Norcold Frige-Again

[Jim Shirley]

I recently had Norcold's latest fix applied to my fridge as it had totally cratered.  Now it works fine on LP but message board flashes "NO AC'.

Is their a reset for ac somewhere that I am missing???  4 door fridge in a 04 Monterey.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Start by making sure it has 110. They could have unpluged it or turned off the breaker or GFI tripped.

[Randy Perry]

I had my "Parts" replaced at Camping World and before leaving, I thought I'd turn it on just to make sure I was "good to go" and it started blinking "No AC" grabbed the tech and he opened the outside cover to the refer and said "Opps, forgot to plug this back in" The "this" was a wire connector! Sorry that I can't be more specific, but if you see a male and female connector unplugged, you'll know what to do

[Jim Shirley]

All AC & DC curcuits are "hot". Do not find any wires unpluged. Reset all breakers and fuses.

[Keith Oliver]

Jim:
Check this thread: http://forum.bacrallies.com/m-1281196166/s-27/highlight-no+ac/#num27

Mine took the total replacement of the cooling unit to fix.  I opted for the Amish version, which was installed Nov 11.  We used it successfully until parking the coach on Nov 19th.  Ironically, Norcold called after they got the note from the tech for the recall installation that was done Nov 2, to tell me that my serial no was in the group that needed a total replacement of the cooling unit, which they would now do under warranty, despite the 13 yr age of the unit.  When I told them I had already put in the Amish unit, I was told "I'll look into it" and have heard nothin more.  It is now a couple of weeks.  
You might want to check with Norcold for the potential free replacement of your cooling unit.

[Joel Weiss]

I know it's not nice to gloat; but stories like these make me glad we simply got rid of our Norcold.  I find it amazing that a company can market such an expensive appliance that performs so poorly and has required such an extensive series of recalls.  I wonder to what extent residential refrigerators have eaten into sales of Norcold's larger models in newer MH's.  I know several manufacturers who are delivering them as options.  I'm sure that MH manufacturers like to reduce customer annoyances and one way to do that would be to recommend they switch to residential units.

[Gil_Johnson]

With better inverters, I'm confident you'll see more opt for standard refrigerators.  The same is happening in larger boats.  The only real advantage of the traditional units is they allow for dry camping.  Being dependent on your batteries isn't going to power your refrigerator very long.  Another plus to a unit that doesn't run on propane is you don't need the intake and exhaust holes on the outside of your coach, if a standard refrigerator was factory installed.  The next natural option would be an electric cook top and oven.  This could totally eliminate the propane tank making for more storage.

I understand the windshield has to be removed to replace a refrigerator, at least the side by sides.  Is this true?

[Joel Weiss]

To be totally correct, the windshield has to be removed to get the Norcold out.  We used a counter-depth Samsung which actually could have made it through the door.  The shop that did the install has a windshield specialist who handles the glass removal.  The windshield was removed and replaced in an afternoon with no issues.

As for energy usage, it is rarely mentioned that the Norcold units use ~50 amp-hours of 12V energy per day while operating on propane.  Our new Samsung uses about twice that for everything.  So the incremental increase in energy use is not really all that much.  We hardly ever boondock and have had no problems keeping the fridge running off the inverter while traveling.

One change we made that is relevant here is that we swapped the refrigerator circuit with the microwave one so the fridge runs off the inverter and the microwave no longer does.  Samsung refrigerators run fine on modified sine wave inverters so we didn't have to make any changes with it.

[Jim Shirley]

KOliver,  Thanks for the info, will give Norcold a call and see what they say.  The last fix was #3 on this unit.

[Gil_Johnson]

To be totally correct, the windshield has to be removed to get the Norcold out.  We used a counter-depth Samsung which actually could have made it through the door.  The shop that did the install has a windshield specialist who handles the glass removal.  The windshield was removed and replaced in an afternoon with no issues.

As for energy usage, it is rarely mentioned that the Norcold units use ~50 amp-hours of 12V energy per day while operating on propane.  Our new Samsung uses about twice that for everything.  So the incremental increase in energy use is not really all that much.  We hardly ever boondock and have had no problems keeping the fridge running off the inverter while traveling.

