Norcold 2118 Fridge / Freezer

[EMTPRescue]

I blame not only Norcold. The RV manufactures very much know about this problem as well. Why else would every one of them offer residential style fridges as options in these larger trailers. The replacement cost of these fridges is nuts as well. $5000.00+ plus to replace an insulated box with a bunch of bent pipe bolted to the back of it is legal larceny as far as I am concerned. I can't figure out where there is more than $500.00 worth of stuff in these fridges let alone $5000.00. As I said in a statement a couple of posts ago, I can see a class action suit on the horizon. It won't start up here in the Great White North but you folks down south are far less tolerant of getting ripped off then us passive Canucks are. Again, just my humble Canuck opinion.

[JRTJH]

Sounds like yet another "engineering fail", this time with Norcold rather than Ford, Firestone, Boeing, GM or the host of other companies that "took the leap with hopes of getting out ahead of the pack"....

Unfortunate for owners of the refrigerators in question, but in all honesty, there have been 15 cuft (and significantly larger) absorption refrigerators in use for 50-75 years. Go to any Amish settlement and walk into the grocery or deli stores and take a look at their "walk in coolers" that operate on absorption systems.

It's not the process, it's the way that Norcold engineered their product. Total fail. The fact that all of the RV manufacturers "also leaped at the innovation" puts them partly to blame. They should stop using a product that doesn't work. But the burden of failure is on Norcold.

[EMTPRescue]

Could not of said it better myself. The journey continues.

[NMRandy]

I installed a 12 vdc fan on the top cover, with a grille, to push air out of the refrigerator cabinet. The fridge cools much better now. Not as good as an electric residential unit, but pretty well. Stays about 0 deg F in the freezer and 33 deg F in the fridge area

[Snoking]

Originally Posted by NMRandy

I installed a 12 vdc fan on the top cover, with a grille, to push air out of the refrigerator cabinet. The fridge cools much better now. Not as good as an electric residential unit, but pretty well. Stays about 0 deg F in the freezer and 33 deg F in the fridge area

I have two fans pushing hot air out the top grill and a lower temp switch operating the fans. Still a so so refer. If I go above level 6 to get the freezer colder, then things in the frig area start freezing.

[NMRandy]

The extra fan pushing the hot air out of the outer cabinet seemed to do the trick for me. I am in a lot of 90 - 95 deg heat, my fridge is in the slide, my fridge covers are black, my rig is grey, and the sun is on the fridge side of the rig in the afternoon. All not great for the operation on the unit. Before I put the fan in the fridge area would get to 45 deg without opening the doors. Now on 7 it will get below freezing in the fridge area. The freezer will keep ice cream, and stays at 0 deg F to -5 deg F.

[Laredo Tugger]

I have this fridge/freezer in my 5er. I have not noticed any real deficiencies in it's performance. On our last trip this summer the ice cream was a little soft but we did have more groceries and freezer items than normal.
I did have one trip where I was parked in 90-95 degree temps each day (for about 3 weeks) and the fridge side of the trailer was exposed to the afternoon sun. We noticed that the fridge was not cooling as it normally had.
I propped the exterior covers (left the top of the covers screwed into the trailer side and extended the bottom portion out) away from the trailer. I also cut some of the aluminum material out of what appeared to be the chimney for heat to escape. These two tactics with the afternoon breeze at this location greatly improved the fridge performance.
I have not heard of any problems with this unit until now but will be monitoring any progress towards a remedy from Keystone/Norcold.
RMc

[Snoking]

Originally Posted by NMRandy

Now on 7 it will get below freezing in the fridge area. The freezer will keep ice cream, and stays at 0 deg F to -5 deg F.

There in is the problem. To keep ice cream the fridge area freezes pop cans, milk etc. Our solution given the 5th wheel in now not leaving it's site, was in buy a small chest freeze for that shed. Shopping at Costco is easier with the additional freezer space. We spend about 4.5 to 5 months in the summer months in the 5th wheel. Chris

[EMTPRescue]

So it looks like everyone hibernated for the winter because the last series of posts on this subject were last June/July. Since then I have reached out to other RV fridge repair businesses in my quest for greater understanding of the problems that most if not all of us have experienced in varying degrees of dysfunction.

The bottom line is that the Norcold 2118 fridge was built with too small of a cooling unit, period, full stop, drop the mic. As the old saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's rear end. The poor design requires the fridge to run longer to accomplish the desired temperatures and further results in the unit simply getting behind the curve when it gets hot outside.

Having said all of this, I did discover some very interesting errors that are commonly committed by RV Manufactures in the installation of RV fridges.

First, the cavity into which the fridge sits is often too large. The larger cavity provides for space between the outside surface of the fridge and the inner wall of the cavity. What I have been told as a MUST DO is that the sides and the top of the fridge must NOT have this dead air space. Those areas must be insulated to protect the fridge from higher external air temps. Net result is the greater the box is insulted that longer it can maintain the internal temperature that the cooling unit is working to provide. Don't block the air flow out of your RV's fridge roof vent if your RV has such a configuration but do make certain the fridge is very well insulated.

