Community Forums

Gadget Man · 09-04-2013, 09:45 PM

I have a Norcold 1200 fridge. I replaced the cooling unit two years ago, due to the poor performance as well as the threat of fires from the factory cooling units. The Amish built unit has worked flawlessly until today. While today was very hot at 103F, the fridge has worked well in heat like this before. We are preparing to leave for a trip and the fridge has been on for 36 hours and is currently empty. The outside air temp is 90F. The freezer is at -09F, but the fridge is at 50F. I’m afraid to load it with food at this point. Any suggestions?

Craig

vsheetz · 09-04-2013, 10:37 PM

It will likely cool better with some mass in it rather then empty, especially in the extreme heat of today. Suggest to put a couple three gallon jugs of water in the refrigerator side and see if it helps.

Do you have a fan to circulate the air? I find this helps my stock Norcold 1200.

Land Barge · 09-04-2013, 11:09 PM

I've had similar problems but mostly/only when in motion. But I'm assuming since your about to leave it's not in motion.

So my guess is not enough heat or too much heat..

Not enough heat with which ever heat source your using. Could be an electric element diminished or one of the two not working, dirty or diminished gas flame. Not getting to enough heat to to set in motion sufficient cooling process. The best example I was given was water at 209* is not boiling, it's just hot.

Too much heat, behind the fridge diminishing the heat exchange of the fins. Fans either not working, on the sunny side, or I found the upper vent cover restrictive not allowing sufficient draw, particularly in hot temps. For a proper up draft you need a good size temp differential. More the better, making it more pronounced during hot times.

If your not going for a while and impending bad weather you may take cover off to experiment. (do not recommend while in transit.)
I found while in transit the wall cavity actually gained temp well above what it was while static. The box would gain temp in short order, never shut off to allow the cavity to cool down, continue to run, get hotter, cool less, repeat.
I've since adapted one of the those venturi vent pipe extraction tubes on top of the cover to extract at speed. Seems to be an improvement locally. Have trip planned this weekend with temp sensors in wall to final verify.

One other thing I found with the Amish unit, I had to relocate the drip cup to a lower position to where the end of the hose was elevated above it.

Other popular theories are that the end should either have a loop to form a P-trap or be submerged not to allow hot air up the tube directly into the and in front of the cold fins. Thanks to another thread suggestion, I ran an extension Clear Vinyl tubing hose down and through, with a trap loop, to the exterior. I was surprised at how much condensate it does create. I put the loop in the lower compartment so I can see if when I set out it does in fact have water and if not I now pour some in the tray so it will.

Couple easy things to try.

Loren Rice · 09-05-2013, 12:09 AM

Craig,

I experienced what you described one time when I left my mh parked in 115-120 degree days a few years ago. So as others have said maybe your unit isn't getting cold cause of the extreme heat. The fridge I mentioned started working just fine when I started down the road into cooler temps. A absorption fridge as I understand it, can only cool about 50 degrees cooler than ambient temp outside. So if you have a restriction in your vent behind and above your fridge-- it looses efficiency fast.

So if you start out a day when your fridge is already cool and is on the shady side of the mh even on a hot day may stay pretty cool. But if you are trying to cool down a hot box I think the 50 degree mark is probably all you'll get.

You might try putting a fan back of the fridge and force some air through there and see what happen. As mentioned earlier look for restrictions, leaves various junk items that get in there. I use a mirror to see up there. If you take the top cover off you can look down and see the various coils on the back of the fridge. You can also put a vacuum hose down from the top and dust as much as you can.

Last your fridge can loose efficiency if your burner is not burning at full capacity. There can be several ways the burner is affected. Low gas pressure, a restricted orifice or the burner (most commonly) has gotten dirty.How ever if it's sluggish to cool on gas try switching to electric, if you're using electric try the gas. If it starts working with this switch of energy-- that tells you where the problem is.

