fritzimax
Babylon, NY
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Hello,
I have a 2000 Holiday Rambler Alumascape Travel trailer. We work/dry camp on the beach in Southampton, NY from May to October. This year I have been having a problem with my 10 year old fridge (Norcold N821)it is not cooling properly. Normally I have the fridge set on "6" and the freezer would be between 0-5* and the fridge would be around 38-40*. Now I have to keep the unit on "9" just to get about 13-17* in the freezer and the fridge is up between 46-51*. It is very warm here daytime temps are between 85-90* inside and out,and at night it goes down to the upper 70's.
What could be causing this problem? The unit ignites fine I checked and cleaned the burner tip and flue. When I run my generator and put the fridge on AC current it gets even worse. I see other people camp in even warmer temps and their fridge works fine.
I checked my door seals and with the dollar bill trick they still seal well. Could I use a new cooling unit? Has anyone had the same issue?
I thank all those who reply,
Pete
03 Ram 2500 ,QC,LB, 4X4, 5.9L H.O. Cummins 6SPD, 4.10,Limited Slip, Graphite, BFG LT315/70-R17, Weathertech vent shades,Autometer Phantom Boost & EGT on a-pillar Mount, Wheel Well Liners,ARE CH Cap,DeeZee Tailgate Guard,AFE Air Filter,Alu. Fuel Door,ICI Wheel to Wheel SS Nerf Bars
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mobilefleet
on the road
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Joined: 10/09/2005
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check the roof fridge vent...it might need to be blown out and cleaned. If it's blocked it will cause poor air circulation around your cooling unit, raising temps
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waainsworth
United States
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Not that my problem was the same as yours but, I have an '01 N841 acting just like yours and burping it made it like brand new! It took 2 hours, start to finish, and I had the space for three more beers when I finished!
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fritzimax
Babylon, NY
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Burping it?????
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Ivylog
Blairsville, Ga. USA
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Try putting a fan in the outside vent opening and see if this helps. If it does then add a 12v fan like this.
Doubt burping will help as the freezer section needs to get down to close to 0, which yours is not.
Instead of burping do a search on vibrating by me.
This post is my opinion (free advice). It is not intended to influence anyone's judgment nor do I advocate anyone do what I propose.
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Gale Hawkins
Murray, KY
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Joined: 07/22/2007
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Sounds like a failing cooling could be another factor to consider. For sure check out the air flow. Remove the top roof frig vent cover unless it does one and look down it there.
Direct wiring the electric heater really your first step to trouble shooting if ventilation is not blocked.
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Gale Hawkins
Murray, KY
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Ivylog wrote:Try putting a fan in the outside vent opening and see if this helps. If it does then add a 12v fan like this.
Doubt burping will help as the freezer section needs to get down to close to 0, which yours is not.
Instead of burping do a search on vibrating by me.
Ivylog I picked up 3 of this same fan at Radio Shack today but being RS they were $10 each and a guy at work is going to give me three more that he pulled to replace with quiter fancier fans in his computer equipment.
I used a 5" and 7" hose clamp to make a frame for them and stuck them under my condenser.
I was not going to do this until every one was talking a muffin fans.  With my frig setting in the living room now is the time to add before I reinstall it.
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Rob's
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Given that you tested on 2 heat sources I would suspect the cooling unit. I would still bench test on electric before changing the cooling unit.
Cooling Unit Diagnosis
The cooling unit, or coils, of an ammonia absorption refrigerator is the heart of the refrigerator--it does the actual cooling. Everything else on the refrigerator either supports the cooling unit, or is an accessory. No matter how simple or complicated the controls of the refrigerator are, all cooling units require the same three things to operate:
The unit has to be level
The unit has to have adequate ventilation
The unit has to have CORRECT heat
If the three above requirements are provided to the cooling unit, it should work and should work well. If it doesn't work well, then it is a bad cooling unit. It's really that simple. (Also, failure to meet the three requirements above when the refrigerator is in operation can cause permanent damage to the cooling unit.) Of course, don't overlook mitigating circumstances such as a main door that seals very poorly, which would cause a good cooling unit to look bad because of warm air continuously entering the box.
