Fridge temperature rising

[Grandpa]

Yep, it's hot here in the Lone Star State and that could be why my fridge is not getting down to the optimum temperature. However, my Redwood is stored in an enclosed garage plugged into shore powerso the heat should not be a major factor. I use a small thermometer to monitor it and, in the past, it's been right on target set at 7 or 8. Now it's only cooling to the mid to upper 40's set at 9.Yesterday, Inoticed on the lower back left side in the outside vent there is condensation dripping from above. The ice maker is working and the freezer doesn't seem to be affected. Do these units have to be recharged with refrigerant or is this an unusual situation?

[johnboytoo]

Hope you aren't talking about a residential like I just ordered ?!?



Which model and mfg do u have ?

[Grandpa]

Nope not a residential fridge. It's the two door Norcold Ultraline 1210 gas/electric.



Could we be dealing with a bad door seal?

[atom ant]

Grandpa,

Is your fridge full of food or empty? Mine doesn't cool that well in the fridge area until I get food in it. Too much empty volume I guess. My Dometic 2dr worked the same way. If I understand correctly, fridge is focused on the freezer compartment, and if it is happy, it thinks the rest is happy.

Johnboytoo! Congrats on the residential fridge. Send some pics when you can and let us know how you like it. It sounds like a nice option for full timers.

[johnboytoo]

Thanks - not a full timer - and just ordered so get it end of August (I hope!)

just tired of fighting the dometics/ etc..





couple ways to test your seals -

take a piece of paper tosee if it can easily be pulled out of the closed door...

put a BRIGHT light inside your fridge at night and see if it shines out

run your hand around the seals feeling for cold --- Dooh



The problem I had with my dometic four door was :

1) the 'flap' between the two doors would not close all the way and so put a magnetic strip on it to help, but still got into the habit of closing the 'flapped' door first, pulling forward on the flap, then closing the other door - hokey but helped...

2) it was in a slide so top vent was out the side of the rv and so added an internal fan hanging on the coils and a top vent panel of four fans to evacuate the heat...



worked better, but in TexUS summers, wanted it better yet



oh - and on edit coljdm posted this :



Norcold RV Refrigerator Freezing Everything (too cold in refrigerator)
Posted on 22nd Oct 2012 @ 11:52 AM

Is Your Norcold Refrigerator Freezing All of Your Food?
Don't worry, this is a simple fix! This issue can be caused by one of two parts. The most common part is the Thermistor and the other part that could cause this is your Optical Control Board.

Norcold refrigerators have a Thermistor in them which is combination thermostat/ resistor. It connects to your light fixture inside the refrigerator compartment with a 4-prong connector. Turn the temperature setting to somewhere in the middle and disconnect the Thermistor. If the refrigerator starts warming up and maintains a good level of cool, then we know that the Thermistor has failed.

If after you disconnect the Thermistor the refrigerator continues to freeze everything, you will need to replace the Optical Control Board (board in the front of the refrigerator). Edited by: johnboytoo

[rcflame]

The RV gas/electric refrigerators do not have Freon in them.A gas refrigerator uses ammonia as the coolant, and water, ammonia and hydrogen gas to create a continuous cycle for the ammonia. The refrigerator has five main parts:
•Generator - creates ammonia gas
•Separator - separates the ammonia gas from water
•Condenser - where hot ammonia gas is cooled and condensed to create liquid ammonia
•Evaporator - where liquid ammonia converts to a gas to create cold temperatures inside the refrigerator
•Absorber - absorbs the ammonia gas in water

It works like this:
1.Heat is applied to the ammonia and water solution in the generator. (The heat comes from burning propane or electric element.)
2.As the mixture reaches the boiling point of ammonia, it flows into the separator.
3.Ammonia gas flows upward into the condenser, dissipates heat and converts back to a liquid.
4.The liquid ammonia makes its way to the evaporator where it mixes with hydrogen gas and evaporates, producing cold temperatures inside the refrigerator's cold box.
5.The ammonia and hydrogen gases flow to the absorber where the water collected in the separator in step No. 2 mixes with the ammonia and hydrogen gases.
6.The ammonia forms a solution with the water and releases the hydrogen gas, which flows back to the evaporator.
7.The ammonia-and-water solution flows toward the generator to repeat the cycle.
If it springs a leak or if something goes wrong with the cooling unit about the only fix is to replace the cooling unit. I'm not talking about the circuit boards, burner, etc. but the sealed cooling unit.
As to the frig not cooling enough, even though it is in a enclosed garage heat could still be affecting it. Is there good air flow coming in the bottom and out the top of the outside fridge vents. Also, high humidity can also affect the cooling. This is just a guess, maybe an external fan blowing in the lower vent may help.

[johnboytoo]

OH, and I ASSumed it was level side to side and front to back !?!

I know you know, but better to ask than not





My covered storage required some 2 x 10's to help it level out...Edited by: johnboytoo

[Grandpa]

"... maybe an external fan blowing in the lower vent may help." <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
Has anyone installed a thermostat controlled fan on a Redwood 36RL? This might help the cooling.
The unit is leveled each time it's parked in the storage unit.
I'm concerned about the condensation dripping inside the lower vent. This drip is on the opposite side of the fridge from the drip pan that is supposed to catch any drippage. The water just lands on the floor of the compartment where the fridge is mounted. Over long periods of time, that could cause mold or rot.

[johnboytoo]

in my soon to be old rv - this is the fan I put in the vent stack if that's what you are talking about:



http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/CF-420/ASSEMBLY-W/4-12VDC-80MM-FANS-AND-GUARDS/1.html



it's not thermostatically controlled, but I just plug it in in the summer&amp;

it runs whenever I have power on and then unplug it in the winter







Edited by: johnboytoo

[Grandpa]

Thanks for the info Johnboytoo! I also found thisservice manualon-line that has good information about the Norcold 1200 series refrigerators:

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/ncold1200.pdf



Thanks to those on the forum for the feedback!

Edited by: Grandpa

[atom ant]

Nice find on the manual!