Refrigerator Woes...Finally Caught Up With Me!

FlyboyTR · 05-31-2020, 06:22 PM

My 2007 has the Norcold N300.3.

First, I am painfully familiar with how all this stuff works. Thankfully the only failure I have ever had was our 4 door refer in our Allegro Bus. Was covered/replaced under warranty. But I digress....I have been reading/searching all the refer stuff I can find on our amazing Forum!

I just returned from another 20 day 6K mile trip. Several days before leaving I was doing system checks. After one hour of refer time on shore power, I could feel the freezer bottom getting cold. Great! Next was the LP test. It was difficult to light (never had this problem...and yes the gas lines had been purged). On one attempt I heard a "waathump" sound as the burner lit...well that was new! Finally things caught and the needle barely made it into the green. Let go...and lost flame. Restart! ...I finally had to hold the pilot button for almost a minute before it would maintain a flame. I also noted that the needed did not move as far into the green as it had in the past. After an hour it was obvious things were cooling on LP so I shut it down. The little voice in my head kept telling me this would come back to bite me...

Every morning on the trip I had to spend extra time to get the LP to light. I did note that I had to turn the thermostat to colder to maintain 35 degrees while on LP. I use a remote thermometer that I can read from inside the TV (tow vehicle).

On the second to the last night out, the refer was at 55 degrees when we set up camp. Not good! Switched over the shore power and it only dropped it down to 45 degrees overnight. During the next day I watched as the temps slowly starting rising into the 70's while on LP. Upon arrival at the camp site I could smell LP that smelled like it was starving for air. I shut it down and switched over to shore power. Within a few hours the temps were down in the 30's. Excellent. At some point I had the refer door open and tripped on the rug and basically kicked the door really hard (hard enough to jar everything!). Noted after that the temps were starting to rise. Not good!

OK...back home. Plugged in the shore power and the unit started cooling and then quit. I noticed (for the first time) that I had almost zero amp draw on the a/c (110 volt) system! This is starting to sound like a loose wire(s) on the controller.

Today I have spent hours reading here. I believe my problem is two fold. I think the burner is shot, stopped up or both. New one is ordered and will be here Tuesday. In my research I learned about the loose connection problems with the connectors on the controller. Thanks to Bill and others for providing good reading material and documentation (Norcold PDF's) for all of us to glean knowledge from. I will do the wiring first then move on to the LP burner.

Sorry for the long diatribe...but I was in a typing mood and wanted to share. I will update my findings here as I move forward with the repairs. Thanks!

FlyboyTR · 06-01-2020, 12:11 PM

This morning I painfully removed the burner orifice. Not much room to work in there for people with big hands. It appears that most of the burner slits are rusted almost closed and/or stopped up with debris. That actually looks like some of the fiberglass insulation. Beyond that...I really don't know what may be inside the pipe (spider webs, etc). So....replacing the burner.

The new burner should be here tomorrow or Wednesday. I will update after the install and checking the electrical connections behind the control panel.

tentcamper · 06-01-2020, 01:41 PM

Travis, our burner was about the same. I took a stiff wire brush to it. Cleaned up well. Were you traveling running the propane fride?

FlyboyTR · 06-01-2020, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tentcamper

Travis, our burner was about the same. I took a stiff wire brush to it. Cleaned up well. Were you traveling running the propane fride?

I think cleaning up the one I have could be an option...but for $30 and the fact that I didn't know what I was going to find I felt replacement was a better option for me. But, I will clean up the old one and throw it in the parts box.

Yes, I have always traveled with the fridge on LP. My current lifetime travel log shows RV travel (trailer and motorhome) at 285,000 miles Somewhere I lost track of the number of days. But I have put over 20K on the TM in the past 18 months...all with the fridge on LP. Always have...always will!

Thanks for asking.

FlyboyTR · 06-02-2020, 06:20 PM

New burner arrived this morning. Installation was straight forward and I did lube the screws that were so hard to break loose. Some of the sheet metal housing was bent so I took time to straighten all that out. It should provide more protection for the flame!

Test time... On the third click of the striker the needle quickly moved into the green. After about 10 seconds I released the pilot/lighter button and the needle stayed in the green! Very pleased!