The largest Norcold, the 1200, draws 5.5A on 12VDC with ice maker.  This is only important when it comes to sizing the peak capacity of the 12V source.  It does not tell you the power consumption over time.  As for any 110VAC only refridgerator powered from an inverter, you have to figure inverter inefficiency into your 12VDC calculation.  Inverters are 80-90% efficient.  I'm not defending the Norcold unit just stating the power comparisions aren't an apples to apples comparison.  My bet is the Norcold uses substahtially less 12V power when cooling from propane than the home unit being powered from the batteries.  For those boondocking or spending the night in a parking lot, this may be a big deal.

One change we made that is relevant here is that we swapped the refrigerator circuit with the microwave one so the fridge runs off the inverter and the microwave no longer does.  Samsung refrigerators run fine on modified sine wave inverters so we didn't have to make any changes with it.

[Keith Oliver]

one item often overlooked in computing power consumption through the inverter is the static draw of the inverter itself, before your load is attached (and then added to the consumption of the load).  I haven't measured the old (1998) unit on the Beaver, but the much newer (dare I assume more efficient?) unit on my boat (2007?) draws over 5 amps by itself, before any load is added.  So when comparing the propane fridge dc load, the inverter being turned on will consume (5x24=120) more per day than the dc controls for the fridge, then you will add the fridge's load.  Without a fridge on the inverter, you could turn it off when your tv news ends and you hit the sack.  No turning off if the ice-cream will melt.

[Joel Weiss]

one item often overlooked in computing power consumption through the inverter is the static draw of the inverter itself, before your load is attached (and then added to the consumption of the load).  I haven't measured the old (1998) unit on the Beaver, but the much newer (dare I assume more efficient?) unit on my boat (2007?) draws over 5 amps by itself, before any load is added.  So when comparing the propane fridge dc load, the inverter being turned on will consume (5x24=120) more per day than the dc controls for the fridge, then you will add the fridge's load.  Without a fridge on the inverter, you could turn it off when your tv news ends and you hit the sack.  No turning off if the ice-cream will melt.

I don't disagree with what you are saying, but all we really care about is that there is adequate power for us to run the fridge while we travel (typically 5-7 hours/day).  Between the inverter, the coach alternator, and the solar panel, the batteries are virtually fully charged when we finish the day.  We don't boondock so we honestly don't care how long we can run on batteries.  Different strokes for different folks, but as someone said to us "we don't camp, we RV".

[Keith Oliver]

Joel
I don't dispute your choice being the right one for you.  In fact, when faced with the $ outlay to rehab our old Norcold, I considered the Samsung option.  It just didn't seem right for me, as I bought this rig just so I could do some boondocking.  Now if I ever get to do so, (Janet still has other ideas) I will have the fridge running on propane.

[Joel Weiss]

Keith--

As I said, different strokes for different folks.  You could also consider a high-efficiency 12V compressor fridge using a Danfoss compressor.  That would be a middle position between an RV fridge and a residential.  The other alternative would be to increase the size of the solar array on the roof.  I assume you are already using four 6V batteries.  If you do stick with the Norcold, you might want to consider purchase of an automatic fire extinguisher system. Good luck

Joel

[Keith Oliver]

Joel
I did all the fine calcs when I changed out my boat fridge to a Danfoss unit about 15 yrs ago.  It uses about 1/4 the power that the old Norcold AC/DC did on DC, so great for anchoring out (boondock marine equivalent).  So efficient that I was able to reduce my house batteries from 4x8D to 4x6vGolfcart.  A saving of over 200 lb of ballast.  Friends have residential fridges, but claim no improvement from the power hunger of the old Norcold.  When they anchor out, their gensets get lots more run time than mine.
And no I didn't stick with the Norcold.  The Norcold lable is still on the front, as the box is all original, but the cooling unit isn't, and this brand hasn't the fire safety issues of the Norcold.