Norcold 1210 Fridge Troubleshooting: INFORMATIONAL - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 01-05-2022, 07:44 PM   #1
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Washington
Norcold 1210 Fridge Troubleshooting: INFORMATIONAL

Howdy folks!
We’ve been all over the country with our Voltage, in both cold and really hot weather. But this winter, we are full-timing in eastern WA where last week’s high temps were hovering in single digits and low teens. There was even a -4F one overnight.
Within 2 days of that deep freeze, our fridge stopped cooling well. Fridge and Freezer temps hit 55 and 40 degrees respectively, and both A/C and Propane seemed to be working - with ZERO errors on the panel in diagnostic mode. In this mode, I could see cooling fin temps were hovering at 46F. I did 4 or 5 resets and power cycles from the panel. No change.
I checked everything from door seals to voltage at power supply, the thermistor impedance against the chart, even looking for the infamous yellow powder indicating a cooling system leak. Nothing. The ONLY thing I found odd was the coils were cold and the exhaust fan stopped running as it would occasionally in normal operation. Heat in the “boiler” and exhaust tube were moderate.
So I called a tech. He couldn’t find anything either and suggested maybe there was a blockage on the cooling system and it should be replaced. Estimate: $1800 with labor!
So, this morning, just for giggles, I pulled the 12V fuse in the house panel that feeds the kitchen slide out. When I did that, the fridge control panel went dark. I waited 30 seconds and reinserted it, all while the fridge was still “On”. Control panel fired back up and the fin temps have been slowing dropping (from 45F to 34F in about 2 hours). So I am leaning toward either a control panel anomaly where it went stupid in the extreme cold, or a DC voltage drop or interruption that made the board dopey.
Let me know if any of you have experienced such a thing and I’ll report progress as it (hopefully) continues.
Cheers!
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Old 01-12-2022, 09:32 PM   #2
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California
I had the same lack of cooling issues regardless if it was electric or propane and regardless of the ambient temp outside. I found that when my left refer door was loaded the weight would prevent the flap seal from closing completely because it would stick on the made in USA sticker at the bottom of the refer. I removed the sticker and installed two nylon washers on the left door mounting pin on the bottom to shim the door up. My refer now works perfect. Also check to see if your fans are running. If you go out side you should hear the fans exhausting the hot air around the cooling system.
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Old 01-13-2022, 02:08 PM   #3
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New Mexico
I have already encountered the same issues with the Nor-not too-cold in my 2019 Voltage 4115. Now I am dealing with rusty issues on my lower drawers assembly. Obvious that the metal was not treated correctly before it was sprayed, or at all. I will never make another purchase of anything Norcold.
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Old 01-13-2022, 03:29 PM   #4
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Update

As an update….
I finally replaced the control board and everything is working. I think the control board was going sporadically stupid and needed to be regularly “reset” with a 12V disconnect (not a 120V disconnect).
New board is running as expected.
Now we keep an eye on the cooling fin temps from the front display by leaving the fridge in diagnostic mode. Seems the best fin temps for optimum box temps is 19-23F.
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Old 01-13-2022, 03:58 PM   #5
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Did you purchase the control board from NeverCold or somewhere else?
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Old 01-13-2022, 05:42 PM   #6
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I bought the Norcold direct replacement board from a local RV service center. If I were to do it again, I would buy the Dinosaur brand alternative. I understand they are better built. But time was not on my side and I could not find the cross reference for my specific board P/N (628661) on the dinosaur website.
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Old 01-14-2022, 05:28 PM   #7
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Thanks
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