Secondly and here is the interesting one, I a couple of posts back I mentioned that I had found a piece of sheet metal that Keystone had stapled to the inner surface of the exterior wall of our fridge cavity. I was mystified as to how that piece of sheet metal could be of benefit as it was the full width of the upper ventilation opening access point and blocked off about the bottom 1/3 of the available ventilation opening. I removed it. Turns out I was making things worse and not better. Though not correctly designed by Keystone, the purpose for that piece of sheet metal is to force the cooling air coming from the bottom of the cavity to flow through the set of fins that can be seen at the top of the fridge's cooling unit. Those fins are attached to the fridges Condenser assemble. They fins are releasing heat that is generated by the boiler and every cubic inch of air that is coming up from the bottom of the cavity MUST be directed to flow through those fins. The higher the volume of comparatively cooler air that is forced through those fins the more heat that can be withdrawn from the gas that is within the cooling unit's tubes.

So, what needs to be done is that piece of sheet metal MUST be configured/mounted in such a way that it attaches to the inner surface of the exterior wall of the cavity far below the height of the aforementioned Condenser fins. The piece of sheet metal must be the full width of the cavity. Once it is attached to the wall then by virtue of a full longitudinally length bend in it, it is then attached the back/outer most surface of the Condenser fins. With this configuration, you have essentially created an air flow directional diverter that will by design, ensure that every cubic inch of cooler air is directed through those fins and that most importantly, NO AIR is allowed to just simply flow past the fins.

There is an RV fridge aftermarket repair shop in Kentucky that makes these as a kit and in the installation instructions, he provides a photo that shows his kit attached to the Condenser fin assembly by way of Zip ties. His kit covers the entire outer most surface of the Condenser fin assembly from top to bottom. All the upward moving cooler air MUST then flow through the entire Condenser assembly in order to escape out the upper vent access opening.

For added cooling air volume, feel free to install additional ventilation fans either to the outer most surface of those fins if the sheet metal is not fully covering them or above them if the upper vent access is higher then the height of the fins. The preferable location is above the fins so as to ensure that the fans are pulling air through the entire Condenser fin assembly. Have the fans thermostatically controlled like I did and have them blow the hot air out of the top of the compartment through the upper access grill cover. I have mine set at 100F on and 90F off.

What I have learned is that the fridge manufacturers specify that the space between the back of the cooling unit of the fridge and the inner surface of the fridge cavity must NOT exceed more than 1/2". Anymore of a gap and the free air space back there will allow an unacceptable amount of upward moving cooler air to just simply flow freely PAST and not THROUGH the Condenser unit as flowing past is naturally the path of least resistance. If this is allowed to happen then the fridge can not transfer heat from inside the fridge as effectively which equates to longer and more costly run times. If the fridge itself is not insulated properly on the sides and the top then the fridge loses the internal cooler air more rapidly and of course, the resultant effect again are more and longer run cycles to cool it down again. This is a bigger problem when your fridge is in a slide as more often than not, one on the fridge's side walls abuts the side wall of the slide. The lack of insulation on that wall, that can potentially be exposed to the sun, just furthers to rob the fridge of the internal cooled air.

Hope this helps you to get every BTU of cooling out of your already challenged Norcold 2118.

When I have finished with my diverter installation, I will post again as to what my results were.

Good Luck

[rbinbc]

I'm trying to find a vent cover for the Norcold 2118, the Keystone part number is different. Need some help finding this part.

[EMTPRescue]

I got more indepth information on the Norcold so called Defrost Cycle.
It is very simplistic. The control board has a timer built into it. From the time that you turn your fridge on the timer begins to count down starting at 48 hrs.
Once the timer is at zero the fridge goes to sleep and looks for a temperature change indication from the Thermaster that is clipped to the cooling fins in the fridge section.
Once the control board sees a temperature change then in theory any frost build up on those fins should have melted and the fridge starts up again.
Where we are we have low relative humidity and we do not have a fin frost up problem. Accordingly we have no need for a Defrost Cycle.
The RV fridge tech that told me about the defrost timer suggested that we turn our fridge on at a time when we know that we are at the trailer. He suggested first thing in the morning.
He then said that in order to "defeat" the defrost cycle that our morning routine not only will include our morning coffee but it should include simply turning the fridge off and on again. This resets the timer to 48 hrs and the count down starts all over again.

Hope this helps.

