Burping a Norcold 1200-4 door

[lenjen]

I have another post about the Norcold not getting cold...long story short after the tech's second trip and checking as much as he could he wants to Burp my 1200 4 door refrigerator. Has anyone had this done and was it successful?

I very nervous about this.

Thank you for any replies.

[Arch Hoagland]

Never heard of "Burping a refrigerator".

Of course there are a lot of things I've never heard of so 'll be watching this thread.

[Arizona]

If that’s the original refrigerator it might just be time for replacement. The electronics, boiler, and door seals have been used for a long time. We replaced ours at about 16 years. You can have one delivered to you from amazon and have the tech replace it instead of paying for more services. Pretty easy in and out if your able.
Good luck

[lenjen]

Originally Posted by Arizona

If that’s the original refrigerator it might just be time for replacement. The electronics, boiler, and door seals have been used for a long time. We replaced ours at about 16 years. You can have one delivered to you from amazon and have the tech replace it instead of paying for more services. Pretty easy in and out if your able.
Good luck

That would be wonderful if it the same model and/or fits without totally having remodeling the area?

Check Amazon and did not find a model that would fit.

thank you.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Fridge "burping" is mostly wishful thinking. Way back in the day when clogs were more common, there was a modest chance it would get a stopped cooling unit restarted, but even then it was only a temp fix, cause the clog would soon settle somewhere else. Nowadays the problem is rarely a clog. Burping rarely helps, but it doesn't hurt to try (except for the labor cost).


A clog can form when the sodium chromate rust inhibitor in the coolant coagulates due to overheating. A big enough glob of it can block the circulation and a "burp" might dislodge it until it settles somewhere else. That might be an hour later or weeks later. The fundamental problem doesn't go away - the globs of coagulated sodium chromate are still there.

[Arch Hoagland]

So how do they "Burp it"?

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by lenjen

I have another post about the Norcold not getting cold...long story short after the tech's second trip and checking as much as he could he wants to Burp my 1200 4 door refrigerator. Has anyone had this done and was it successful?

I very nervous about this.

Thank you for any replies.

I have heard tipping a Norcold to an extreme out of level position and then returning it to the normal level position described as "burping" before. IMHO, the chances of this resolving the problem are near zero. If sodium cromate has crystalized inside the closed cooling system creating a blockage, there's a VERY SMALL chance that burping could partially clear the internal blockage and make the fridge work better than before.

Also if your refrigerator got left on while the RV was parked out of level, this would be the root cause of the sodium chromate crystalizing internally and causing an internal blockage. This blockage also abnormally high internal pressures and this puts stresses on the closed system and increases the chances of a leak of hydrogen gas and or ammonia gas that can get ignited and cause the dreaded Norcold 1200 refrigerator rear side fire happening. So even if "burping" improved it you still are at higher risk of a fire.

Some questions you could provide answers to that would help with remote trouble shooting.

1. Does your control panel work (have lights, buttons work, etc.) ? Does the interior light work? If yes and yes then you have good 12 volt feed to the refrigerator.

2. Make sure your fridge and freezer doors are closing correctly with minimal air leakage.

3. After fridge is on for an hour or so, is the cold plate in the freezer section getting cold? In both electric and propane modes?

4. When you put the fridge into Propane mode does the burner light? Nice blue flame visible when you lift the propane flame inspection plate?

5. When you put the fridge into Electric mode (must be on shore power or generator) is about 600 watts AC (5 amps AC) being drawn? If you don't have a Kill-A-Watt or a power management panel that allows you to see the exact AC amps then you can carefully feel the stack above where the wires go into the heater and see if the stack is becoming hot.

- Note there are two 300 watt heaters in parallel if one of the two goes out it can reduce cooling in electric mode - this would not impact propane mode.

[Old-Biscuit]

The abpve posters have touch on 'burping' aspect which I totally agree with.


The Sodium Chromate crystalizes from 'overheating'....overheating occurs from off-level operation which you state was for 3 days.
Crystals that are formed are ROCK HARD...and plate out on inside of tubing.
They are PERMANENT
Burping (flipping/turning on its side/turning upside down etc) CAN improve flow by disrupting the obstruction but it is NOT a cure.....Band-Aid Fix.


My biggest issue is the RV Tech only came up with this 'plan' AFTER reading the responses in your other post (the suggestions to test cooling unit functions/controls) which that RV Tech didn't preform at first....just did a circuit board reset.


Sorry...but I have no faith in your 'Tech'


Burp away-----you may be one that gets extended time that fridge works and the 2 techs costs will be worth it.

