My Norcold 1200

[lhill]

I really dislike my Norcold 1200 refrig, it can work great for a while and then suddenly start slowly getting warmer and warmer inside both the freezers and refer boxes. I'd like to ask one of you experts....is it possible for my 1200 to become "stuck" is defrost mode? Last night the fans hardly ran at all, the fin temp was 40 and the freezers were barely below 32. Today, several hours later, the fans are running quite a bit, the fin temp right now is 30, and the freezer is at 10 degrees. I'll bet if I put the food back in, the darn thing will all but stop working again with refer temps in the upper 40's +.......
Any opinions greatly appreciated.

[JoeT]

The Norcold 1200 doesn't have a defrost mode.
The fin temperature should be colder than that. You may have a bad thermostat. Pull the thermostat off the fin on the right side. That should make it run wide open.

[Lee C]

There must be something wrong with ours too because about every 39 hours the fridge warms up and melts the frost off the fins.. It stays in this mode longer than it needs to but I have found that if I "catch it" in that mode, I can turn the fridge off then back on and it will start cooling again.

[bdaball]

This may sound odd, but just a suggestion. We had similar issues while in Florida past winter. After a new thermister was installed all was well for a while.

Be ultra cautious as to where the thermister probe, ( the little sensor on the end of the wire coming out of the back) is located. Be sure it is on the outer most fin and then try sliding it up to the top of the fin. If it gets too cold, slide it down a inch or so. This also has an effect on the amount of frost build up on the fins. Trust me, been there.

We use wireless digital thermometers from Radio shack. One in the freezer and one in the refer. We set the base unit on the dash while traveling and can monitor the temps quite acuarately.

Hope this helps...

["007"]

The fins will defrost when there is a build up of frost. The fans have a heat thermistor that controls them, sometimes it can become faulty.
The thermistor on fins should be about 1 1/4 from top of fin if you have constant problems cooling, may need to be changed.
As long as the fans are working and you can feel the heat coming from rear of refridge through top vent the fridge should work ok. Take a look at what baffles are needed at top of outside vent in installation section of link. It has been found that some people didn't have them or baffle fell from roof area of vent.
This LINK has info on correct installation, trouble section, and general operation of your Norcold.
Make sure your 12v supply connections are tight on terminal block and nothing has fallen down behind the cooling coils to impede venting.
If you ever lose your fans use a 110v fan or 12v fan to cool the coils until you can get fixed. If your fans fail freezer will stay cold but box temps will rise.

[lhill]

Thanks for your help folks......
I jumpered across the fan thermal switch so that the fans are on all the time. After running all night, the freezers were at +20 and the box was in the low 40's. Fin temp was 31 degrees.
Since we are away from home on week 3 of an all summer RV trip I need to get this problem resoved.....I can't believe I just did it, but I bought a new 1210LR from Ancira RV in Boerne, Tx and have an appointment to have it installed on coming Friday morning, should be back on the road Saturday, but a few grand lighter in the pocket. Oh well, it's only money.
Thanks again!

["007"]

Just be aware problems can happen with a new 1200 also at least you have something to fall back on. Why not keep the old one for spare parts.

[nplenzick]

I had the very same problems as described. My temperatures were erratic just like some of you described. The problem turned out to be a bad cooling unit. The tech who replaced it told me that it appeared to be floating blockage in the cooling unit. Since it's replacement the unit has worked perfect. With it set on the #4 setting the freezer stays around -5 degree and the fridge stays in the mid 30's even when the inside of the MH is in the 80's.

[Roadking]

I agree the Norcold 1200 series is not an example of a quality performance product and their customer service department is an exact one-for-one match on the poor quality side. This is what I would call an "almost" fridge as it almost keeps things cold and/or frozen. If it weren't for bad quality they would have no quality.

We full time and have used the fridge for seven years now and the unit has worked poorly since it was new. It works...but barely. The freezers never get below 18 degrees F, nor do the fridge temps get below 40 degree F. Barely cold enough to keep ice cream solid, and barely enough to keep beer really chilled. The fin temp is typically in the 31 degree range.

With my EMS I can monitor the power draw so I know when the fridge stack heaters are on, which is for hours and hours before it reaches cool temp. The external venting is OK and the fans operate properly and kick in when the stack temp approaches 120 degrees.

Recently I had the Norcold stack safety recall done and I closely checked the venting while the fridge was out. All was fine. Definately this is a low performance quality product that as stated, matches the customer service department.

I would like to install a standard home type compressor based fridge, but those few times we do dry camp, this would be an issue.

[nplenzick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadking I agree the Norcold 1200 series is not an example of a quality performance product and their customer service department is an exact one-for-one match on the poor quality side. This is what I would call an "almost" fridge as it almost keeps things cold and/or frozen. If it weren't for bad quality they would have no quality. We full time and have used the fridge for seven years now and the unit has worked poorly since it was new. It works...but barely. The freezers never get below 18 degrees F, nor do the fridge temps get below 40 degree F. Barely cold enough to keep ice cream solid, and barely enough to keep beer really chilled. The fin temp is typically in the 31 degree range. With my EMS I can monitor the power draw so I know when the fridge stack heaters are on, which is for hours and hours before it reaches cool temp. The external venting is OK and the fans operate properly and kick in when the stack temp approaches 120 degrees. Recently I had the Norcold stack safety recall done and I closely checked the venting while the fridge was out. All was fine. Definitely this is a low performance quality product that as stated, matches the customer service department. I would like to install a standard home type compressor based fridge, but those few times we do dry camp, this would be an issue.

When mine was working before it really got bad it worked as you described, barely staying in the 40's. Now that the cooling unit has been replaced with a new one it has worked perfect now for about a month. I'm dry camping right now and when I'm away from the coach not running the gen and all the windows are closed with only the roof vents open the inside of the MH gets pretty hot (in the low 90's so far) when I check the temp in the fridge it's still in the mid 30's and the freezer is about -5 with the setting on #4. It also cycles at regular intervals too. 20 minuets on 15 minutes off. Before as you described it seemed the burner or the heating element was on 95% of the time. Apparently to me there must have been a problem with the original cooling units as I see so many others here complain about there fridge. I can only state that mine performs perfectly right now and I hope that it stays that way!