New Norcold 2118 not so cold

**welzelm** · 09-08-2021, 11:42 PM

I just replaced the norcold cooling unit with a 12v double compressor unit. What a huge difference. Norcold wouldn't even respond to my emails. What I found in my 2118 was scary. The fin plate was in 3 pieces with some make shift brackets to hold them somewhat together. And almost no thermal mastic on the cooling plates. I can't every remember the freezer getting below 15 degrees before. Its hover at around 2 now!!! And according to the manufacturing guy this is 350% cheaper to operate than the old cooling unit. After 6 years I can but Ice Cream, yeehaw!

**welzelm** · 09-08-2021, 11:55 PM

Just replaced my cooling unit with a 12v double compressor unit. WOW!! First time in 6 years I can keep ice cream hard as a rock. I tried everything with the original unit. Added fans inside and out, redid the baffles in the rear of the unit because it wasn't even close to the Norcold installation manual. I opted to just change the cooling unit because I only had 25 1/2" depth and finding a fidge I liked better without having to do some modifications to the opening just didn't happen. Anyway it took me by myself about 20 hours to change it out. Best improvement on my Solitude 379fl that I've done. And I've done a lot of improvements that should have come from the factory. A $5000 refrigerator should work, period. Good luck truing to get GD or Norcold to fix the right way.

**Sickday** · 09-09-2021, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by welzelm

Just replaced my cooling unit with a 12v double compressor unit. WOW!! First time in 6 years I can keep ice cream hard as a rock. I tried everything with the original unit. Added fans inside and out, redid the baffles in the rear of the unit because it wasn't even close to the Norcold installation manual. I opted to just change the cooling unit because I only had 25 1/2" depth and finding a fidge I liked better without having to do some modifications to the opening just didn't happen. Anyway it took me by myself about 20 hours to change it out. Best improvement on my Solitude 379fl that I've done. And I've done a lot of improvements that should have come from the factory. A $5000 refrigerator should work, period. Good luck truing to get GD or Norcold to fix the right way.

What unit did you use to swap to the 12V double compressor unit and did you upgrade or add batteries for travel days? I'm interested

**welzelm** · 09-09-2021, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by Sickday

What unit did you use to swap to the 12V double compressor unit and did you upgrade or add batteries for travel days? I'm interested

I have a Norcold 2118SS. And I already had the Go Power extreme solar kit. 570w panels and a 3000w charger/inverter. Also had (4) 200ah 12v batteries already, so I think I'm all set for now. Thanks for asking.

**Overtaxed** · 09-09-2021, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by ThomasA

Do you know of a good upgrade fan ? Also are you going bigger or adding another fan? its only 80 here and Iam skeptical. Shouldnt this really be an upgrade provided to us ? under warranty.

If you're going to go through the trouble of replacing/adding fans, spend the money to get the best.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Noctua industrial, IP67 (water) rated, 150K hours MTBF, lots of air flow. I have 2 of these blowing out on my top vent, it helps move a lot of the heat more quickly.

Also, while you're in there, pull out the thermocoupler setup, and take the fans off the control board! If you have a fan fail, they often draw too much power and, because of the way Norcold wired it, the draw of a single failed fan will blow a fuse, taking the entire fridge out. Lost a completely full fridge worth of food because of this boneheaded engineering.

**welzelm** · 09-09-2021, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by Overtaxed

If you're going to go through the trouble of replacing/adding fans, spend the money to get the best.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Noctua industrial, IP67 (water) rated, 150K hours MTBF, lots of air flow. I have 2 of these blowing out on my top vent, it helps move a lot of the heat more quickly.

Also, while you're in there, pull out the thermocoupler setup, and take the fans off the control board! If you have a fan fail, they often draw too much power and, because of the way Norcold wired it, the draw of a single failed fan will blow a fuse, taking the entire fridge out. Lost a completely full fridge worth of food because of this boneheaded engineering.

I put in 2 of this type. I never really saw much of a difference with the extra fans. 129 cfm each
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J0NZFIA...roduct_details

**dfowens** · 05-17-2023, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by xrated

I bought a Titan brand twin fan kit from Amazon last year and installed it inside the top Black grill. It comes with it's own controller and thermostat and was a bit of a job fishing the wires through from inside the trailer to the rear of the fridge compartment, but it does help. It needs to be installed as high on the vent as you can, that way it causes the air that is drawn in at the bottom and blown out the top vent to circulate over the condensor coil up top...the one that you can see has OEM fans below it. Mine worked a lot better all of last year, then all of a sudden, this year it is not performing as well. So a few weeks ago, I did the "Muddypaws" mod on mine. This mod was named after a guy that did a lot of experimenting with different configurations of placing the thermistor inside the fresh food part of the fridge. His mod involves taking the thermistor off of the fin in the fresh food area and putting a piece of styrofoam over the sensor part of the thermistor, then putting it back on the fin. It basically tricks the thermistor to think it's warmer in the fridge area than it really is because the sensor is not touching the metal fin anymore....it's insulated away from the metal fin and has to depend on ambient air for temperature instead of the sensor touching the fin. Do that should cause the fridge to drop 5-7 degrees as it thinks that it's warmer in the fridge, so it tries to cool even more. When I tried it a couple of weeks ago, I saw some pretty good results with the controller only set on three out of the nine settings. We will give it a real test a little later this year when we leave for almost 30 days out west. If it fails that test (I'll probably use setting 5 or 6 if needes), I will be looking into possibly replacing it next year with a 12V compressor type fridge, hopefully in the 17-18 cu ft size if I can find one that will fit in our camper.

Here is the fan kit I purchased if you are interested. I got the twin fans, 120mm kit.....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So, did the "Muddypaws" mod work for you? I am new to the RV and learning a lot. My fridge seems to have a mind of its own at times.

**Hoopy Frood** · 05-17-2023, 07:11 PM

FWIW, we have the 2118SS, and it works fine, knock on wood.

I put two thermostatically controlled fans on the fins and it shows consistently down around 33° in the fridge, and 0° in the freezer. The fans run when the temperature hits 40°, and shut off when the temperature drops below 34°.

**xrated** · 05-17-2023, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by dfowens

So, did the "Muddypaws" mod work for you? I am new to the RV and learning a lot. My fridge seems to have a mind of its own at times.

Sadly, the fans ended up being a band-aid on a cut that needed stiches. Muddypaws mod...nope. In May of 2022 we made the trip to JC Refrigeration an d had the 12VDC twin compressor mod done to the Norcold. I've posted several times on here about the mod and how well the fridge now works. Within 4 hours of run time, the freezer was at -2°F and the fresh food compartment was 33°. It works as well as a residential fridge....maybe better.

**huntindog** · 05-18-2023, 05:31 AM

My 2118 works great. Better than our home fridge. The only issue we had was the cheap $2 fans failed. Spent 20.00 apiece on quality fans.. Water resistant with a 50,000 hour rating.