300TQ Refrigerator Only Getting Cold on Propane

[spichura-300TQ]

Has anyone else run into this with the NorCold Refrigerator in a 300TQ? I turned in my fridge yesterday and found it warm today after running on electric. No errors were displayed with the LED.

[joebedford]

Tripped circuit breaker?

[spichura-300TQ]

No lights would come on. Apparently it’s not very tolerant to not being level and that’s what caused the problem. Finally got ahold of NorCold.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by spichura-300TQ

Has anyone else run into this with the NorCold Refrigerator in a 300TQ? I turned in my fridge yesterday and found it warm today after running on electric. No errors were displayed with the LED.

My first guess would be a loose connection, blow fuse or bad control board. What is the brand and model of fridge? Many of the manuals have a trouble shooting tree in them.

Aaron

[spichura-300TQ]

I check all that. It was confusing the hell out of me. Camping World couldn’t figure it out so she told me to call NorCold. Later when I got ahold of them they were able to tell me it needed to be within 3 degrees left and right and 6 degrees front and back. Leveling it solved the problem

[joebedford]

That's really interesting that the unit's levelling would affect electric operation but not propane. I always assumed propane would be more sensitive because: flame. I guess the circulation of coolant is the critical factor (but how does it know the difference between heat from electric vs. heat from flame?)

[franktafl]

I've heard that the fridge will completely stop working the RV is severely out of level. One of my friends had to replace their fridge because they ran it out of level (I think they diagnosed it incorrectly, in my humble opinion). I have also read (somewhere in this forum) that you can reset the electronics on the fridge if it quits working. I am also wondering what would happen if you left your fridge running while you were transporting the RV. Will going up and down hills and mountains affect the operation? there was a thread here that suggested some folks keep their fridges running while they are moving.

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by joebedford

That's really interesting that the unit's levelling would affect electric operation but not propane. I always assumed propane would be more sensitive because: flame. I guess the circulation of coolant is the critical factor (but how does it know the difference between heat from electric vs. heat from flame?)

The propane wouldn't be affected because it's under pressure. The water heater is horizontal and it works, same as the furnace.


The circulation suffers from this condition and will damage the unit itself.


I guess they have a 'tilt' switch on them now. I helped my gas refrigerator guy work on a few of these things and we would charge and cool them down with the unit leaning against the work bench.

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by franktafl

I've heard that the fridge will completely stop working the RV is severely out of level. One of my friends had to replace their fridge because they ran it out of level (I think they diagnosed it incorrectly, in my humble opinion). I have also read (somewhere in this forum) that you can reset the electronics on the fridge if it quits working. I am also wondering what would happen if you left your fridge running while you were transporting the RV. Will going up and down hills and mountains affect the operation? there was a thread here that suggested some folks keep their fridges running while they are moving.

Many owners travel with the refrigerator running on propane. They have to turn them off when approaching some tunnels though.
I lived full time in mine for some time and I always had it on while enroute to a different destination.

[franktafl]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

The propane wouldn't be affected because it's under pressure. The water heater is horizontal and it works, same as the furnace.


The circulation suffers from this condition and will damage the unit itself.


I guess they have a 'tilt' switch on them now. I helped my gas refrigerator guy work on a few of these things and we would charge and cool them down with the unit leaning against the work bench.

How Level Is Level Enough For Your RV Refrigerator?