Noisy Norcold

Tabaz

Jenn - YES!  Remove the gray access panel on the left side of the frig.  Locate the factory fan down below and follow the red and black wires.  The red goes to a spade connector on the thermostat (can't miss it - in front, near the top, on the cooling coils).  The black goes to a spade connector nearby (easy to find).  These are the two wires you'll use for all three fans.  You'll need about 5 feet each of 16 or 18 gauge wire in order to get to the new fans behind the outside vent.  Some other items - wire couplings, double-sided tape to secure the new fans to the inside vent frame, two metal "L" brackets for the new fans (just long enough to reach the side of the new fan with some double-sided tape), Dremel tool to cut the white plastic vent flange to allow room for the two new fans and some bug screen once the flange is cut.  You'll absolutely need that flexible screwdriver from Lowe's in order to remove and replace the two screws holding the factory fan.  Hope this helps.

jkjenn

OutbackAZ said:

Jenn - YES!  Remove the gray access panel on the left side of the frig.  Locate the factory fan down below and follow the red and black wires.  The red goes to a spade connector on the thermostat (can't miss it - in front, near the top, on the cooling coils).  The black goes to a spade connector nearby (easy to find).  These are the two wires you'll use for all three fans.  You'll need about 5 feet each of 16 or 18 gauge wire in order to get to the new fans behind the outside vent.  Some other items - wire couplings, double-sided tape to secure the new fans to the inside vent frame, two metal "L" brackets for the new fans (just long enough to reach the side of the new fan with some double-sided tape), Dremel tool to cut the white plastic vent flange to allow room for the two new fans and some bug screen once the flange is cut.  You'll absolutely need that flexible screwdriver from Lowe's in order to remove and replace the two screws holding the factory fan.  Hope this helps.

Thanks! Awesome!

Ratkity

*clapclapclap* That was a delicate mod! Very impressive.

Tonydjd

See update post hot counter solved 

Tonydjd

Above picture shows extra fan installed below counter above the fins that are producing heat causing counter to get warm.

Cover was painted also.

jkjenn

Looks great, Tony!

cbarnhill

Not only is my norcold noisy but what drives me crazy is the constant cycling off/on every 30 seconds. Doesn't do this all the time-maybe 50% but irritating. I'm taking it back to Toms before warranty runs out to see if they can fix. If not, I may go Outbacks route. Looks slick

Tabaz

Tony - Does your additional fan under the countertop help keep it cooler?

Tonydjd

The results are in after trial run but will do more testing. counter was warm after letting fridge get to about 37 inside temp without my new extra fan in place. I turned off let it get back to non running temp then turned on next day with new fan in position and ready to function yes it was much cooler on counter top when i removed plastic cover to check temp of the metal fins it was 118.

does anyone have temp reading on there unit at the coil fins below counter top.

All this was done without allowing the 3 fans I installed over on the vent side to run. got me thinking I'm no rocket scientist but having the fans on vent side trying to pull heat out might not be the cure all after all but surely will help more testing to follow. 

understanding this works on an heat exchange concept of heat absorption to get fridge cooler thats reason coil/fins get so darn warm

Oops typo adsorption 

irvingj

It's been years, but I going to take a stab here--

Used to be, these systems were called "adsorption" systems. (Note that they are often referred to as absorption systems, but hey- maybe the the name has been changed.) They used to use an ammonia solution as the refrigerant; maybe current ones still do-- I've been out of the HVAC trade for 25+ years.

As I understood it, all that's required is a source of heat to get things working. On exposure to heat, the ammonia would boil out of the solution, travel as a "wet" vapor to the refrigerator interior and evaporate in to a gas, in the process absorbing heat.

It would then travel on through the piping, condense back to a liquid, rejecting heat outside the refrigerated space, and "fall" to the lower portions, mixing back into the solution. It would then be recycled again after exposure to heat. That's one reason why being level is fairly important to these systems-- they work at least partially on gravity. Heat is absorbed or rejected by the change of state (of the ammonia) from liquid to gas and back again.

So yes, in these 3-way Norcold units, that heat can be supplied by either 12VDC (very inefficient), 120VAC, or propane.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Tabaz

Tony - looks like you have a total of five Noctua fans running.  How quiet are they compared to the two factory models?  Also, thanks Irvingj for the explanation as to why the T@B needs to be level.

Tommy

@OutbackAZ just wanted to say thank you for this information - I went with your recommendation on the fans and they really are seriously quiet. How quiet? ... sorry but I stole your line when leaving my customer review on Amazon... haha

Tabaz

you're so welcome Tommy! Glad you enjoyed the mod. Maybe Noctura will change its name to "The Mouse Fart Fan Company" to better describe their products.

irvingj

…And tat's one reason I love this forum! It's so great to start the day with a good belly laugh!!

Ratkity

@Tommy

dsatwork

@Tabaz I'm looking at your fan to use as an auxiliary fan for the 2017 models with the Norcold N180.3 side vent model. There is no fan at all in this model and we had issues with adequate cooling when temps got above the 90's on 12 volt. We have a 5" opening for the vent and I'm wondering if you think this 120mm version of your fan would work for this? The only difference I see other than speed and sound, is it has a 3-speed motor. I would imagine it will just run on high at 1200 RPM and it has a slightly higher dB/A at 18.1

Tabaz

I can't recall the outside dimensions of the 120mm Noctua fan, but I just Googled 120mm conversion to inches and it came up 4.72 inches.  That would fit in the opening.  I only connected the high speed.

dsatwork

Tabaz said:

I can't recall the outside dimensions of the 120mm Noctua fan, but I just Googled 120mm conversion to inches and it came up 4.72 inches.  That would fit in the opening.  I only connected the high speed.


