Fridge not working correctly

Jeeper · 08-08-2019, 08:54 AM

Getting ready to leave on a trip and the fridge will not work on gas unless I unplug the unit from the 110 power inside the compartment, this is when the unit is not hooked to 110 at my site. It will run on electric fine but it will only go to gas if I unplug it inside the unit. If I leave it on automatic it will not light until I unplug again inside the back of the unit....ANY ideas what is wrong, I suspect the brain to the unit but hoping its something else simple and less expensive? 40+ years of RVing in motorhomes and never had this before. This is a Norcold unit, it does not have the 12v operation option...

TMac99 · 08-08-2019, 09:14 AM

Will it run off gas if you take it out of "Auto" mode and put it into "Gas" mode?

Jeeper · 08-08-2019, 09:20 AM

ONLY if I unplug the 110 inside the back of the fridge. Note that this is when the motorhome is not plugged into anything. I tried just unplugging the MH from the power and that did not make any difference...It's got me stumped.

NXR · 08-08-2019, 04:43 PM

The generator is not running, right? If you need to unplug it then something is supplying power to that outlet AND the refrigerator controller is not working since you apparently cannot switch it to LP using the front panel controls.

Or can you set it to LP but it still runs on 110 VAC?

Ray

Morich · 08-08-2019, 05:34 PM

Can you give as much info as you can dig up on the frig as things do vary a bunch? Some info on type frig as well as model and serial number will help to chase the info.
Sounds like something odd but then "odd" is pretty common on RV!
Some odd things to chase down and review that come to mind? Things like when you unplug the cord at the frig compartment, you might be moving something else without knowing it. Possible a weird short of a type I can't even begin to explain but then "odd" is always hard to explain.
Normal thought would be a cord that is open at the far end will not change when unplugged at the near end but something moves at the near end, perhaps??
Left guessing but some very specific drawings will help. Any possible pictures of the location where you unplug at the frig and info on how many times it has done this weirdness?

Jeeper · 08-08-2019, 11:29 PM

Morich, It is a Norcold N822RT...After playing with it all day I have it down to...

It runs fine on 110.
When its on automatic and you take it off 110 it will not switch to propane.
If I put it on propane it will now start and bring it up to temp but once its up there and shuts down it will not come back on automatically and I get the F code. I then have to shut it off and put it back on gas only and it will repeat the sme sequence. It Brings it down to the setting I have it on and then shuts off and will not restart on its own..

davismills · 08-09-2019, 04:07 AM

In the outside compartment of my fridge, I have two outlets (110 types). One is for the ice maker and one is for the fridge itself. I believe the ice maker outlet is connected to the inverter. The fridge is NOT.

If you have a similar setup, could yours be reversed?

Morich · 08-09-2019, 07:41 AM

Okay, did a quick look at the drawings for that model and it uses AC or propane to heat and do the cooling but also needs 12 VDC to operate the board and controls. That leaves my first step to be finding if those are in the correct places and the correct levels on the board.
Is a meter on hand?
Also is the plugged or unplugged still a question or moved on. I'm prone to thinking something is happening and then finding my mind was "just kidding" after a second look but if it is still a question, we might need to check the cord or wiring for weird stuff like shorts or crossed wiring.
I think this will be the correct drawing to locate the connections. Maybe take a look to locate them. Due to model year. etc,. changes, things like drawings can get off, so lets see if you recognise things first?
If it looks right and meter is on hand, perhaps check for 12VDC (more is okay) on points at 11 and AC is on points at 13. Note that 12 is the gas valve and that is what opens and close the gas flow so it will be important that we get power there but since it does light we can assume it get there sometimes but not other times. I might have done a better job with my red circles as the circle at 11 is around the two "hot sides for the 12VDC in and the gas valve but the other side (ground) is on the two lugs at the bottom right side of the board! That's assuming things like the board is turned the way it's drawn??
This is a cutdown drawing from the manual to make it a bit easier to spot what we need:

Morich · 08-09-2019, 08:08 AM

Better drawing?

Jeeper · 08-09-2019, 08:39 AM

Morich, thank you for the prints, I will get out there today and check the various power supplies....

