RV Class C Refrigerator

[HappyRVer29]

We have power to the fridge, plugged in to a shore line. It is not cooling, checked fuses/breakers, coils clean, wires appear intact, any thoughts? Winnebago, 2014 class c. Thanks

 

[Martian]

What type of fridge? Ac, ac/lp, three way or 12 volt? Are you level? Do you have battery power?

 

[HappyRVer29]

Dometic, not completely level, three way, it’s plugged in

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

First, how long has it been running? These take a while to cool down, but you should see and feel some cooling after a couple of hours. 24 hours to be fully cooled down.
Second, the thermister in the back of the fridge can be moved up or down on the cooling fin. Moving it away from the center of the fin makes things colder.
Three, these thermisters fail and even new ones are often bad, which can make troubleshooting absolutely maddening.

 

[HappyRVer29]

Thanks for your insight. We had it on for over 24 hours, usually it’s up and running by then. There is no chill at all. With the propane it’s good. Thanks for weighing in.

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

Since it’s working on gas, then there is obviously an electrical issue. The 12vdc side has to be working for the propane to work, so you have a 110 vac issue.
Obvious: the c/b is not tripped?
Is your rig 30 or 50 amp? If it’s 50 amp, then maybe one leg of the ac is not working either from the source or inside.
Lastly (and maybe the hardest) there could be a broken, shorted, chewed through power wire.
Check the c/b (sometimes it will trip, but not be visually identifiable. Reset it anyway), then check for 110vac at the refrigerator plug and work your way back.
If you are absolutely sure that you have 110vac to the fridge, then maybe the heater has crapped out.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Good advice from Frisbie. The fridge auto-switches to propane if no 120vac is detected. Does that auto switch occur? If no, we can rule out a tripped 120vac breaker as well because the circuit board is seeing 120v. That would leave either a blown 120v fuse on the fridge circuit board or a faulty electric heater. If yes, than there is a wiring or breaker problem delivering the 120v to the fridge.

Please give the Dometic model name/number so we can get the details right.

 

[HappyRVer29]

Headed back to rig. Will check all of these suggestions and get specs. Will give update ASAP. You guys are awesome. Thank you

 

[HappyRVer29]

Its not a Domestic, it is a Norcold, model N822.

 

[HappyRVer29]

Norcold

 

[Isaac-1]

Your refrigerator requires a heat source for the boiler, that can either be the AC heating element of the propane flame, the control board is powered by 12V DC power from your battery / converter. I have a Dometic, and am not sure the exact details of the Norcold wiring, but basically the only thing connected to the AC power is the heating element, the safety overheat breaker, and the thermal switch. If AC power is getting to the terminal strip screws, then the fault lies in one of these assuming it cools when running on propane.

 

[John From Detroit]

On electric it uses a heat element about 350 watts as I recall that is stuck in the side of the round thing on the right.. You will see wires to it wrapped with a fabric (Standard heat element wrapping)
It might be toast.

 

[Kirk]

We had it on for over 24 hours, usually it’s up and running by then. There is no chill at all. With the propane it’s good.

Norcold

Just in case you don't have a copy, this link is for the Norcold owner's manual that may be of some help. To help in troubleshooting here is the Norcold Service Manual to help there.

As far as what could be the problem, s suggested you should remove the 120V power with it set on auto and see if it changes to propane. If it does, let it run to see if that is still working and if so that narrows things a great deal. If the display on the control panel is working at all that indicates that it does have 12V power, which it must have to work in either propane of 120V modes. If propane works the next thing is to open the back and you should find an outlet with a cord plugged into it that supplies 120V so use a meter or connect something to verify that there is 120V there. If you do have 120V, then look on the power supply circuit board for 2 fuses. The 5A fuse is for the 120V to the heating element. If that fuse is open in may mean that the element needs to be replaced.

 

[HappyRVer29]

Took it to the RV mechanic. Checked everything, said we need a new heater element, exactly what everyone mentioned. You people are great. Thanks so much. Hitting the road tomorrow, hoping to see the eclipse! Thanks and safe travels to you all.

 

[Kirk]

Where will you be for the eclipse? We will be at home since we are nearly in the center of the total zone.