Refrigerator problems

[Fireguy341]

Hello all, I am new here and we just noticed 2 days ago that my freezer was no longer freezing things and just today noticed the refrigerator was no long as cold as it was. We are in a 2017 jayco that we live in and the refrigerator is a Norcold N811RT. Need help on where to begin troubleshooting.

 

[DonTom]

Hello all, I am new here and we just noticed 2 days ago that my freezer was no longer freezing things and just today noticed the refrigerator was no long as cold as it was. We are in a 2017 jayco that we live in and the refrigerator is a Norcold N811RT. Need help on where to begin troubleshooting.

Need a little more info. Are you running it on 120 VAC or propane? Or does it not work on either?

If on propane, are you stationary or have you been driving the RV lately? If on propane, a drive could fix it just from the vibrations.

The freezer has to work for the refrigerator to work. Is it working at all, or just not getting cold enough?

-Don-

 

[regval]

Here's a link to the Norcold service manual for your model.

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/ncoldnnewnseries.pdf

There is a trouble shooting chart in the manual that will provide some guidance. Check it out and get back with any questions. Good luck

 

[Isaac-1]

Thing one look for refrigerant leaks, this includes smelling ammonia, or seeing signs of yellowish green residue inside the rear access cover, if you do turn it off and unplug it immediately as it is fire hazard. At which point your options are to replace the refrigerator, or to replace the cooling unit mounted to the back of the refrigerator box.

 

[Fireguy341]

Need a little more info. Are you running it on 120 VAC or propane? Or does it not work on either?

If on propane, are you stationary or have you been driving the RV lately? If on propane, a drive could fix it just from the vibrations.

The freezer has to work for the refrigerator to work. Is it working at all, or just not getting cold enough?

-Don-

Sorry I knew I was forgetting stuff. When the problem was noticed it was on 120 VAC I switch it to propane yesterday afternoon when we noticed it was the fridge also and this morning I notice it was getting cold again and we had a popsicle in the freezer that was almost frozen. My camper has been stationary for the past 4 years.
I guess you could say that everything just was not getting cold enough, but is working on propane.

If you need more information let me know

 

[Fireguy341]

Here's a link to the Norcold service manual for your model.

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/ncoldnnewnseries.pdf

There is a trouble shooting chart in the manual that will provide some guidance. Check it out and get back with any questions. Good luck

Thank you I will take a look and see if I can figure it out

 

[Fireguy341]

Thing one look for refrigerant leaks, this includes smelling ammonia, or seeing signs of yellowish green residue inside the rear access cover, if you do turn it off and unplug it immediately as it is fire hazard. At which point your options are to replace the refrigerator, or to replace the cooling unit mounted to the back of the refrigerator box.

I opened the back yesterday and did not notice any discoloration or ammonia smell

 

[Isaac-1]

Here is another question for you, what is the weather like there?

 

[Fireguy341]

Here is another question for you, what is the weather like there?

We did have that stretch of cold for a where we were in teens or negative temps. I wondered if that could of been the problem. Now we are back into the 40-50s during day and 20-30 at night.

 

[Isaac-1]

I asked because these RV refrigerators regulate their cooling based on temperature inside the refrigerator compartment, with the freezer compartment working sort of as a pre-spillover. Therefore if the ambient temperature inside the RV is cold, say in the low 30's F for many hours the refrigerator will not cool as the temperature sensor thinks it is cold enough, but at the same time the freezer will not be cooling either. This could explain things thawing in the freezer section, but not so much the refrigerator section getting too warm.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Absorption fridges will stop working in severe cold. The heat source that drives the process is tiny and may not overcome low ambient temperatures. The evaporator stage may also get very inefficient or even stop altogether. You could partially block off the exterior vents when freezing temperatures are expected.