Community Forums

YNPAdmiral · 12-31-2010, 12:59 PM

Hi, I'm new to this forum and only been RVing since last spring. Our fridge temps are fine but our freezer is not cold enough. With thermostat set to 3 or 4 fridge temps are in the normal range and freezer is in the high teens low twenties. I can turn it up to 8 or 9 and freeze everything in the fridge but the the freezer will still only be in the mid to low teens. It cools the same on electric or gas. We live in our RV full time from early spring till mid fall and would really like to have or ice cream hard and our frozen food at a safe tempeture.

paz · 01-01-2011, 06:12 AM

YPNAdmiral, welcome to iRV2.

It's fairly rare for an RV fridge to keep ice cream really hard, and I love my ice cream.

They make small, battery-powered fans to put inside the fridge to circulate the air to help keep warm and cold spots from occurring. We tried one for a while, but it didn't make the freezer any colder. We operate our Norcold 1200 on 8 in the winter and on 9 in the summer.

I see by your avatar you have a Holiday Rambler, but you don't say what year it is. You may want to add model, chassis, and year info to your signature. Newer Norcolds have cooling fans on the outside coils that come on in hot weather. You should be able to hear them hum. If you have an older coach with out the fans, adding them may help. The original equipment fans run off a thermostat, but if people who have added fans frequently control them manually with a simple off/on switch.

Dr4Film · 01-01-2011, 06:41 AM

There are LOT'S of good threads on the Norcold refrigerators. Some of which are regarding the number of fires that have totaled out coaches when they fail.

I would do a thorough search on the iRV2 forum and read all of them.

With regards to your temperature problem, I had fought a similar situation for about three years with fluctuating temps in both the freezer and frig compartments. Tried all different settings without any improvement. I was about to change out the cooling unit thinking that it may have been a partially plugged cooling tube somewhere, when RVDude suggested to change out the Thermistor located inside the frig hanging on the #2 or #3 fin.

It appears that the Thermistors can have an internal dynamic failure within the unit even though after testing, it tested OK. Did that a few times myself along with having RV techs test the Thermistor too.

Finally, I took his advice and spent the $15 for a new one. Well, I ended up with a completely different running frig. I was able to set the temp control to 4 with freezer temps at 0F and frig temps at 35F. When the outside temps go up I do have to increase the setting but never above 7 whereas before I was running it at 9 all of the time until it starting to freeze stuff one day and spoil stuff the next day.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

JC2 · 01-01-2011, 06:54 AM

Our fridge is not the infamous 1200 model but the 841 model with icemaker. Although it would usually cool the box to the upper 30's and the freezer to 0 to +5 on a setting of 4 when the outside temps were in the low 90's or cooler, these temps would sometimes rise when the outside temps would. We had (2) four inch computer case fans installed just inside the lower outside fridge compartment opening this summer and controlled them manually with a toggle switch. In Vegas and Zion National Park area this summer, the temps were 112 degrees and 106 degrees respectively: fridge box 34-35 on seeting of 4 and freezer was -5 to -10.

Tincup · 01-01-2011, 08:33 AM

JC2,

Wow, I am impressed with the reefer temps you achieved with those high outside temps. How do you have the fans situated? What are they blowing air across, the expansion tank or coils?

I have the 1200 model and when the outside temps hit 100F and up, I have to put a frozen gallon of water in it to keep the temp at 38F inside. I am considering replacing the cooling unit with one of the Amish built ones.

YNPAdmiral · 01-01-2011, 12:33 PM

Thanks for all the helpfull info. I have read many post on the 1200 series and read many complaints on erratic operation and cold freezer with warm fridge. My unit operates consistently with normal fridge temps but above normal freezer temps. While I would like hard ice cream my real concern is storing food in the freeze at above safe temps. My frige has fans and they seem to be working normaly, the strange thing about this is the refrigerant has to pass through the freezer cooling section to get to the refridgerator cooling section. I'm hoping someone out there has had a similar problem and can give some advise. I have read to many posts on these fridges where people spend a lot of money and still have problems.

JC2 · 01-01-2011, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tincup

JC2,

Wow, I am impressed with the reefer temps you achieved with those high outside temps. How do you have the fans situated? What are they blowing air across, the expansion tank or coils?

I have the 1200 model and when the outside temps hit 100F and up, I have to put a frozen gallon of water in it to keep the temp at 38F inside. I am considering replacing the cooling unit with one of the Amish built ones.

If you are standing outside and looking at the external fridge opening, our (2) fans are mounted side by side and screwed into and flush with the top horizontal frame of this opening. The toggle switch is mounted just inside on a metal shelf. The fans blow air up across the tank and coils and out the top vent. You can use this setup all the time or just when the outside temps get to the low 90's and higher. We don't use the fans when we are mobile as it seems to cool sufficiently when moving whether on lp or ac.

Gary RVRoamer · 01-01-2011, 07:56 PM

Are you sure the freezer doors aren't leaking air? It doesn't take much to run the temp up. Try the dollar bill test - close a fairly new dollar bill in the door and pull it out. There should be noticeable resistance.

My 1200 LRIM stays about 0-4 in the freezer when the fridge is 33-38.

Dr4Film · 01-01-2011, 08:22 PM

Another thought is that possibly when the cooling unit got installed against the back of the frig, they have to use a special caulk that is used as a catalyst to transmit the heat from the inside of the freezer and frig compartments to the cooling tubes. Possibly the installation of this caulk and adhesion isn't the greatest, thereby not allowing for proper heat transfer.

I recently had the two OEM cooling fans on the outside exterior cooling tubes fail. Instead of removing the frig to replace the fans, I installed four new box fans at the top of the Norcold roof-top vent. They come on when the outside temps get really warm. The #1 fin where the snap disk is located, when it reaches 130F is when the fans turn on automatically. I also installed a rocker on/off switch to turn them on manually for additional cooling assistance when needed in the vent stack.

Photos attached.

After all, for this cooling process to work properly, you have to remove the heat from the outside cooling fins and tubes otherwise the frig retains the heat and your stuff doesn't get cold. That's why they call it an absorption system. It absorbs the heat from the food and transfer it to the tubes where it dissipates to the air and vent stack.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

Photo attached.

RV Wizard · 01-02-2011, 06:01 AM

This is a classic case of the ice maker mold heater remaining energized. Carefully touch the bottom of the mold. If it is hot or even warm, disconnect it and see that the freezer drops down now is close to zero.