[lenjen]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

I have heard tipping a Norcold to an extreme out of level position and then returning it to the normal level position described as "burping" before. IMHO, the chances of this resolving the problem are near zero. If sodium cromate has crystalized inside the closed cooling system creating a blockage, there's a VERY SMALL chance that burping could partially clear the internal blockage and make the fridge work better than before.

Also if your refrigerator got left on while the RV was parked out of level, this would be the root cause of the sodium chromate crystalizing internally and causing an internal blockage. This blockage also abnormally high internal pressures and this puts stresses on the closed system and increases the chances of a leak of hydrogen gas and or ammonia gas that can get ignited and cause the dreaded Norcold 1200 refrigerator rear side fire happening. So even if "burping" improved it you still are at higher risk of a fire.

Some questions you could provide answers to that would help with remote trouble shooting.

1. Does your control panel work (have lights, buttons work, etc.) ? Does the interior light work? If yes and yes then you have good 12 volt feed to the refrigerator. Yes and yes

2. Make sure your fridge and freezer doors are closing correctly with minimal air leakage.No notable leaks

3. After fridge is on for an hour or so, is the cold plate in the freezer section getting cold? In both electric and propane modes?No cooling

4. When you put the fridge into Propane mode does the burner light? Yes Nice blue flame visible when you lift the propane flame inspection plate? Yes

5. When you put the fridge into Electric mode (must be on shore power or generator) is about 600 watts AC (5 amps AC) being drawn? this I don't know If you don't have a Kill-A-Watt or a power management panel that allows you to see the exact AC amps then you can carefully feel the stack above where the wires go into the heater and see if the stack is becoming hot.the stack does get hot

- Note there are two 300 watt heaters in parallel if one of the two goes out it can reduce cooling in electric mode - this would not impact propane mode.

Answered within quote in bold.

Thank you

[powercat_ras]

Based on your answers in #9, and reading up the thread that you ran the fridge extremely out of level for 3 days, your Norcold 1200 cooling unit is likely not repairable, likely tubing blocked with sodium chromate.

DO NOT RUN IN ITS CURRENT CONDITION OTHER THAN FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME !

- The blockage causes pressure build up inside the cooling unit when either electric or propane heat source is on, and the brazed connections of the tubing unit can fail under the abnormal pressure causing flammable gas to escape and catch fire, causing a RV fire.

- The normal max temp in the boiler is around 350 F or less, but with the blockage this can rise to well over 800 F. If your 1200 has the Norcold Recall Box it should shut down 12 volts to the fridge when temp hits the recall box trip point somewhere around 800 F.

- Disconnect the 12 volt line to the refrigerator to make totally sure it can't be accidentially turned on and cause a fire.

1. You could replace the cooling unit on your existing Norcold 1200, there are many threads on IRV2 about this.

2. You could replace the entire refrigerator with another 1200.

3. You could replace with a residential, also many threads on IRV2 about this.

Good luck.

[powercat_ras]

One more suggestion - if you stay with a absorbtion refrigerator like the Norcold 1200 , consider installing an add-on device called Fridge Defense from ARP. It automatically prevents the boiler from overheating and destroying the cooling unit if you park out of level with the fridge left on. It is "hands free" and it does it in the background without any manual intervention once installed correctly.

To IRV2 admins - I am not affiliated with ARP in any way and am making no profit off this suggestion.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by lenjen

I have another post about the Norcold not getting cold...long story short after the tech's second trip and checking as much as he could he wants to Burp my 1200 4 door refrigerator. Has anyone had this done and was it successful?



I very nervous about this.



Thank you for any replies.

What exactly is the process for the "burp".
I've heard of tapping on the black canister on the cooling unit?

[lenjen]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

The abpve posters have touch on 'burping' aspect which I totally agree with.


The Sodium Chromate crystalizes from 'overheating'....overheating occurs from off-level operation which you state was for 3 days.
Crystals that are formed are ROCK HARD...and plate out on inside of tubing.
They are PERMANENT
Burping (flipping/turning on its side/turning upside down etc) CAN improve flow by disrupting the obstruction but it is NOT a cure.....Band-Aid Fix.


My biggest issue is the RV Tech only came up with this 'plan' AFTER reading the responses in your other post (the suggestions to test cooling unit functions/controls) which that RV Tech didn't preform at first....just did a circuit board reset.


Sorry...but I have no faith in your 'Tech'


Burp away-----you may be one that gets extended time that fridge works and the 2 techs costs will be worth it.

In defense of the tech on first trip he check out several things before the reset and everything seemed to be working and it was not until the next morning that the error code was back on and no cooling. His statement was a compliment to the group.