Norcold 2118SS Not Cold Enough

[hboy1]

Sorry if this is already posted. I read through some posts and didn't find my situation.

This is a new camper with new fridge. It's just not getting cold enough. I don't much about how these fridges operate or if an adjustment can be made. We are set up in our summer spot and I don't want to haul it in for warranty repair. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

When the fridge is on the highest setting (9), the freezer is 10-20 degrees and the fridge is 40-42 degrees (measured using a commercial fridge thermostat).

It works to make ice and keep drinks kinda cold, but I would not want to leave meat in the fridge at 42 degrees.

There is a fan in the freezer and one in the fridge. They are both pulling air. Not knowing how these are supposed to operate, I just thought a fan would push air from the freezer and blow into the fridge.

Thank you

 

[sjandbj]

First off these units work differently than a residential unit. they only have one setting for both the fridge and freezer. Tis can be a problem. They don't transfer air from the freezer to the fridge to the freezer. For the unit to work the best they need to be level and cool. if the air flow in the back of the unit is not flowing then the units performance will be compromised. If you search the forum there are many threads that can provide you with great information. BTW how hot is it where you are staying?

 

[hboy1]

Thank you.

The unit is level. The fridge has been operating for 2+ weeks. Daytime temps 90-95 degrees. Night time 70 degrees.

Thanks.

 

[danemayer]

There should be a fan or fans on the backside of the fridge, moving air from the lower vent, across the condenser coils, and out the top vent. If it's hot out and the fan isn't running, you'll have a problem. There's also a baffle that should direct the airflow across the condenser fans. If that's out of place you'll have a problem.

Basically, for the inside of the fridge to get cold, the heat gets transferred to the backside and then has to get transferred outside the vents.

If you need warranty service, you may be able to use a mobile servicer. The travel charge will be at your expense, but is often less cost than hauling the trailer to a dealer. You'll also need to get prior approval from Heartland to use a mobile servicer, and since the refrigerator is warranted by Norcold, you may need their approval as well, or a servicer who has already been authorized by Norcold.

Larger RV parks and Resorts usually have the contact info for mobile servicers.

 

[RoadJunkie]

There are many threads that deal with refrigerator inefficiency. They offer suggestions like ensuring the seals on the doors are well seated, a dollar test is recommended whereby you put a dollar bill between the door and fridge and try to slide the dollar bill out. If it pulls out too easily, then door may not be sealing properly.

Buy a battery powered fan that circulates the air within the fridge.

Keep the door shut! Think of what you want to do inside the fridge before you open it; Be quick and close as soon as possible. Some people have actually put a bowl filled with ice and placed it inside the fridge to help keep contents cooler.

If the fridge is located within a slide, examine the area above the fins via the outside access port. Be sure air is not being trapped above the exhaust panel. Sometimes there is a big air space above the exhaust panel and the hot air can't escape.

Try and position your rig so that the refrigerator faces East to avoid the heat of a setting sun.

 

[ksucats]

RoadJunkie hit the big issue we had in our SOB before. There needs to be air movement on the outside back of the unit - Just as in your home unit you have transfer 'fins' at the back the transfer the heat from inside to the outside. There has to be airflow across those fins so that the transfer occurs. If your Norcold is not in a slide you will notice one 'vent' at the lower level of your refer (outside) and then you'll have a roof vent (something that looks like an upside down oval tub) as a straight 'chimney' for this heat. If your unit is in the slideout then you don't have that straight airflow so the air has to be forced out of the top side vent. In our previous unit some insulation had come loose and had covered up the top of the refrigerator some so that the air could not flow. Additionally there is a small fan that is installed in that space to 'force' air movement. On ours it was also covered up. Very small fan that pushed very little air. The dealer upgraded it (per my request) to a 12 volt computer cooling fan. This not only increased the air flow tremendously but also allowed us to turn down the setting to three or four, even in 100 degree New Mexico weather.

on edit: Just remembered one more thing - this fan is on a temperature sensitive switch (the name escapes me right now) but on ours it was set to start up at 85 to 90 degrees. Ah, I think it is called a thermister. In any case, the dealer suggested we go with one that kicked off / started the fan at a lower temperature. As I recall we went with one that was approximately 80 to 85 degrees and that almost proved to be too cool as we could hear that fan at night. It definitely did keep things cold though!!

