Solitude 2019, 375res, kitchen, dirt coming in on travel from slides somewhere.

[LovingIt]

Hi guys, I have a weird problem since day 1 with our solitude, we have now traveled 5 times, 4 hrs or more per each travel, and each and every single time I open the kitchen Fridge slide and table slide, before we can even walk inside I have to get the mop and mop the whole dam kitchen floor because it is covered in black fine dirt. I’m one of those people who vacuums the rugs, rolls them up vacuums the back of them while rolling them up, and vacuums the floor. If you walked in my home with your shoes on, ya won’t be walking again, lol. I like it clean so when we arrive at our destination I enjoy the rest of the day with an easy set up.
Sooo, there is no wonder if a window, roof vent ect is left open causing this, absolutely no.
I have not heard of any one else having this issue with a brand new trailer. This is our third trailer, the other two were TT, had one slide, but never had this problem with them!
This is only a problem with the kitchen slides, no issue with living rm or bedrm slides.
Now the dealer says they will order some type of foam that is to be mounted somewhere that is suppose to block air/ dirt from blowing in. This sounds like a bandaid fix to me and it’s very upsetting because the tech has no answer to why this is happening! So can anybody tell me if they had this problem, or have you heard of this bandaid fix? Is that common, typical?
(Beyond frustrated because our fridge has never worked properly either, and the dealer is dragging this issue on and on making this a constant nagging issue! Thursday the oven part is suppose to finally be installed, as we have never used the oven yet too, part was supposed to been ordered back in november, but wasn’!) Sorry, I’m venting....I’m so sick of the talk and no action, and so I need to know more of what they should be doing to properly fix the travel dirt issue. Help..

[CoChris]

@LovingIt, my guess and it is only a guess is the dirt is coming off the tires and is getting into the trailer between the bottom of the slide and the floor. There should be some kind of seal (flap) to close off this gap when the slide is retracted (the slide rides up and over the floor when it is retracted). Maybe that is missing on the one slide. With the slides retracted can you look up under the fender/tire area and see if there is a seal on one side but not the other? May help to put a flashlight inside the trailer pointing under the slide and see if you can see any light from outside. Just a thought.

In general, our 310GK does not do this. If we are on a dirt (dusty) road for a long while, we have dust all over the inside of the trailer. They are not completely sealed, but it sounds like your's should be better sealed.

Chris

[LovingIt]

Hi Chris, thanks for insight, we are going to bring in the slides this evening, and do some flashlight testing, and hopefully we can see what the issue may be?
I’ve been so flustered with the fridge issue that I couldn’t even get my head in the right direction for this issue. Really appreciate you getting the trouble shooting flowing. Your socks would be filthy black one walk through the kitchen after the slides extended, it’s a lot of dirt.
(Apparently GD is now suppose to be calling me about the fridge issue, just got another email back, as I continue to nag the dealer...It would be nice if we know what needs to be done to the slide to fix this dirt issue because then I would like to get GD help on that too.).

[CoChris]

... Apparently GD is now suppose to be calling me about the fridge issue, just got another email back, as I continue to nag the dealer....

Good luck on both issues. I hope you get them resolved. On the refrigerator, if it is the RV, not residential version just search "Norcold 2118" (search box is in the upper right portion of each page). Lots of people are not happy with their units lack of cooling performance, myself included. Some have had great success with theirs. So hard to say, different units have widely different performance or different expectation, or different operating conditions, or ????? Let us know what you find on both issues.

Chris

[geotex1]

Sounds like road grime. Does it smear by chance? Just wondering if it's diesel residue. Where is your truck exhaust and did you delete the truck? I only ask because I had a neighbor with his truck deleted and a monster pipe through the bed that blackened everything and made a mess of his trailer. Anyway, I'd look under the closed slides and make sure the seals are there and that you cannot see floor.

[LovingIt]

Sounds like road grime. Does it smear by chance? Just wondering if it's diesel residue. Where is your truck exhaust and did you delete the truck? I only ask because I had a neighbor with his truck deleted and a monster pipe through the bed that blackened everything and made a mess of his trailer. Anyway, I'd look under the closed slides and make sure the seals are there and that you cannot see floor.

No the dirt is just fine black dirt. Only once it was mixed with a lot of sand. The trucks tail pipe is on the passenger side, it points out side ways, it has to get past the trucks dually wheel guards plus the hitch dually wheel guard. Truck isn’t deleted. Truck purrs, love my truck! Sadly, I can’t say the same thing about my trailer... long list of issues, and the dragging on with the dealer, I’ve had zero excitement or love for this trailer, call it the lemon pie. in fact I keep pondering whether to get rid of it because we have yet to had one moment of bliss n it yet, without the worrying of ‘is this always going to be a problem?” I hint at it when talking with one of the staff at the dealers, because we pop in there regularly to nag, the guy says just wait til yours gets fixed first, meanwhile, we are stuck in BC, and cant go anywhere south like we were planning on. It’s the frustration of dragging it on and on, and the anxiety it gives me because we have to be back in calgary in spring and at this snails pace!
So thanks for the idea, but i think we can rule that one out. I hope we can see the issue, so we will play german spotlight tonight, lol.

