Norcold question

[Lawrence Tarnoff]

So I've plugged into my residence electric, turned on the Norcold to AU/AC, set the thermostat to 7 and am awaiting some cold.  I expected to hear some sort of start-up noise ... but she's dead silent.  Manual says to allow 2 hours to begin cooling.  There's a green light indicating it is on.  Thoughts?

Larry

[Edward Buker]

Larry,

These units are absorption refrigeration units that are silent. It will take some time to chill and the freezer back wall will chill likely first.

Later Ed

[Carol Moffett]

Hi, Laurence!
   There will be no noise when on electric.  When turned to gas, you may hear it ignite...or not, depending on how good your fridge cabinet is insulated from noise.  If there is no beeping or flashing lights, you are good to go!
   Then all you have to do is wait.  And trust me, 2 hours is NOT long enough!  Lol!  They do tend to cool a bit faster on gas but no big.  Turn it all the way up, put a thermometer in the fridge and freeze and give it a good eight hours or so, that is what I do.  If it doesn't cool in that time then you can worry!
Good luck!

[Grant Ralston]

Lawrence,
Be sure the motorhome is level when parked and the refrig is operating, sustained operation out of level can be very costly.  Operation of the refrig while traveling isn't a problem.  The operation of your Beaver refrigerator is completely different than a compressor unit found in your home (and on many boats), it is mostly silent and involves boiling the liquid in the cooling liquid.  In order to properly boil the liquid it must be mostly level.  The web has several sites providing more information, a typical:

http://rv-roadtrips.thefuntimesguide.com/2013/03/rv-refrigerator.php

Generally, we find the cool down period is quicker with our original Beaver refrig operating on propane, because of the hotter flame.  The 120volt heater just doesn't have the same energy.  Once cold, the 120 volt heater works fine to maintain the box cold.

[Fred Brooks]

      Hi Lawrence,

   Welcome to the "adventure".  Here is how an absorbsion refrigerator works as breifly as I can describe. The back has a cooling unit which is  sealed tubing containing amonia and hydrogen. It relies on "being level and gravity" to operate correctly. The propane flame or the electric heating element boil the amonia and it becomes a vapor. The vapor raises in the cooling unit and comes in contact with the hydrogen that is located at the top of the cooling unit (hydrogen is lighter than air and floats). The vapor condensates back to a liquid and becomes extremely cold. They attach aluminum to that area that is cold and put it in an insulated box and guess what...you have a refrigerator!
    The issue that happens if the cooling unit is not level, The condensed amonia liquid accumulates in a corner and grows amonia crystals which blocks the flow and now you have no cooling. Once this happens the unit has to be replaced. Sometimes you can remove the "refer" and turn it up side down for a day and get lucky and have the liquid amonia find and dissolve the blockage.
    Hope this helps. Regards, Fred

[Andy Clark]

Hi, Fred. You are one of the few people I have come across that actually knows that turning the refer upside down overnight resolves a non-operational condition caused by ammonia crystal formation. I'm here to tell you that in my experiemce it works very well. In our previous MH we kept an aging Norcold going for years and years by inverting it whenever it quit. Of course, that was a much smaller unit than is in our current Pat. I hope I don't have to invert THAT one ;-)

Regards
Andy

......snip..... Sometimes you can remove the "refer" and turn it up side down for a day and get lucky and have the liquid amonia find and dissolve the blockage.
    Hope this helps. Regards, Fred