Community Forums

snovak · 04-29-2013, 07:41 PM

I'm currently tracking an issue with the 1210 Norcold refrigerator. I recently bought my 2007 Newmar Ventana. Now, I'm going through issues trying to fix all of the post purchase bugs that are becoming evident.

It seems the bottom unit is not cooling at all, while the top (freezer) unit is cooling as expected. It hit 35 degrees after being turned on for a few hours.

On the 1200 series Norcold, are the top (freezer) and bottom (refrigerator) compartments cooled separately? In other words, is it even possible that the freezer works and the refrigerator does not? I know the cooling unit is all one piece; So it would make sense to me that, if there was a ammonia breach, it would nix the hole unit, not just one compartment. Right?

I found some severed wires, which appear to power part of the electric heating element. They look charred at the end..

Is this a defect? Potential meddling?

There is an identical wire still attached as expected, which can be seen in the first image. So, I might be able to deduce that the electric heating element is running at half capacity.

Is there any way to reconnect this? I imagine it's more complicated than, "shoving it back in".

I haven't yet tried the refer on propane at home. I believe it was all working as expected at the dealer, probably on propane..... I'll put all of this back together tomorrow and try it on propane to see if the lower unit starts cooling at all.
Before I picked the rig up from the dealer, there was an issue where the refer wasn't receiving A/C power at all with the generator running. It was probably just unplugged in the service bay. But it caused me to leave without it and have the service folks look into it. I imagine that this is all related. Chances are, they (the dealer) were purposefully diverting my attention. It appears someone was poking around in there before me. The insulation batting had been cut before I got to it, unless that's normal?.

I'm really hoping to tap the considerable knowledge of this community once again. A gracious "thank you" in advance.

Sean
Davie, FL

newmar10 · 04-29-2013, 10:37 PM

Its probably not working well on 110 looking at what you have there. It will probably work fine on propane

**CLIFFTALL** · 04-30-2013, 01:52 AM

Those wires do look like they need sone attention. Hopefully someone will be along to advise. When my Norcold was cooling the freezer and not the lower half , it turned out to be the two fans behind the unit needed to be replaced.

snovak · 04-30-2013, 05:42 PM

Okay. So, I've let the system run on LP most of the day today. For roughly 8 hours now. Again, the freezer is nice and cold. But, the lower compartment is still under performing. So, far it has dropped to about 50 degrees. The fact that it IS COOLing, suggests that the cooling unit is okay.

Cliff, I'm going to have to check those fans, I can't say that I've heard any fans trip on at all. Do they run consistently, or flip on and off? When/where should I notice their running?

Thanks for the advice!! I'm really hoping this isn't a busted cooling unit.

snovak · 04-30-2013, 05:48 PM

In other news, that severed wire is definitely a heating element component. With the refer set to A/C, it reads 120V across the two, on LP, there's nothing. Anyone have info on reconnecting these?

newmar10 · 04-30-2013, 11:10 PM

You will have to buy a new heating element

"007" · 05-01-2013, 12:33 AM

Welcome to irv2.
Definitely two new heating elements, may have a problem getting the old ones out.
Did not notice if you have the recall done, you may want to change out the cooling unit to the Amish unit which does not give the run around recalls and will solve the poor cooling in the box.
You may have a blockage or the vent area up to roof, fridge needs good venting for box to cool down and some people have added fans in lower vent area plus the fridge has two fans on top of coils that may have a defective thermistor to turn them on.
The area where the heating elements holder is located is where there have been poor welds of that bracket and ruptures of the burner tube have caused problems.
Any other problems with your Newmar come join us in the Newmar forum.
Congratulations on your Newmar coach, safe travels.

MSHappyCampers · 05-02-2013, 09:23 AM

Get the Amish-built cooling unit with new heating elements and end your problem.

Good luck & God bless!

Land Barge · 05-02-2013, 09:55 AM

I had almost the exact same not cooling on bottom. Turned out to be sub performing burner. I changed it out rather trying to clean.

Best analogy given to me was if water needs to be 212 to boil and if the fire is such that it's only 200* it's just hot and longer doesn't help.

Mine under propane would run continuous but cool well under electric. I think also running continuous made everything hot rather than cycling letting other things behind the wall cool down between cycles. Mine would run all night but not cool lower.

I'd inspect the burner, it doesn't take much to not have a adequate flame. It can still be blue flame just not a furious flame.

snovak · 05-02-2013, 11:05 AM

Hey Folks,
I fixed it. I bought another heating element. And, since installing I can feel that the heatsink in the refer is now getting cold. Joy!

There is an issue though. I had to "rig" it. I couldn't get the old one out! I think it welded itself in there. I even put some penetrating oil on the sleeve and let it sit overnight. It wouldn't budge one bit.

So, I bought another hose clamp and slid the new heating element right next to the old one, and clamped it down. Then, reconnected all the wires, and shazzam, mega hotness!

What I'm worried about, I'm sure that sleeve would help distribute that heat better than just letting it sit up beside it. I might try to find some extra steel and shape it to the pipes a to help move all that heat around.

Has anyone else done this?

snovak · 05-02-2013, 11:20 AM

Here's a quick shot of what I have right now.

You can see that the element in the middle has it's wires yanked out, which was my problem in the first place.

"007" · 05-02-2013, 01:21 PM

Do you have the recall done to your Norcold fridge???

Jimooo · 05-02-2013, 01:48 PM

Seems to me like you had an high temp/overheat problem , you should have the control board checked so that does not happen again, also there might be A recall on your high temp control board.

Watch it closely for A high temp problem, if you are not sure shut it off, it appears the heating element shorted out (WHY) what caused it.

Good luck,

James

Heber Eason · 05-02-2013, 03:51 PM

be sure your food section is 34 to 38f which could have been your problem. I also added 2 muffin fans to the top coil of my ref. and this keeps it cool . One of the fans was not working that was installed by Norcold and this added to my problem. I also added insulation
around the sides and top of the ref. which also improved the cooling. After my third recall, I decided to listen to my IRV2 friends and solve my own problems. I added a switch to the fans on the top coil and let them run as needed.