[geotex1]

No the dirt is just fine black dirt. Only once it was mixed with a lot of sand. The trucks tail pipe is on the passenger side, it points out side ways, it has to get past the trucks dually wheel guards plus the hitch dually wheel guard. Truck isn’t deleted. Truck purrs, love my truck! Sadly, I can’t say the same thing about my trailer... long list of issues, and the dragging on with the dealer, I’ve had zero excitement or love for this trailer, call it the lemon pie. in fact I keep pondering whether to get rid of it because we have yet to had one moment of bliss n it yet, without the worrying of ‘is this always going to be a problem?” I hint at it when talking with one of the staff at the dealers, because we pop in there regularly to nag, the guy says just wait til yours gets fixed first, meanwhile, we are stuck in BC, and cant go anywhere south like we were planning on. It’s the frustration of dragging it on and on, and the anxiety it gives me because we have to be back in calgary in spring and at this snails pace!
So thanks for the idea, but i think we can rule that one out. I hope we can see the issue, so we will play german spotlight tonight, lol.

Just had to ask!

Question for you. Have you engaged Grand Design directly because it sounds like your dealer is a little flat-footed... Some polite conversation might help turn the tide and get some acceleration towards a resolution.

[Txfivver]

So sorry to hear of your 375 troubles LovingIt. My 2019 375 definitely does not have this issue, it has to be a slide seal missing or torn. That's the only thing I can think of that would let dirt inside only in that area. What about brake dust, are your rims covered with it after a tow? Maybe the brakes are adjusted a little too tight and throwing off excessive dust and getting in the slide seal. As far as the fridge I wasn't too crazy about mine either but I read on here about moving the clip and wire inside the fridge over a couple of fins and that did the trick. Mine will maintain 33-36 in the fridge and 0-5 degrees in the freezer now. You might try that.

[LovingIt]

So sorry to hear of your 375 troubles LovingIt. My 2019 375 definitely does not have this issue, it has to be a slide seal missing or torn. That's the only thing I can think of that would let dirt inside only in that area. What about brake dust, are your rims covered with it after a tow? Maybe the brakes are adjusted a little too tight and throwing off excessive dust and getting in the slide seal. As far as the fridge I wasn't too crazy about mine either but I read on here about moving the clip and wire inside the fridge over a couple of fins and that did the trick. Mine will maintain 33-36 in the fridge and 0-5 degrees in the freezer now. You might try that.

Hi, about the dirt coming in, i took a couple of pictures two nights ago, its the dining table is mostly the culprit, underneath worst side is corner where stairs are, (shoe storage), i’llcome back and post pics, and the fridge- tech was here again today because now they need to test the new fridge thermistor on the 2nd fin, because another tech put it on the 4 or 5th fin, and norcold is saying “has to be on the 2nd fin, for the 2118 model!” ( yet i keep reading others are being told to move it along a couple of fins and it solves their problem, so some things are making me wonder like what??? But later tomorrow tech coming back so i’ ll know more later. . Problem is freezer goes from -5c to -11c, and fridge is -1c to +1c mostly sits at -1c and yes food keeps freezing in fridge. Anyway, i’m taking notes as this goes along, and will come back to this to post more in couple of days, no time tonight. Thanks, will appreciate your thoughts moving forward.

[LovingIt]

So sorry to hear of your 375 troubles LovingIt. My 2019 375 definitely does not have this issue, it has to be a slide seal missing or torn. That's the only thing I can think of that would let dirt inside only in that area. What about brake dust, are your rims covered with it after a tow? Maybe the brakes are adjusted a little too tight and throwing off excessive dust and getting in the slide seal. As far as the fridge I wasn't too crazy about mine either but I read on here about moving the clip and wire inside the fridge over a couple of fins and that did the trick. Mine will maintain 33-36 in the fridge and 0-5 degrees in the freezer now. You might try that.

Thank you for your temperature ranges, what is the setting 1-9 your fridge is on? And what is the outside temperature typical on this setting that you are able to maintain these temperatures?


