Norcold Frig Takes Breaks from Cooling

[Sprice1386]

We have a 2015 Solitude 365 that remains parked at a ski lake from April through September. It has a Norcold 2118 frig that randomly decides to stop cooling for hours at a time and will then resume cooling without any action on my part. We are boondocking so the frig is always run on propane. The trailer is level, there is ample propane and the power is stable. We are typically in the trailer Friday, Saturday and Sunday but we leave the frig running, even when we are not there. I monitor the temps of the frig and freezer remotely which is how I know it is randomly stopping. Here is a plot of the freezer temp while the trailer was unoccupied. As you can see, the Norcold stopped cooling for approx. 6 hours then resumed working without any intervention from me. I have Beach Lane fans in the top and bottom external vents but the day time temps are still cool here in CO so they have not yet been activated. When the frig is working, it has no problem keeping things cool this time of year. Has anyone seen this kind of behavior from a Norcold before and if so, what did you do to fix it?

 

[Soundsailor]

There are a lot of threads dealing with the Norcold 2118 here, try this: https://www.google.com/search?q=myg...3ajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

 

[triplethreat]

We have a 2015 Solitude 365 that remains parked at a ski lake from April through September. It has a Norcold 2118 frig that randomly decides to stop cooling for hours at a time and will then resume cooling without any action on my part. We are boondocking so the frig is always run on propane. The trailer is level, there is ample propane and the power is stable. We are typically in the trailer Friday, Saturday and Sunday but we leave the frig running, even when we are not there. I monitor the temps of the frig and freezer remotely which is how I know it is randomly stopping. Here is a plot of the freezer temp while the trailer was unoccupied. As you can see, the Norcold stopped cooling for approx. 6 hours then resumed working without any intervention from me. I have Beach Lane fans in the top and bottom external vents but the day time temps are still cool here in CO so they have not yet been activated. When the frig is working, it has no problem keeping things cool this time of year. Has anyone seen this kind of behavior from a Norcold before and if so, what did you do to fix it?

View attachment 50736

Approximately how often does it take this cooling break? I couldn't really tell from the graphs. By chance, does this happen maybe every 47 to maybe 50 hours.....the cooling break that is.

 

[livinthelife]

We have a 2015 Solitude 365 that remains parked at a ski lake from April through September. It has a Norcold 2118 frig that randomly decides to stop cooling for hours at a time and will then resume cooling without any action on my part. We are boondocking so the frig is always run on propane. The trailer is level, there is ample propane and the power is stable. We are typically in the trailer Friday, Saturday and Sunday but we leave the frig running, even when we are not there. I monitor the temps of the frig and freezer remotely which is how I know it is randomly stopping. Here is a plot of the freezer temp while the trailer was unoccupied. As you can see, the Norcold stopped cooling for approx. 6 hours then resumed working without any intervention from me. I have Beach Lane fans in the top and bottom external vents but the day time temps are still cool here in CO so they have not yet been activated. When the frig is working, it has no problem keeping things cool this time of year. Has anyone seen this kind of behavior from a Norcold before and if so, what did you do to fix it?

View attachment 50736

Our Norcold N811VFRT has a auto defrost approximately every 47-50 hours. It freaked us out until we figured out that's what was happening. It seems the freezer gets really warm (for up to an hour or so) and then starts cooling back down.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Yes, it is standard behavior for what Norcold thinks is good programming. There is a defrost timer in the motherboard that will trigger every 48 hours. So....what I do is every morning when I get up to make coffee...I turn off the fridge for 10 seconds. Then turn it back on. This will defeat the built in defrost timer.

 

[Sprice1386]

When my frig decides to take a multi-hour break from its cooling job seems to be random. Norcold customer service says that the defrost cycle typically lasts approx. 45 minutes; certainly not 6 hours. My guess is a faulty power board, but before I start buying parts based on a hunch, I thought I would reach out to see if others have experienced anything similar. As was pointed out by Soundsailor, there are plenty of threads addressing issues with the 2118, but I was not able to find this particular problem covered.

On a related note, what is the power draw of the 12V double compressor conversion that so many people are praising and is that a mod that can be made by an owner or does it require a trip to a dealer?

