Norcold Fridge No Exhaust Vent Fans - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 08-02-2018, 02:21 AM   #1
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Norcold Fridge No Exhaust Vent Fans

Hello, 2015 Voltage 3605 4 door Norcold Fridge

Turned on the fridge today like normal. Fridge ran for a couple of hours and is not cooling whether on AC power or LP gas. Everything is working as normal except the two exhaust fans up at the top to pull the cooler air across the coils. According to the the diagram in the manual there is a temperature switch for the fans. The temp switch that I believe is for the circuit is at the top on the fins. I confirmed that there is 12 volts across the switch. I can not check for voltage where the fan leads plug into the main wire because my fingers are too fat. The best I can tell, the positive and negative come out of the main power control center. Again, everything is working except the exhauster fans. Can't believe these little fans were placed so low in the top of the unit that they can't be serviced without removing the shielding or pulling the whole unit.

Any ideas from you guys that have worked on these units?

As always thanks in advance.
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Old 08-03-2018, 03:12 PM   #2
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Followup,

We found a bad thermo switch for the exhaust.

we also found, a found a leak in the cooling system on this fridge where the ammonia mixture leaked out.

We are undecided if the system got to hot due to the exhaust fans not running (bad thermo switch) and caused the the system to become to hot and from the expansion of of the gasses caused one of the connections to fail.
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Old 08-03-2018, 03:22 PM   #3
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Chicken/egg situation. I hope you are still under warranty. The typical RV absorption fridge does not come with the cooling fans, they are added when the installation leaves a bit to be desired for normal thermal paths to provide the cooling. Fridge mounted in a slide with two side wall vents rather than a side wall and roof top vent is a primary example. Cooling units fail all the time, some much sooner than others. Once they fail you can either replace the entire fridge unit, or just the cooling unit. My preference is to replace the cooling unit with a better grade of unit, they are know as Amish units. They are built to a better standard than the OEM units and worth the cost of the upgrade IMHO.

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Old 08-03-2018, 06:42 PM   #4
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Thanks Aaron,

I've started looking for a cooling unit replacement. I haven't found anything yet unfortunately. I full get things will break or wear out. The hard pill to swallow is the unit is only a couple of years old and when you only use them a few months out of the year you would think that would last a bit longer then that. Funny how the OEM won't sell a new cooling unit as a part item. Oh wait they'll charge you 3K for a new unit instead.

Thanks for the help. I will look at the Amish units and see if it's a option.
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Old 08-03-2018, 06:58 PM   #5
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amish?
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Old 08-03-2018, 08:27 PM   #6
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amish?

Amish, the religious sect up there predominately in Pennsylvania.
Some RVers believe they make the best units, that's mostly folklore.
They don't make the material that comprises the tubes, the percolator nor the boiler. What they do is weld them together just like Nevercold, Dometic or any other fabricator.
They don't make the welding rods that stick all the parts together, they only fabricate.
They may use heavier gauge material but that's still to be determined. As for making a better product, it has not been confirmed. Like most things RV, someone says something this or that is the best and it gets carried on but never tested for fact.


I offered the owner of a northern Indiana gas refrigerator fabricator, that touted the best Quaker built system, a first class plane ride to Mexico to look at what his superior company made. I paid over 2 grand for a refrigerator that had Sharpie marks on the panel to designate the cooling positions. I found that as I was wondering why the switch was flopping around in the mounting hole. Screws were over tightened and pulled through thin sheeting, a corner was broken out in the freezer where they broke it while installing the cold plate. They tried to hide it by caulking it in.
The guy turned down my proposal stating I must have bought a rehabbed machine. I explained to him that if it was a rehabbed unit they must have painted it also because I had the latest color that had only been out three months.
The moral of the story, you will get what you get regardless of who the fabricator is.
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Old 08-03-2018, 08:39 PM   #7
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The current "Amish" replacement units are a lot better built than the Chinese units that Dometic has been sourcing. They weigh more and the tubing is thicker. I also believe they are using a different gas mix that is more efficient. Read the info on the link. In fact I think Dometic had enough issues with their Chinese ones that they have stopped using that source.

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Old 08-03-2018, 08:45 PM   #8
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I shopped for a bunch of AMISH furniture but did not know they made anything else since their religion prohibits mechanized tools.

Thanks for the heads up.

https://maliasmiles.com/amish-cooling-units/
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Old 08-03-2018, 09:01 PM   #9
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wow, this is scary! notice the charring about 3 minutes into this.

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Old 08-05-2018, 03:38 PM   #10
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I'm looking into fixing the cracked weld my self and recharging the system if I can find someone who sells ammonia solution. I have all necessary PPE or equipment like a full face respirator with the proper cartridges.

Figure it would be a lot cheaper to do it my self.
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Old 08-05-2018, 04:21 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by bkuuz1 View Post
I'm looking into fixing the cracked weld my self and recharging the system if I can find someone who sells ammonia solution. I have all necessary PPE or equipment like a full face respirator with the proper cartridges.

Figure it would be a lot cheaper to do it my self.

First you'll need to find the connection for the boiler tank to do the charging. Then the hoses and hydrometers to measure the gas, water and ammonia.


Then, after you have all that you'll need the knowledge to know how much of each component to use. It's not like an automotive A/C where when it sees refrigerant it starts cooling.
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Old 08-08-2018, 11:53 PM   #12
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I would suggest replacing the unit with a residential Samsung unit. It’s about the same cost as the coil. The bonus is you’ll have frozen ice cream.
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Old 08-13-2018, 12:00 AM   #13
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Right now I'm looking into a few options. I'm not sure a residential fridge would work for us since most of our camping is bon docking. In order to go standard fridge, I would need to add solar and an inverter.
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