Norcold fridge not working but the light is on

jeannineallen · 07-14-2018, 04:32 PM

We have a Norcold N61X. We are hooked to shore power (30 amp) at home. We tried to turn on the fridge. Set on auto with highest cool level (5). The green light comes on, is not flashing but nothing happens. No noise, no cooling, nothing. I have been researching issues but havent found anything where the light is a solid green - so getting power. Issues usually are flashing green or no light at all. I called Norcold and their response was take it to dealer (CW

). I have checked the fuses and they look good. Dont know where else to look.

Hoping someone has an idea why. Thank you for your help.

javelin · 07-14-2018, 05:48 PM

Hi, simple stuff first....make sure your use/store is in use position since the typical simple RV fridge requires 12VDC powered to work on either 120VAC or propane. The green light is not an indication that your use/store is in use position (12V turned on to the fridge).....at least not on my Norcold. The other simple question is does the fridge work OK when on propane?

lug · 07-14-2018, 06:03 PM

Did anyone check the 120 plug? Circuit breaker on AC side latched on? It should have switched to Gas, no AC, unless propane tank is shutoff while in Auto mode.

saerdna · 07-15-2018, 05:28 AM

As I found out early on - make sure that you are pretty close to level. If you are parked at a rake-ish angle (like my driveway), the refrigerator will tell you everything is working fine, but it won't cool. You can look up the amount of angle that it can handle, but if you aren't fairly close to flat, that might be what is going on.

jeannineallen · 07-15-2018, 10:23 PM

Thank you to all who have had suggestions to check. We are level, the coach has his own pad, which is almost level but I still have to manually level it. That's a whole other learning experience.

Well hoping this is just dumb newbie stuff. First we didnt know you had to have the gas on to run when plugged into shore.

We havent used the fridge (because we have only done short trips to mom and she cooked so we didnt bring food) it hasnt been turned on since we bought it in Feb. Well now that I have read the gas side of the fridge info we turned on the gas and tried to start the fridge which then gave us a gas error. Tank is full. We followed the clear the air out of the lines directions and it took about 5 times before it cleared and we had a blue flame.

so now we are in wait 2 hours to see if it gets cool.

Beau388 · 07-15-2018, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by javelin

Hi, simple stuff first....make sure your use/store is in use position since the typical simple RV fridge requires 12VDC powered to work on either 120VAC or propane. The green light is not an indication that your use/store is in use position (12V turned on to the fridge).....at least not on my Norcold. The other simple question is does the fridge work OK when on propane?

Very true as the 12 volt supply for the frig comes from the propane detector's unfused circuit. The frig has its own fuse on the circuit board.

Bob Denman · 07-15-2018, 10:57 PM

Glad to hear that you found some blue flame!

I'm hoping to hear that the beer will soon be "drinkable"!

javelin · 07-15-2018, 11:30 PM

Making some progress it sounds like. Just to clarify, the absorption style RV fridge that it sounds like you have, can work on either gas (when propane is on as you found out) or shore power (120VAC). You should be able to force it to use the gas too. When the fridge is set to automatic it will default to shore power if it is available, but if no AC is available it will try the propane gas as a fall back. You also need the coach battery 12VDC turned on (use/store set to use) for using either gas or shore AC operation. A basic troubleshoot link is attached that might help you verify what works and what does not. If you are not comfortable around electricity etc. you may find a mobile RV tech or RV repair business is the way to go. Hope this helps a bit.

https://www.rvrepairclub.com/article...oubleshooting/

jeannineallen · 01-31-2019, 12:41 AM

Update: We took our Thor ACE to Camping World for repair in August. They went back and forth with Norcold numerous times. To their credit Camping World made regular calls to us for updates on this and the multiple other issues we had. Norcold gave them the run around for months. Ultimately the whole cooling unit had to be replaced. We got the final call to pick up the unit in December. Unfortunately 2 items were not completed (fridge was done) so we left it there. Well we got tired of the whole mess and picked up the RV in January and drove it straight to another dealer and traded it. It still had one more item to repair. New dealer found more issues. We slept in it 9 whole nights.

lug · 01-31-2019, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeannineallen

Update: We took our Thor ACE to Camping World for repair in August. They went back and forth with Norcold numerous times. To their credit Camping World made regular calls to us for updates on this and the multiple other issues we had. Norcold gave them the run around for months. Ultimately the whole cooling unit had to be replaced. We got the final call to pick up the unit in December. Unfortunately 2 items were not completed (fridge was done) so we left it there. Well we got tired of the whole mess and picked up the RV in January and drove it straight to another dealer and traded it. It still had one more item to repair. New dealer found more issues. We slept in it 9 whole nights.

Sometimes you have to pull the ejection handle. What did you replace the ACE with?

jeannineallen · 01-31-2019, 04:13 AM

We traded for a Lance TT. Great reviews. PDI walk through had no issues.

javelin · 01-31-2019, 03:15 PM

Sorry to hear that you traded your coach in, but sometimes you have to do what you feel most comfortable with. I think your info says it was a 2018 ACE so I am surprised that your Thor warranty would not still be in place......and that Thor (never mind Norcold) did not replace the fridge without hassle. I hope you enjoy your new TT.

jeannineallen · 02-05-2019, 09:22 PM

It was under warranty. It would be a year old on Feb 25th. I even called Thor about our issues at the request of CW to try and get things moving along. It didnt help though. I wish it had worked out for us but the camper isnt doing us any good sitting at CW for 6 months...

Huge loss in money...

I got a check today for the cancelled warranty on the camper. At least that was something. I appreciate everyone trying to help us on this.

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