frig not getting cold

[DAN L-WO]

Here is a Thermistor test to try. Generally, when the freezer is at or below freezing and the fresh food section is significantly warmer the cooling unit is failing - which could be the result of an internal blockage in the tubing or it has compromised itself and has begun leaking coolant.

my norcold n822 has been operating as stated since i purchased my moho in 2006.
i inspect the cooling system frequently for indications of leakage.
i may try replacing the thermistor.
when i set the temp control at higher than 4, my fridge freezes and the freezer temperature goes down.
so far, i have been unable to strike a happier medium by adjusting the position and fin that the thermistor is located on.
94-Newmar, thanks for the temperature-resistance chart.

 

[Dr4Film]

I would try the "Muddypaws" Thermistor Modifcation to see if it may help your situation.

Just do a search to find out how it did it.

Something about putting a small piece of a foam coffee cup between the thermistor and the fin.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

 

[Rendon]

NORCOLD N822-temp rising

My Norcold N822 in my 04 Itasca Sunrise was working great at first. Had it set at 6. two times now the temp rose to around 42. I set the temp to 7 and this seemed to correct the problem. The first time the outside temp was in the 70's. Once the temp got back down to 30ish I set the control back to 5 or 6. Now it's happened again, but this time the outside temp was cooler, in the 60's. I had to set the control to 8 in order to get the fridge temp to come back down. The little tray in the back of the fridge always has ice and water in it. And I find water on top of the food. The freezer works fine, freezes water. I don't know anything about these great Norcold fridges other than the fact that they are JUNK!!!! Anyone have any advice, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. Solo RVer here. Currently parked on a permanent lot and plugged into electric.

 

[stevedg007]

My Norcold N822 in my 04 Itasca Sunrise was working great at first. Had it set at 6. two times now the temp rose to around 42. I set the temp to 7 and this seemed to correct the problem. The first time the outside temp was in the 70's. Once the temp got back down to 30ish I set the control back to 5 or 6. Now it's happened again, but this time the outside temp was cooler, in the 60's. I had to set the control to 8 in order to get the fridge temp to come back down. The little tray in the back of the fridge always has ice and water in it. And I find water on top of the food. The freezer works fine, freezes water. I don't know anything about these great Norcold fridges other than the fact that they are JUNK!!!! Anyone have any advice, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. Solo RVer here. Currently parked on a permanent lot and plugged into electric.

Have you checked your thermistor? It's a little black thing usually attached to the fins inside the refer section. It should have a wire going out an up to the inside light for power. Sometimes a faulty thermistor could be causing this problem. Their cheap and an easy fix to the problem.

 

[dstinch]

My Norcold N822 in my 04 Itasca Sunrise was working great at first. Had it set at 6. two times now the temp rose to around 42. I set the temp to 7 and this seemed to correct the problem. The first time the outside temp was in the 70's. Once the temp got back down to 30ish I set the control back to 5 or 6. Now it's happened again, but this time the outside temp was cooler, in the 60's. I had to set the control to 8 in order to get the fridge temp to come back down. The little tray in the back of the fridge always has ice and water in it. And I find water on top of the food. The freezer works fine, freezes water. I don't know anything about these great Norcold fridges other than the fact that they are JUNK!!!! Anyone have any advice, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. Solo RVer here. Currently parked on a permanent lot and plugged into electric.

As the temp outside goes down you should turn the number down. You are freezing the fins that is why you have water in the drip pan. Opening the door a lot will also cause water to form on the fins. Yes these fridge are not the best. The temp inside the fridge is colder or warmer at different areas move a temp gauge around the fridge and keep a note of the different temps. 60,70,80 mine is set at 5 at 90,100 set at 6 100 plus 7 or 8 day time and back at 6 at night time so as not to freeze up the fins.

Good luck

Don

 

[Rendon]

Have you checked your thermistor? It's a little black thing usually attached to the fins inside the refer section. It should have a wire going out an up to the inside light for power. Sometimes a faulty thermistor could be causing this problem. Their cheap and an easy fix to the problem.

Ok this may sound stupid but how do I know if the thermistor is bad?

