Help! Refrigerator stopped working

[EWendlandt]

Its not generating enough heat. We had to place a 75 watt trouble light inside through the lower vent opening and then block off the lower vents. This allowed the unit to generate enough heat to make the evaporative system work. We have run all the way down to -18 this way.

[Oregonbound]

Originally Posted by EWendlandt

Its not generating enough heat. We had to place a 75 watt trouble light inside through the lower vent opening and then block off the lower vents. This allowed the unit to generate enough heat to make the evaporative system work. We have run all the way down to -18 this way.

Thanks. Could you explain what you mean by the lower vents? Do you mean the access panel? Is there an upper vent?

[EWendlandt]

Yes, we have a 36RL and our fridge is in the drivers side slide. There are 2 vents for the fridge a lower and an upper. hey are on the side wall of the slide. the cover should remove with a screw driver and are held on by 2 turn buttons. When the trouble light is used mine had to be place inside upside down to fit and I was careful to tie any wires back away from the bulb and metal surround of the trouble light.

[Oriana]

Ian - it is a similar arrangement on the FL. On the kitchen slide you have 2 vents in a vertical row just fwd of the microwave vent. These are the 2 vents for the fridge.

[Oregonbound]

Update for posterity:

Called a repairman who came out Monday am.. Said it was most likely a frozen system due to the recent cold snap (3 days of below 0 reaching -18 one night). Said the cooling system was filled with Nitrogen, a tablespoon on H20 and one other substance I can't remember. He put a trouble light in the lower vent and said it was just a waiting game - sometimes taking a few hours, sometimes a few weeks! Came out again Monday pm….no change. Decided at that point to also seal lower vent openings by putting tin foil on the inside of the cover.

Today (Tuesday) at about 1:00pm the fridge started to cool (temps have warmed up to around 30F today). It was accompanied by a faint noise of running water. After 10 minutes, I decided it wasn't just the fridge cooling and went outside to find that the ice maker line had split and water was running down from the lower vent. I was able to shut the water off, run to the hardware store for a 40 cent part (compression washer) and make the repair (there was enough slack in the ice maker line to make the connection). Also added some foam pipe insulation around the line. Some, but minimal, water under the fridge…whewwww!

So, lesson learned with minimal damage or cost. Thanks all for your help/input

[markmelissaj]

I think all the norcolds are having this ploblem I took a good quality heat tape and wrapped the large tube just inside the lower door and that fixed the ploblem

[RifRaff]

Rvnetwork has a great writeup on cold weather frig issues. I found our frig had corrosion on the temp switch, worked it several times(10) frig has been working great since.

[RifRaff]

Thanks, we are going with a Whirlpool 17.8. Installing this next week. 17.8 cu ft, H 69 inches, D 29, W 29.63. Might check on another.

[Dark Angel]

Had the same issue with my fridge this winter and I knew better to let it be so open to the elements. It dropped to -40 this winter and -60 with the windchill in ND. But anyways, the fridge stopped working so what I did was I built a box around the bottom vent and insulated the top vent so warm air couldn't escape. The box was about 5ft tall and the bottom 4ft we hollow and top 1ft had a floor sort of speak where I could set a small space heater. I did this while having the fridge turned off for about 2 days and luckily it was able to thaw itself out and the fridge worked again. I will be doing this BEFORE winter next year

[Oregonbound]

Thanks Dark Angel. Very ingenious Will have to try next year if we are still in the area.

[eltlenny]

Hi homeguy! Question on the residential you installed. We are having major issues with our 1350, haven't been able to use it for a week and we live in it fulltime. We have a 36RE but I believe your kitchen is the same as ours. Can you give me the brand and model number of the fridge you installed as I am having a hard time finding units that are not too deep since the doors almost hit the island with the slides in. Any install pictures would be great too Thanks!

[homeguy]

I installed what I was told Redwood used, Samsung, RF197AC. It wasn't too bad of a job to do just lost the drawer below the fridge. Other than that, it fit perfectly and you have about 1/4" between the island and the door when you bring the slides in. We put a piece of foam on the edge of the island to protect the doors. Since, we have only moved about 100 miles so can't tell you what the move would be like on a long trip with out any other bracing. I will try and post some pictures later.

[eltlenny]

Homeguy - Thank you so much for information. I have had it with not having a fridge!!! Now I just need to located the fridge and find someone to install it. Did you have to take out your main living room window to get it in? I can't wait to see pictures of the finished product on how the wood surround ended up looking!

[eltlenny]

Homeguy - Almost forgot to ask. Did you install an inventer with yours? We don't plan on running anything but shore power so we aren't sure we need one.

[homeguy]

http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/ho...library/Fridge

This is the link for the pictures I have. There is only 3, 1 after demo, 1 with the temp that Home Depot sent us due to the delay in ours. It was a special order thru Home Depot. When the delivery guys delivered it, they brought it in thru the door and then put the handles on and set it in place. The board between the fridge and the drawer below it, we ripped in half and used it as a filler on top. That way the finish matched perfectly. We did not install an inverter as we don't boondock or move that often.