Fridge not cooling

So...I was recently parked on a very steep incline and running my norcold fridge/freezer on propane. Everything thawed out. I knew that running on an unlevel surface is not good for the appliance. The freezer is back to freezing but the fridge is not cooling almost at all. It sounds like it's trying but not succeeding. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

GL15Brewer said:

So...I was recently parked on a very steep incline and running my norcold fridge/freezer on propane. Everything thawed out. I knew that running on an unlevel surface is not good for the appliance. The freezer is back to freezing but the fridge is not cooling almost at all. It sounds like it's trying but not succeeding. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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You may have clogged the refrigerator section of the cooling unit running it strongly off level. It has been said that the units built since around 2000 work OK if the RV is level enough to walk around comfortably.There are some alternate paths for the coolant to flow within the cooling unit that would allow the freezer to work, but not the refrigerator section.

I found this posting in an RV Refrigerator Repair and Troubleshooting online forum that seems to fit what you are describing:

"sherm • a year agoI have a norcold n 811, the freezer is working fine but the fridge is not working at all . ive tested the thermister with a ohm meter and thats fine. im lost on what to do next

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• 
  Curtis to sherm • a year ago On older refrigerators when they start to fail That is generally how they go. The freezer gets the coolant 1st and what is left goes to the refrigerator and if the refrigerator tubes are starting to become blocked Then circulation starts to fail. That said the same symptoms can happen with Electronic problems as well. The only way to find out is to have a qualified technician address the issue. "

For many years some people have said that "burping" the cooling unit by turning it upside down and rocking it roughly can help with the clogged cooling unit. One source I read talked about using an electric hand sander without sand paper to vibrate all of the tubing. Other professionals say that the chromate forms a hard chemical plug inside the tubing that cannot even be drilled through. If your refrig/freezer is as big and heavy as mine is, some of these "fixes" may be not practical.

Check out RV Cooling Unit Warehouse .com (https://rvcoolingunit.com/) They have both rebuilt and new cooling units. The new units are built by the Amish Refrigeration Company, who analyzed the deficiencies in the OEM cooling units, and are made with thicker stainless steel tubing in the critical failure-prone areas, along with "tweaking" the chemical mixture percentages in the cooling unit for optimum cooling. This was wanted by their original Amish dairymen customers who want especially a hard freeze in the freezer for ice cream. Replacement of a cooling unit can cost about 1/2 of the price of a new RV ammonia refrigerator. There are You Tube videos online about replacing the cooling units on specific refrigerators, or you may get an RV repairer to do the work.

Another option is to get rid of the ammonia absorption typical RV refrigerator which is good for down-the-road and boondocking refrigerator operation, and install a household type AC powered refrigerator with maybe a voltage inverter running off your trailer batteries for refrigeration on the road. Heartland now offers home type refrigerators as a buyers purchase choice.

You don't mention the outside temps. These units do not do well when outside temps go up.

Lynn1130 said:

You don't mention the outside temps. These units do not do well when outside temps go up.

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Another argument for the conventional compressor/freon home type refrigerator.

Another argument for the conventional compressor/freon home type refrigerator.

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Not if you dry camp! And big dollar solar setups are worthless if you park under trees to get out of the Arizona sun.