 

[Rendon]

As the temp outside goes down you should turn the number down. You are freezing the fins that is why you have water in the drip pan. Opening the door a lot will also cause water to form on the fins. Yes these fridge are not the best. The temp inside the fridge is colder or warmer at different areas move a temp gauge around the fridge and keep a note of the different temps. 60,70,80 mine is set at 5 at 90,100 set at 6 100 plus 7 or 8 day time and back at 6 at night time so as not to freeze up the fins.

Good luck

Don

From what I remember, There has always been ice and water in that drip tray. I will make the adjustments according to the weather! I did just turn it down again as it is quite cool today. I wasn't, however, turning it down at night! I will start doing that.

 

[Rendon]

From what I remember, There has always been ice and water in that drip tray. I will make the adjustments according to the weather! I did just turn it down again as it is quite cool today. I wasn't, however, turning it down at night! I will start doing that.

Yep, the fins are frozen!!!

 

[stevedg007]

Ok this may sound stupid but how do I know if the thermistor is bad?

Freezer seems to work. Temps in the refig not working well. Beside a thermistor is cheap, like around $20. You can also move it up and down on the fins some an this may help.
While I do not have the exact model and make of your refig. when it started acting up, kinda like yours, I replaced the thermistor an bingo all was well and good everything work and is still working fine years later.

 

[Rendon]

Freezer seems to work. Temps in the refig not working well. Beside a thermistor is cheap, like around $20. You can also move it up and down on the fins some an this may help.
While I do not have the exact model and make of your refig. when it started acting up, kinda like yours, I replaced the thermistor an bingo all was well and good everything work and is still working fine years later.

Thanks for that info. One more question, where can I order that from? Norcold?

 

[stevedg007]

Thanks for that info. One more question, where can I order that from? Norcold?

Well it's been a while, but I think I did order directly from Norcold.
Norcold Inc. Refrigerators
But I took a look just now an did not see a model # N822? Instead look at the N62/N82 series. Download the parts list on page 9 you will see the Thermister assy. outline with part numbers. Then call the parts department.

 

[Rendon]

Thanks to everyone for the good advice. I will check that thermistor and order a new one. From what I was reading on the other posts, someone suggested to disconnect the thermistor and see if the fridge functions properly to determine if the thermistor is bad. So far the fridge is maintaining 28 degrees set at 6. What I don't understand from one of the posts is why would you have to adjust the setting on a daily basis according to the weather. I've asked other people in my campground if they have to do this and they said no, but of course they don't have the Not-So-Cold model!!!!

 

[Dr4Film]

Thanks to everyone for the good advice. I will check that thermistor and order a new one. From what I was reading on the other posts, someone suggested to disconnect the thermistor and see if the fridge functions properly to determine if the thermistor is bad. So far the fridge is maintaining 28 degrees set at 6. What I don't understand from one of the posts is why would you have to adjust the setting on a daily basis according to the weather. I've asked other people in my campground if they have to do this and they said no, but of course they don't have the Not-So-Cold model!!!!

Years ago back in 2008 after fighting with my NotSoCold for years, I finally decided to purchase an Amish Cooling Unit to hopefully fix my problems. It was back then that some well educated RVer on this forum suggested to replace my thermistor even though it tested fine. He stated that it probably has an internal dynamic failure which will NOT show up when tested. For $15 I tried it and it worked better but only for a while.

Well, 4 years later after doing everything imaginable to make the NotSoCold work, I gave up and installed the Samsung fridge. After a few weeks with the Samsung I quickly realized that I should have done it back in 2008 instead of jumping through hoops and spending hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to get that POS to work.

Trust me, it won't!

Dr4Film ----- Richard

 

[Rendon]

Haha! I was thinking the same thing, just replace the POS and not have to worry anymore! I will check out that Samsung. Others also suggested the Amish made models. Thanks again to all for the advice.

 

[mikf]

From what I remember, There has always been ice and water in that drip tray. I will make the adjustments according to the weather! I did just turn it down again as it is quite cool today. I wasn't, however, turning it down at night! I will start doing that.

the tube that drains that tray must be pluged. it drains to a metal cup in back of the fridge. remove the outside cover, find the hose in the cup. look at the end of it and see if the holes are pluged up. after cleaning you mave have to clear the ice out of the tube to get it draining properly.