I slid the refer unit out (into the camper about 6". All of the terminals were tight except one. While I don't think it was loose enough to break the connection, I tightened it and pushed it back on the terminal.

The door trim that the seal mates with has always looked nasty. So I removed it and started sanding. I was about an hour and two beverages into sanding when suddenly I realized what was happening. It appears there was 2 or 3 layers of contact paper on it plus a coat of paint in between two layers and on the surface. I just put the heat gun on it and melted and scraped all the mess off. Next will be sanding and painting. I may just wrap it with matt finish black vinyl tape and call it a day! We'll see how the sanding goes!

Larryjb · 06-02-2020, 09:06 PM

I think travelling with LP on is a hidden disaster, shall I say. As long as you're not involved in a serious accident, there will never be a problem. (On BC Ferries, you are required to shut off the propane and tape the valves with a special tape.)

If you are involved in an accident (even if it is not your fault, like a semi crossing into you and you have a choice to be sideswiped or ditch the TV and TM), there is no automatic shut off for the LP in the event of an accident. I know Ford has an automatic shut off for the fuel in the event of an accident, and I believe all vehicles have some sort of shut off or fuel protections.

I'm just suggesting that in the event of an accident and there is a propane fueled fire, that's when you might have a problem, and it could be legal (if not lethal).

We just had a motorhome fire locally here in Vancouver BC. It was probably propane fueled. In this case, the RV was parked and not driving around. Firefighters estimated it would take an hour to douse the flames. I wouldn't want to be in the "other" vehicle involved in a crash involving a propane fire.

FlyboyTR · 06-02-2020, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryjb

I think travelling with LP on is a hidden disaster, shall I say. As long as you're not involved in a serious accident, there will never be a problem. (On BC Ferries, you are required to shut off the propane and tape the valves with a special tape.)

If you are involved in an accident (even if it is not your fault, like a semi crossing into you and you have a choice to be sideswiped or ditch the TV and TM), there is no automatic shut off for the LP in the event of an accident. I know Ford has an automatic shut off for the fuel in the event of an accident, and I believe all vehicles have some sort of shut off or fuel protections.

I'm just suggesting that in the event of an accident and there is a propane fueled fire, that's when you might have a problem, and it could be legal (if not lethal).

We just had a motorhome fire locally here in Vancouver BC. It was probably propane fueled. In this case, the RV was parked and not driving around. Firefighters estimated it would take an hour to douse the flames. I wouldn't want to be in the "other" vehicle involved in a crash involving a propane fire.

Actually.....my post was about finding a problem with my refrigerator and using the resources of this group to find the cure. Thankfully everything worked.

Unfortunately....it was turned into a shame on you for pulling your camper with your LP refrigerator on. REALLY.... ???

Anyway. I'm glad my fridge is working properly as as always my thanks to all the amazing people here that support each other in all we do.

FlyboyTR

Larryjb · 06-02-2020, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyboyTR

Actually.....my post was about finding a problem with my refrigerator and using the resources of this group to find the cure. Thankfully everything worked.

Unfortunately....it was turned into a shame on you for pulling your camper with your LP refrigerator on. REALLY.... ???

Anyway. I'm glad my fridge is working properly as as always my thanks to all the amazing people here that support each other in all we do.

FlyboyTR

I am glad you figured out your fridge. Sorry though, I did not mean to be offensive. I'll say no more.

FlyboyTR · 06-03-2020, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryjb

I am glad you figured out your fridge. Sorry though, I did not mean to be offensive. I'll say no more.

Thanks. Your reply is appreciated and accepted.

tentcamper · 06-03-2020, 09:06 AM

Im convinced that running the fridge on LP while traveling causes an in-efficient burn and soots up everything and leads to the rust. I think it is closing the shell and the fan running that changes the fuel to air mixture that leads to the in-efficiency and more soot and acids in the burn.

Our first TM, we traveled on LP and twice I had the issue within 18 months or each other. I switch to 12v and rewired so the fridge ran on the auto battery when traveling and only ran LP for camping without electric. I did not have a dirty burner after that.