Norcold fridge temp to high

[TheRamaraos]

Hello. We are new owners of a 2018 GDRV 384GK. If possible, can we get some advise as to your Norcold 18 cu ft 4 door fridge. We had it on a/c power in storage for 21 days, and the fridge compartment is at 72F. What may be the problem?

[Country Campers]

Welcome to the forum. I have moved your post to its own thread to help with your discussion.
A few questions to ask to help us get a better understanding of the situation.

When you say "in storage" was this in an enclosed building or parking lot storage?

Was there any lights on the control panel , what were the lights?

Did you have food or anything inside?

Were there any power outages while the unit was in storage?

Brian

[JeffC]

There is a known problem with the Norcold 4 doors. Make sure that the center flap on the left door is fully closed. It interferes with the bottom of the fridge. The cure is to either shim up the left door or simply manually close the flap when using the refrigerator.

[TENN22]

I have posted this before, but our Norcold 4 door DOES NOT WORK as configured. We have performed the door shim fix and replaced the outside thermostat (that controls the outdoor fans) twice, second time with a smaller degree thermostat with still no luck. Running at a setting of 9 the internal temperature will not go below 45 degrees. So......I removed the outdoor thermostat switch and reinstalled the jumper wire my dealer tech made for me. With the outdoor fans running constantly I can set my Refrigerator to a setting of 4 and maintain a 33 degree internal temperature.
So, for now I will leave the jumper in place. The one caveat (I am told) is that if we camp in cold weather (below 32 degrees) with the fans running constantly the fridge will have a problem with cooling since the outside temperature would prevent the heat exchange from taking place.

IF you want to test to see if running the outdoor fans would solve your problem, a quick test is to open your outside bottom vent on your refrigerator compartment and place a box fan at an angle blowing directly into vent opening. This will force air up and out causing the cooling fins to work as intended and dissipate the heat. If the refrigerator begins cooling correctly with the box fan in place, then you could attempt the same mod I have used.

RV refrigerators are not designed to vent out a side vent, they NEED to vent through the roof. 1950's Design in a 2020 RV.

[GrandMomentum]

I have posted this before, but our Norcold 4 door DOES NOT WORK as configured. We have performed the door shim fix and replaced the outside thermostat (that controls the outdoor fans) twice, second time with a smaller degree thermostat with still no luck. Running at a setting of 9 the internal temperature will not go below 45 degrees. So......I removed the outdoor thermostat switch and reinstalled the jumper wire my dealer tech made for me. With the outdoor fans running constantly I can set my Refrigerator to a setting of 4 and maintain a 33 degree internal temperature.
So, for now I will leave the jumper in place. The one caveat (I am told) is that if we camp in cold weather (below 32 degrees) with the fans running constantly the fridge will have a problem with cooling since the outside temperature would prevent the heat exchange from taking place.

IF you want to test to see if running the outdoor fans would solve your problem, a quick test is to open your outside bottom vent on your refrigerator compartment and place a box fan at an angle blowing directly into vent opening. This will force air up and out causing the cooling fins to work as intended and dissipate the heat. If the refrigerator begins cooling correctly with the box fan in place, then you could attempt the same mod I have used.

RV refrigerators are not designed to vent out a side vent, they NEED to vent through the roof. 1950's Design in a 2020 RV.

TENN22 , any chance you can post how the jumper is wired with pictures. I have tried installing “helper” fans but can find a good 12v power to power them. Any help would be appreciated..

David

[TENN22]

TENN22 , any chance you can post how the jumper is wired with pictures. I have tried installing “helper” fans but can find a good 12v power to power them. Any help would be appreciated..

David

David,
Sorry, I am just seeing this post. When i get back to my rig the first week of December I will attempt some pictures. The challenge is the upper vent has to be removed completely (meaning all screws must come out and silicone seal must be ruptured) to get to the thermostat.

[rocklorrie]

We have the same unit in our 2017 337 and had similar issues. The cooling unit was replaced under warranty and worked fine for a about a year and then acted up again. We discovered that if we turned it off for 24 hrs and restarted it would work properly again for about another year. Repeated this again and it returned to normal again.We full time and are in the same location for 3-6 months at a time. I suspect that over it time it develops a bubble in the line and that by turning it off for 24 hrs the bubble breaks up. Give it a try maybe it’ll do the same for you.Hope it does!

[TucsonJim]

If there is any chance that rain entered your refrigerator cabinet, the limit switch circuitry probably got damp and the limit switch tripped. Check out this video on how to dry things out and reset the switch on your own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVKsSD7UlSY

Jim

[Tim2542]

TENN22 , any chance you can post how the jumper is wired with pictures. I have tried installing “helper” fans but can find a good 12v power to power them. Any help would be appreciated..

David

Open the top outside cover. On your left on the end of the finned section is the switch. Its not easy to reach and parts in there will be hot unless you turn it off first. Simply unplug it and using an ATC type fuse, 5 amp is fine but any will do, plug the wires into the fuse. Now they run constant. What I did was splice in a pair of wires and ran them down to the bottom cover where I can plug in my fuse/jumper more conveniently. So now on mine the switch still functions, but I can override it. I agree with a previous post, the fans do not come on soon enough and this mod will make a significant improvement. I believe they mount the switch too far out on the fin where it doesn't sense the actual temp, nor do they use any heat transfer grease between the switch and the fin.

[Yattr]

We have the same unit in our 2017 337 and had similar issues. The cooling unit was replaced under warranty and worked fine for a about a year and then acted up again. We discovered that if we turned it off for 24 hrs and restarted it would work properly again for about another year. Repeated this again and it returned to normal again.We full time and are in the same location for 3-6 months at a time. I suspect that over it time it develops a bubble in the line and that by turning it off for 24 hrs the bubble breaks up. Give it a try maybe it’ll do the same for you.Hope it does!

Also have 337 with similar issues. Just replaced the control board and all is well. Actually better than when new!. But based on your experience, I am now wondering if it being off for about a week was more of the solution than the circuit board change. Will know shortly, off the the coast for a month...

[TENN22]

Open the top outside cover. On your left on the end of the finned section is the switch. Its not easy to reach and parts in there will be hot unless you turn it off first. Simply unplug it and using an ATC type fuse, 5 amp is fine but any will do, plug the wires into the fuse. Now they run constant. What I did was splice in a pair of wires and ran them down to the bottom cover where I can plug in my fuse/jumper more conveniently. So now on mine the switch still functions, but I can override it. I agree with a previous post, the fans do not come on soon enough and this mod will make a significant improvement. I believe they mount the switch too far out on the fin where it doesn't sense the actual temp, nor do they use any heat transfer grease between the switch and the fin.

Tim, That is a great idea. I will rework mine to run addtiional wires down to the bottom in the off season.