Norcold 4 Door Fridge Not cold enough

[kozzy]

Hello all. Have a question about my fridge maybe you guys can help. Noticed yesterday, and today, that my milk was not cold like it usually is, its cool, but not cold. The fridge has been on since Memorial Day weekend. Last weekend when we were here at the camper, it was fine, now its not. SO it started sometime in the last five days while we were home and not at the camper. The freezer is working fine, but the fridge is def warmer than it should be. I don't have a thermometer with me to take actual temps, but I can tell. Only thing I noticed today was water in the lower drawer. Turned out the drain was plugged, unplugged it and the water came out, not sure its related. The weather here is a little humid, but not bad, temps in the 70's, and the unit is level. Any ideas? I currently have this parked at my dads cottage, so I emptied it out and am gonna try and see how defrosting it overnight works. I have this turned up to 8, and the coldest setting is 9. Any thoughts would be great, since I am on a 3 week long trip now, and cant get it in to be looked at.

[Carl n Susan]

Check the thermistor to ensure it is still in place on the cooling fins. Knocking it loose is a common cause of a warm refer,

[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)

[Butch & Kathy]

I have a Norcold 2118 and have always complained about the fridge temp. Freezer is always -10 or lower but fridge does not get cold enough for me. We are currently in south FL, hot and muggy, and this morning it is 42 in the fridge. On cooler days it will get to mid 30s.

One thing they did fix on mine was the door seal, the flap on left door, did not close all the way and not allow the middle seal to function. Problem was the left door was a little low, causing the middle seal to drag on the fridge floor. solution is to add a spacer to lift the door. Look at that.

[kc8lvy]

I also live in southern Florida and the fridge is to warm for me also. How did they shim up the door? Mine also drags on the bottom. I am going to add a couple of fans to the outside of the fridge to help this week end.

[Butch & Kathy]

The dealer put a couple stainless washers under the bottom door pin. I also added a 12V fan in the upper compartment to exhaust hot air. Still warmer than I would like.

[kozzy]

my thermistor was on the fins still, at the top right side.


Fridge was always great. I let it defrost overnight, today the beer is cold. Ill keep an eye on it for now I guess and see what happens. Freezer is cold as hell.
I only have one temp adjustment, for both. Is there supposed to be separate for each? and mine doesn't go up to 10, 9 is the highest

[Butch & Kathy]

To measure the fridge temp I put a small bottle of water with a hole drilled through the to and push a thermometer through the hole. It stays in all the time, this way you are reading the temp that your food and beer are at, not just the current air temp.

[richfaa]

40 degrees is the recommended temp to keep food safe in the fridge. Ours set at 5 does that.

[rohrmann]

Ours was not cooling the fridge part a while back, and when I checked the thermistor, it was corroded between the fin and the thermistor. I bought a new thermistor along with a new clip and that solved my problem. Got the parts from http://thenorcoldguy.com/ They also have suggestions to make these units work better.

[richfaa]

Yes do what rohrmann above suggest. We had that happen on our 06 3400 and we have been checking for corrosion ever since. Who would have thought. We also carry a spare thermistor.

[TLightning]

I'm amazed that Keystone continues to give the refer contract to Norcold.

[jeff_banning]

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)

I just purchased a 2018 3950BR and it is in the shop for AC won't keep camper cool and fridge is 52 degrees on 9 setting. I now see this is a known issue.

[mjammersc]

I'd love to see -10 in my freeezer. Mine is usually in the low teens. Fridge is usually in the mid 30s except when we've been in and out of it a lot. This is with it set at 6-7. I do have one of those small recirculating fans in the fridge - not sure how much it helps but it doesn't hurt.

These units do have a periodic defrost cycle they run through roughly once a day and if you catch that period they are warmer then.

[jeff_banning]

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)

Originally Posted by mjammersc

I'd love to see -10 in my freeezer. Mine is usually in the low teens. Fridge is usually in the mid 30s except when we've been in and out of it a lot. This is with it set at 6-7. I do have one of those small recirculating fans in the fridge - not sure how much it helps but it doesn't hurt.

These units do have a periodic defrost cycle they run through roughly once a day and if you catch that period they are warmer then.

I left the camper down at the lake for 4 days, returned to my gallon milk jug curdled in the bottom, clear liquid on top and expanded to the point it looked like the jug was about to blow. But... good to know there could be times if I check temp it might be high due to defrost. Thanks - Jeff

[richfaa]

Our OEM cooling unit in our Norcold failed within the first 6 months and it never kept the fridge cold enough. We paid the difference and got the quality cooling unit from that Amish company in Indiana .When you looked at the OEM and the Amish unit side by side there was a big difference. We have not had a problem since. Example the fridge has been off since we returned from Florida in mid April. Turned it on yesterday morning in preparation for our road trip starting Sat. Set at 8 the temp in the fridge was 33 degrees this AM, freezer -13 both sides. I set it back to level 5 were we usually keep it and it will stay in the 38 to 42 degree range. When your cooling unit fails get a quality cooling unit.

[bethandkevin]

We have battled this on and off since our unit was new. It last acted up last year. Stored all winter and started it up to try and diagnose it-its been fine so far. My opinion on mine is it has the scale floating around in the cooling tubes that's been discussed previously. When it does act up, everything is fine electronically-according to the repair manual I down loaded.

[Butch & Kathy]

I found this in a google search and going to try it this weekend. I am in FL, hot and muggy, so it should be a good test. The modification is to place a little insulation between the thermistor and cooling fins. I will let everyone know if it helps...

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/ind...html#msg704510

[Butch & Kathy]

Well I tried the foam insulation under the thermistor and it did not help, temperature was the same. I found that the fins iced up slightly, I guess it prevented the defrost cycle.

Another thing to do is go into diagnostic mode and check for faults and check the fin temperature. This is described on page 49 of the service manual, link below.

https://www.manualslib.com/download/...00-Series.html

[SRD]

I got tire of fighting this problem with our 4 door Norcold in our rig. I did just about everything that's been discussed and finally gave up and switched to a residential fridge this past November. We don't dry camp so I wasn't worried about battery life while traveling with the residential fridge. So far, we are really happy with the change.