Refrigerator and Oven Without Power (DESPERATE) - Montana Owners Club

Draaago · 08-11-2020, 11:16 PM

Hello all,
I apologize for my first post being one seeking assistance, however we are in quite a bind. My wife and I have been full-timing since January and things have been going pretty well until the wheels started to fall off (almost literally) a few weeks ago. Our current issue pertains to the refrigerator (Norcold 2118) and oven (Furrion) in our 2017 Montana 3730FL.

I awoke this AM to find our fridge completely without power (no light inside, no power to control panel on front, no cooling). Went to the fuse box, where I find the fuse in the slot labeled "kitchen slide" is blown with a red indicator. First thought was to throw in a new fuse, which blew instantly. Being the electrical virgin that I am, I may or may not have blown a couple more fuses trying to replace it, thinking this might solve the issue. I know know that the blown fuse is merely an indicator of an underlying issue, but so it goes. After doing some research, I remove the lower panel on the exterior of the slide to peep the scene. To my inexperienced eyes, everything appears in place. I checked the in-line 3A fuse as well as the glass fuse and 5A fuse inside the control panel box, all of which appear to be intact (I do not have a test light). None of the wires appear to be frayed or caught on anything. After doing further research, I gleaned that the 12V power supply is likely the issue, given the lack of power to the front control panel. I checked power to the 120V outlet supplying the fridge by plugging in a phone charger, which worked as expected. At the suggestion of a tech to whom I spoke over the phone, I tried disconnecting the 12V supply to the rear of the fridge and inserting another fuse at the fuse box, which again blew instantly. This tech led me to believe that this suggests that the issue lies somewhere in the wiring between the RV fuse box and the 12V power supply, as opposed to in the refrigerator itself (??). I inspected the 12V wiring as best I could from the rear of the fridge all the way to where it goes up into the body of trailer near the convenience center and it appears intact.

This is about as far as I got today. It was only after all of this that I came in to learn that the oven is without power as well. The stovetop, microwave and hideaway outlet in the slide all have power, and the slide itself cooperated when I checked to see if it would slide on command. It is beyond my knowledge to understand how, but I am sure the fridge and oven issues are related in some way.

In case it is at all relevant, yesterday morning I drained and flushed the hot water heater, which is about 10 ft away from the fridge. We also packed up and brought the trailer to a local tire shop and back to the campground yesterday afternoon. After both of these events, the fridge was functioning fine and continued to do so until we went to bed around midnight. Fast forward 9 hours, the fridge is giving me nothing and I am in for a long day.

Our current circumstances of full-timing and moving relatively frequently, in combination with the fact that seemingly all RV repair shops (mobile or brick and mortar) are booked 2+ weeks out and having difficulty getting parts, really has me sweating hard. If anyone has any thoughts, advice or ideas, I would be unbelievably grateful. We are going to be on the road tomorrow but I will get back to any responses or questions here ASAP. Thank you so much.

beeje · 08-12-2020, 05:11 AM

Remove the outside top vent and check for 12 volt wires laying up against the boiler tube coming up. Look down with a light. I found burnt up wires on one of our previous campers.

beeje · 08-12-2020, 05:13 AM

Also check under the slide were all the wires/propane lines move when the slide goes in.

Draaago · 08-12-2020, 11:13 PM

Thanks for the reply. Is the boiler tube a part of the fridge's LP system? We did run that for the 3+ hours the trailer was at the shop. I'll check it out as soon as a ladder or something tall enough to get up there.

I was able to inspect the 12V wires where they exit the slide and move down under the body of the trailer. There are a couple of places where the black plastic sleeve they are contained in is broken and the wires are visible, however the wires themselves look like they are in fine shape.

beeje · 08-13-2020, 04:09 AM

The boiler tube gets hot weather using electric or LP

GHallof · 08-13-2020, 07:15 AM

Read through your post. Even though I can't speak to your exact issue. I wanted to pass along my experience with my 12v runs into each one of my slides.

I have 5 slides on my 2017. 4 of them are fed with 12v from the outside chassis. I progressively lost 12v to each of them over a 3 month period. Initially I thought it was critter related.

On my Montana, and one would like to think that other 2017's were built somewhat consistently, but you know what happens when we assume. Each slide has a corrugated conduit containing the wires that enter the slide. Kinda a pigtail that appeared to me to be a slide connection point for the wiring as it comes from the main chassis. When I pulled each of these connections back out of the "main chassis" exit points. I was met with the most awful example of workmanship. Corrugated conduit containing wires wrapped in what appeared to be duct tape. Removed the duct tape and found that blue barrel connectors that were used to splice the slide pigtail 12v to the main chassis 12v. Not an issue when done appropriately. In each case the worker making the connections, crimped the living heck out of the connectors to the point that any insulating value of the barrel connector itself was gone. The plastic of the barrel connectors would slide off of the crimp points or damaged so badly that they were a short waiting to happen. On top of this the way the tape was placed around the end of the corrugated tubing it formed a perfect pocket for water and debris to gather around the connections and corroded the connections to the point of just barely hanging on or complete separation. Needless to say all four points have been repaired appropriately now and no more issues.

