Norcold, not so much

Townes, yes, they come with a fan however not mounted at the top , instead pushing the air rather than helping the draft by pulling. The factory unit runs but ineffective. The ones I installed unlike what the factory installed, work.  I can now use my fridge even when it’s 115 degrees.  Anything over 90 these fridges struggle. That’s no longer an issue in ours.

I read if so many so so reviews on the thermostats reliability that I did not install one. Instead I have a hidden toggle switch I can throw if The fans are not needed and a throttle to adjust the fans as needed. I’m in temps of the low 90’s right now and the fans are on at estimate 20 percent. My fridge is set on 2 and the interior temp is 37 .

Time aweigh.  Sorry for late reply .  Yes they are 12 volt fans I bought on amazon. I’m on an old iPhone however if you’d like more info or photos send me an email.

For the hinge breakage issue I used a method to reduce the load on the hinges.  I used this successfully on a previous camper with a Dometic refrigerator and added this on our first outing in the PC after picking it up about 2 years ago.  Knock on wood we have not had any hinge breakage issues so far.  We typically carry pretty heavy loads in the door trays.


I attached an adhesive backed furniture slider (about 1 1/8” diameter) on the bottom of the door frame on the side opposite the hinges.  When the door is closed it rides up over the slider thus carrying part of the door weight.  The inexpensive plastic sliders were purchased at Walmart.

   Great Idea fandj 

I've got the remote ordered, thanks for the link guys.... now I can watch my beer get warm from the comfort of my lounge chair, oh technology!!!!
Doug

Townes, yes, they come with a fan however not mounted at the top , instead pushing the air rather than helping the draft by pulling. The factory unit runs but ineffective. The ones I installed unlike what the factory installed, work.  I can now use my fridge even when it’s 115 degrees.  Anything over 90 these fridges struggle. That’s no longer an issue in ours.

I read if so many so so reviews on the thermostats reliability that I did not install one. Instead I have a hidden toggle switch I can throw if The fans are not needed and a throttle to adjust the fans as needed. I’m in temps of the low 90’s right now and the fans are on at estimate 20 percent. My fridge is set on 2 and the interior temp is 37 .

Joseph,  What type of fan did you buy?  A pancake?  I am trying to limit my discussion and questions regarding Norcold to prevent ppl from getting sick of me!  I hope and trust my previous nightmare with Norcold is not repeated...I'm optimistic.  I do believe that a fan blowing air over the coils will help dissipate the heat and improve the Norcold's performance.  I like the idea of a manual switch.

Barry T

These guys know there stuff about rv refrigerators. I've been to there repair shop.

  https://www.yellowpages.com/benton-ky/mip/ford-rv-refrigeration-15002761


Lynn      2018     2400

Townes.   I’m working from my I phone.   Check your message box

     I guess I am very luck. Had no problems with the fridge in our 2013 PC2100. Don't use a fan but did buy a pair of hinges ($15 or so I think) to carry just in case. Depending on outside temp, mine is set at 4 or 5 and works great maintaining a fridge temp between 35-40 (I have 2 thermometers in different location and one in freezer) and things stay frozen in freezer but not quite as solid as in my home freezer. I do keep both compartments quite full. If there isn't a lot of food, I put in water bottles to take up the space. That helps with opening the door.  When there is not much inside,  refrigerated air quickly escapes. Refrigerated water bottles stay put. I also keep some frozen water bottles in the freezer for a lot of reason. The one time we were challenged in Big Bend National Park and temps hit 112, I would put the frozen ones in the fridge and cold one is the freezer to refreeze (always as we went to bed so it would stay closed for 8+hours). Worked pretty well.
     If you are operating on 9, I almost think it might be a defective refrigerator.
     I aslo participated in the class action law suit and just received my second check.

Winnebago has started to use both the Norcold and Nova-Kool compressor fridges in their Paseo, Travato, View/Navion. and Fuse lines.
All the units now have 200 amp solar systems standard but still using the smaller Group 27/31 12V batteries.  All seems fairly well since
the change early in 2018.

Our new Winnebago Intent also came with a compressor style refrig. I wanted the dealer to change it out to the normal gas/110v Norcold type.  They said they could not because being a Winnebago dealer.  But I could have gone to Camping World etc, and have it changed out. I decided to keep what was in there.  It does work better than the gas/110v type by far. It's efficient and in 90+ temps, hold its temps accurate. Downside is that it draws 5 amps DC at 12 volts to operate.  With 4 batteries and 800 watts of solar, I have more than enough to keep this thing running and everything else.  A plus in all this is that it would have cost me $4000 for the conversion if I would have chose that direction. The solar and batteries cost me less than $2000..  I think the 800 watts is a bit of an overkill, but I like it!
BTW, to replace the Norcold 2way costs $3000.  To replace my compressor refrig is about $170!  Another plus.

Just my 2 cents worth.

We just completed a great 3500 mile trip to Boston, passing through 11 states. The new 2552 performed great (though a Saf-T-Plus will be installed before Duluth.)

The only negative was the mediocre performance of the Norcold fridge. We boondocked 5 times at Harvest Host sites, the rest in campgrounds. All food going into the fridge was pre-chilled and I have a Camco fan (thanks Swiftboot) on the bottom shelf.On the coldest setting of 9 the temp in the fridge compartment hovered between 38 and 45. Door openings were kept to an absolute minimum. The freezer performed better, keeping a bag of ice dry and the pre-frozen prepared meals solid.

Am I missing something or is this normal? Thanks for all input!

Steve

Steve,
I was going to reply in a private message, but thought others might be interested in the "Harvest Host" program.  My question is...in general how pleased are you with the program?  My understanding is for an annual fee of $49.00, you have the privilege of overnighting at participating wineries along with the suggestion of buying a bottle or two.  Sounds like a great idea.

https://harvesthosts.com/join/?utm_source=RVTravel&utm_medium=RVTravel&utm_campaign=RVTravel&utm_expid=.r1aMU6X8R_qq2ww6nOWrog.0&utm_referrer=



Cheers...
Barry T

Denny & Barb

You must have a larger fridge to burn 5 amps average.  The Nova-Kool and Norcold 6 CF and under are drawing about 3 amps. All in all compressor
fridges are great.  Weve had our Nova-Kool running 24X7 for 12 years.  I do shut it off for a month in the winter to defrost.

The other drawback to swapping out a compressor fridge for an absorption fridge is outside venting.  Most RV/Marine compressor fridges do not need exterior
venting, whereas the absorption fridges have those one or two exterior wall vents.  Would have to make a hole someplace.  :(

Denny & Barb
On my DE0061 the draw is a measured 3amps.  Measured over 10 days with nights in the 60's and days in the 90's.  I think the peak draw is 5 amps but duty cycle is less than that.

Barry,

I started a new thread in answer to your question regarding Harvest Host.

Steve

Barry,

I started a new thread in answer to your question regarding Harvest Host.

Steve

Good idea.  Thanks!  I suppose I hi-jacked this thread!!