Norcold Fridge Question

tonystoy

I have a Norcold fridge that is less than two years old. It hasn’t worked at all this year. The fan kicks on but it never gets cold. It has a two year warranty. I took it to the dealer and a day later they stated that it was working perfectly fine on their work bench. It worked on 120v and 12v. I brought it home and tried it at my house and it was working great. I took it to the boat, plugged it in, the fan kicked on and an hour later...same thing! Will not get cold. What am I missing? I tried shutting off the 120v breaker and just had it run on 12v and same thing. If I had any hair, I’d be pulling it out right now!

Handymans342

There has to be a voltage issue

Liberty44140

Agree with Handy, something with the voltage coming in to the unit. Perhaps you could plug it in to a different 120 outlet in the boat for a bit to see....

tonystoy

I’ll try a different outlet on the boat. It just seems strange that I’m having bad voltage with the 120v and 12v.?.

Handymans342

tonystoy said:

I’ll try a different outlet on the boat. It just seems strange that I’m having bad voltage with the 120v and 12v.?.

Have you actually checked with a volt meter??

tonystoy

I have not checked the voltage with a multimeter. I assumed since the fan was kicking on with both ac and dc, that the problem was internal. I went down to the boat yesterday but forgot to bring the multimeter. I’ll be down there this weekend and check.

tonystoy

So the outlet is getting 119.6v and the dc adapter is getting 13.3v. Not sure what the problem is.?.

Handymans342

So it’s still not working?

Handymans342

On the 110 check hot to ground. 

tonystoy

So here is another update. After checking the voltage yesterday, plugged it back in and still wasn’t working. I was able to take a small mirror through the cabinet opening next to the fridge and look into the opening. The fridge was putting slight pressure on the 110 V cord. I took the fridge out, moved the outlet to a new location, Plugged it back in and installed the fridge. Everything seems to be working fine now!?! I am completely confused.

Willhound

I would suspect a break in the fridge cord that when there's pressure on a bend it's opening up the break and cutting power?

tonystoy

But that’s the weird thing. I still had 110v power even though it wasn’t cooling. I had shut off the 12v helm main which also controls the 12v to the fridge and the fan was still kicking on and the light was coming on. Plus, I would’ve thought that if the 110v wasn’t working the 12v would’ve kicked in.?. Is it possible there is a short on that cord that was giving it enough power to turn the fan on but not enough for the compressor to kick on?

Handymans342

Yes

tonystoy

Ok bringing back my old thread. I could not get the fridge to work last year. Again, the fan would kick on but not the compressor. It would not work on 12v or 110v. 

This spring I changed all of the batteries and added another house battery. 

The fridge started working as soon as I replaced the batteries....but here’s the kicker...it just stopped working AGAIN!?! 

Same issue...fan kicks on but not compressor. I hope one of you brainiacs can come up with a solution before I go crazy!!

Liberty44140

I’m guessing it’s the control board.

Handymans342

Need voltage reading at the 12 volt wires going to the board. Also the 120 

tonystoy

I’ll be down at the boat tonight so I’ll take some voltage readings at the board. Anything else I should check while I’m down there?

Handymans342

Should be red lights that tell you what’s wrong

tonystoy

Another update...
I think the fridge was overheating. I took the fridge out of the cabinet...had to leave the boat for a few hours. When I came back it was working!?! I don’t think there was enough air movement and thus it was overheating. There was a piece of starboard just to the right of the fridge to separate the cockpit sink from the fridge. I took out six screws and removed the board. So far the fridge is working and has been for 4 days. It has been almost 90° here the past few days. I’ll admit it is struggling when it’s that hot, but it is still cold. It gets really cold at night!
But before, it wasn’t doing ANYTHING!
Fingers crossed!!