Norcold 1210T not cooling

[cbgowins]

Hi, just took possession of our 2021 REFLECTION 337RLS this past Friday. This is our second Grand Design RV, the first being a 2019 Imagine 2970. We loved the floor plan, but decided we wanted more room and a washer and dryer. During the walk through, we noticed the refrigerator was not cold, but were told it took 24 hours to cool. It has been 5 days now, and it still has not cooled. Placed a thermometer in it which reads 74 degrees. The freezer seems to be working. Took the lower back panel off and found the water tube that runs into a tray hanging down, not in the tray. Remedied that, but am pretty sure that is not the cause. Also took off the top vent cover and found this setup (see pic below). Is it supposed to look like this? Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Dealer said to being it in, but it is 1 1.2 hours away. We have not been able to use it and do not want to have it sitting at dealership for a long period of time, especially if it is a simple fix.

I checked to make sure the doors were sealed when closing. I also put the thermistor in a cup of water as someone suggested, no change.

[howson]

Hi, just took possession of our 2021 REFLECTION 337RLS this past Friday. This is our second Grand Design RV, the first being a 2019 Imagine 2970. We loved the floor plan, but decided we wanted more room and a washer and dryer. During the walk through, we noticed the refrigerator was not cold, but were told it took 24 hours to cool. It has been 5 days now, and it still has not cooled. Placed a thermometer in it which reads 74 degrees. The freezer seems to be working. Took the lower back panel off and found the water tube that runs into a tray hanging down, not in the tray. Remedied that, but am pretty sure that is not the cause. Also took off the top vent cover and found this setup (see pic below). Is it supposed to look like this? Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Dealer said to being it in, but it is 1 1.2 hours away. We have not been able to use it and do not want to have it sitting at dealership for a long period of time, especially if it is a simple fix.

I checked to make sure the doors were sealed when closing. I also put the thermistor in a cup of water as someone suggested, no change.

What is shown in the photo is a baffle some refrigerator component OEMs mandate to direct airflow across the cooling fins you can see at the top. For Norcold, the last I can recall the baffle was required.

With the dealership so far away and the potential for two round trips (one to drop off the trailer and one to pick it up), consider asking Grand Design to authorize a mobile technician to look at the refrigerator. You'll be responsible for the "service fee" (cost to have the tech come to you) but any parts or labor to do the repair is picked up by Grand Design (if pre-approved). Some people find the service fee cost is less than the cost of time and fuel to go back to the dealership.

One caveat: make sure if you go the mobile tech route that they are an authorized Norcold repair technician. If they are not Norcold may refuse to send replacement parts or even discuss the problem if the tech needs assistance from them.

Good luck--and please update this thread with the resolution.

Howard

[howson]

cbgowins -- you've probably found this already (google finds a LOT of entries related to the Norcold!) but just in case, here's a link to the manual that has a troubleshooting section: http://www.rvrefrigeratorrepair.com/...d-Service-1210

[RV Tech Ret]

Here is one thing you can do.....disconnect the thermistor at the interior light (check the service manual provided above page 19). You will get a code on the unit but just let it run - best on propane. Using propane allows you to check every few hours if you still have a flame (can hear on the outside), it should never shut off in this mode. What happens is the fridge will run in back up mode (just keeps running) and then check your temps. It will take another 24 hours - while this is happening listen for the outside fans running. Being it's so new if it's not the thermistor I will bet it's a bad cooling unit.

[PM3]

Hi, just took possession of our 2021 REFLECTION 337RLS this past Friday. This is our second Grand Design RV, the first being a 2019 Imagine 2970. We loved the floor plan, but decided we wanted more room and a washer and dryer. During the walk through, we noticed the refrigerator was not cold, but were told it took 24 hours to cool. It has been 5 days now, and it still has not cooled. Placed a thermometer in it which reads 74 degrees. The freezer seems to be working. Took the lower back panel off and found the water tube that runs into a tray hanging down, not in the tray. Remedied that, but am pretty sure that is not the cause. Also took off the top vent cover and found this setup (see pic below). Is it supposed to look like this? Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Dealer said to being it in, but it is 1 1.2 hours away. We have not been able to use it and do not want to have it sitting at dealership for a long period of time, especially if it is a simple fix.

