Norcold not freezing

[RJ Schubert]

Hi all. 2018 Thor Quantum RQ29. Getting ready for a trip. I started the Norcold on Auto a few days ago. I’ve put some things in the freezer and fridge. I checked today. A can of soda froze in the fridge and the ice cream in the freezer is cold but far from frozen.

Any ideas?

I am plugged into shore power

[SGilbert]

Originally Posted by RJ Schubert

Hi all. 2018 Thor Quantum RQ29. Getting ready for a trip. I started the Norcold on Auto a few days ago. I’ve put some things in the freezer and fridge. I checked today. A can of soda froze in the fridge and the ice cream in the freezer is cold but far from frozen.

Any ideas?

I am plugged into shore power

Norcold? My '18 Norcold was acting up. Replaced the control board, from Amazon, and it works great now. (Except on my driveway which slants toward the street)

[The Rookie]

Read on another forum it could be the thermistor. Apparently, available on Amazon.

[RJ Schubert]

Thanks. One thought that I had was did I have too much food in the freezer. I took out the ice cream so I’ll see if that helps.

Also, there is an adjustment on the front of the fridge, 1 to 5, and I had it on 5 for some reason. Does anyone know if that is a fridge setting or freezer setting? Perhaps by having it on 5, most of the cold went to the fridge(which caused the soda can to freeze) and caused less cold to go to the freezer. My manual is outside so I’ll check the book tomorrow.

Thanks.

[RJ Schubert]

Thanks. I’ll check into that.

[ghnl]

Ice cream usually needs to be kept at -5*F or colder. Most RV fridge/freezers will not get that cold. They'll be cold enough to make ice (below 32*F) but not as cold as a residential freezer.

Originally Posted by RJ Schubert

Also, there is an adjustment on the front of the fridge, 1 to 5, and I had it on 5 for some reason. Does anyone know if that is a fridge setting or freezer setting?

I've always assumed it's a combination setting. The freezer will always be colder than the fridge - the higher number makes the entire unit more or less cold. I'll set ours at 3 or 4 during "normal" weather and at 5 when it is very hot outside.

Try putting the ice cream on the 'floor' of the freezer. IIRC that is the coldest section - the metal part is what is conducting heat away.

Or, even better, eat it all in one sitting. I like Mint Chocolate Chip. My doctor told me I should eat more greens...

[RJ Schubert]

Very intelligent doctor. I just adjusted the settings to 3 so I’ll see if that helps. I also grabbed the manual.

[ducksface]

There're a few pictures of my Norfolk at -21f for the freezer and 33 for the fridge when set on 3.
Some others here have said they can do the same.
Pics are in my sig thread.
I'll post another tomorrow.

https://www.thorforums.com/forums/sh...&postcount=151

Above is an internal forum link to one of the pics from 2019 of -20f and right at 32f for the fridge.

(And we've recently discredited the 5° thing. It amounts to about an 18" rise over the length of your wheel base)

[ghnl]

If you can leave it closed for long enough it should get colder. Opening it frequently lets the cold escape. I have some remote temperature sensors - one in the fridge, one in the freezer. With those I can check the temps without opening the doors. I'm happy to see 30*F to 35*F in the fridge and 5*F to 10*F in the freezer. And the ice cream tastes fine at those temps. Do avoid things like fudgsicles or popsicles though - if they happen to thaw out you got a mess. When we take the grandkids we'll get those frozen push up treats (in a long plastic tube). No mess if they thaw.

[RJ Schubert]

Thanks Eric. I just opened the freezer once to Chechen I found the frozen can of soda in the fridge. The manual did say that the settings adjust both the freezer and fridge so i set it on 3 and willl check again in the morning.

[ducksface]

Progress?

[Mark54]

Originally Posted by RJ Schubert

Hi all. 2018 Thor Quantum RQ29. Getting ready for a trip. I started the Norcold on Auto a few days ago. I’ve put some things in the freezer and fridge. I checked today. A can of soda froze in the fridge and the ice cream in the freezer is cold but far from frozen.

Any ideas?

