freezer cold, refridgerator warm

["007"]

You have to tell us so we will not make the same mistake. Come on now we won't tell anyone.

[jdsr]

This was so dumb I will take it to the great campground in the sky. Beleive me yall wont make the same mistake. Again Im sorry for the errant post but Im glad my ref is working.

["007"]

Nothings dumb if we learn from it.

[Jeanne M.]

Any idea which direction is colder? Left or right? We have our fridge set on 8 to maintain 33 to 35 degrees. However, the sun is on that side in the afternoon. In the mornings, the fridge temps are in the 33 to 35 range...once it was 29 until I got some food in there and the temps stabilized. In the afternoon I've seen it get to 40..(before putting food and sodas in.) Since setting it on 8, it gets up to around 36 in the afternoon.

At any rate, I've already determined when we get back from this trip I'm having it checked out. We only have one more number before we're maxed out at 9.

ON EDIT: ooops I didn't see the 2nd page with info on which way is colder...
Anywho...thanks for the great info!

["007"]

Jeanne you didn't say what your refer model is if its a large double door you should have some fans to blow the heat out of the vent chamber to cool them coils behind the refer. If it gets to hot back there your box temps will rise on hot day but your freezer will always be ok. Moving the thermister clip will not help you.
This FAN will help to cool down the coils of refer of any Norcold or Dometic refridge. The Norcold has fans but there have been problems with a thermister to control fans that are mounted at the top of the refer.

[Jeanne M.]

"007"...Our refer is the 4 door 1201LRIMSS (or something like that...the book is now out in the MH) with the ice maker. A guy at Norcold told us to move the thermistor up to about a 1/2 inch from the top. I'm not sure if that will do the trick either. Two hours later the temps went UP 3 degrees...but it was hot in the MH when DH moved it up and the door was open for a couple minutes. Hopefully it will begin to recover since it is now after 8pm and the sun has set.

We think we're just going to have to take it in to be looked at. An 8 setting is way to high for my liking. There's only one more number to go before we're maxed out..and considering when we first got the MH a setting of 5 or 6 was more than enough too keep food cold. Almost too cold!

Thanks for your link.

[John_Canfield]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeanne M.:
--snip-- when we first got the MH a setting of 5 or 6 was more than enough too keep food cold. Almost too cold!--snip-- </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Jeanne - we have the same Norcold and ours is usually set at 5/6 in hot climates.

Run yours on propane for 24 hours and see if there is any difference in cooling performance.

[Jeanne M.]

John...good thought about running the refrigerator on propane. We're headed to Grand Canyon North Rim next week - no hookups...we should find out how it will work on propane.

In doing that, what are we looking for? If it works ok on propane, what does that mean? If it doesn't, what does THAT mean? This is the first time we've had any trouble with not cooling correctly. On our first MH we had a refrigerator just not work, it just quit. So this is a new wrinkle for us for the cooling to slowly get worse and worse.

Thanks John, everyone for all your input and suggestions.

[John_Canfield]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeanne M.:
John...good thought about running the refrigerator on propane. We're headed to Grand Canyon North Rim next week - no hookups...we should find out how it will work on propane.

In doing that, what are we looking for? If it works ok on propane, what does that mean? If it doesn't, what does THAT mean? This is the first time we've had any trouble with not cooling correctly. On our first MH we had a refrigerator just not work, it just quit. So this is a new wrinkle for us for the cooling to slowly get worse and worse.

Thanks John, everyone for all your input and suggestions. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Jeanne - the cooling unit uses heat for the refrigeration cycle (sounds counter-intuitive ) and the heat source is either electric via a couple of heating elements or via a propane burner. The propane burner is a better source of heat which means the fridge will cool better in the propane mode.

If yours cools better (better meaning like you remember it cooling in its prime) then you likely have an electric heating element problem somewhere.

Google Bryant RV and go to his documents section and download your service manual. There are several diagnostics you can invoke with the front panel.

["007"]

Jeanne, I have the same refer as you with ice maker. If your freezer compartment is keeping your food frozen than the following is what is going on for poor box temps.
On a hot day with sun hitting refer wall go to your vent location and listen for fans operating. You can also take a piece of toilet paper and see if it is drawn towards the vent opening. If your fans are not working the thermister to turn on fans maybe defective and will need to be replaced. As a temperary measure you can place a 12v fan inside vent opening Temp Fan so the temp in your box will drop to where it should be until you can have it fixed. You maybe able to find a Mobil Tech that can fix also.
If your refer is on a kitchen slide other problems have been no baffle in upper slide vent trapping hot air in vent chamber behind refer. When they install refer they will bend baffle blocking upper vent opening or forget to install the baffle in the first place.
The 12v fan can be purchased at Radio S and they have a thermister that you see in picture mounted on it. You have a 12v block on floor of refer deck that can be used for the fan.
The fans that come with refer will cycle off and on, on low temp days, and if its cool you will not hear them on.
This same problem has been going on all this summer with people having refers removed and replaced or the cooling coils replaced and all the problem in most cases has been a $15 thermister.
Sorry to say they will have to remove the refer to replace it.

[Jeanne M.]

Well...So far today we've maintained 34 to 36 degrees thru the heat of the day. DH moved the thermister clip up last night..this morning the temps were 33. We dropped the control back to #7 this morning. By 1pm we had switched to propane to see how that did and it stayed at 34 until 5pm...when we switched back to AC and by 6pm it was back up to 36 with the control at #7 for both modes. It seems to cool slightly better on propane. However, 36 is acceptable according to nat'l guidelines food safety.

We listened at different times during the day and it seems the fan(s) is/are running. So if there is a problem...it must either be in the location of the clip..or the heating elements. No matter what tho, we've decided when we return from this trip we will get it checked out to find out why it has to be set so high. Thanks John and 007...all your input really helped us today.

I love this forum...just reading it every day has helped us so much!

Everybody have a safe and fun Labor Day!!!

["007"]

Just so you know my clip thermister on fin in box is about 1" to 1 1/4" below top of fin. My refer is set on 6 most of the time. Fins will frost up at 6 but will defrost the fins and come back with a slite coating of frost. So if therm is lower than that you could move it up some more. I leave refer on at home all the time on AC and it works the same. If the electric element as John discribes can not hold cold temps in box than it maybe begining to fail.

[NoMoreAZ]

A few thoughts... Per the Norcold Owner's Manual for the 1201LRxxxx, the most efficient and first choice for cooling is electric, not propane (pg 7). The propane efficiency was true years ago. Also, above approx. 5500 feet, propane effieciency drops rapidly.

Leave the unit in one mode for a longer period of time to get a better feel for the operation. 24 hours is nice. Also take into account outside temps, day to day.

Remember that these units also do a 'defrost' in the fresh food section. Our temp control is set at '3'. Normal ops varies temp from 27 - 31. When it is defrost time, temp goes to 37, stays there one hour +/-, then drops rapidly back to where it thinks it should be. Outside temp can be 100. When our unit runs, it's super, however...

["007"]

You are correct NoMoreAZ but I like my beer cooler.