I checked to make sure the doors were sealed when closing. I also put the thermistor in a cup of water as someone suggested, no change.

I have the same issue on 6 week old unit. I spoke with Norcold tech and did thermistor test but they told me make sure to use AC instead of gas...HMMM? After 6 hours no change. Finally got hold of my dealer which is also an hour and change north of me and they are getting some parts together to send me their road tech to check it out.
I believe I have a couple of things to be addressed on my unit. One- the doors sealing properly and 2 The cooling unit might be FUBAR. 24 hours later and waiting to hear back from them to set up repair. I will update once we get a fix.
Good luck on you end.
~PM3

[cbgowins]

As suggested in this thread, I changed the refrigerator over to propane about 8 hours ago and the temp dropped to 33 degrees. I had it set on 9. So I am thinking it must be a failed electric heater. I downloaded a manual that will be helpful in trying to run diagnostics to see if it is anything other than the heater. I will do this tomorrow morning. Will keep trying to do a process of elimination. Thanks to everyone for their input. I downloaded and printed the manual and I’m sure it will be very helpful. Will probably end up taking to dealership for them to check out and order parts. Was told there is a backlog on parts and could take a while. I will just haul it back home and take our maiden voyage using propane for a week. There are also some other issues to address that I can’t fix. This is an awesome site and am so glad to have all this valuable information available.

[RonDinSC]

For what it’s worth. Shortly after purchasing our ‘18 Reflections 337RLS, we discovered (the hard way) the Norcold fridge we have will not work unless rv is perfectly level. We returned home and backed in our camper shed, unhooked, and hooked up to electric as we were accustomed to doing with our old camper. Switched the fridge from lp to electric. The green light came on so we assumed it was working. We didn’t check back for a few days, we went back to a fridge full of rotten food. Green light still on, but it had not worked the whole time. I had a tech come and check, he could not find any reason why it was not working. After he left, on a whim I auto leveled it, in a few hours it was obviously working. Most units are not that critical to level ness, but this one is.

[cbgowins]

Hi, just took possession of our 2021 REFLECTION 337RLS this past Friday. This is our second Grand Design RV, the first being a 2019 Imagine 2970. We loved the floor plan, but decided we wanted more room and a washer and dryer. During the walk through, we noticed the refrigerator was not cold, but were told it took 24 hours to cool. It has been 5 days now, and it still has not cooled. Placed a thermometer in it which reads 74 degrees. The freezer seems to be working. Took the lower back panel off and found the water tube that runs into a tray hanging down, not in the tray. Remedied that, but am pretty sure that is not the cause. Also took off the top vent cover and found this setup (see pic below). Is it supposed to look like this? Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Dealer said to being it in, but it is 1 1.2 hours away. We have not been able to use it and do not want to have it sitting at dealership for a long period of time, especially if it is a simple fix.

I checked to make sure the doors were sealed when closing. I also put the thermistor in a cup of water as someone suggested, no change.

UPDATE; We took our camper to the dealership to have them determine what the problem was with the refrigerator. After testing everything and talking back and forth with Grand Design and Norcold, it was determined that it needed a new cooling unit. The dealer ordered this part and it was there in 3 days. We were able to pick up the rig and bring it home last week. We have it sitting in our driveway with the frig hooked up and so far, it is doing great...temp in lower part 30 degrees and freezer at zero degrees. We have been able to check everything out and are loving this rig. The most exciting part is the new Compass Connect App. Downloaded it and Voila! I was able to roll in my awnings from the deck of our house when it started raining. Will be taking the rig on it’s first real journey next week to the mountains of North Carolina.

[TucsonJim]

That is GREAT news! Enjoy that first "real" journey. And thanks so much for reporting on the resolution of your issue.

Jim