[EMTPRescue]

Frank quick reply to a year ago when you told me about the Norcold defrost cycle. I have found out that indeed there a defrost cycle albeit very simplistic. The fridge controller has a clock/timer in it that begins to count downwards from 48hrs each time fridge is turn on. Once it reaches 0 the timer shuts the fridge off and monitors the thermistor. Once it sees a temperature change from the thermistor then the fridge turns back on and the clock begins to count down from 48hrs all over again. It was suggested to me that as we live in a low relative humidity environment and as such we seldom have fridge fin frost development that I simply turn our fridge off and on again every morning when we get up. That will start the clock at 48hrs each morning and it will never count to 0.This is a work around for those folks who don't want their fridges shutting off to so called defrost if they don't have frost build up issues

[EMTPRescue]

So I promised the results from my having put the diversion sheet metal back in the upper fridge cavity. I also enhanced the diversion design and placed another piece of sheet at about a 30 degree angle to the right of the upper condenser coils and directed the top of that sheet metal piece towards the bottom right hand corner of the condenser coil fins.

Though it is not warm up here yet with our day times not yet regularly exceeding +15C, our fridge now pulls down to -18C in the freezer and +1C in the fridge while set at 2. With my IR aiming temperature device I measure -24.5C at middle bolts on the back of the freezer section and -2C at the thermistor in the fridge section.

This is very acceptable cooling performance but the problem remains with the length of the run cycles and the frequency of those cycles. Simply put, I have done everything that can be done to this unit and though in these cooler outside temps it is cooling to acceptable temperatures, it is very obvious to me now that the cooling unit is in fact far too small for 18cu ft of fridge/freezer volume.

It had after all the same cooling unit as Norcold's 12 cuft dbl door fridge with higher wattage 120V AC heating element and higher BTU LPG burners. A Volkswagen will never do the job of a Porsche 911 no matter what you do to it.

I am going to save my allowance and ultimately change the cooling unit to the JC 12VDC compressor style cooling unit or perhaps the much larger capacity, gas absorption unit that they have made for these 2118.

Again, the silk purse out of a sows rear end scenario.

Hope all my lengthy posts have been by all reading to be informative and helpful.

Have pleasurable and rewarding RV season.

[chuckster57]

We have replaced 2 norcold 2118 cooling units with this AC powered unit. I will say the freezer was COLD in less than 15 minutes. Onlyh drawback is it requires 110VAC for the compressor.

https://jc-refrigeration.com/

[captcolour]

Our new Solitude came with the Norcold 2118SST. Will be interesting to look at the installation once I recover from my knee replacement surgery.


EMTPRescue: Can you post pictures of your modifications? Would be helpful to me and probably others. Thanks.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by captcolour

Our new Solitude came with the Norcold 2118SST. Will be interesting to look at the installation once I recover from my knee replacement surgery.


EMTPRescue: Can you post pictures of your modifications? Would be helpful to me and probably others. Thanks.

I worked at a Grand Designs dealer for 5+ years and never had an issue from installation.

[EMTPRescue]

So finally some very unusually hot summer temps up here in the great white north. Last week we had three days in the low 90s. Not hot by most of your standards but very rare up here.

Our 2118 kept the freezer at -15C and the fridge at the cooling fins at +3C. The challenge remains with run cycle times.

I ran it on LPG exclusively just to see how much propane it would use. As per normal the fridge ran virtually full time with maybe half an hour in total cycling off over night. I got 5 full days and about half of the sixth day on of a full 30lb LPG tank. At about $1.00/lb cost for propane that equates to more than $5.00/day just to run the fridge. As with everything else with this fridge, that is unacceptable.

While the cooling fins in the fridge were at +3C the fresh food crispers were much higher and as such, all of the fruit/vegetables had to be tossed away after the five day trial.

I am done with this fridge. I am now searching the big box stores for a residential three door fridge. I know some of you had made the change. I would appreciate some input as to what brand you guys chose and why.

I have 900+ watts of solar, 425AH of battery, 4500 watt genset and 4000 watt full sinewave invertor so I feel confident in being able to boon dock with a residential style fridge and keep it running.

[JRTJH]

EMTPRescue,

In the interim, until you can find a replacement residential refrigerator and modify your trailer to power that change, have you considered a "inside the box refrigerator fan" ??

You can buy one for about $30 (maybe even less) at any RV parts store or on Amazon. There are "D cell battery" powered fans that will run most of the camping season on two batteries. They make a significant difference in moving cool air around inside the refrigerator and I found that even on my smaller Dometic refrigerator, the fan distributes the cool air throughout the entire refrigerator section, eliminating all the "hot spots" in the lower sections and in the corners behind boxes and jugs of milk....

While maybe not a permanent solution, it may "limp you though the hot summer" and give you enough time to make the mod conveniently rather than being forced into a "rush job to keep camping this summer"....

[EMTPRescue]

Thanks for the reply.

If you get a chance check out this entire blog.

I have done all the aftermarket re-engineered operational enhances knowen to man.

Fans X four in the fridge cavity.

Fans X three in the back with sheet metal deflectors to ensure that air flows past the rear cooling evaperator coli.

I have the fridge running at the best it can do.

It just can't keep up.

Thanks

[sourdough]

Be sure and measure the dimensions of any prospective new fridge. I believe the RVs come with "counter depth" models and are not as deep as a "regular" fridge (or non countertop).