2016 Big horn 3160 freezer only goes down to 12 degrees.

scottknight1

Well-known member
Big horn 3160el
Norcold 2118
I open the upper and lower vents on the left slide out and the 3 fans do not start. Is there a way to activate or test them to see if that is why my freezer only gets down to 12 degrees?
thx
 

travelin2

Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
Are you referring to the small external fans at the rear of the cooling unit you see after removing the grills? Those fans should be on more than off. If they’re not on at all the first thing I’d replace would be the thermostat which is found up near the top cooling fins.
Also you can place a small fan at the bottom grill to push air up along the back and out the top, this imitates the existing fans’ function, to see if internal temperatures fall. If the temp falls and the preexisting fans don’t run, again first item IMO to check is thermostat
 

scottknight1

Well-known member
Are you referring to the small external fans at the rear of the cooling unit you see after removing the grills? Those fans should be on more than off. If they’re not on at all the first thing I’d replace would be the thermostat which is found up near the top cooling fins.
Also you can place a small fan at the bottom grill to push air up along the back and out the top, this imitates the existing fans’ function, to see if internal temperatures fall. If the temp falls and the preexisting fans don’t run, again first item IMO to check is thermostat
thx for the advice. installed a new thermostat so the 3 fans come on... the freezer was at 12, not it's at 10 degrees... not sure if adding more fans with a remote might help, or if I should try something else. don't have a truck to take the rig to an RV shop. not sure if I can find an A/C tech that will come to my home in tacoma, WA. I assume 10 degrees is not cold enough for most foods. Don't want want to get people sick.....
 

travelin2

Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
thx for the advice. installed a new thermostat so the 3 fans come on... the freezer was at 12, not it's at 10 degrees... not sure if adding more fans with a remote might help, or if I should try something else. don't have a truck to take the rig to an RV shop. not sure if I can find an A/C tech that will come to my home in tacoma, WA. I assume 10 degrees is not cold enough for most foods. Don't want want to get people sick.....
I don’t have a thermometer in the freezer but do in the fridge. Personally 10* is good enough me. Just saying
 

Hollandt

Well-known member
Any tips or a manual in the refrigerator freezer in this model to get freezer to zero?
The refrig has no problem getting to even 29 degrees.
Thx
Not sure about the Norcold but the Dometic absorption type unit I have does not have a control in the freezer. As I understand it if the fridge part is satisficed with low temp then the whole unit stops cooling. With the fridge unit at 29 I would say the fridge is satisfied. My Dometic typically runs around 8 to 12 degrees in the freezer and around 30 to 32 in the fridge. Trying to make ice in the freezer will also take considerable energy and thus increase the temp there. I usually purchase ice and put a couple of small bags in the freezer for drinks. I have noticed that putting freshly bought ice in the freezer will also increase the temp significantly(maybe to 15 to 20 degrees F). If at home I will put the small bags in my deep freeze for a few hours below I add to the RV fridge. Also the temp in a empty freezer will fluctuate much more than a full freezer.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
If you want good cold (i.e. hard ice cream) RV ammonia freezer/refrgerators check out the Amish Refrigeration Company re-engineered and improved cooling units.
The following text is cut from their main page: (I added the bits in parenthesis) https://rvcoolingunit.com/Default.aspx
" Here is a little data about these cooling units. They are built by an Amish Refrigeration Manufacturer that mainly builds complete Home Refrigerators & Home Freezer Units. Most of the companies that re-manufacture cooling units that you have read about or find on the Internet, only re-work the old cores of defective units. That's the norm. The one thing that sets this manufacturer apart from all others is they do both new and re-manufactured units without doing the normal types of repairs, such as using the standard cooling charge of ammonia and the hydrogen pressure charge. It took many many years of testing to get the Home Refrigerators to be able to get cold and of course hold the coldest for the longest hot summer months. They came up with propriety (refrigerant mixture) formulas in order to build extra cold and dependable (thicker stainless steel tubing) cooling units. As you know, a Home Refrigerator carries more food, and don't forget the ice cream needs to stay frozen hard" (Many of the Amish buyers of the home Ammonia refrigerator/freezers are Amish dairymen - who make ice cream).

 
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