Understanding the Norcold 1210

[Nomad2015]

Hi guys,
I'm trying to understand the Norcold 1210 at some point in the last 3 month its acted like most of the posts I've read with the exception of over heating light and fuse blowing. In the last year its been subjected to 20 degrees @ 7700 ft elevation for a month to 122 degrees @ 850 ft elevation for 3 months. I as well I have a partition blocking the upper vent. So is there upgrades I can do to make this system happy and efficient or do I toss it when it dies? If toss it is the way to go, what is upgrade for trailer that still travels?
Thanks

[TucsonJim]

I'm not familiar with any upgrades. But if it ever dies, a replacement 1210 will run you around $4500 or more.

Several years ago, I replaced a gas/electric refrigerator with a 12 volt compressor refrigerator. It worked flawlessly for over four years. I sold the RV, and the new owners are very happy with it. Our new Solitude has a 20 cubic foot 12V refrigerator, and on our first few trips, it's worked great. The refrigerator maintains 35°F, and the freezer stays at -8°F.

If I was replacing that 12 cubic foot Norcold, I'd seriously consider the Norcold N15DC. It runs the about the same price as the gas reefer, is 15 cubic feet, and fits into the same space as the 1210. You just need to make sure you have approximately another 100 amp hours of battery power to run it for 24 hours. On the plus side, you can run on the highway with your gas turned off.

Jim

[ncitro]

Nomad2015 Just wanted to tell you I saw you duplicated your post on someone else's thread, since you have your own discussion here I left this one and deleted the other.

To your specific issue I agree with Jim. I had the Dometic version of that fridge and could just never get it to cool consistently. When I pulled it out I hooked it up in my shop and it ran fine, I am of the impression that these larger absorption fridges do not do well in a slide out where the heat cannot escape vertically. Even with all of the fans, deflectors, and insulation I could not get it to function consistently. At the time 12V were not as common and I went with a 120v residential and it works great (I have an inverter and adequate battery bank), but if I was doing it today I would take a good look at the 12v offerings.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

With our 1210 I made sure the doors and door flap were well sealed and I added two 12vdc computer cooling fans up behind the upper vent cover - blowing out. I have very little problem with it cooling effectively. There is one thing you need to do that I find annoying and that is turn the unit off and back on every 48 hours or less. Otherwise it goes into a defrost mode where the fridge goes to about 45-48*...and then it takes a while for it to cool back down. So...to defeat that timer, I cycle the power every day in the morning.

[Nomad2015]

ncitro thank you for the extra effort to share your info. Thank you all for the feedback very helpful. There is a local mobile repair guy that says he has a 12v cooling system upgrade wired direct from house battery for 3k he says you will have Polar bears knocking at your door wanted to sit in your freezer. It sounded like a lot of money but after doing some research it is one of the more reasonable solutions.

[Nomad2015]

With our 1210 I made sure the doors and door flap were well sealed and I added two 12vdc computer cooling fans up behind the upper vent cover - blowing out. I have very little problem with it cooling effectively. There is one thing you need to do that I find annoying and that is turn the unit off and back on every 48 hours or less. Otherwise it goes into a defrost mode where the fridge goes to about 45-48*...and then it takes a while for it to cool back down. So...to defeat that timer, I cycle the power every day in the morning.

The more I think about it my 1210 acts like its defrosting some of the time. I removed the partition on top vent. Now I'm planning how to create air flow and circulation from bottom to the top and out fully open top vent.
Thanks

[Scott'n'Wendy]

I removed the partition on top vent.
Thanks

I'm not sure if that's good....or not. The partition forces cooling air across the cooling fins.

[Cooper]

With our 1210 I made sure the doors and door flap were well sealed and I added two 12vdc computer cooling fans up behind the upper vent cover - blowing out. I have very little problem with it cooling effectively. There is one thing you need to do that I find annoying and that is turn the unit off and back on every 48 hours or less. Otherwise it goes into a defrost mode where the fridge goes to about 45-48*...and then it takes a while for it to cool back down. So...to defeat that timer, I cycle the power every day in the morning.

I didn’t realize the unit turns off and on every 48 hours as their normal operating procedure. Neither did the service techs until they called Norcold. Norcold provided their bulletin… a portion of it I pasted below.
Norcold doesn’t call it a defrost cycle they call it a frost limiter….if it walks like a duck, quack likes a duck, it’s a duck

“Gas Absorption Refrigerators- Frost Management Cycle
Any gas absorption refrigerator with a thermistor has a frost limiter/frost
management cycle. We say frost limiter instead of saying a defrost cycle because the
refrigerators do not have a heater in it to automatically melt the frost in the refrigerator
like a normal house hold refrigerator would have. Instead it will simply stop running until
it reaches a certain temperature that is warm enough to melt some of the frost build up.
Any frost that has not melted by the time the fin temperature reaches 39*F, will not melt
and can stay there until the next frost management cycle.
Every 48 hours the refrigerator will automatically stop its cooling cycle and begin….”

COOPS

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Any frost that has not melted by the time the fin temperature reaches 39*F, will not melt

COOPS

My digital thermometer peaked at 45-48* during that cycle. Of course, I didn't know about the defrost cycle at the time and was confused why it would run fine for a while then randomly warm up..I didn't notice at the time it was a 48 hour cycle. I didn't discover the defrost timer by myself though, I think I learned about it on the other forum.

[RRtoRV]

Wow, I just bought a 22 Reflection in December and have been trying to figure out what was going on. I had it in the dealer for two weeks and they only stated they couldn’t replicate it. Yet I spent the next six weeks in storage trying to figure why is was doing this intermittent heating. I had a cup of ice with a coin on top and the next day I checked, it was at the bottom of the cup of frozen ice. I charted it and many days it cycled every day. I replaced the main control board and the coin stayed on top of the ice for 7 days. Then the cycle started again.
I will tryout the daily powering off and then back on to see if I have a solution. If it works, I’ll find a 12v timer switch and hard wire a automatic bypass.

[howson]

Wow, I just bought a 22 Reflection in December and have been trying to figure out what was going on. I had it in the dealer for two weeks and they only stated they couldn’t replicate it. Yet I spent the next six weeks in storage trying to figure why is was doing this intermittent heating. I had a cup of ice with a coin on top and the next day I checked, it was at the bottom of the cup of frozen ice. I charted it and many days it cycled every day. I replaced the main control board and the coin stayed on top of the ice for 7 days. Then the cycle started again.
I will tryout the daily powering off and then back on to see if I have a solution. If it works, I’ll find a 12v timer switch and hard wire a automatic bypass.

Please follow up with the results -- especially if you're successful!