Hope this helps some and you get to enjoy many cold beverages with ice.

 

[mlpeloquin]

I left my thermister mounted, but pulled the leads and connected them with a jumper. They run 100% of the time that the refrigerator is running. I also have fans in the refrigerator that are powered by 12V. I too run on a setting of 2 winter, or 3 for summer. -16 in the left freezer, -12 in the right freezer, and 32 to 34 degrees in the fridge. It won't freeze up in the fridge so long as the fans circulate the air in the fridge. My wife asks why is everything so cold in the refrigerator?

 

[John T Bettencourt]

Hboy 1, go to Wal Mart and buy a small elec. fan for about 5 dollars. Put an adapter plug on the outlet the frig. Powers off of. Plug both in and point the fan up toward the top rear vent and let the fan run 24,7. This will lower the temp in the frig. Worked for me.

 

[avvidclif]

I have a lot of dead space above mine and have been trying to figure out how to route the air out. The factory shows a piece of metal going from the top of the fridge to just above the vent. Been mulling over some way to do that.

The light went off. I going to buy a few sheets of 1" Styrofoam insulation. I will cut it to fit on top of the fridge and cut the upper ones longer than the lower to stairstep them until they reach the top of the vent. Basically fill that space with Styrofoam. 3M Spray glue will hold it. Besides filling the space it will provide insulation between the top of the slide and the fridge and that can't hurt. I know the top of the slide gets hot in the sun..

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, and off to Lowes I go.

Any thoughts or negatives?

 

[danemayer]

I've attached a drawing that shows how Norcold specs the baffle and airflow for a 1210. Yours should be similar.

 

[Gary521]

On the left door, there is a movable door seal that flips behind the right door. Check and make sure that this seal is closing properly. Mine was not and leaving a large gap for air to enter. The movable seal was dragging on the bottom of the unit and not closing. To fix this, I added nylon washers on the bottom hinge to raise the door slightly so the seal would not drag. Very easy.

 

[SNOKING]

Worked on mine today. found that the upper access lower baffle is installed correctly to a 1/4" or so from the bottom of the fins, however the upper baffle was way out of wack on the right side. So I took it out and reworked in to sit down of the top of the refer box. I need to get some more insulation to stuff in the corners. I have three fans I believe, maybe four. I have a picture on one down low, mayber there are two. There are two up high.

Chris




One of the two upper fans.

 

[Power247]

I need to see how to fit a couple of these in the fridge vent on ours. It really needs help getting up to temp when we first start it up. Once it gets up to temp it can keep up pretty well.

Greg
2012 | 2500 | CCSB | Custom MCC by Double R Diesel

 

[NHCelt]

Hboy1....I had a very similar issue with my 2118 Norcold. Check the black hard plastic piece on the inside of the left-hand fridge door. This piece moves and is designed to make a seal inside between the doors when both doors are closed.


With mine, the bottom of the plastic bar was hanging up on the made in America sticker. The plastic piece would stick and it was like having the door not sealed in the middle. I removed the sticker and all has been well since. You can actually hear the piece click shut when it is functioning properly. Open both bottom fridge compartment doors and then close just the left ....if that black bar doesn't snap closed...that's the issue. My temps went from 42 to 32 in the fridge and my excessive condensation issue was also resolved!

Hope it works for you.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Just found the issue with my refer yesterday. My refer has always operated marginal to not at all. If I dry camped a few days it would work marginally. I always found it funny that while driving, the refer would quit and all things went warm in a short time.

The other day I was preparing to go on a trip, so I filled the bottles, and attempted to purge the lines by operating the stove for a second so that the refer lp mode would kick in. The stove would not light, I checked the bottle and they were on.

