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How well does your Norcold work?
- MakinTime
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How well does your Norcold work?
This winter I put another smaller 110 volt refrigerator on the aft deck and it works unbelievably better than the Norcold and it’s just a cheap Home Depot thing. I have thought about ditching the Norcold downstairs for a home style unit.
- waybomb
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
Is yours mounted inside a cabinet? They do make an auxiliary fan kit for enclosed spaces. A buddy replaced his with a new one, only to fail in less than one season. Turned out he needed to have aux fan kit with the newer fridge.
Fred
1969 Glaspar Avalon /1967 Johnson Electromatic 85
1987 Carver Mariner
1988 Cougar Kevlar 46' with triple blown 572 ci
1995 Boston Whaler Rage
Past - 1988 2807, 1989 4207 Aft
- km1125
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
Do make sure your door seals are lined up and closing properly. One year I had taken the doors off to clean and didn't get them just right. I was unknowingly letting just a sliver of air in at the top right of the freezer. The freezer would still freeze and the fridge was cool, but not really cold. I also noticed a lot more frost in the freezer than normal, but wrote it off to higher humidity in the summer. Then I found the mis-alignment and fixed it by adjusting the hinges.
Also, I put an extra fan in the back of the cabinet and cut a hole to exit the hot air at the top of the cabinet. It's on the starboard side of the fridge, as high up and as far back as you can get. This draws the air in from the bottom, across the coils and out the back so warm air doesn't build up in the cabinet.
I've been debating pulling the fridge out and putting a layer of insulation around the inside of the cabinet top and both sides. If I recall correctly, there's about 1/2-3/4 of an inch of clearance there that could be filled with insulation rather than warm air. I'm sure that would help a little too, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.
- MakinTime
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
- gardenargo
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
- km1125
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
MakinTime wrote:Source of the post Yes it is in a cabinet. Good idea to put a fan in and extra vent. Yes anything at the bottom of the fridge is a lost cause and does not get very cold at all. I am going to pull the fridge out this week and assess the situation. Extra vents can never hurt that’s for sure I wonder if a fan inside the freezer pushing air down could help?
They do make little battery powered fans that you can put in below the freezer to circulate air. You can find them online though RV sites. If your fridge is leaking heat through seals or other method, then all you're going to do is warm the freezer when you cool the fridge. If you don't use the freezer then that wouldn't be a bad idea, as it would still be cold, just not freezing. You can also remove the drip tray below the freezer to increase circulation.
If you do use the freezer (and we do!), then you want to fix the things that help it work better... circulation over the condenser in the back, insulation around the cabinet, and the seals on the doors. Also, since you're in a southern area with lots of sun, consider putting some type of foil above the fridge to block IR from the sun hitting the fridge. Every little bit helps.
- dmunneke
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
It has the fan.. It cool okay, not great.. The old fridge had two compressors.. The new one .. one.
The freezer seems plenty cold but it just doesnt drizzle down enough cold to the fridge..
- km1125
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Re: How well does your Norcold work?
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