Hope this helps.

stink · 09-05-2013, 12:45 AM

I had similar symtoms with my amish cooling unit. I discussed with Dave Force at the cooling unit wearhouse and he stated a few things can cause this
If not enough foam sealant is used frost can build up between cooling unit core and back of freezer and ref fin assy.
If there is to much space between the condencer coil on the top part rear any air rising in the chimney space will bypass the condenser coil. He stated no more than 3/4" space. I installed a baffle made from aluminum flashing.
3 Dave Force also told me that any absorption type cooling unit is only good for a 50 to 60 deg drop in ref temps from outside air, if 100 deg outside you can count on 50 in the ref.

With the last comment I installed a residential ref and am very pleased.

H. Miller · 09-05-2013, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stink

Dave Force also told me that any absorption type cooling unit is only good for a 50 to 60 deg drop in ref temps from outside air, if 100 deg outside you can count on 50 in the ref.

That's strange as we have the Amish unit and consistently get +5 in the freezer and +25 in the frig. It was 102-104 OAT this weekend.
Superior installation?

Triker56 · 09-05-2013, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H. Miller

That's strange as we have the Amish unit and consistently get +5 in the freezer and +25 in the frig. It was 102-104 OAT this weekend.

Why would you want everything in the frig at 25º and frozen?
Best to have the frig. above 32º and below 40º.

MSHappyCampers · 09-05-2013, 07:37 AM

Call David Force at RV Cooling Unit Warehouse!

dforce1 · 09-05-2013, 05:28 PM

Sorry STINK You may have miss heard or miss undrstood about the degree difference. The ambient temps has no factor in a degree difference. What I say is a freezer to food zone will be a 30 degree drop. If freezer tube is zero the attached fins will be 30 degree. When a cooling unit is installed correct, having no air leaks around the foam pack, very good air flow through the condenser fins, and correct heat source from either AC or LP it will cool just as good at 100 degrees as it does at 70 degrees.

stink · 09-06-2013, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dforce1

Sorry STINK You may have miss heard or miss undrstood about the degree difference. The ambient temps has no factor in a degree difference. What I say is a freezer to food zone will be a 30 degree drop. If freezer tube is zero the attached fins will be 30 degree. When a cooling unit is installed correct, having no air leaks around the foam pack, very good air flow through the condenser fins, and correct heat source from either AC or LP it will cool just as good at 100 degrees as it does at 70 degrees.

Dave, you or one of your guys told me all these problems with the cooling unit install as well as the 50 to 60 drop in ref (not freezer) with an absorption unit. True, some people are getting colder temps but I spent lots of money on one of your cooling units and I finally got so mad with spoiled food the nevercold is in the landfill now

Gadget Man · 09-06-2013, 11:16 AM

We're on our second day into our trip now. While the fridge is cooling better now that it is filled with food, it is still not cooling as well as it has in the past. We camped in hot summer weather several times last year, and the cooling unit worked perfectly. I don't understand why it has dropped in efficiency all of a sudden.

The cooling unit cooling fans are working properly, and I have a battery operated fan inside the box as well.

Craig

dforce1 · 09-08-2013, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stink

Dave, you or one of your guys told me all these problems with the cooling unit install as well as the 50 to 60 drop in ref (not freezer) with an absorption unit. True, some people are getting colder temps but I spent lots of money on one of your cooling units and I finally got so mad with spoiled food the nevercold is in the landfill now

It could not have been " one of your guys told me all these problems about--" since there are no other guys here to give information or any one for you to phone an speak with other than me. Sounds more like what a service tech at the RV dealership.

Land Barge · 09-08-2013, 11:26 AM

Came through 102 temps yesterday and inside stayed rock solid temp. Temps inside wall over 105 (sensors in wall don't register over 105)

I think the biggest help was the drip hose having a loop in it acting like a P-trap not blowing hot air into tray. The addl cover extractor couldn't have hurt either.
Going to be hot again today and temps holding so far.

Best performance I've had to date.

Gadget Man · 09-08-2013, 02:32 PM

Update:

A friend suggested I move the thermistor up higher on the fin that it is attached to. It was mounted about midway. it is now 3/4 of the way up. That seemed to do the trick, it is running 100% better now. In fact, I had to turn the cooling setting down, as everything in the refer compartment was getting frozen.

Craig