Norcold 2118 Question - Has Power and Runs - Not Cooling AC or Propane

**jascott** · 01-11-2022, 08:31 PM

Have a 2015 369RL with the Norcold 2118SS fridge. The trailer is stationary most of the year and stays connected to power. The fridge stays running with food in it all the time. In the last two weeks, it stopped cooling completely and lots of food was lost.

In my case, the fridge powers on and does not show any errors. The cooling unit vertical stack on the right side gets warm on either AC or LP. I've read about fuses blowing, but in my case the control panel is on, the interior light works, and the interior fan works. I have not seen any signs of ammonia leaking out.

Where do I start?

**CoChris** · 01-11-2022, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by jascott

Have a 2015 369RL with the Norcold 2118SS fridge. The trailer is stationary most of the year and stays connected to power. The fridge stays running with food in it all the time. In the last two weeks, it stopped cooling completely and lots of food was lost.

In my case, the fridge powers on and does not show any errors. The cooling unit vertical stack on the right side gets warm on either AC or LP. I've read about fuses blowing, but in my case the control panel is on, the interior light works, and the interior fan works. I have not seen any signs of ammonia leaking out.

Where do I start?

Could be either 1) a bad heating element (there should be two electrical heaters in the "boiler" area - assuming you are running on 120v). The boiler area should be way hotter than you could stand to touch. Much hotter than "warm". or 2) a blockage in the plumbing. Search for "refrigerator reboot" and you should find a number of discussions.

Chris

**Second Chance** · 01-12-2022, 10:35 AM

Read this thread and see if there is something useful there:

https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...ng-in-AC-or-LP

Rob

**jascott** · 01-12-2022, 10:39 AM

Thanks for the replies. I read about the "refrigerator reboot" referenced above and will give that a try. The trailer is not local to me, so it will be a couple of weeks before I can get back out there to give it a try. My scenario matches the one in the link above pretty closely... Just odd that I've not had this issue in the past and I'm going on seven years of constant use. I do appreciate the help and I will respond back with an update after I get back to the trailer.

**Redapple63** · 01-13-2022, 01:04 AM

Thanks. Looking forward to hearing how it works out.

**jascott** · 02-01-2022, 05:30 AM

I wanted to provide an update and try to figure out what the next step in troubleshooting is. I have the trailer home now and the issue remains. The fridge sat powered off for several weeks. I powered it back on and banged around on the cooling system and the fridge started cooling down. After a few hours, it stopped cooling, so I powered it back down. I then hooked the trailer up and towed it about 250 miles and powered it back on. It did the same thing... cooled for an hour or two and then stopped. There are no error messages anywhere.

Since I've tried tapping the cooling system and towing it for five hours, I don't think it is a plugged cooling system. To me, it seems like some sort of sensor is tripping and shutting things down. Any thoughts here and what to check first? I did notice that the external fans did not power up when I turned the fridge on. It was 55 degrees out and a bit windy, so I'm not sure they were needed. The interior fan is working.

Thanks again for the help!

**HDSmurph** · 02-06-2022, 08:43 AM

Your cooling unit has a blockage. I had the same problem, research replacement cooling unit. I went with the Amish cooling unit for Norcold, works great, 2hr job.