Norcold Frig

[Jim Shirley]

New Member and first post.  I HAVE A '04 MONTERY, Laguna that I disconnected from shore power yesterday to go fuel.  Returned home and reconnected shore power, and frig is dead.  Control panel shows nothing.  Ck'd inside breaker pane,l and 12 volt fuse panel and all ok. Cliped on a tube in back of unit is a 3 inch square box w/red light (thats on) with tag on wire that reads, retrofitted with thermal sensor #R 010, There is a 12 volt wire going in, its hot, and 12 volt wire coming out, its DEAD.  Do you think this is my problem???  

Jim Shirley

[Edward Buker]

Jim,

Not sure what the red light means but usually it is some kind of warning that something is wrong. The fact that it died with the power being pulled would indicate a false sensing on the safety systems part that cut off the power. I would open the box and see if there is some kind of reset. If so reset it...usually a push button type reset of some kind.

If ther is no reset then jumper the 12V in to the 12v out while you check things out the frig operation and see if all seems well with the frig. If it is I would then call Norcold and tell them that your safety kit has failed and that you need a new one. The fail is obvious in that there is no overtemp and the kit has cut the power. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Dennis Mecklenburg]

The box with the red light "on continuously" needs to be replaced. I had the same problem with my Norcold refrig after the retrofit. Replaced the black box and all has been well ever since. I would be confident that you could also figure out how to bypass the black box temporarily to see that the frig front control panel lights up. If it does then the black box is certainly the culprit. The retrofit served to upgrade the heat sensors and other parts in the vent stack and the black box was added to disable the refrig from use by disabling the control panel power if an overheated stack occurs. Absent of an overheated vent stack problem, the black box is the next failure point. Norcold dealer told me that the red light is supposed to FLASH if overheated stack occurs, and it then will cut the power to the control panel. Red light is not supposed to be ON continuously. Regardless, you will have to get a replacement box from a Norcold dealer, and they can certainly verify my experience. An overheated stack is a definite fire hazard and the reason for the retrofit in the first place. So, check the stack while in the repair process. Good luck!!

[Jim Shirley]

Ed,  

No reset button so I jumpered the 12 volt and the frig come on and appeared to work normal. All displays worked. Will call Norcold tomorrow for a new sensor,

Thanks much for reply.

Jim

[Jim Shirley]

Dennis,   Thanks much, thats good info.  I felt sure that was my problem but I am new to all of this.

Jim

[Edward Buker]

You know a company that has refrigerators that catch on fire and then adds a safety system that fails and disables the frig is one that should go out of business. Hard to imagine that they could not get a simple safety system right....as my dad used to say "that's two", I knew what happens when we ever got to three...hope Norcold is listening.

Later Ed

[Keith Oliver]

I just had my Norcold looked at by a service tech, which led to replacing the whole cooling unit with a Non-Norcold, "Amish" unit.
According to him, the Recall part now out is version #5 or 6, so if your fridge has one of the early recall units, expect it to fail.  The latest one may not be the last.
The "Amish" has a different stack, so doesn't need the recall.  

[Joel Weiss]

My understanding from one of the other RV forums is that Norcold is now recalling some of the recalled fridges to replace the early sensor units.  Since these units also were recalled the year before, this is something like a "recall cubed!"  That's why I have a residential fridge now.

[Tom and Pat Fudale]

The same thing happened to my norcold. They added the black box to mine under the recall and about six months the fridge quit and red light was showing on the box.I disconnected the box and fridge came back on. I called Norcold and asked to have them send me a new box but they refused. They will only send one to a dealer to install.

[Joel Ashley]

I would expect Norcold to cover the cost of a recall of a recall, but as Tom says, you will likely have to go to an authorized service facility to do it.

Joel

[Keith Oliver]

I looked at the recall installation.  Pretty simple.  If you can get a mater recall part out of them, you should be able to install it in about 10 minutes.  It will go where the failed one went.

[Jim Shirley]

Picked up the motor home yesterday from Camperland in Conroe, Texas after they performed the latest fix on my Norcold

fridge.  All is well at the moment.  Will see how long it lasts.

Jim