Norcold 611 green light blinking and not cooling.

[Wiyanna]

My fridge just suddenly seems to have failed. It was working fine then today I noticed the green light flashing slowly. Opened the freezer and stuff is thawed. Fridge doesnt feel cold. I have no idea how to check anything. I am a widow living alone in my camper because my home burned. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[Old-Biscuit]

DIfferent blinking sequences....different faults

See pg 8 for Fault Codes/issue/possible solutions

http://techsupport.pdxrvwholesale.co...er-619394E.pdf

[Wiyanna]

It was just one blink every 20 seconds all the same distance apart. Not flashing a code. Now, however, the light is just on steady but no cooling at all in fridge or freezer.. thermometer reads 60 in both.

[MrMark52]

Since there is no troubleshooting condition of the light blinking every 20 seconds -

Are you running on LP or shore power?

How old is the refrigerator?

Are all other 12 volt devices (such as sconce or cabin lighting) in the coach working?

Have you inspected the back of the refrigerator (from outside of the coach) for signs of a yellow powder residue around the burner or smell of ammonia in the compartment?

[Wiyanna]

The camper is a 2003 Dutchmen.
Everything except the fridge/freezer works. I have been running in on electricity. I did switch it to lp to see if it would cool that way and no luck. Tonight I'm having trouble with the furnace blower motor making lots of noise. :(

I don't know how to access the back of the fridge. Never had to do any of this stuff in my life.

I should clarify, I'm a widowed 53 year old woman who has no idea about campers, but my home burned down and I bought a used camper to live in until my house can be rebuilt.

[pasdad1]

Probably the least expensive way forward is to simply buy something like this. Don’t worry about the old fridge, or trying to “install” this new one….just put it on the floor and plug it in.

[MrMark52]

Well, it’s very likely the refrigerator is shot. Adsorption refrigerators develop leaks in their cooling systems that can be dangerous. I would turn the refrigerator off and cap off power to it.
And since your only living in the coach as opposed to traveling in it, it sounds to me like pasdad1’s suggestion to buy a fridge to be the most practical - unless you plan on using the coach to travel in - and then you have to decide - repair/replace the adsorption fridge, or buy an domestic refrigerator and have modifications made to the coach for it to fit properly.

To access the back of the refrigerator (to disconnect power), go outside of the coach to the back of where the refrigerator is located in the coach.
There will be an exterior panel located there that has two 1/4 turn screws at the bottom. Turn those 90 degrees and you should be able to swing the cover out at the bottom, down, and away from the coach.
There will be some wiring on the left hand side connected to a terminal block. There should also be a typical power cord plugged into a receptacle.
Unplug the power cord.
Disconnect the wires feeding the terminal block (typically the side closest to you) one at a time, and cap off with a wire nut. FWIW - those wires are for 12 volts DC so you don’t have to worry about getting a horrible shock if you touch the bare ends.

As to which is better to replace your fridge with, adsorption or domestic opens a whole new can of worms as to which is better, a subject better left for starting a new thread. There are pro’s and con’s for the use of either.

[Wiyanna]

Thank you, everyone.

A friend stopped over yesterday and took a look at it. We didn't see any powdery substance or anything that appeared wrong outside. He did find that one of the wires to the thermistor is broken and says he is going to buy a new one and replace it to see if it could possibly be something that simple.

He did set it to gas and the burner fired up, but no cooling after 30 minutes at all. Thermometer in fridge didn't drop at all.

I did order a mini fridge with freezer. Not like it can't be used later in the office of the new home, so not really a wasteful purchase.

Thank you all again for your suggestions and help. I greatly appreciate it.

[MrMark52]

A broken thermistor wire will put the control into a default cooling mode that will allow the unit to operate.

Adsorption refrigerators don’t cool quickly, and the freezer chills before the refrigerator does (it is inherent in their design).

My experience - it took removal of the fridge, disassembly of the cooling unit from the fridge, and removing the insulation from the boiler area of the cooling unit to find the yellow powder. Our unit was still cooling when the yellow powder was found.
Being as the failure of the cooling unit is most generally in the boiler area, and that area is covered with insulation - signs of yellow powder may not always be evident without removal of the cooling unit.

Picture of our cooling unit after disassembly -

[Old-Biscuit]

Unplug the thermistor leads at Lamp assembly until you get new thermistor (fridge goes into Backup Operating) increase temp set to MAX

Run on propane 30 minutes..........
Can take up to 12 hrs to properly cool
*Should fill back plate in freezer getting cool after 4 hrs



Yellowish residue can be seen around burner area IF boiler section has leaked.
*Sodium Chromate (rust inhibitor in coolant).......TOXIC
Do not blow out with air or use vacuum....should be worked WET to clean up prior to removal

examples of residue:

[Fridge Defend]

Originally Posted by Wiyanna

My fridge just suddenly seems to have failed. It was working fine then today I noticed the green light flashing slowly. Opened the freezer and stuff is thawed. Fridge doesnt feel cold. I have no idea how to check anything. I am a widow living alone in my camper because my home burned. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

When I read this statement:

"I am a widow living alone in my camper because my home burned."

The number two cause of RV fire is fridge failure, see this NFPA report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axo90hD-iGQ

Please consider fire prevention once you get your fridge fixed.

The Norcold N611 is a very good fridge, it is well worth fixing.

Hope you have a Happy New Year, Paul and Mao