TMac99 · 08-09-2019, 08:57 AM

So here is another theory (and that's all it is). Given the weird behavior when it is plugged into 110V, even though the 110V circuit should be dead with zero voltage, is it possible that there is some stray voltage on the 110V line due to a fault somewhere else in the RV wiring. Maybe there is a small current on the 110V line that shouldn't be there that is confusing the fridge control logic. This current could be from a wiring fault elsewhere in the RV that is leaking current onto the ground or neutral line. You could either get a voltmeter to check this by looking at reading on the dead 110V outlet, or if you are close to a known good 110V line (from a house etc), you could run a 110V extension cord to the RV and plug the fridge into that. Once plugged into a known good 110V line, you could select the LP mode manually and see if it behaves. If that is OK, put the Fridge back into Auto mode - it should switch back to AC. After it has switched back to AC mode, turn off power to the 110V extension, but keep it plugged in and see if the fridge switches over to LP mode (this would mimic the way the fridge is supposed to operate). If this operates OK, then the issue would seem to be some stray current in your 110V circuit that the fridge is plugged into.
I know this is a long shot, but it seems you have tried everything else that is logical.
Good luck

Morich · 08-09-2019, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMac99

So here is another theory (and that's all it is). Given the weird behavior when it is plugged into 110V, even though the 110V circuit should be dead with zero voltage, is it possible that there is some stray voltage on the 110V line due to a fault somewhere else in the RV wiring. Maybe there is a small current on the 110V line that shouldn't be there that is confusing the fridge control logic. This current could be from a wiring fault elsewhere in the RV that is leaking current onto the ground or neutral line. You could either get a voltmeter to check this by looking at reading on the dead 110V outlet, or if you are close to a known good 110V line (from a house etc), you could run a 110V extension cord to the RV and plug the fridge into that. Once plugged into a known good 110V line, you could select the LP mode manually and see if it behaves. If that is OK, put the Fridge back into Auto mode - it should switch back to AC. After it has switched back to AC mode, turn off power to the 110V extension, but keep it plugged in and see if the fridge switches over to LP mode (this would mimic the way the fridge is supposed to operate). If this operates OK, then the issue would seem to be some stray current in your 110V circuit that the fridge is plugged into.
I know this is a long shot, but it seems you have tried everything else that is logical.
Good luck

Agree, this is a good second step-- if it turns out to be something really weird, then we have to look for truly weird things. Only guessing but things like stray voltage are possible as wiring on RV do take a beating. To be a stray voltage but not blow some fuse, would sem odd but have to keep an open mind as things like corroded contacts on the board or even bad boards are really common.
I see lots of things like washers and dryers offered up for free as folks decide that the board, motor, or timers are gone and they are too expensive to replace but on the newer things, it is far more common for some input from some small item is not getting to the right points. Things like kinks in the drain hose can show up that the washer won't drain so if we don't look for a board to get the right input on ALL the right points plus give the right output, we can trash lots of good stuff that should be fixed. I'm running into more and more techs who are not trained to actually diagnose trouble but simply follow a chart of what "might" be wrong.
The last tech to my house was under warranty and actually called in to some office and read them the output on the board and they told him what to replace! They finally agreed to replace the dishwasher as they were not able to find the problem.

NXR · 08-09-2019, 11:20 AM

Do the troubleshooting steps in this doc help?

https://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/newreset2.pdf

Ray

bobmac · 08-14-2019, 04:20 PM

Do you have an inverter and is the fridge getting power from it? Many coaches have the fridge outlet connected to the inverter so it can run off the alternator when travelling.

SocioSam · 08-14-2019, 06:02 PM

We've had serious problems with our Winnebago refrigerator. A burned out mother board cost us $1,000. New board worked fine for two years but now the automatic switching isn't working. Good news is we can manually move it to gas when we are stopped and not plugged into electric but ....

becken63 · 08-14-2019, 09:09 PM

I had a similar problem, I was told by norcold guy that the electric runs hotter coils. My ine would not switch so he said to turn the unit off. unplug from shore power, wait a half hour and turn it on to propane. I have had no problems for 3 years since.

Dave9 · 08-15-2019, 06:28 AM

Was this fridge involved in the recall ?? If so it sounds like the recall module is defective?

Bill L · 08-15-2019, 07:25 AM

Best thing I do is sell the NoCold for what you can get and replace with residential frig. I’ve don’t this with all three motorhome I bought

Jeeper · 08-16-2019, 06:51 PM

ALL of you that replied, thank you. I was not able to solve the issue and gave it my best shot and thought for a while I had it fixed with the reboot of the brain but it failed again on day two of the trip. I managed to keep it running off and on with gas by relighting by hand for a few hours at a time but finally it gave up the ghost on the next to last day and completely stopped working. We were dry camped. I am going to tear into it next week and let you know what I find.

Jeeper · 08-26-2019, 11:45 AM

Well, I am hiding my head in shame. After doing all the ideas suggested and getting no good results. I pulled out the burner tube and orifice. Of course it was the orifice and why I did not check it first or at least sooner I have no idea, just a complete brain failure. Thank you to all of you that helped me with this issue....Bob