Norcold 1210 cooling issues? - Montana Owners Club

bethandkevin · 08-17-2016, 02:29 AM

Just returned from a ten day trip. First stop was our favorite meat market. By the second day it was clear our frig was not cooling correctly. 1st I checked and found the cooling fans not running. Jumpered past the thermostatic switch with a fuse to run the fans with no change. Unplugged the thrmister-no change. Tried running on propane-no change. Checked a/c voltage at plug-ok. Downloaded the repair manual to my phone, but found it all but impossible to flip back and forth through a 100 page manual to reference schematics on one page and a flow chart on another. With $180.00 of meat at risk, we were putting block ice in the fridge to keep food cool and eating things before we really planned to keep from having to throw food away. Drinking my coffee one morning, it came to me that we disconnect the battery to reset everything else on the rigs that are electronic, why not try that? I did and we left for a day trip. That evening the temperature had dropped while operating on a/c voltage. Never really achieved anything lower than 40* temp though. Now home and most everything out of it, temp is at 37*. Any ideas from the experienced crowd?

speedster100 · 08-17-2016, 03:15 AM

Nope other than I've read/heard that some doors are not properly hung/aligned so the seals aren't tight allowing cold out. Touch wood we've had no issues with ours, we boondock at bluegrass festivals regularly and during the month and a half we were gone from the house we had the fridge loaded right up. Freezer full, fridge full as we were living in it, initially had the settings at 6 but had to turn that down to 5 as the fridge was freezing tomatoes and other vegetables and would not thaw meat even after a few days. This was in the heat & high humidity, It is now set at 4 and doing fine. Good luck hope you find the issue.

**DQDick** · 08-17-2016, 05:06 AM

Could it be one of those deals where they do the magnet reset after a power issue?

cdaniels · 08-17-2016, 05:19 AM

I hate to say this but..... Our unit would cool not cool, cool not cool. As u we tried everything. Off on would cool. Eventually it just stopped on our way home from a trip last spring. We pulled it out and hubby installed the french door Samsung. what a difference! We did mot do any battery inverter back up because we never camp without electric. Traveling to and from cg we drove 16 hrs and still everything cold, solid as a rock.

speedster100 · 08-17-2016, 05:29 AM

If the magnet reset was needed it would be throwing a code I expect. One thing I do know is they do suck the propane up when it is super hot out we were using a 30lb tank a week. But the fridge was good and cold despite being loaded up with food and condiments.

bethandkevin · 08-17-2016, 05:53 AM

[quote]Originally posted by DQDick

Could it be one of those deals where they do the magnet reset after a power issue?
[/quot

I thought about this Dick. I did not have a red light on, as is supposed to be the case if needed. I did try a magnet I had, but wasn't confident it was needed or that the magnet was strong enough. I did purchase one after it started working. I probably won't be able to find it if I ever need it. We are considering going to the Fall Rally this year. Do you think this is an item I might discuss with a Keystone tech? As you may remember, we had this issue at the 10th Annual and first rally we attended.

jcurtis934 · 08-17-2016, 06:15 AM

If you have the installation manual, read it and compare to what you see in that top vent. My fridge has worked tons better since I corrected the lack of insulation and improper metal to guide the airflow. Is it perfect...no, but temps more tightly controlled in all types of weather. Do I still want the samsung residental fridge...heck yes! Hope you find out why yours is acting up. John

jameswbarton · 08-17-2016, 06:55 AM

Read the Norcold Installation Material. You might find it is not installed per specifications and the rear chimney area is too large and air is bypassing the top coils. Many also add fans the the lower fin unit to get more vertical airflow, and some roof vents do not allow the air to exit freely.

**DQDick** · 08-17-2016, 08:32 AM

I thought about this Dick. I did not have a red light on, as is supposed to be the case if needed. I did try a magnet I had, but wasn't confident it was needed or that the magnet was strong enough. I did purchase one after it started working. I probably won't be able to find it if I ever need it. We are considering going to the Fall Rally this year. Do you think this is an item I might discuss with a Keystone tech? As you may remember, we had this issue at the 10th Annual and first rally we attended.
[/quote]

Yes, and yes. I'm already working on my short list for the tech.

rohrmann · 08-17-2016, 09:10 AM

If there is no power to the cooling fans, you may have a bad control board. We lost our first cooling unit due to a blockage in the cooling unit. Less than six months later, lost the replacement unit due to a leak. There are quite a few things that can go wrong with these things. I wouldn't even think of checking anything else until you get the fans working, they are extremely important. I even added an ARP device after the second cooling unit replacement. The last problem was the thermistor was bad, which. I replaced. We are getting close to replacing this thing with a residential unit, but hesitate because we like the ability to run it on propane. You might be better off calling around for a good mobile tech that is good with these fridges.

bethandkevin · 08-17-2016, 10:51 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by rohrmann

If there is no power to the cooling fans, you may have a bad control board. We lost our first cooling unit due to a blockage in the cooling unit. Less than six months later, lost the replacement unit due to a leak. There are quite a few things that can go wrong with these things. I wouldn't even think of checking anything else until you get the fans working, they are extremely important. I even added an ARP device after the second cooling unit replacement. The last problem was the thermistor was bad, which. I replaced. We are getting close to replacing this thing with a residential unit, but hesitate because we like the ability to run it on propane. You might be better off calling around for a good mobile tech that is good with these fridges.

There is power to the fans. The thermostatic control switch on the fins completes the circuit to operate them. I by-passed it with a fuse and they run ok.

Bigboomer · 08-17-2016, 04:00 PM

Our friends Nocold just did the same thing in Prince George during our Alaskan trip. Once tested the coils were shot so they opted for the Samsung frig like we have.

We live our Samsung...cold beer, hard ice cream and room for 45 lbs of Halibut and 12 lbs of Sockeye salmon!

Tomzspot · 12-10-2019, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdaniels

I hate to say this but..... Our unit would cool not cool, cool not cool. As u we tried everything. Off on would cool. Eventually it just stopped on our way home from a trip last spring. We pulled it out and hubby installed the french door Samsung. what a difference! We did mot do any battery inverter back up because we never camp without electric. Traveling to and from cg we drove 16 hrs and still everything cold, solid as a rock.

What model res fridge did you get?

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