Fridge!

John8545 · 01-24-2013, 06:43 PM

It must be my luck, two different refrigerators, two different company, same problem! We had Dometic fridge in our MH, after 2 1/2 years cooling unit went out, replacement! Now, 7 months into owning Norcold, same problem, cooling unit needs replacing! And it will be 7 days until new unit arrives. It would be funny if it wasn't problem with keeping food cool. Anyone else has had as much luck?

jlandon13399 · 01-24-2013, 06:59 PM

Found out today that another forum member lost his Norcold fridge after he had his rig washed. Luckly he was able to wire around the problem until the right parts arrive.

Beechguyjim · 01-24-2013, 11:14 PM

Did that yesterday had the rig washed and refrigerator thru a code the high temp limit board let go I wired around it and tried to get the board today and was told they will not sell it to you they only want a service tech to replace it under warranty! It cut the 12 volts to the unit if it think it got hot.
I also had the awning on the Slideout quit ran it down to a fuze that let enough juice pass to fool a voltmeter but not the awning and the red light never came on.

**Dave&Ginny** · 01-24-2013, 11:14 PM

How does washing the rig hurt the fridg. ?

Beechguyjim · 01-24-2013, 11:18 PM

Dave the circuit board is mounted on the back of it and it seems that any water on it takes it outEdited by: Beechguyjim

Beechguyjim · 01-24-2013, 11:26 PM

For info only I AM NOT TELLING ANYONE TO DO THIS............
You can take the Red wire and Blue on the little box with the solid Red light and tie them together and the reefer will work
Be aware the this removes the over temp protection from the circuit

**Dave&Ginny** · 01-25-2013, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beechguyjim

Dave the circuit board is mounted on the back of it and it seems that any water on it takes it out

I guess I'll have to modify this somehow

5th_Time · 01-25-2013, 08:51 AM

Yikes, never heard of this and I have washed my Redwood a (vast) number of times (Ha).

Could it be that the washing was done usinga pressure washer?

SueMar · 01-25-2013, 09:59 AM

We had the same problem after a heavy, blowing rain. Refrigerator shut itself off, code on display indicated high temp cutoff and that it was not a problem we could fix, that we needed to call for service. We called a serviceman and by the time he got there, it had reset itself. Since he was there, we asked him to check things out. In addition to the rain, the panel at the top of the compartment had dropped down and was blocking the vent, keeping the heat in, and allowing it to build up (and trip the hi temp control). He was able to push it back up into place and secure it with a screw so we wouldn't have that problem again. He also found that the bottom of the compartment was wet from more than the rain.The overflow hose for the evaporation pan had been left inside instead of draining outside. He re-routed it so we wouldn't have that problem (would have rotted out the bottom of the compartment over time). He told us they (Norcold and other mftr's) use the same size evaporation pan for both sizes of refrigerator and it simply isn't big enough for the larger ones (we have a 12 cu ft) so it's imperative that the hose drain outside. Bottom line,it wasn't a refrigerator problem, it was a RWinstallation problem (quality control again). We had to pay him because it wasn't a refrigerator warranty problem. We've sent the bil to RW to be reimbursed.

Beechguyjim · 01-25-2013, 10:41 AM

Ya they used a pressure washer I an thinking of putting a decal warning not to direct any water at the vents OH maybe they need to be in Spanish too

jlandon13399 · 01-25-2013, 11:17 AM

I have a 12 cu ft fridge and the hose is NOT drained outside. Guess I will be removing a panel this weekend to check it out. The last thing we all need is a floor that has rotted out.

SueMar · 01-25-2013, 12:21 PM

he just routed it through one of the slots in the lower vent -- took him only a few seconds

jlandon13399 · 01-25-2013, 04:08 PM

Thanks Sue. I figured that is what I had to do.

DonMac · 01-26-2013, 01:11 PM

Question..has anyone taken the top vent (outside) off there frig unit to discover a piect of paneling across most of it. Idid and was going to remove it to get more heat out of the back of the refrig but was advised by a repair tech not to as it assisted the heat to rise out of vent. Also seems goofy but the piece of foil type paneling above the refrig that someone on page one spoke of is hanging down to deflect the heat out of the top vent. Has anyone else looked in this area?