Oh so yours were 3 speed too...I couldn't find that for some reason. That's the part that concerned me. It should work just fine...Now I just have to figure out if I should connect it to a thermostat or not and figure the switch a switch to use. The Norcold kicks on at 130 which seems pretty high. I would 90 degrees would be better..Do you have any opinion on that?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RCX95U/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I8UUKVKTWY34K&colid=733TGZDKC8DS

foxden

@dsatwork I will be very interested to see what you do with this.  And thanks @Tabaz   for sharing your work.  I know little about the wiring part on my 2017 S so if you happen to take any pictures of the wiring when you do this it would be great.  Haven't been out in a few weeks but did turn on the Norcold yesterday (electric) to see how it was doing in the heat and then measured the temp at the fins behind the vent cover (actually the pipe that runs around the fins) and it measured 250 degrees.  The countertop was at about 105.  The Norcold was definitely cooling (down to 34 degrees).  I think the fans could really help in higher temperatures.  It was about 94 degrees outside when I did the first measurements, before a storm rolled in and dropped it to 78 degrees.  At that point the pipe behind the vent measured 230.  So outside temperature is a big factor.

dsatwork

foxden said:

@dsatwork I will be very interested to see what you do with this.  And thanks @Tabaz   for sharing your work.  I know little about the wiring part on my 2017 S so if you happen to take any pictures of the wiring when you do this it would be great.  Haven't been out in a few weeks but did turn on the Norcold yesterday (electric) to see how it was doing in the heat and then measured the temp at the fins behind the vent cover (actually the pipe that runs around the fins) and it measured 250 degrees.  The countertop was at about 105.  The Norcold was definitely cooling (down to 34 degrees).  I think the fans could really help in higher temperatures.  It was about 94 degrees outside when I did the first measurements, before a storm rolled in and dropped it to 78 degrees.  At that point the pipe behind the vent measured 230.  So outside temperature is a big factor.

wow that's good info to have..... wish I would have bought a laser thermometer when they went on sale at harbor freight. Anyhow, I would have jumped on this by now, but I'm waiting till I can get the service done on my Fridge to replace the the flame meter that went out and the AC power indicator that went out as well. I don't want anyone saying that my mode may have had an affect and create a warranty issue.

Also, I purchased an inside circulation fan that I think will help with the cooling as well. We to don't have any issues in heat, when running on AC or propane. This is primarily to help when running on 12V. I'll keep you informed, but I'm leaving for a week this Thursday. So I may not be able to report back until early August. Or if I have bandwidth (figuratively and actual bandwidth are needed) on the road.

foxden

Thanks.  I am not planning another trip for awhile so I am in no rush to figure this out.  Just glad to have other brains/experience to tap!

Tabaz

Even on the highest speed, these fans are very, very quiet.  I wired my two side vent fans to the same thermostat for the Norcold fan so they all kick on together. You can't miss the thermostat - it's a round red device near the top of the coils. Remove the gray access panel and it will be staring you in the face. It has two leads that are easy to follow. One goes to the stock fan, the other to ground if I recall correctly. 

dsatwork

Tabaz said:

Even on the highest speed, these fans are very, very quiet.  I wired my two side vent fans to the same thermostat for the Norcold fan so they all kick on together. You can't miss the thermostat - it's a round red device near the top of the coils. Remove the gray access panel and it will be staring you in the face. It has two leads that are easy to follow. One goes to the stock fan, the other to ground if I recall correctly. 

The new Norcold n180.3 don't have any fans on them at all. Very strange.

Tabaz

Could it be because it's not a propane unit?

dsatwork

Tabaz said:

Could it be because it's not a propane unit?

No it's a 3-way...it won't run on propane while traveling.

Tabaz

Hopefully someone knowledgable about that model will post a solution. I know my Norcold will not run on propane in transit. The pilot light goes out along the way, and it keeps trying to re-light itself. Seems like three topics keep popping up with the Norcolds: countertop too hot, noisy stock fan and propane while in transit.

dsatwork

Tabaz said:

Hopefully someone knowledgable about that model will post a solution. I know my Norcold will not run on propane in transit. The pilot light goes out along the way, and it keeps trying to re-light itself. Seems like three topics keep popping up with the Norcolds: countertop too hot, noisy stock fan and propane while in transit.

Read this http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/Gas-Fridge-Power-Problems.html

Sharon_is_SAM

Boy, if this was all it took to be able to use the 12 V  in route!  Maybe somebody needs to rewire the frig 12 V supply as an experiment....hint hint.

dsatwork

SAM said:

Boy, if this was all it took to be able to use the 12 V  in route!  Maybe somebody needs to rewire the frig 12 V supply as an experiment....hint hint.

I already did. My latest test today.... left it on propane on low overnight and with overnight lows of 67 the fridge was at 50 degrees at 7AM. However, one of my upper fans had stopped. I restarted the fan and turned the propane setting to high. This cooled the fridge temps down to 30 degrees with an outside temp of 87 degrees at 10AM. Then we switched it to 12v and 2 hours later with the outside Temps up to 95 it's only climbed 6 degrees. The Tab has been closed up as well, so the temp inside the cabin is like 110. Needless to say that air movement improves the cooling significantly. I believe changing out the power leads to the fridge to 10 gauge wire and running them direct has been a big benefit to the performance on 12v. At 6PM I checked again and the temp in the fridge was 44. Very pleased with these results. That would have been 8 hours of driving in pretty warm weather.

Sharon_is_SAM

Dsatwork, you ran the wiring directly to the battery?