Okay here’s the absolute BS, I’ve been putting up with. The fridge is on setting 7, the fridge runs at -1c to +1c average, it is more -1c and sometimes -2c (-2c =28.4 F, -1c= 30.2F; 0=32F). Our outside temperatures have been 2c at night to max 10c at night (2c=35.6F; 10c=50F). We cannot use our top rack in the fridge as anything freezes there. Food also freezes in the fridge door bay bins. We cannot keep lettuce in a Tupperware container anywhere in the fridge, because it freezes. Honey freezes anywhere and in the fridge door bay sits a bottle of olive oil that is completely frozen.
Did the put the glass of water in the fridge overnight and test water temperature in morning couldn’t test the water because the friggin glass of water froze in 23 hrs, but I’m told my fridge is running normal and in the operating range, so it failed that test, And it failed the disconnect the thermistor test, as fridge was suppose to go up to 3c, (37.4F) and freezer to -13c, (8.6F),but no my fridge instead didn’t react, it was at -1c fridge and -12c freezer, 24 hrs later and fridge is at 1c, (33.8F), freezer -12c. (10.4F). A few days later thermistor is still disconnected we wake up with the fridge on -2c, freezer is still -12c. So again I continue to hear the same BS, my fridge is normal! They had changed out the thermistor and put it on the 2nd fin as norcold requires, before plugging in new thermistor fridge is at -2c and fridge is at -12c, 2.5 hrs later the fridge is now 2c, and freezer at -9c. (15.8F), 10 hrs go buy fridge climbs up to 4c (39.2F) and freezer drops all the way to -3c (26.6F) and sits on this for 2 hrs. At the 10 hr mark freezer slowly starts to go back up, three hrs later it reached -8c,(17.6F). I believe it was not until next day did it get back to -11c, (12.2F)? i forgot to write it down). So yes it failed a brand new thermistor test because it shouldn’t take 10 hrs to respond! But again all I hear is my fridge is acting normally! Wtf! Nothing normal about this! The freezer has never gotten any colder than -11c with a thermistor plugged in, and fridge has never been at 3c let alone 2c, until last week. So what do you think would happen if I turned the setting down to say 3 or 4, being the freezer cannot sustain -11c consistently, and rarely goes above it either, and it drops temperature all by itself randomly too. Oh I’m pretty confident my Freezer food would thaw. Imagine when it gets to be 70 to 75F outside? There is no way it would be able to hold -11c, it has no pattern and behaves possessed.
So for three solid months I have been hounding and nagging, so to add to these failed tests i conducted my own, we kept the freezer door closed for 8 days solid. It all started After opening the freezer to remove food from a bag and replaced the item back in the freezer, it then dropped 4 degrees, 7.5 hrs later it then dropped to -4c (24.8F), All by itself folks! It took a whole week of not opening the freezer doors for the freezer to recover back up to -11c! Meanwhile during this test week, we wake up at 9am to find the fridge is on 3c (37.4F) holy cow thats a first! And get this it was not even opened yet, because you see even when we use the fridge and open it hourly to get the milk for coffee in the mornings, the fridge still manages to go to down to -1 and -2C by noon. Pretty ******-backwards eh? Now each day during this test week the freezer door stayed closed and the freezer toggled between -7c (19.4F) and -8c (17.6F), the next day -8,-9c (17.6-15.8F), slowly making its way toggling two digits each day until day 7 arrives. Touch down! -11c, the eagle has landed andbit only took a week with the freezer doors closed the whole time. Now in this week on test day 5 while the freezer toggles -9, -10c, at 8pm at night we find the fridge sitting on 3c! And the freezer is back down on -4c AGAIN. NO the fridge was not opened or loaded with groceries or anything different in fact it had not been opened in at least 2 hrs prior to grab a drink or something simple a quick open and close. Again temperatures outside for the whole week did not drop down to freezing, nor jump up to hot, 2c to 10c. (35.6-50F). But apparently this all in my head! Because I keep hearing that parrot recording “ your fridge is operating in normal temperature ranges. Oh but I’m the idiot here!
So Instead of saying “well gee this really does sound like something screwy going on, I instead get the devils advocate attitude! “Well Norcold says your fridge is operating in normal parameters”.
Okay finally after a 7 minute argument over someones “feelings” got hurt because I sent off an abrupt email, but it’s okay to have us be held like prisoners here waiting to get things fixed, basically put my life and plans on hold, for over 3 months now, while every week is another drag it out excuse! Omg, dish the frustration out but get yelled at when you push to far and I’m to apologize...oh no, instead my letter writing will eventually start reaching the big bosses, and when that happens people lose their jobs. Nothing is more infuriating than being treated unjustifiably and that pushes my buttons. I seriously have no more patience. So the circuit board is suppose to get replaced I pray that works because they only got till march 30, and well it took over 3 months to get this far, so things could then get ugly. Pray this works!

So anyone with the Norcold 2118 model, whats your setting dial on (1-9)? in what weather outside? And what is the fridge and freezer temperatures you get?

Lastly, has anyone ever gotten any documentation from Norcold about how these fridges should be functioning?
In what temperature environment, on what setting number, and what fridge and freezer temperatures should be average range, and how long for this appliance to recover to these temperatures based on given other parameters? Like how many seconds the fridge was opened? How long to expect it to recover? Because if you noticed these fridges are the most talked about, disliked, and have the least information anywhere on how they should be properly functioning. Owners manual has no info on any of this, nothing on their website either. It has got to be one of the most vague manuals I’ve seen on a very expensive appliance. As an owner your basically left tinkering with the setting dial. Pretty ridiculous.