Norcold 1211 Quits

Flyer · 01-04-2012, 06:34 AM

The Norcold refer in my '09 Adventurer just quit--no cooling in refer or freezer. I spoke with Norcold tech support and they said to start with the thermistor (probably not the cause because a bad thermistor cause excess cooling), the fans (both are working), and venting (fans are freely pushing air out the top vent). Front panel looks normal with no codes. Turned it off yesterday and restarted it set at max (9) for six hours. Local service center said that if it didn't cool it would throw a code--still no code. During this cycle the coils never got hot. No ammonia smell. Had the recall done awhile back. It's a mystery to me. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks.
Roy

CHCam42 · 01-04-2012, 06:48 AM

Do you have DC and AC power at the back of the refer ? Do you have propane? Does the stove top light on gas? Go out side at the refer vent have DW start the refer on gas. Listen for the spark igniter if it's working and does not lite check to see if the gas valve is open?

Flyer · 01-04-2012, 06:58 AM

I forgot to mention that it does the same thing whether on gas or electric. The propane burner lights and works fine.

CHCam42 · 01-04-2012, 07:09 AM

Roy, you have now exceeded my experience. Sorry I couldn't help Good luck and let us know what you find. Clark

bdaball · 01-04-2012, 06:23 PM

Have you had all recalls completed?

The overtemp recall box, (the one with the little red light) has been known to trip and not have the red light come on as it should. A Norcold tech can test the box for you.

Or, I would suggest calling Dale Sumner, Mobile RV Medic. He has several blogs and articles on this site as well as his own website. He also has several white papers that should help you.

Sorry, been there before and it aint fun.

Journey39n · 01-05-2012, 03:00 AM

A real sore point with me. My Norcold 1211 quit last August, after 14 months of use. It was off and on, intermittant, but a real pain to troubleshoot. Took to dealer, he tested it with a direct connection to electric heater, it worked (for three more weeks), tried thermistors, tried swapping the control board, tried testing every possible which way.

All to no avail. Finally bit the bullet, and used extended warranty, replaced the cooling unit. (4 hour operation by the mobile rv mechanic) All has been working fine since. Not sure when Norcord went to a 1 year warranty, you might fit into the old 3 year warranty, check it out.

Interesting thing, here we are, 2000 miles away, and the guy parked next to us, is replacing the Norcold refridgerator cooling unit in his 2010 5th wheel. Small world. Seems like some bad quality control at the factory.

For this expensive of a piece of equipment, it should last longer than 14 months.

Dr4Film · 01-05-2012, 04:14 AM

There is only one thing to say about the Norcold company, they need to get out of the RV business and stop making CRAP.

I feel fortunate that my 10 year old Norcold 1200 LRIM is still working however, it took many years of education and modifications to tweak it so it was usable. The only problem that continues to annoy me is when the damn thing goes into its de-icing phase the freezer warms up sometimes to 20F and the fridge goes up to 40F. If I see that the temps are going up, now I simply recycle the power to reset the brain.

I gave up on their Thetford Aria II toilet also. Had to replace the motor and slide valve three times in 7 years, not a reliable product. Now have a Dometic Magnum Opus and will not have anything else.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Stevegd007 · 01-06-2012, 11:57 PM

OK my two cents..we turned on the Norcold for a trip..did not cool. Called in Norcold tec folks and they I would need a new thermister and then sent out a replacement interior light/thermister assembly. Everything worked and been a good fix, unit cools great. Consider a thermister replacement.

Flyer · 01-07-2012, 05:38 AM

Baffled. Quit while on 50 amp service. Ran it for 6 hrs on propane set a max temp. No cooling, no code. Took it in to a Norcold service center and it worked just fine. I hate these intermittent problems. We'll see what happens down the road. Thanks for your inputs.

HD4Mark · 01-07-2012, 06:42 AM

Our extended service plan put about $1500 into our Norcold, we put in $500 deductible. We were still fooling around with it until the day we ripped it out and put a residential type fridge in that has been perfect (knocking on wood). For what was invested in the darn thing we almost could have bought two of the Samsung units like the one that is in there now. So think about what you need before sinking a lot of money into the Norcold. If you are plugged in most of the time, have a large enough inverter or run the generator when not plugged in a residential might be worth the installation trouble.

bdaball · 01-08-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD4Mark

Our extended service plan put about $1500 into our Norcold, we put in $500 deductible. We were still fooling around with it until the day we ripped it out and put a residential type fridge in that has been perfect (knocking on wood). For what was invested in the darn thing we almost could have bought two of the Samsung units like the one that is in there now. So think about what you need before sinking a lot of money into the Norcold. If you are plugged in most of the time, have a large enough inverter or run the generator when not plugged in a residential might be worth the installation trouble.

HD4Mark,

Please post the model number, dimensions and power requirments of your RR unit. I'm sure many Norcold owners would be interested. A picture or two would be great as well.

HD4Mark · 01-09-2012, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdaball

HD4Mark,

Please post the model number, dimensions and power requirments of your RR unit. I'm sure many Norcold owners would be interested. A picture or two would be great as well.

Here is a link to my story of installing our fridge http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/new-f...dow-93522.html We ordered a Samsung RF197ACBP 30.2 x 34.6 x 65 inches ; 269 pounds had to do lots of changes to get it in and installed. After the whole thing was done and over we discovered we were delivered a Samsung RF217ACBP 33.1 x 34.6 x 69.8 inches ; 282 pounds. Taller and deeper. No wonder we went through so much trouble after carefully measuring everything first. Lowes delivered it and had already removed most of the outside carton so we never noticed the model was different. They look identical. If they sent the correct model we may have been able to get it in through the door as planned. Oh well, we gained 2 cubic feet going from 18 to 20.

Now that it is in and working after two and a half months I feel it was well worth the trouble. It works fine on our modified sine wave 2000 watt inverter, the generator or just plugged into shore power. Makes more ice faster and actually keeps food cold or frozen. Imagine that from a refrigerator

In moderate temperatures it will hold temps within a few degrees overnight if we have to shut it down.

Boris and Natasha · 01-09-2012, 08:32 AM

We had "intermittent" problems with our Norcold 1211 last summer. We replaced the thermistor, then the control board, and finally the cooling unit. Like your situation, it never "threw a code". No sign of an ammonia leak. The burner fired up, the fan ran, and the base of the cooling unit was (almost) always warm. The final diagnosis was a "floating blockage" somewhere in the cooling unit. The "floating" was the apparent cause for the "intermittent" problems.

It's a frustrating process, for sure. We sympathize.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

P.S. We had the recall done a couple of weeks after it was issued.