I am plugged into shore power

Norcold, AKA "No-cold" fridges. I have one and freezer is not a freezer, just a really cold fridge. If you want a real freezer, need to buy a larger unit with separated freezer w/ it's own door. Hard to do in a class B...

So we carry a Dometic CFX 35 cooler set to 5°F for our frozen needs- dinners mostly that we prepared or other frozen entrees.

[Lt Keefer]

I had a similar experience with the Norcold fridge/freezer in my Hurricane. The ice box would freeze a soda but the freezer would soften ice cream. Last year I noticed the green light on the control would flash once every couple of seconds.
I looked that up on the web and it said it was a safety feature for when the thermistor failed to keep the fridge in a state of full cooling. I looked at the thermistor in the fridge and one of the leads was pulled from the plug. Fixed that, the blinking went away and ice cream is now solid. So, does the green light flash? Maybe the thermistor is bad or simply disconnected like mine was.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Odd. We have a basic Dometic absorption fridge and it's performed flawlessly for 5 seasons now. Freezer at or near zero and fridge hovers around 34 - 35 on electric or propane. And it has the basic sliding thermistor on one of the radiator fins for temperature adjustment.

Is there really that much difference between absorption fridges?

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

Odd. We have a basic Dometic absorption fridge and it's performed flawlessly for 5 seasons now. Freezer at or near zero and fridge hovers around 34 - 35 on electric or propane. And it has the basic sliding thermistor on one of the radiator fins for temperature adjustment.

Is there really that much difference between absorption fridges?

Between brands? I don't think so.

Between individual fridges? Yep - there are good ones and not so good ones.

Our recently deceased Norcold was the best absorption fridge we have ever owned. Worked as you said your Dometic did on 3 out of 5 setting. $ 0r 5 setting froze stuff in the fridge. And this fridge was in a slideout so no roof vent. It died after 7 good years and we replaced with a economical residential fridge which works even better,

[ducksface]

Just checked mine.
-21°f freezer
33°f fridge
60°f ambient
3 setting
Shore power

[Pete'sMH]

It helps a lot to have a small fan in the fridge compartment to circulate air and to have both compartments full but not too full. Absorption fridges are VERY simple machines whose main claim to fame is that they use very little energy. Most, maybe all have only a single cooling element so it only makes just so much cold. Try repositioning the thermistor and don’t open the doors any more than absolutely necessary - it can take several hours to recover. I use a $25 wireless thermometer for both compartments to monitor. and I typically make adjustments at least once or twice a day. If you just can’t live with its idiosyncrasies you can replace it with a 12V compressor style fridge that will behave much more like a home fridge - albeit using much more energy.

[dkoldman]

OP Freezer is 6 or 7 years old.
On 11/9/2024 He is reporting that it is not working liking he should.

Given the above his Norcold has been issue free for longer than I have owned my. Also, another poster states that their Norcold went out in 7 years.

Not sure how long or what point justifies the name for Norcold to be Never Cold, especially when said fridge freezes soda in the refrigerator department

With that out the way OP really should provide some empirical data. What is actual temp of Freezer section vs actual temp of fridge section based on coldest or normal preferred setting.

In the meantime, and for contrast. In my Norcold...

With 80 degree temperatures inside and outside the RV.

Freezer & Fridge both at 80 degrees.

In 2 hours my Norcold Fridge's Freezer will be around 32 F and my Fridge may be around 60 F

In 6 hours I would be normal with around 2 F for Freezer and 38 F for fridge.

In my fridge and I have been monitoring the actual temperatures for 5 years, I have never seen the actual temp in fridge to be colder than the Freezer. I would say that by functional design that it is impossible.

Note: I have had sodas & beer freeze in the fridge before, and every time it was due to someone accidentally changing to 5 star setting (coldest possible), or there was a dramatic change in ambient temperature or humidity that affected the henway because I believe the fridge is designed to be cooled from top down passage, from the freezer first and then to fridge.

FWIW, my manual says the the freezer compartment is made to keep pre frozen foods frozen and not to quick freeze foods. We have never carried ice cream on RV trip, but even in our home freezer; our ice cream is never really frozen? It is soft to the touch to scoop out. I guess our Samsung is a Silly N'ver Cold fridge