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jaafallon
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#1 Posted: Mon May 21st, 2007 03:51 |
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Took our new-to-us 2003 AF 29-5T out for the first time this weekend. All worked well (once I figured out what I was doing wrong) except the Norcold Refrigerator (model N82x, I believe). It cooled fine on AC and started to work fine on gas. Sometime later I discovered I had a trouble code of "F" showing in the fridge info window. I shut it off and restarted it. Seemed to work fine agains until sometime later the "F" was back again. It starts everytime and gets cold. Just won't keep running. Not a huge problem if I'm present and looking for the problem, but I can't go too far away because of it. So far it ran somewhere between one and eight hours before the trouble code appeared. Any ideas or suggestions? I'd sure like to fix this soon as we're scheduled to camp again beginning next Wednesday.
Thanks in advance. Great forum.
jim
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foxyrvlady
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#2 Posted: Mon May 21st, 2007 04:21 |
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| Our refrigerator problems have been mainly on the first time in the spring when we were checking the systems--would not light at all. Three times it was caused by rust flakes falling down on to the burner from the chimney or vent. If you can't get it going, look in your Norcold manual and take it to an authorized repair place. Some trailer dealers are authorized, but we have found the techs at a specialty rv appliance repair shops are the best.
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jaafallon
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#3 Posted: Mon May 21st, 2007 14:46 |
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This was the first trip of the year. I'll try to check it out tonight. The fridge hasn't been used since I bought the trailer (December 2006) and it may be a simple task to clean out the burner area.
Thanks for the reply. Any other ideas will also be appreciated.
jim
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Len Todd
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#4 Posted: Tue May 22nd, 2007 01:11 |
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| I have found that when switching back & forth from gas to electric, etc. Sometimes the thing looses it brains and shows an F error code. Typically this has happened in a few minutes from the switchover and I just find it later. Sounds like yours may be different. Last edited on Tue May 22nd, 2007 01:12 by Len Todd
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Shane
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#5 Posted: Tue May 22nd, 2007 21:05 |
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| I believe that Jim has suggested the place to begin — vac the burner area. Remove the screw and take off the surrounding metal shroud. Thoroughly vac it out and give it another try.
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Adam
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#6 Posted: Tue May 22nd, 2007 22:16 |
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Jim under our links section is a link to a service manual. I have pasted it below maybe it will be helpful
http://www.bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/Nseries.pdf
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Burt Gifford
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#7 Posted: Tue May 22nd, 2007 22:59 |
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Jim,
I had a similar problem when my 29V was new. The Norcold frig would just turn off for no apparent reason. After much observation and many conversations with both Norcold and Northwood, I discovered that when I turned the kitchen fan on, the frig would shut off. It turns out that the fan and frig are wired on the same line. The fan startup caused the voltage (12 volt side – required for both LP and 120V operation) on the frig to drop below 10.5 volts for just an instant. But enough to shut down the frig. I just rewired the 12V feed to the frig, both ground and hot side & 5A fuse. Problem solved.
I don’t know your exact root cause but Cody at Northwood was very helpful. They already knew about the symptoms and provided some great tips for troubleshooting. (There are some messages in here somewhere on this topic but I don’t know how to search the forum.)
Burt
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DuraFox
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#8 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 01:44 |
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Burt, you give good advise. Now if I could only read that tiny font size you use. 
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Jasmar T
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#9 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 07:40 |
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I have found that if I have not used the refrig for a while or I have disconnected the propane tanks, air gets into the lines. If you try to start the frig on propane, you will most likely get the Code F.
What I found really helps is before using you propane for the refrig. Light all the burners on you stove for a minute or until you get a good blue flame. This is also good idea before you light you water heater.
That should bleed your system. But even after this, once in a while it get about two Code Fs before it works fine.
One other problem is not only does the rust and dirt get on your burner, but it is possible your frendly spider, who loves the smell of propane, builds a nice round web to block the gas...that happen to us last year. Once I disassemble burner pipe and cleaned out the spidy's web.....it worked great.
Good luck, once you have resolved the problem, please post your soluction.
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jaafallon
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#10 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 13:30 |
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Last night I took the easy stuff apart and vacuumed out the rust I found. Fired up the fridge and this morning it had another "F" code. I'll take it apart and clean it a bit more thoroughly tonight. Thanks for all the help. Burt's advice doesn't seem to apply in that I haven't done anything to cause another item to use electricity but I'll keep that in mind and look into running a totally separate circuit to the fridge.
