344GK Norcold use at high altitudes?

[Navigator]

Our daughter and son-in-law just purchased a 2018 Solitude 344GK with the Norcold propane/electric refrigerator. We recently found out that the Norcold will not operate at altitudes over 4500ft. They spend lots of time dry camping in the Mammoth Lakes area and had no problem with the frig. in their Forest River 5er.

Their inaugural trip to June Lake, Ca. in the Sierra mountains is coming up. The altitude there is higher than 4600ft. Has anyone else dry camped at that elevation with a Norcold & if so, what were your experiences?

We have our fingers crossed that all will go well.


Kathy

[Blue Leader]

We have camped in Tahoe and the Hope valley areas all over 6,000 feet and have not had any refrigerator issues when using electric or propane.

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[TucsonJim]

I have a Reflection travel trailer with a Norcold refrigerator. But it is not the same model. A few weeks ago, we camped at 9,200 feet for 13 days. The refrigerator worked flawlessly on propane the entire time.

Jim

[carnolddsm]

We’ve dry camped a number of days at 9,000 feet and higher running on propane, no issues.

Yes, the manual for the Norfold 2118 recommends running the refrigerator on electric at altitudes above 5,500 feet to avoid flame outages or cooling performance issues. I think this falls under the heading of CYA or YMMV.

[Navigator]

We have camped in Tahoe and the Hope valley areas all over 6,000 feet and have not had any refrigerator issues when using electric or propane.

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That's good to hear!! The only electric they will have is from generators which, hopefully, will work at high altitudes. Most of the time the Norcold will be running on propane.

Thanks for the feedback!

Kathy

[Navigator]

I have a Reflection travel trailer with a Norcold refrigerator. But it is not the same model. A few weeks ago, we camped at 9,200 feet for 13 days. The refrigerator worked flawlessly on propane the entire time.

Jim

Hi Jim,

That's super good news and I hope it applies to all Norcolds! Thanks for your response... it's very appreciated!

Kathy

[Navigator]

We’ve dry camped a number of days at 9,000 feet and higher running on propane, no issues.

Yes, the manual for the Norfold 2118 recommends running the refrigerator on electric at altitudes above 5,500 feet to avoid flame outages or cooling performance issues. I think this falls under the heading of CYA or YMMV.

Thanks for adding more experiences that provide some hope. We're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well on their 1st trip with the new Solitude.

Kathy

[CoChris]

Good news and bad. We have the Norcold 2118 in our Solitude and have camped at 8,000~9,200 feet for a week at a time. Our base (sticks & bricks) elevation is 5,000 feet. The good news is I notice no difference in performance on propane at sea level (Oregon trip - literally 25'), 5000 feet and 9,200 feet. The bad news is the performance is very poor in warm (70 deg and above) weather, barely keep refrig below 45 deg F. Note: Switching to electric made no difference in performance. Other people have had much better (and some worse) performance.

Chris

[D2Reid]

Not sure of our exact model for refrig, but we are sea-level to 9000' frequently. Sub-zero to triple digit temps. The only time my evaporator style refrigerator quit working was when the temps dropped to sub-zero. Got cold enough around the evaporator tubes to halt the process, a single 100watt bulb in the compartment fixed the problem.

[Navigator]

Good news and bad. We have the Norcold 2118 in our Solitude and have camped at 8,000~9,200 feet for a week at a time. Our base (sticks & bricks) elevation is 5,000 feet. The good news is I notice no difference in performance on propane at sea level (Oregon trip - literally 25'), 5000 feet and 9,200 feet. The bad news is the performance is very poor in warm (70 deg and above) weather, barely keep refrig below 45 deg F. Note: Switching to electric made no difference in performance. Other people have had much better (and some worse) performance.

Chris

Thanks Chris for the info. on your experiences. It looks like the weather forecast for their shake-down trip to June Lake is for the low 30s at night and no higher than 68° during the day. I'm hoping their refrig. will function correctly during their trip.

Kathy