Norcold N841 IM- Door seals?

[Max Hubrich]

A neighbor has a '00 HR 38'DP with this model Fridge (N841 IM), ser #689933. No operating problems only excessive ice build up on fins in 5 days or so.

I did a search for this problem and didn't find much info. I did the dollar bill test, but only in 4 places. All appeared normal. I then went to PPL looking for a new seal. Looks like the door has to be replaced.

I thought of a small adhesive seal around the door frame where the seal touches the frame. I put a small computer fan on the fins and it works fine- but only in that exact area. The remaining fins beyond the fans still frost up badly in a few days.

I also saw an answer where, if you can locate the leak in the seal, use a hair drier to warm up the seal in that particular area and just close the door to fix it.

I also looked at the units on the recall list but I didn't find anything for this serial number.

Any thoughts over this holiday weekend?

ps: I've been using the little fan(s) in my Dometic for almost three months now in the same environment as my neighbor (in Maine) and no ice at all.

Thanks gang-

[Max Hubrich]

Update-

Here are some pictures of what we found-

Lots of frost-in 2 weeks-



Pulling 1" strips of paper out of the door in the closed position revealed no resistance at all in the area defined by the masking tape strips


We built up a thin black weather stripping (behind the factory seal) until the paper strips had resistance- when pulled out in the shown affected area. It ended up with almost a 1/4" gradual build up in the corner area. We tapered the seal material as we got closer to the corner.


If you look close you can see the lower portion of the seal protruding inward.


I'll post progress on this fix as time goes on. PPL wants $195 plus shipping for a new lower door.

I tried the hair drier bit but no success- . I think 1/4" (or more) in the corner was too much to correct with a warped door, or whatever might have happened to the door/seal.