Norcold "no co" error

[bsmith8]

FYI
One day this winter our ref. was beeping with a "no co" error showing on the panel. I turned of the ref. and turned it back on. In a few seconds the error was back. That was the worst thing I could have done.

I checked the book and the "no co" means that the unit is not cooling and you can only "reset" it once before you have to take it in for service.
After getting it serviced here is what I found out.
1. Once you reset it once the circuit board locks itself out.
2. There was nothing wrong with the ref.
3. There had been a power failure and the ref. had switched to propane. In a couple of days the propane ran out and the ref. shut down with that error. Not knowing what had caused the problem I reset the ref. with out correcting the problem first. Hence, it locked out and I had to get it to a Norcold dealer.

What the service man did was:
1. take off the cover of the circuit board
2. reset the board by shorting to ground, Pin #11 for 3 seconds.
Of course the problem had been corrected by now so the ref. is now working again.

If it happens again I will do it my self.
I think Norcold should have put a reset button on the unit.

I offer this as warning to everyone not to do as I had did.
Bill

[bsmith8]

FYI
One day this winter our ref. was beeping with a "no co" error showing on the panel. I turned of the ref. and turned it back on. In a few seconds the error was back. That was the worst thing I could have done.

I checked the book and the "no co" means that the unit is not cooling and you can only "reset" it once before you have to take it in for service.
After getting it serviced here is what I found out.
1. Once you reset it once the circuit board locks itself out.
2. There was nothing wrong with the ref.
3. There had been a power failure and the ref. had switched to propane. In a couple of days the propane ran out and the ref. shut down with that error. Not knowing what had caused the problem I reset the ref. with out correcting the problem first. Hence, it locked out and I had to get it to a Norcold dealer.

What the service man did was:
1. take off the cover of the circuit board
2. reset the board by shorting to ground, Pin #11 for 3 seconds.
Of course the problem had been corrected by now so the ref. is now working again.

If it happens again I will do it my self.
I think Norcold should have put a reset button on the unit.

I offer this as warning to everyone not to do as I had did.
Bill

[tomsm]

Bill,

Good stuff to know. I just printed it so I can stuff in the refer manual.

Thanks,

[Rick Buddrus]

Great info Bill, thanks much.

[W8RLM]

I had the same thing happen to me. I had to drive 50 miles out of my way ro learn the "super secret" factory reset that you described.

Another hint - if that doesn't reset the refrigerator, try removing the fuse on the control board. That worked for me after I tried the factory reset.

Of course, to get the cover off of my control board, I had to remove the 120VAC outlet first. What a pain!!!!

W8RLM - Bob

[ichn2go]

What is the correct procedure without having to reset the unit?
Could you just cut the refrig off wait till the electricity comes back on and then restart it on Elecric ? Of cut it off fill the propane tank and then restart it on propane?
I understand what happened to you but what could have or should have been done short of resetting the Refrig? Good Miles

[JB Texas]

We started having the "NO CO" problem the first week out of the box. The circuit board was replaced 3 times under warranty and the problem continued. Norcold finally replaced the entire unit under warranty.

This is a very common problem with the NorCold 1201 units. I've run across at least 7 other owners who have experienced it.

Itchy, the ONLY way to reset it the second time is to ground the 5v at the circuit board.

[ichn2go]

What is the procedure when you get the no-co code THE FIRST time?

[bsmith8]

ichn2go and all
I think the first thing you do is turn off the refrig and determine what went wrong. Read the instructions and check if power and propane are available. In my case I had lost both power sources.

Once it is determined that both power sources (at least one) are available and that nothing else is wrong like plugged up vent or other things listed in the book. Then you can turn on the refrig. If the dreaded "no co" doesn't come back on, you are in the clear until next time.
That is how I will approach it next time.
Bill

[Fred and Bonnie]

Not all Norcolds use pin #11.

Please review the info from this site.

http://www.bryantrv.com/

Fred

[bsmith8]

My refrig is a 4 door model 1201
I guess I should have specified that in my original post.
I hope this helps.
Bill

[Stan Birch]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fred and Bonnie:
Not all Norcolds use pin #11. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Although my Norcold doesn't have this "wondrous feature", I seem to recall that when it was first introduced, reset was accomplished by shutting the fridge off; re-starting it; and then shorting pin #15 to ground for about 20 seconds. :-(

From what I've heard, all it takes to shut your fridge down with a "no co" error, is to run your fridge in cold weather. :-(

If Norcold has now switched to pin #11 to reset this nuisance error, then it might be a good idea to obtain the appropriate reset-sequence for your particular model from your dealer before you set out on the road.

I'd really be cheesed off, if I managed to reduce my circuit board to smoke 'n ashes by grounding the wrong pin!! :-(

[DKK47]

Hello Bill, your post describes exactly my problem on my 2004 adventurer. Have you had more problems?

Thanks, Pete

[bsmith8]

Since I had the ref. reset last spring It has been fine. The important point is to not turn the ref. back on until a power source is re-established. If you already have and it is locked out then you will have to do the reset yourself or get a ref. technician to look at it.
Now I am not sure which pin it is. I said 11 but it could be 15 as listed in Stan Birch's post. I can't remember.
Bill