Beechguyjim · 01-26-2013, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonMac

Question..has anyone taken the top vent (outside) off there frig unit to discover a piect of paneling across most of it. IÂ*did and was going to remove it to get more heat out of the back of the refrig but was advised by a repair tech not to as it assisted the heat to rise out of vent. Also seems goofy but the piece of foil type paneling above the refrig that someone on page one spoke of is hanging down to deflect the heat out of the top vent. Has anyone else looked in this area?

That's the way it is and they wonder why they catch fire.........
Also the drain hose does go into a very small tray! Be warned if the over temp limit board gets wet or a voltage spike or a tech told me the House battery goes flat the Board is toast. By the way nobody has it in stock Norcold will not send it out without the model and serial number and the will only send to a service center, you have to take the unit to them they will not pay for a service call.
I went thru this yesterday, I know my board is bad put it in a working reefer and it shut it down call Norcold and all I got was NO NO NO HELL NO you have to wait until we send it to a service center! I asked as to what to do with the food and they said get some ice!

SueMar · 01-26-2013, 07:51 PM

Who was the tech that told you that? Doesn't seem to make sense that they'd put in a vent and then partially block it. Out service guy seemed to be pretty knowledgeable and he screwed the foil covered panel up, out of the way of the vent (also knew about the size of the drain pan). When I spoke to Brian about it, he didn't say that it was supposed to be there, blocking the vent -- just said to send the bill and they'd reimburse us.

mhs4771 · 01-26-2013, 10:37 PM

I know if you have the 4 door Norcold Fridge and it's in the slide (like most RWs) there are fans near the top vent that a t'stat controlled so I don't know why you would block part of the area unless is was to make the fans more efficient pulling the hot air out. I'll have to check our control board out and see if it's exposed and subject to getting wet. There is a process called "Conformal Coat" that can be applied to circuit boards to make them water resistant. It's used on all Military electronic equipment such as ManPak Radios and suchthat could possibly get wet.

DonMac · 01-27-2013, 01:06 PM

OK..so I had to check and fix many things on this rig when I got it. In doing so I checked the outside lower access panel to the rear of the refrig all seemed in tact. I then got a ladder to check the top access panel. When I opened yhe panel to my supprise there was ( and still is) a piece of paneling covering the whole access to the inside except about 4 inches from the top. The roof of this area has a reflective piece of board (like the one next to your furnace in the cargo area). This board is hanging down and not attached and slightly bent. I was going to remove the piece of paneling as I thought it was another mistake in building this rig as there was so many that I fixed or had fixed. I was at an RV dealer in Montana and was talking to a repair tech and mentioned the refrig. He told me not to remove the paneling as they are made that way and the top board hangs down to reflect the heat outside. Well that seemed goofey to me. So I went back and screwed the top board up so it was not hanging and noticed less heat seemed to come out the vent so I let it back down and left the paneling in place. This was last June 2012. So if anyone else is physically able to look in in the top access panel and see what they have please let me know. It seems there are many answers for the same questions. By they way I had three landing jacks replaced and the repair tech advised me that he had put the KIT on the jacks to stop the popping noise. KITS ??? I just spoke to lippert and the said they were still working on the problem. So many answers to the same question. So far no popping.

**Dave&Ginny** · 01-27-2013, 06:21 PM

Don, when it comes to the jacks....the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing I'm afraid. I don't know much about the frig ...mine works when I want it to so far. I hope it stays that way.

John8545 · 01-27-2013, 09:41 PM

Wow, so many problems, my fridge lost cooling unit somehow, hope thats all! Thursday service guy is coming to install new unit, hope it gets fixed.
Question now is, had to buy a small fridge to save food we had in fridge, you think Norcold would pony up for my cost? Maybe split the cost? I know Redwood will not.Edited by: John8545

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