Norcold 1210 Door Seal Issue

[Paul & Deb]

So it appears the door seals on our 2015 Norcold 4 door 12 cu ft fridge are failing as we get excess condensation in the fridge that leaks out from the bottom of the doors. When I inspect the seals the top and sides appear normal and supple but the bottoms appear to be flattened and don't seal properly. Testing with a dollar bill in the seal, as recommended by the owner's manual, clearly shows the left bottom seal isn't sealing properly.

I didn't have to research for long to discover Norcold made these refrigerators with non-replaceable seals! You have to replace the entire doors! What?

Has anyone else run into this problem and come up with a better solution than replacing the entire doors?

I'd actually swap it out for a residential unit but we do way too much dry camping for that.

Thanks

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Paul,

Those of us who have camped a lot with the early production units are going to be facing this situation with all the appliances. Many (most?) of the appliances are no longer in production and parts are already becoming difficult to find. (Kind of like owning a much older Buick LOL!) I would not replace the doors on a 5 year old adsorption cycle fridge. Failure of other components is not far behind failure of the door seals. The only real choice (for the way you camp) is a new propane RV fridge. Expensive, but at least it comes with a warranty. The other choice is a new RV. Don't tell Deb (or Cate) that I said that .

Rob

[Paul & Deb]

Hi Paul,

Those of us who have camped a lot with the early production units are going to be facing this situation with all the appliances. Many (most?) of the appliances are no longer in production and parts are already becoming difficult to find. (Kind of like owning a much older Buick LOL!) I would not replace the doors on a 5 year old adsorption cycle fridge. Failure of other components is not far behind failure of the door seals. The only real choice (for the way you camp) is a new propane RV fridge. Expensive, but at least it comes with a warranty. The other choice is a new RV. Don't tell Deb (or Cate) that I said that .

Rob

Yeah, I know that logically but I was hoping for a miracle from the geniuses

[Canyonlight]

Paul - maybe a call, email or txt to Jerry or his other key folks you may know will have some ideas. I would suspect that there is some experienced techs with decades of service knowledge that have some great ideas or even have done something to fix this condition. I know we do not want to shake their trees often but when it could be a few dollars fix vs a few thousand $s......well seems to make sense. Always nice to get caught up with some of the GDRV team once in a while too.

Or next time you and Jim are in the Sierras fishing......send him out by himself fishing to "provide food for the family" and get the guys to swap his fridge for yours when he is not looking !

Dan

[Country Campers]

Paul

Could the seal be removed with a razor blade?
Just thinking if that is possible then a new seal with adhesive backing could be applied.

Brian

[TucsonJim]

Paul - I did some research to see if anyone is now offering 12VDC compressor refrigerators in the larger size. No luck so far.

[Paul & Deb]

Paul

Could the seal be removed with a razor blade?
Just thinking if that is possible then a new seal with adhesive backing could be applied.

Brian

I read online in another generic RV forum where someone else actually did that but the thread lost momentum and he never answered back on how well it worked.

[Paul & Deb]

Paul - I did some research to see if anyone is now offering 12VDC compressor refrigerators in the larger size. No luck so far.

Thanks Jim. Last time out the condensation and leaking seemed to stop after the fridge was cold and full but I see the end coming. We only have a couple trips this year coming up so we'll see how it goes. I'd really like to consider a residential unit and bolster my batteries and solar. Any idea how much I would need to run one of the residentials/

[TucsonJim]

Thanks Jim. Last time out the condensation and leaking seemed to stop after the fridge was cold and full but I see the end coming. We only have a couple trips this year coming up so we'll see how it goes. I'd really like to consider a residential unit and bolster my batteries and solar. Any idea how much I would need to run one of the residentials/

I can certainly figure it out. I'll get back to you tonight.

[Country Campers]

Looking for another seal in another thread I found this https://www.mcmaster.com/door-weathe...al-style~flat/. I wonder if you put that on the area where the door seal meets the compartment if that would seal. This type may also be found in your local hardware store but maybe not as thin. Using foam would allow for compaction.

Brian

[Ed & Cathy K]

I bought crack filler rod behind the door gaskets. The doors need a little extra push to close, but the frost has been greatly reduced.
CR Laurence CRL 3/8" Closed Cell Backer Rod - 100' Roll - - Amazon.com

[Paul & Deb]

I bought crack filler rod behind the door gaskets. The doors need a little extra push to close, but the frost has been greatly reduced.
CR Laurence CRL 3/8" Closed Cell Backer Rod - 100' Roll - - Amazon.com

How did you get that behind the seal Ed? AN interesting idea.

[Paul & Deb]

So after lots of reading, especially on The Norcold Guy's site, and some discussion with Jim, I played with the hinges a bit and the center closing mechanism and it actually seems a little tighter at the bottom of the left side door, which was the biggest culprit.

The Norcold Guy recommend trying to loosen and retighten the hinge screws which, quite frankly, I thought was stupid. There is no/zero play in them so I can't see how that would do anything at all especially since they were absolutely tight when I removed them. That made no noticeable difference.

Then I stood back and reexamined how the doors on these double door fridges work and its obvious that the clamping force is achieved based on the center mechanisms, both top and bottom and the top center "latch" is where the absolute lions share of the clamping is done. I removed the screws on those and, again, there is no adjustability there. But I did retighten them. but on that top center latch I was able to actually tighten that up just a smidge and I think that might have made a difference. the dollar bill seems a slight but tighter at the bottom left door.

Although the manual does not say there is a specific way to open and close these doors when I really studied them I decided it really is essential to close these doors properly to ensure a correct seal AND to avoid putting excess strain on the components that keep the doors closed tightly. So Deb and I have decided we are always going to open and close the fridge by opening the right door first and closing it last. We have also decided that we will stop opening just the left side door just to make sure the center flap seal is properly closed. It may be overkill but we want to avoid having to replace this thing.

We'll see if any of these measures help when we fire the fridge back up for our next trip.

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions and I'll try to remember to report back if my measures worked and if not, what steps I take next.

[TucsonJim]

Man, I sure hope that does the trick for you.

Jim