 

[livinthelife]

Yes, it is standard behavior for what Norcold thinks is good programming. There is a defrost timer in the motherboard that will trigger every 48 hours. So....what I do is every morning when I get up to make coffee...I turn off the fridge for 10 seconds. Then turn it back on. This will defeat the built in defrost timer.

We found, when we were traveling like every other day, so we kept switching from propane to electric, the auto defrost didn't kick in and caused the freezer to frost up, so heavily we had to actually turn off the fridge and do a manual defrost. The frost build up caused the fins in the fridge to freeze up also.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

We found, when we were traveling like every other day, so we kept switching from propane to electric, the auto defrost didn't kick in and caused the freezer to frost up, so heavily we had to actually turn off the fridge and do a manual defrost. The frost build up caused the fins in the fridge to freeze up also.

Wow. I imagine that must have a lot to do with the humidity - where you are and time of year?

 

[triplethreat]

When my frig decides to take a multi-hour break from its cooling job seems to be random. Norcold customer service says that the defrost cycle typically lasts approx. 45 minutes; certainly not 6 hours. My guess is a faulty power board, but before I start buying parts based on a hunch, I thought I would reach out to see if others have experienced anything similar. As was pointed out by Soundsailor, there are plenty of threads addressing issues with the 2118, but I was not able to find this particular problem covered.

On a related note, what is the power draw of the 12V double compressor conversion that so many people are praising and is that a mod that can be made by an owner or does it require a trip to a dealer?

I've been the proud owner of the JC Refrigeration conversion to the 12VDC Twin Compressor Mod since May of 2022. I went to their facility in Shipshewana, Indiana to have mine installed, instead of doing it myself. I have the skill set and ability to have done it myself, but old age and the thought of wrestling the fridge out of the cubby hole that it is in, then getting it over to the middle of the floor in the living area/kitchen area....by myself, made me decide to tow the trailer up there and let them do it. If you are fairly handy doing repair work type work, it's definitely doable, and I've read quite a few posts about guys doing it themselves.....forums...facebook grand design pages, etc.

So a little about the electrical draw....when both compressors are running, like it would be when you first turn it on to start cooling everything down, you're looking at around 12.6 amps of current......12VDC only of course. Since the conversion process changes both the cooling method (compressors instead of the absorption type cooling), there are actually two thermostats on the unit now. One of the compressors takes care of the fresh food section and has it's own thermostat, the other compressor takes care of the freezer and has it's own thermostat, so they can be set independently of each other, which also means that BOTH compressors are not necessarily running at the same time, and it will depend on what is actually needed for whichever section, the fridge or the freezer.

When I had mine done back in May 2022, and they were finished doing the install, they started up the unit and of course everything was at ambient temperature on startup....around 80°F. Within about 3 hrs, the fridge section was down to 34°F and the freezer section was at 2°. An hour or so later, those temperatures had dropped even more and the freezer was down to -2 or -3 degrees and the fresh food area was 31°. So I readjusted the two thermostats and really have not had to adjust them since then. Fridge section now stays around 36-38 degrees and the freezer stays right around zero to maybe 2 above zero. So far, it's been flawless for us

Here is what the back of it looks like....Oh, and please ignore the "dusty" looking photo....we were in the middle of heavy pollen season here in East TN....LOL

 

[Darren2149]

When my frig decides to take a multi-hour break from its cooling job seems to be random. Norcold customer service says that the defrost cycle typically lasts approx. 45 minutes; certainly not 6 hours. My guess is a faulty power board, but before I start buying parts based on a hunch, I thought I would reach out to see if others have experienced anything similar. As was pointed out by Soundsailor, there are plenty of threads addressing issues with the 2118, but I was not able to find this particular problem covered.

On a related note, what is the power draw of the 12V double compressor conversion that so many people are praising and is that a mod that can be made by an owner or does it require a trip to a dealer?

I've attached the web link to the 12v conversion, from everything I've read this can be done by the owner and does not need the dealer. I'm already considering doing this myself, if for no other reason than being able to shut off propane while traveling. Based on the videos I've seen and researched, it really depends on what your comfortable doing.

https://jc-refrigeration.com/product/norcold-2118-hvac-12-24v-dc-conversion/

 

[huntindog]

The extra fans you installed may be reducing the airflow, when they are not running. Try turning them on.

