Community Forums

NXR · 06-10-2020, 03:38 PM

Has anyone seen this before?

The picture of what mine looks like is attached. It's on a 2019 four-door 1210.

My rig is back at the factory and while they initially thought the yellow highlighting I used on the picture may have been a coolant leak, it was just me using a really bad choice of color to point out the problem area...

I had requested the evap cup be replaced due to the melting. The factory had never seen this before so they called Norcold. Norcold told them the evap cup is made of 500-degree material and intentionally is against the chimney to aid in evaporating the water and the evap cup should never melt like that.

So I figured I'd ask here if anyone else had seen this happen. The factory is wondering if they should replace the fridge because that area should never get hot enough to melt the evap cup.

It's even more odd because we're rarely on propane. Switching from shore power to generator and vice versa is usually it. We travel with the generator running and use the electric heaters for the fridge. I doubt the fridge has four hours runtime on propane since we got it a year ago unless I've forgotten something.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Ray

Old-Biscuit · 06-10-2020, 06:06 PM

1210 uses TWO electric heater elements....they get HOT

NXR · 06-10-2020, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

1210 uses TWO electric heater elements....they get HOT

450 watts, I believe. I was thinking that because they're a foot or more higher than the propane burner that heat they generate would go up rather than down.

Ray

Old-Biscuit · 06-10-2020, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NXR

450 watts, I believe. I was thinking that because they're a foot or more higher than the propane burner that heat they generate would go up rather than down.

Ray

have you checked the insulation inside the sheet metal cover where the elements are located?

NXR · 06-11-2020, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

have you checked the insulation inside the sheet metal cover where the elements are located?

Nope, currently under warranty and at the factory. So, currently "not my problem".

Ray

NXR · 06-15-2020, 07:01 PM

As follow-up and closure, I heard from the factory today that, after consulting with Norcold, they decided to replace the refrigerator. The Norcold rep is under travel restrictions so they shared the installation with the rep by Facetime and no one can figure out what caused the melting.

Once the new one goes in, the Norcold rep will look over the install in the slide to assure it meets their requirements.

<insert very happy face here>

Ray

Skip426 · 06-15-2020, 07:16 PM

JMHO: With the location of the drip tray over the , flame tube , I'd think that the burner flame is not being fully contained / directed to the proper spot to send all the heat from the burner up the chimney where it belongs. Even with limited operation on propane , if the flame wasn't in the proper place the LP system would have run WAY longer that usual and gotten too hot for the plastic.

NXR · 06-15-2020, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip426

JMHO: With the location of the drip tray over the flame tube , I'd think that the burner flame is not being fully contained / directed to the proper spot to send all the heat from the burner up the chimney where it belongs. Even with limited operation on propane , if the flame wasn't in the proper place the LP system would have run WAY longer that usual and gotten too hot for the plastic.

Could be and that would be a major bullet dodged because that tray is supposed to withstand heat up to 500 degrees F.

There were a number of problems with the propane part:

Would not light reliably - Dealer said there was sawdust in the chimney.

Would light with a delay, a loud WHUMP, and the flame would blow itself out. Opening the little viewing vent door allowed it to light normally - Dealer adjusted burner.

Would light intermittently - Dealer replaced igniter.

I think this all happened within the first two months of ownership.

Ray

Skip426 · 06-16-2020, 01:39 PM

Multiple issues.. best have it long gone.
Careful repeated testing of the replacement is in order.

NXR · 06-16-2020, 11:01 PM

Agreed. I’m wondering if any of it was dealer-inflicted. The senior manager on my job told me that in addition to having Norcold go through the entire install and baffling to assure it’s correct, he’s having the production line people attend so they can recognize when something is wrong and learn how install mistakes can result in problems or disasters.

Ray