Also, if the cooling unit seems to work poorly only during warm weather, it's possible that one of the requirements above is in a border line state. In other words, the venting, for example, may be adequate for mild weather, but not adequate for warm weather. A cooling unit could also be border line, but it would be prudent to look elsewhere first.
Testing the cooling unit
First of all, if the cooling unit cools properly on one heat source (i.e. gas or electric) and not the other, then the cooling unit, with only a few exceptions, is good and the problem lies in the heat source that is not functioning properly.
Secondly, there are obvious signs of a bad cooling unit.
If you smell ammonia in or around the refrigerator, and you haven't recently used ammonia for cleaning, the cooling unit is bad. No further testing is necessary.
If sodium chromate is present on the outside of the cooling unit, the cooling unit is bad. Sodium chromate is a yellowish-greenish powder in solution inside the cooling unit. If sodium chromate is outside the cooling unit, the cooling unit has a hole in it.
If you hear a relatively loud gurgling or percolating sound when the refrigerator is in operation (being heated), it is a sign of a bad cooling unit. The key words here are "relatively loud". A good cooling unit percolates when in operation, and if you get close enough and listen carefully enough, you can hear it percolate. However, if you hear noise a few feet away, it is a sign that the cooling unit has lost pressure and is bad.
Testing the cooling unit is simply insuring that the three necessary requirements for the operation of a cooling unit (level, ventilation, correct heat) are met. Do whatever it takes to meet these requirements. If you suspect a venting problem, pull the refrigerator and set it on the floor. In fact, pulling the refrigerator and setting it on a level floor meets two of the requirements and leaves only one, correct heat, to worry about. Always test the refrigerator on the electric heat source, unless you are unable to because you have a gas only refrigerator. The reason for testing on the electric side is if the electric heat element gets hot, you can be better than 95% sure that you have correct heat, whereas even a poor gas flame will produce heat. To insure that the heat element is getting hot, you can touch the insulation pack (a rectangular or round sheet metal container filled with insulation located directly above the propane burner) to see if it is warm after about a half hour of operation. CAUTION: touch the pack lightly at first; it is possible under certain conditions for the pack to get super hot and burn you. If the insulation pack does not get warm, you have an electrical problem that needs to be corrected before continuing. If an electrical problem is not the electric heat element itself and/or you want to insure that some other electrical component (such as a thermostat) is not interrupting the heat element, you can hot wire the heat element for better testing conditions. The only weak link in this testing procedure is the less than 5% of the time that a working heat element is not producing the correct heat.
After you have provided the cooling unit with its three requirements, allow plenty of time for the cooling unit to function. You should see signs of cooling in the freezer after about two hours. Allow six to eight hours, or even over night, for an empty refrigerator to come down to temperature. The ammonia absorption style of refrigeration is slower than the compressor style in terms of initially bringing the refrigerator down to temperature. However, once the desired temperature is reached, there should be no problem in maintaining that temperature.
If you have done everything in this section up to this point and the cooling unit does not work or does not work well, the cooling unit is bad and will need to be rebuilt or replaced.
Rob
RV Tech
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Ivylog
Blairsville, Ga. USA
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Gale, I would decrease the amount of space betwen the coils and the outside wall. You want as much air as possible going over the coils. I've thought of using insulation, but most are flamable and not the best idea. A metal sheet sspaced out from the wall and tight against the top vent to improve the air flow might be the best bet.
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MrWizard
Van Nuys, Ca
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Joined: 06/27/2004
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The fridge on our safari, is very close to the wall,, so close that heat from the coils is reflected back in the ' cavity' to the fridge, there is insufficient space to allow air flow no rom for baffling, even with a new cooling unit, cooling is mediocore and above 85f its terrible, I'm going to install 3 fans top, bottom and inside
All im sayingis that in some installs, the install situation is so bad the fridge MUST peform exeptionly well, just to have avg typical operation
Another example is fridge in a slide out with side wall venting intead of on top of roof venting, fromwhat ive read here on RvNet and what the fridge guy said failure rate is higher and efficency down since mfg started building kitchen slides
* This post was
edited 07/20/10 10:07am by MrWizard *
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