My suggestion to you is to ensure you inspect all the way to the crimp points if you haven't already. Its worth it. While your at it. Do them all.

Draaago · 08-13-2020, 11:07 AM

Ok. I'll get up there and take a look. Thank you kindly.

Draaago · 08-13-2020, 11:10 AM

"The boiler tube gets hot weather using electric or LP"

Ok. I'll get up there and take a look. Thank you kindly.

Draaago · 08-13-2020, 11:17 AM

"My suggestion to you is to ensure you inspect all the way to the crimp points if you haven't already. Its worth it. While your at it. Do them all."

I checked the 12V wire pretty thoroughly from where it exits the kitchen slide as far as I could without starting to tear off panels. I actually found one of the barrel connectors you mentioned directly below the water heater. Being as I had just flushed the heater and the wires looked a little funky at that point, I cut out and replaced the barrel connector. Despite having been told that it was unlikely that this would be the source of the problem, I had high hopes when I went in to insert a new fuse. But alas, it again blew instantly.

I'll get back down there and re-inspect as much as I can again. Thanks for the tip.

whutfles · 08-19-2020, 10:31 PM

Disconnect your power from the Campground's Pole and remove the cover on your fuse box. The floppy lid comes off and probably 4 screws hold the cover over the unit. Tighten all of the lugs and screws on any that have wires in them. Make sure a wire hasn't fallen out of it's lug and maybe shorting to something nearby.

I had the same issue with a 12V wire connected with a crimped connector broken off where that corugated plastic protector went into the RV. It was the elect source for lights in a slide.

whutfles · 08-19-2020, 10:34 PM

Disconnect your neg battery cable also since your playing with 12V wires.

jeririgged223 · 08-20-2020, 12:44 PM

When my 120 volt appliances such as the refrigerator, Central Vac and AC units went out I checked my circuit breakers and fuses and found them all to be fine even after flipping all the breakers just to make sure . That's when I found found that it was actually my GFCI plug in the bathroom. When we could neither reset it or test it I went to Lowe's bought another installed it and all went well from there. Sometimes it's hard know what is what because lights are working on battery and other things are only working off the 120v system.

Draaago · 08-24-2020, 05:23 PM

Update:
I was able to get an authorized Norcold repair shop to send a guy out and take a look. Turns out the refrigerator and oven both share the same 12V power supply. When the repairman cut off supply to the oven, the fridge kicked on without issue. He says there is likely a short in the oven that was causing the fuse to blow and cutting off power to the fridge.

He didn't have a Furrion igniter assembly (which he says is equivalent to a control board) and wouldn't be able to get one in the amount of time we were in town. As such, he left the power supply to the oven disconnected and gave me a general idea of what to look for back there with assurance that it would be pretty easy get under there and diagnose. I plan to follow up with a new thread regarding how to remove the oven, as I think it is a separate issue from the one I originally described in my post. However, as it stands now, I have an oven without power and was unable to remove the oven during my first attempt. I have ordered the igniter assembly from Furrion with hopes that it will be useful if/when I get the oven out.

If anyone has advice as to how to properly remove the oven vent that exits the countertop directly behind the stovetop, I would be very grateful, as this is where I am having a problem. No problem with any of the mounting screws, but the vent is proving troublesome.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, I truly appreciate your time and advice.

Kiernan's Mom · 09-20-2020, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beeje

Remove the outside top vent and check for 12 volt wires laying up against the boiler tube coming up. Look down with a light. I found burnt up wires on one of our previous campers.

I am wondering if there is anyway to save messages that have answers that are of interest to me, so that I can return and find them later.
I purchased my 2002 Montana and the precious owner told me something on the 12-v lines got broken or something. He said the frig needs a connection to the battery to function. His solution was to run a wire (outside extension chord with the ends cut off) from the battery to the back of the frig. I connect one end to the battery up front and the other to the back of the frig. The unit works.
I would like to be able to find this post again to use your check when I have more time. but don't know how to flag it. I am hoping by replying I will be able to find a link back. TY

beeje · 09-20-2020, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiernan's Mom

I am wondering if there is anyway to save messages that have answers that are of interest to me, so that I can return and find them later.
I purchased my 2002 Montana and the precious owner told me something on the 12-v lines got broken or something. He said the frig needs a connection to the battery to function. His solution was to run a wire (outside extension chord with the ends cut off) from the battery to the back of the frig. I connect one end to the battery up front and the other to the back of the frig. The unit works.
I would like to be able to find this post again to use your check when I have more time. but don't know how to flag it. I am hoping by replying I will be able to find a link back. TY

Take a pic of the post with your smart phone.

whutfles · 09-20-2020, 07:49 PM

Or hold your finger on the text you want to save and when you lift your finger it should display an action bar - COPY | SHARE | SELECT ALL | WEB SEARCH Click on Select All and then go to your Notes App or Word App or some app on your device or computer where you have started a repository of these topics, open the note or file in that app and get in the mode where you can edit that note or file, hold your finger where you want to paste the hint, let up and it should bring up an action bar that says PASTE. Click PASTE and save it.

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