 

[BrandonM]

I've been the proud owner of the JC Refrigeration conversion to the 12VDC Twin Compressor Mod since May of 2022. I went to their facility in Shipshewana, Indiana to have mine installed, instead of doing it myself. I have the skill set and ability to have done it myself, but old age and the thought of wrestling the fridge out of the cubby hole that it is in, then getting it over to the middle of the floor in the living area/kitchen area....by myself, made me decide to tow the trailer up there and let them do it. If you are fairly handy doing repair work type work, it's definitely doable, and I've read quite a few posts about guys doing it themselves.....forums...facebook grand design pages, etc.

So a little about the electrical draw....when both compressors are running, like it would be when you first turn it on to start cooling everything down, you're looking at around 12.6 amps of current......12VDC only of course. Since the conversion process changes both the cooling method (compressors instead of the absorption type cooling), there are actually two thermostats on the unit now. One of the compressors takes care of the fresh food section and has it's own thermostat, the other compressor takes care of the freezer and has it's own thermostat, so they can be set independently of each other, which also means that BOTH compressors are not necessarily running at the same time, and it will depend on what is actually needed for whichever section, the fridge or the freezer.

When I had mine done back in May 2022, and they were finished doing the install, they started up the unit and of course everything was at ambient temperature on startup....around 80°F. Within about 3 hrs, the fridge section was down to 34°F and the freezer section was at 2°. An hour or so later, those temperatures had dropped even more and the freezer was down to -2 or -3 degrees and the fresh food area was 31°. So I readjusted the two thermostats and really have not had to adjust them since then. Fridge section now stays around 36-38 degrees and the freezer stays right around zero to maybe 2 above zero. So far, it's been flawless for us

Here is what the back of it looks like....Oh, and please ignore the "dusty" looking photo....we were in the middle of heavy pollen season here in East TN....LOL

I've attached the web link to the 12v conversion, from everything I've read this can be done by the owner and does not need the dealer. I'm already considering doing this myself, if for no other reason than being able to shut off propane while traveling. Based on the videos I've seen and researched, it really depends on what your comfortable doing.

Norcold 2118 Hvac 12V DC Conversion Unit (FREE SHIPPING) - JC Refrigeration

I did my conversion in June of '23 for some reason today the fridge compressor stopped cooling and temp got up to 45 degrees. I opened the back and everything looked normal. Fans running ect. Except fridge compressor was cool to touch while freezer compressor was slightly warm. I'm going to reach out to jc refrigeration in the morning and see how it goes. I did the install, it was pretty straight forward and the unit seemed to be well built. I did it by myself and it took about a day. I'm too far in to do the residential style now. However I liked the idea of the conversion as it had rav reviews, which up to today I would agree. It would keep temps in the negative for freezer and the fridge in the 30s. The biggest help on any of them is parking in shade in the summer. I'm in texas. I'm not counting out swapping for residential yet hench I'm on here checking to see who used what. I'm still giving JC a chance though. I will report back.

 

[triplethreat]

Did you purchase their extended warranty? They had a three year ext. warranty when I purchased mine (they did the install) and I bought it after I returned home. IIRC, you had 30 days after the install to get the extra warranty.

 

[BrandonM]

No, but it's still covered under the 3 that is included with the original purchase. I'm not a sucker for extended warranties, because of all limited warranty things usually listed. It's a pretty good haul for me to go up there 14ish hours one way. Not to mention the road conditions are probably not all that great up there this time of year. Im assuming thats why their website says their installers will be in Florida for a few weeks this month, as well as, part of next month doing installs.

On a side note we've had poor luck with house hold appliances for the past few years. I expect 5yrs with normal use now days. With other two of us, we are on our 3rd washer in 3 years. 2nd microwave in 2 years.

Anyhow, I sent an email to Jc Refrigeration, they are closed until the 7th.

 

[triplethreat]

I hear ya. It was a 6 1/2 to 7 hour drive for us.....we're just south of Knoxville, TN.