Broken Norcold NRF30 - Watch the bumps

TennTim

The Norcold fridge in my T@G isn’t working. Not even cooling down 1 degree. After some investigation I believe the compressor broke at the outlet tube leaving the compressor (inside the black thing you can see through the ventilation grills). My best guess is it took a jolt over a speed bump or pothole although I don’t remember any particularly jarring events. Anyway just a tip to others to possibly consider taking the bumps easy and if it were me again, I would probably move it into the car where it would see less bumps. But given my luck, I would probably drop it carrying it to the car to protect it

Here’s my troubleshooting for any future investigators

• Fridge was working fine then it was not - likely not a leak
• Everything electrically appears fine, no errorrs, fan runs, compressor runs
• Compressor tubes leaving and returning are not hot or cold, maybe barely warmer on the outlet
• No noise of gurgling Freon upon startup or shutdown - no compression happening, probably rules out a plugged capillary

So I guess that the tube leaving the compressor snapped off inside the compressor housing and is blowing compressed (heated) gas against the outlet thus it being a little warm at the exit tube.

It’s unfixable by a hobbyist repair man like me and probably cost prohibitive to be fixed by professionals. New ones are around $550 on Amazon.

Good news is a Yeti cooler fits in the spot perfectly (I can’t remember which one I got right now).

tagurit

How old is the unit? There is a two year warranty. They are designed and built for how we us them in our trailers so bumps in the road should be covered.