Norcold fridge

[jage]

Originally Posted by NVHillHiker

I have a 2006 Ford and the norcold has worked flawlessly right up until last week. The unit usually chilled down to about 40 with no problem and kicking on and off normally. But on a trip last week it ran constantly and would not get below 60.

You put more than two warm beers in it at once, didn't you?

My norcold does this constantly, adding a fan in the deadspace behind and an awning to shade that side of the vehicle doesn't help either. Other times it works flawlessly. Putting in a real fridge is high on my list- I've spent a few trips with a Dometic cooler and it's such a blessing to have consistently cold food and drinks, not mess with the dial, and not have the dreaded unstoppable 60ºF fridge!

[ANZAC]

I make sure now that I open the window above the fridge, but I fought with the fridge camping all last week in 95+ deg temps.

My big question is, would a new Norcold (Nevercold?) fridge work better? Mine is 10 years old.

My friend had a propane/3 way fridge in his trailer and it worked very well.

[llamadave]

We have a new electric Norcold DE-0061 7 cu ft refrigerator. In hot weather we need to turn the temperature all the way down so it runs continuously but it does keep 35 F in the refrigerator. In the winter it cycles a lot which is bothersome. The other bad thing in the winter is that to keep things in the freezer well frozen, it starts freezing things in the refrigerator compartment.

David

[Chance]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

Norcold's are ammonia units aren't they? (like most other RV fridges) I don't think there is coolant in them, it's a chemistry project inside using lots of pipes, ammonia, etc. I could be totally wrong about this. If it was a conventional compressor type fridge so many people wouldn't have trouble with it.

Ammonia is the refrigerant (or coolant) in these refrigerators that work off a heat source. It’s called an “absorption cycle”. Freon systems use a completely different refrigeration cycle that works by compressing the refrigerant; hence why they have a compressor. Absorption cycles don’t compress the refrigerant.

A critical factor with most (if not all) ammonia/absorption RV refrigerators is that they must be kept level to operate properly. The one I had in my Class C years ago worked great when the RV was parked on level ground, but if tilted even slightly in my driveway it would stop working for the most part. These are designed very differently than compressor refrigerators and must be level for the refrigerant to drain properly.

Obviously there could be many causes as to why a fridge may not work properly, but in my opinion if an ammonia/absorption unit is not level there is little point in doing additional troubleshooting.

[accrete]

reading this thread as i had wondered about the 12v fridge possibility in the van. Still pondering. Though i will add, that for our typical camping in the PNW in the mid 50's to mid 70's day time temps year round, our trusty engel deep blue with PITA-to-many ice, keeps temps at a measured 32 to 40 degrees for over a week between new ice. We even stopped emptying the ice daily during trips and found temps remained in the same range for the trips.