Thanks all!
jim
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BigFoot
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#11 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 13:54 |
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If your frig will "run up to eight hours," then I would say that you have good propane flow and there aren't any spiders or rust in the way. That leaves the thermocouple as suspect. If it thinks that your flame has gone out, it will stop the flow of propane, just like it is supposed to.
Anybody know how to check a thermocouple?
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Burt Gifford
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#12 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 15:46 |
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Jim, No sense running another wire unless you know that's the root cause. Give Norcold a call. I found them very helpful.
DuraFox wrote:
... Now if I could only read that tiny font size you use. I frequently respond using Word and it translates with BIG print and I forget to re-size. And, sometimes I just can't control myself. 
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2007 AF 29V
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Housted
Deputy
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#13 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 15:53 |
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Here is a link to American Water heater site with some good stuff for testing the Thermocouple and checking the valve connections. Not exactly the same as a refer but close enuff.
http://www.americanwaterheater.com/support/guides/fvir.pdf
Housted
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Adam
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#14 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 18:07 |
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In the service manual I provided a link to it explains on page 10 what the "F" code is refering to. Then it refers you to page 13 where there is a nice easy to follow flow chart designed to lead you to the cause of your problem. If you have not already done so, I would give that flow chart a try before I spent to much time guessing. If nothing else it will help you understand what is needed for the lp side of the fridge to work and will also help you figure out what's going on.
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jaafallon
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#15 Posted: Wed May 23rd, 2007 18:22 |
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Thanks Adam and everyone else. I downloaded and printed the service manual, just haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I plan to get on it tonight again. I cleaned out some of the burner area last night and will look at some of the other suggestions as well. The link Housted added was also a help and I printed that out as well. It deals mainly with thermocouples.
jim
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2007 GMC 2500 (Classic) 4X4 D/A Ext Cab
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Wideload
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#16 Posted: Wed May 30th, 2007 17:59 |
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My suggestion for something to check is a fairly simple one. In the trouble-shooting chart Adam mentioned, the second line starts "Are any wire connections loose". That was a problem I encountered many years ago.
Open the back cover of your norcold and look for the big red and black wires going to the circuit board. These are probably using slip-on connectors. Wiggle them. If they are at all loose (or corroded), take a pair of pliers and crimp them down a bit (or cut them off and replace them). They should fit tight. I don't know why a bad connection like this shows up as error code "F" but it did on my rig.
-wl 
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100 Proof
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#17 Posted: Thu May 31st, 2007 11:33 |
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On mine I usually have to reset and start about 6 to 8 times to get the air out of the line in propane mode before the F code will not come on again. This is part of my spring ritual. Be sure the lines are purged before attempting anymore trouble shooting.
100 Proof
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jaafallon
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#18 Posted: Thu May 31st, 2007 15:45 |
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Thanks wideload, I'll try the wires (the old wiggle-test).
100Proof, the darn thing has run up to about 27 hours and then given me the "F" code again so I'm pretty sure it isn't air in the lines.
I think it will turn out to be either an electrical problem (loose wire, low batteries, bad thermocouple, etc.) or Gnomes sneaking in and shutting it off when I'm not looking. Either way, I'll get it fixed sooner or later.
jim
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liveworkdream
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#19 Posted: Thu Jul 12th, 2007 21:54 |
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We've experienced the same ignition fault -- "F" Error -- issues with our brand new 2006 24-5N fifth wheel. Cody at Northwood was very helpful in suggesting that we remove the front panel and reseat the ribbon cable, stating that this solves problems 90% of the time. Well, it solved some of our problems.
Our kitchen fan also causes the display to go dark. But we have found that if you turn it on slowly, and ramp up the fan speed carefully, it does not affect the fridge. Turning it on high right away or changing its direction at speed will! Rather than rewire that circuit, we're OK just paying attention to the fridge whenever we use that fan.
The ignition issues we have appear to be altitude related. As far as we can tell, the "F" faults we have seen have only been when we're boondocking in the mountains. On this current trip at 9,000+ feet in the Rockies, however, I turned the small brass knob on the gas line in the exterior fridge compartment all the way to the "on" position and it has remained lit all day ... so far!
If problems persist we can always plug into our solar power inverter but we'd rather not run down the batteries and use the generator any more than neessary.
I've just posted on this topic in more depth at our full-time RVing blog at http://www.LiveWorkDream.com.
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jaafallon
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#20 Posted: Thu Jul 12th, 2007 22:02 |
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Thanks for the pointers. I'll call Cody tomorrow. I sent an email to Thetford (Norcolds parent org) and never heard from them. Then I called them and the lady I left a message with never bothered to respond so, at this pouint, I'm not too impressed with the Norcold/Thetford service policy (ignore them and they'll probably go away).
jim
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