Then the strange thing happened. I rolled out the slide out to gain access to the stove, then I lit it with one turn of the striker. This is when I decided that I had a problem with the gas line.

With the slide out extended, I found the rubber gas line under the slide out with some Micky Mouse plastic apparatus designed to prevent the hose from kinking, was actually causing a kink in the hose when the slight out was in. The kink was so severe, that when extended it was still present, just providing enough gas to operate the stove and refer.

I removed the plastic apparatus (not be able to figure out how it was intended to be installed in the first place) and made my own extension and support mechanism for the hose. I turned on the gas and my refer roared to life. I have never heard that flame cranking out the BTUs like that before.

I'm going out there today to load up, I'm hoping to see an improvement. Heads up BC owners, if you are having problems check that rubber line on your kitchen slide out. Heck even if you are not having problems check it anyway. Mine was poorly installed you may have an issue even though you don't have symptoms.

 

[JohnD]

Just found the issue with my refer yesterday. My refer has always operated marginal to not at all. If I dry camped a few days it would work marginally. I always found it funny that while driving, the refer would quit and all things went warm in a short time.

The other day I was preparing to go on a trip, so I filled the bottles, and attempted to purge the lines by operating the stove for a second so that the refer lp mode would kick in. The stove would not light, I checked the bottle and they were on.

Then the strange thing happened. I rolled out the slide out to gain access to the stove, then I lit it with one turn of the striker. This is when I decided that I had a problem with the gas line.

With the slide out extended, I found the rubber gas line under the slide out with some Micky Mouse plastic apparatus designed to prevent the hose from kinking, was actually causing a kink in the hose when the slight out was in. The kink was so severe, that when extended it was still present, just providing enough gas to operate the stove and refer.

I removed the plastic apparatus (not be able to figure out how it was intended to be installed in the first place) and made my own extension and support mechanism for the hose. I turned on the gas and my refer roared to life. I have never heard that flame cranking out the BTUs like that before.

Are you talking about this?



Ours is not on the refer side of the trailer, but I still have to check this before we roll (under the off-door slide).

And apparently there is no fix to make this NOT sit on top of the tire other than to manually check this each time before we hit the road (dealership said there was nothing they could do under warranty).

I have made a label sticker that I put on the side of the slide and one next to the slide switch inside to remind me to make sure that this is not sitting on the tire before we roll.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Are you talking about this?

View attachment 46615

Ours is not on the refer side of the trailer, but I still have to check this before we roll (under the off-door slide).

And apparently there is no fix to make this NOT sit on top of the tire other than to manually check this each time before we hit the road (dealership said there was nothing they could do under warranty).

I have made a label sticker that I put on the side of the slide and one next to the slide switch inside to remind me to make sure that this is not sitting on the tire before we roll.

No my problem was ahead of the wheels on the kitchen slide out. However there is a similar device for some other system and it is above my wheels on the kitchen slide out. I'm departing tomorrow and I will be sure to check it too. BTW my refer was functioning better since the fix.

 

[SNOKING]

Well, today I was washing the rig getting ready for a shakedown trip to Anacortes before we leave for Arizona and the Norcold 2118 went ito error L1 OP, which is an over temp condition. The recall box as it was called on olded units/switch of over heating protection had the red light on. Manual says not user service issue. Reading on the web I found that the recall box can be reset with a magnet held near the red LED light. Has been running for an couple hours now. I think I got water stray in the lower access cover. I was dirty, in the future I will remove it to clean it. Fingers crossed. This trailer is going to get a residential refer, however the timing was just bad right now. Chris

 

[hboy1]

Quick update to my original post. Like many have suggested I installed a fan inside the fridge. There is a hot wire than I ran off the fridge light. This fan made a YUGE difference this summer.

 

[Moandnick]

I bought a fan kit that mounts on one of the vents on the outside but unclear as to which one to mount it on and which way the fan should blow? Should they suck the hot air out at the top right behind the fins or down below? Or should they blow in on the vents or from below so it pushes air up?


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