No Cold Norcold
My Norcold (model number N843IM) refrigerator generally works very well on propane and electric. However, when I am on the road, operating on propane, and the outside temperature is very hot, the indicator light on the front of the refrigerator goes out. When I remove the cover on the back, I can see that the flame is not burning, and I can hear a relay activating at a rate of once every 10 seconds. After awhile, maybe when the outside temperature begins to drop, the refrigerator will begin working again on its own.
Occasionally, an “SR” will show up on the indicator, which my owner’s manual says is a circuit board failure. I am not certain if a high outside temperature is the cause of this problem or it is just coincidental, but in the week I’ve been home from our last trip, the refrigerator has been on the entire time and has worked flawlessly. During that time the outside temperature probably has not gone above 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
During the summer of 2006, the same thing happened. An RV technician said the circuit board was bad, so I paid somewhere in the vicinity of $350 to $400 to have him replace the circuit board. After the board was replaced, we didn’t make any trips during hot weather, and the refrigerator worked great. In other words, the problem didn’t show up again until a little more than 12 months later.
Do you have any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot this myself?
Based on your response to Gordon and Faye Bergland’s letter in the October 2007 issue (“Frisky Fridge,” page 24), I called Norcold to ask how I could troubleshoot and solve my problem. The Norcold representative told me that I would need to take it to a service center for repairs.
I was hoping to minimize costs and do the job myself. I’m not excited about having expensive repairs done again by a technician, only to have the same results. Your input on how I can solve the problem or a suggestion for a technical source for this issue would be appreciated.
Jim Zalmanek, F347333
Monument, Colorado
Many of the components on circuit boards have temperature specifications or tolerances. In this situation, it sounds like the board has some component that is overheating, either from within or from ambient temperatures. (This also can happen when the owner has installed additional shielding in an attempt to prevent the flame from blowing out while traveling.)
To diagnose the problem when it is occurring, consider that two things must happen to make a flame: the gas valve must open, and the igniter must produce a spark at the burner. I do not know if that particular Norcold model has an integrated igniter on the circuit board, or a separate igniter. But if no spark is being produced, the spark source “” if it is getting 12 volts “” would be defective. (Also inspect the lead from the spark source to the electrode.) If the igniter is okay, check to see whether the gas valve is opening. If the gas valve is getting 12 volts and not opening, you can reasonably assume there is a bad gas valve. If 12 volts is not present at the gas valve, then you likely have a problem with the circuit board. These tests must be done within 10 to 45 seconds of asking for gas ignition. (Some refrigerator boards will shut down in 10 seconds if the igniter is not sparking; most will wait for 45 seconds.) Be sure you have more than 12 volts power at the refrigerator when testing.
If everything above checks out okay, purchase a small solar-powered exhaust fan from an RV store. These fans are designed to work in sunlight and must be placed to blow air over the refrigerator’s condensing coils. I’ve tested one of these, and it actually reduced the temperature inside the fridge with no change in the fridge’s temperature selector.
One more suggestion would be to check the pressure at the outlet of the propane tank’s regulator. If the pressure is high or if it leaks a bit, the gas pressure may be high enough to blow out the flame. Hot weather also could raise the internal pressure in the tank and may worsen the problem.
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