlier, they consider 21 degrees or less for the freeze without an ice maker, or 14 degrees of less with, to be normal.
As for the fridge, they said it should be below 40 degrees. So at the fins I'm 33-35 degrees, and the lower shelf I am at 45 degrees. I also red in a different forum that you can move the thermister to a different fin, and that makes a difference. I am going to try that tonight and see what happens.

[SRD]

Originally Posted by kozzy

Does the residential fridge fit in the same location? I didn't see anything with the thermistor, this last trip, it was great, then started to get a little on the less cool side, but by the end of the 4 day trip, was great again. Seems to happen when I have more items in the fridge. I notice it when my milks is not as cold as it usually is...very strange. My unit is out of warrantee, but I do have the extended warrantee.

I had the Norcold 1200 4 door rv fridge. There was a sub floor my rv fridge sat on to raise the fridge up a few inches in the slide the rv fridge was in and a vacant space below the sub floor. I removed the sub floor and the residential fridge fit well into the space. We bought the Samsung RF18HFENBSR from Home Depot when it was on sale. I had already removed the rv fridge when the residential fridge was delivered and the delivery folks carried the new fridge into the camper (they had to take the doors and the freezer drawer off and then they reinstalled the doors and the drawer). I had to cap off the gas line to the rv fridge, install an inverter and put the residential fridge on it's own circuit. It wasn't difficult work, but it was some work to get it done.

[jeff_banning]

So looking at the Norcold site, mine is the 2118 PolarMax and the dealer scared me into extended warranty by telling me the refrigerator goes in with the slide at the factory and cannot be removed or replaced without pulling the slide ($5000 labor)... so was this BS or not? The extended warranty was just dollars on the payment not to deal with major issues so I bit even though I fix 99% of all issues.

[kozzy]

I got the extended warrantee too. I'm not sure if they have to take the slide out or not, its possible.
I do know that is an expensive fridge though

I just pulled the thermistor out, I googled and there is a way to test it with a volt meter. I'm going to test mine shortly and see if it is that simple.

[Eagleback]

My good friend Mark who owns RV Support services in st. Louis and winters here in Naples replaced my norcold 1210 cooing unit with a new arctic cold replacement under the extended warranty, and the fridge is -8 at the back and 37 in the fridge set on 4. but he did say that these fridges are taken in and out through the back window, Of course the window will have to be removed first. Lol

[mjammersc]

You do not have to remove the slide to remove the 2118. Mine had to be pulled once to fix a connector on the rear

[kozzy]

For those following, I found the issue. The 12v fans in the rear of the fridge, there are 3 of them, stopped working. Did some trouble shooting, turns out the thermal switch that turns them on and off broke, happened in my Grand Design too. I bypassed the switch, and now the fans are running again.
So ill keep it bypassed for now and get a new switch in there as soon as I can .... carry on.

[mjammersc]

Glad you found the culprit. That is what they first suspected was the issue on mine but it turned out there was a power connector to the fans in the middle of a wire bundle on the rear of the fridge that was disconnected (I suspect never connected) and they had to pull the fridge to access it.

[Arizonacouple]

We are in Georgia near the South Carolina border and it is HOT & HUMID. If we never open the fridge door it will stay around 33/34 degrees. Start to open the doors for items and the temperature will rise. We just had lunch and the temperature in the fridge is now 37 degrees.

Without a compressor we just have to grin and bear it until it gets "cooler" again in the evening/night.

When our grandsons visited we learned to keep a cooler filled with water bottles on ice. Before that the kids opened the fridge doors constantly and we had the temperature inside the fridge in the 50's.

I do like the idea of a residential fridge and I might look into that.

[kozzy]

ok, I lied, I didn't figure it out, Thought I had it. Talked to an RV tech close to my house that deals with Norcold, seems to him like the cooling unit needed to be replaced. wonderful .
Apparently its a common issue with Norcold, he was telling me he had 5 units, the 1200, fail in the last 2 weeks. the 2118 uses the same cooling unit I believe. Anyway, I'm taking it to him next Thursday when I return home from my current trip. ill keep you guys posted., Norcold had a recall on the 1200 cooling units a few years back, maybe they have more issues again .

[raceone2]

What model did you switch too and did it fit the existing hole
?
Thanks

[raceone2]

I replaced the board in mine (twice) and it fixed the problem both times. I hope this board last longer than the first. Now the setting on 4 for 35 degree.

[8amps]

Ours is a bit cooler, but then we have traveled to a slightly cooler area. The tech said it was at 40 and that is "within spec" - I'd like it colder. But it's better than 50, which is what it was. He also said the door with the flap MUST be closed first and then the other door. We were just opening a single door (depending what we wanted out) and not closing them in any particular order. We'll see if that helps. Will move drinks, etc. to the right since those are the quick grabs.

[fre1fred2]

I just got by 3950BR (Norcold) fridge and just plugged in two days ago to check for first time. Got home yesterday evening and fridge was 95 degrees!...Freezer Ice cold. Checked all things mentioned in the forums that I've read, could not find anything. What I did find was the center flange on the left door was not coming back fully when the left door shut. What this was doing was not letting the right door fully seal. No matter how hard I shut left door the flange would not come back fully flush. So I pulled flange to me manually and shut fridge up last night. I was skeptical this was the issue, but I got up this morning and fridge temp is 31! So now just have to figure out why that center piece isn't working correctly.

[DarMar]

Originally Posted by kozzy

ok, I lied, I didn't figure it out, Thought I had it. Talked to an RV tech close to my house that deals with Norcold, seems to him like the cooling unit needed to be replaced. wonderful .
Apparently its a common issue with Norcold, he was telling me he had 5 units, the 1200, fail in the last 2 weeks. the 2118 uses the same cooling unit I believe. Anyway, I'm taking it to him next Thursday when I return home from my current trip. ill keep you guys posted., Norcold had a recall on the 1200 cooling units a few years back, maybe they have more issues again .

My guess is when your thermo switch failed and the cooling fans didn't come on that it cooked the fluid mixture inside the unit causing it to crystallize. Same thing can happen again if one doesn't have the proper air flow behind the unit.

[mamamoose]

Originally Posted by 8amps

Where should the thermistor be at? Top of fins? Middle? Bottom? Our fridge is having the same issue, except it is on 9 and cool but not cold. (Just got it 2 weeks ago - 2017 Montana 3950BR)

we have q 2014 big sky and have never had cold milk so starting using the blue ice blocks and has really helped.have to rotate blocks ever so many hours but they keep our creamer and milk from spoiling.just put blocks back in freezer to refreeze for the next rotation.