Norcold Not Cooling Well and Blue Ice Problems

[Harvester]

So I finally took my new 2020 MW 22R out, and used the Norcold refrigerator for the first time. Just as a point of reference, this was in North Texas, mid July with average temperatures over 100 degrees each day.

On this trip, I needed to bring along a couple of my Yeti blue ice bricks. These were frozen solid from my home fridge, and was the only thing I put into the Norcold freezer. I actually placed them on the bottom surface of the freezer compartment. The lower refrigerator part of the Norcold was pretty full, with lots of food items. Before leaving on the trip, I used electric power to get the Norcold down to usable cold temperatures. It took all night long to get it cold. Before loading everything up, the freezer had some frost and the fins in the lower part looked kind of frozen.

During the course of this trip, the lower part of the refrigerator was struggling to keep things cold. The fins on the lower compartment of the Norcold were not frozen looking anymore, but dripping with condensation. I would estimate that the temps were probably close to 50 degrees. It was not a great first experience.

I did some thinking about the blue ice, knowing they have some amount of propylene glycol, and some interesting properties when you combine them with ice cubes in the Yeti. In any case, I thought to rotate them from the freezer to the refrigerator compartment. That resulted in more of the same, and actually seemed to make it worse. On the third day, I just took all the blue ice out completely, and the Norcold started getting cooler again, maybe almost normal. We also consumed some of our food, so there was less volume of stuff to cool off.

Has anyone else had problems with freezing blue ice in the Norcold? Also, I'm wondering if the outside ambient temperatures were also affecting things? I was almost ready to report this as a warranty item, but I get the feeling the Norcold may be okay (i.e. it is what it is...), and I'm not helping things by what I'm doing. Open to suggestions here...

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Harvester

I'm wondering if the outside ambient temperatures were also affecting things? I was almost ready to report this as a warranty item, but I get the feeling the Norcold may be okay (i.e. it is what it is...), and I'm not helping things by what I'm doing. Open to suggestions here...

With the Norcold everything matters.

Give it 24 to 36 to get cold before you load it.

Pre-cool the food before you load it.

Keep the doors closed as much as feasible.

Stay out of the 100 degree weather.

Run it on Propane and not electric - it cools better on Propane.

Get used to the fridge climbing up in temps on super hot days.

Add a couple of fridge fans to circulate the cold air.

Did I mention... don't open it much?

The way your fridge operates is the reason folks with residential fridges are so happy with them.

[macnut]

It also helps on hot days to get a space where your frig side stays out of direct sunlight.

[Harvester]

Thanks for all the good tips here so far!

In thinking about using propane versus electric, I do now recall that it started cooling better once I left the campground and was rolling down the interstate. Of course the fridge had automatically switched to propane, and maybe the 65 mph freeway wind was also keeping things cooler.

The other thing we did was continually open the refrigerator doors, as most of our food was ready-made microwaveable stuff. As well, since it was hot we kept reaching for cool drinks. In the future for these hot days, might consider bringing my small Yeti cooler bag, and just get some ice along the way for all the drink refreshments. That'll keep us from opening the door so much.

Good point about keeping direct sunlight exposure. On the MW 22R, the fridge is on the awning side of the vehicle, so can put that out if it's not too windy and keep most of the sun off. BTW, our campsite had zero shade, and in the afternoon the refrigerator side of the RV was directly in the sun (facing west).