Community Forums

ladyvol · 09-01-2012, 12:46 PM

We have a 2003 Monaco Dynasty with a Norcold 4 door frig. We had the recall parts put on during the last couple of years. It was some kind of sensor issue. Our frig had never had a problem. We had the first recall part put on and all was fine. We then had the second recall part put on. After that we had used the RV seldom and had used shore power except for the 2 hour drive to our usual camping spot. We thought all was fine and it may have been. But...now we have dry camped a few times and traveled longer distances. It seems the frig is not staying cool on either generator power or propane. We have checked this with a frig thermometer and the temp is going up more than 10 degrees in just a couple of hours, even more during longer drives. We can't figure out what the difference is in working great on shore and not on generator. Those should be the same. And the propane lights so that should have the frig working. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the issue could be? Maybe we got a bad part when they replaced that recalled sensor.

Sutler · 09-01-2012, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyvol

We have a 2003 Monaco Dynasty with a Norcold 4 door frig. We had the recall parts put on during the last couple of years. It was some kind of sensor issue. Our frig had never had a problem. We had the first recall part put on and all was fine. We then had the second recall part put on. After that we had used the RV seldom and had used shore power except for the 2 hour drive to our usual camping spot. We thought all was fine and it may have been. But...now we have dry camped a few times and traveled longer distances. It seems the frig is not staying cool on either generator power or propane. We have checked this with a frig thermometer and the temp is going up more than 10 degrees in just a couple of hours, even more during longer drives. We can't figure out what the difference is in working great on shore and not on generator. Those should be the same. And the propane lights so that should have the frig working. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the issue could be? Maybe we got a bad part when they replaced that recalled sensor.

We had an issue 2 weeks ago we also had the recall done. At first they thought it was the sensor not reading but it was .The fridge just started slowly not staying as cold as it should and fan would not shut down.Ended up being unit. would not cool down so fan would not shut off could not keep back of unit cool enough had to replace with new unit. we have same unit double door ref/freezer.NORCOLD

dls461 · 09-01-2012, 03:42 PM

Great, I have my recall notice on my desk now. Was going to take it in for the fix. Now I'm wondering if I should leave well enough alone! Mine works good but now I'm confused. Don't want a fire but don't want to have to buy a new unit either.

1ciderdog · 09-01-2012, 06:45 PM

Don & Bunny - I think you should have the recall done. All they (are supposed to) do is add a sensor to the exhaust above the burner and put in a small control box. They do not do anything to the refrigerator system. The sensor, if it gets dangerously hot, tells the little black box to shut off the refrigerator. Simple process but many people are not happy with the solution. My "little black box" has failed three times. It is an easy process to by pass the little black box if it fails but then you are in the same position as before and need to be concerned about the fire.

Muddypaws · 09-01-2012, 07:05 PM

Take the thermistor off the heat exchanger fin inside the refrigerator. It's probably second fin from the right. It's the little black oblong do-hickey held on by a rusty clip. It probably won't be easy to remove.

Clean both the fin and the flat contact area of the thermistor with a paper towel or something and put it back 1/4 to 1/2 inch higher up on the fin than it was.

dav-cle · 09-01-2012, 08:00 PM

I am due in this Wed. for the recall. Have never had a problem with the frig. ,but the idea of a fire concerns me. Hope it doesn't open a can of worms for me.

**CLIFFTALL** · 09-02-2012, 04:12 AM

Is the freezer ok? When my fridge wasn't cooling but the freezer was freezing , it turned out to be the fans on the rear of the unit. Go outside and listen . Can you hear the fans ?

ruffian · 09-04-2012, 10:16 PM

It must be a coincidence. I just had recall #3 done and I don't see anything they did which could effect the cooling unit.

My 1200 was working well and cold when the recall was done. I drove 15 miles home, parked, leveled and shut down fridge. Two weeks later, I turned the Norcold on to prepare for a trip. No cooling at all. Everything works, heats and whatever but no cooling. Looks like a new cooling unit in my future.

During the last 40 years of RV's and over a dozen Dometic/Norcold reefers which all seemed to do a good job for many years, I am very disappointed in the apparent quality of my Norcold 1200. Kind of a shameful showing on Norcold's part.

H. Miller · 09-05-2012, 05:50 AM

Our 1200 was working well but had the Norcold "fix" installed anyway. It continued to work well for one month. Then came the dreaded red light on the "fix" box which totally shuts it down.
Thinking more of the lives of our "girls" (see signature) and ours, we now have the Amish cooling unit which we installed. Would never replace the Norcold with another Norcold. Thought about residential frig but would lose the "boondockers" when resale time comes (soon)....

"007" · 09-05-2012, 06:29 AM

The recalls have now reach version "F" I hear and they still have problems of fires and shut downs.
Norcold through its history has had problems with their units with fires started in their control unit on face of the fridge.
I have a 1200 that has work faithfully for 10 years with control set 4 or 5.
Use to leave on all the time between trips because we use as a extra fridge while at home.
I had the first and only recall done in 2009 at Newmar and tech at the time explained what they were looking for causing fires in their cooling units.
It seems some cooling units had a weak weld spot,which would cause a rupture of the heat pipe of cooling unit, where the electric element holder was welded mine pass and they did the recall.
If it didn't pass they would have replaced the cooling unit.
The problem now is they do not pull the fridge out to do recalls for inspection of this weld point in fact some people have said recall only took less than an hour to do recall.
I have had personal calls from Norcold to have latest recalls done but I have told them when the time comes I will replace the cooling unit with the Amish cooling unit.
There has been many discussions on how to get better cooling with your existing fridge and that thread is here.
You need to be sure that your vent area behind fridge is free for good air flow behind fridge, no insulation falling off top of fridge and proper baffles were installed by MFG during install of fridge.
I still use the fridge with first recall but do check before fire up for any yellow substance around coils or ammonia smell, if not than fire it up.
With all the heat this summer more people are adding the fans for better cooling in the box the freezer has always cooled to correct temp's in most cases.
ALL NORCOLD's small and large are on recall.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS & irv2 "ladyvol"

Jake21 · 09-08-2012, 08:14 AM

I hit the Norcold website and looked at their recall page. There is no date on the page that talks about the recall. I know that my fridge has had recall work done, but how do I know what the latest recall is and when it was issued?

"007" · 09-08-2012, 07:37 PM

Jake I would call the 800 number on this link and check the tag on your latest recall for a number or letter they must???? identify them the recall that is.