 

[94-Newmar]

Honestly, there is very little troubleshooting to perform here. There is absolutely no temperature control whatsoever for the freezer portion of your fridge on any Norcold or Dometic. The temp control is only for the fresh food portion of the fridge. Remember that the temperature differential between the freezer and fresh food compartments is an engineered calculation based upon the size and length of tubing between the two evaporators - nothing more, nothing less.

A simple rule of thumb on whether or not the thermistor is/has failed is simple. They either:
(A) fail completely and with certain models of Dometic units will run wide-open which causes frozen food in the fresh food compartment, or on other models will simply not fire the boiler at all. It's very model specific.
( fail by having erroneous resistance readings being sent to the control board which can cause wild swinging temps in the fresh food compartment. e.g. Perhaps 32 degrees one day, 45 the next, back to 40 etc etc.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the thermistor IF the freezer is able to keep frozen items frozen (perhaps even visible frost on the back wall of the freezer portion), the door seals are good, and the fresh food compartment is above 40 degrees. This is almost always a failed cooling unit - which has most likely failed due to either a blockage that has formed in the absorption system tubing OR a compromised unit that has/is leaked/leaking coolant to the atmosphere.

In most cases failed cooling units are caused by a blockage formed over time by running the unit out of level and the coolant has coagulated somewhere in the tubing thus preventing coolant from making it to the fresh food evaporator in a continuous flow. After enough coolant pools up above the level of the blockage then it will finally make it back down to the absorber vessel and eventually back to the boiler to start the whole process over again. Not having any moving parts these units are 100% reliant upon gravity for the coolant flow.

Second largest cause for a failed cooling unit is very limited seasonal use or short cycling which causes condensation to form under the insulation around the boiler area which then causes premature rusting of the tubing which then eventually leads to a crack or hole of some sort in the tubing thus allowing the coolant to vent to the atmosphere. Or worse, it fails when the unit is operating. Since the mixture is highly flammable you could have a fire if the conditions are right.

 

[Rendon]

A fire is my biggest concern even though my Not-So-Cold unit was not on the recall list. I am going to check the drain hose to see if it is clogged. The past few days it has been working as it should but the drip tray is still frozen. I need to get my coach in for some servicing as I have other issues going on. When I bought my RV I had no time to take it to be looked over as I had to get to MS ASAP. There is a camping world here in my area that I could go to but I wouldn't know where to put my 3 cats other than in my car and if they kept my coach for more than a day, then I too am living in my car! Not something I want to do! I thank everyone for the good advice. Hopefully it will be a simple fix.

 

[slick60]

A fire is my biggest concern even though my Not-So-Cold unit was not on the recall list. I am going to check the drain hose to see if it is clogged. The past few days it has been working as it should but the drip tray is still frozen. I need to get my coach in for some servicing as I have other issues going on. When I bought my RV I had no time to take it to be looked over as I had to get to MS ASAP. There is a camping world here in my area that I could go to but I wouldn't know where to put my 3 cats other than in my car and if they kept my coach for more than a day, then I too am living in my car! Not something I want to do! I thank everyone for the good advice. Hopefully it will be a simple fix.

I would ask around before I took any thing to a Camping World for repair. They may be just fine but so many are not good on service. I expect you can find a Reefer repair some place other than CW. Good Luck

 

[Rendon]

I searched for an RV repair guy and asked around and the only person available was a guy that I did have come do some work for me and ripped me off. not to mention also being out of line so I prefer not to have any more dealings with that person!!!! I just checked my drain hose and it appears to be not clogged at the tip but everything is bone dry so I'm guessing it's clogged elsewhere. Doesn't look in very good shape.

 

[calhyatt]

I searched for an RV repair guy and asked around and the only person available was a guy that I did have come do some work for me and ripped me off. not to mention also being out of line so I prefer not to have any more dealings with that person!!!! I just checked my drain hose and it appears to be not clogged at the tip but everything is bone dry so I'm guessing it's clogged elsewhere. Doesn't look in very good shape.

Take a small piece of string trimmer line and push it in the hose from the outside. Need a piece about 3 ft. Long. It should snake out your blockage in the drain line.