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3-way Norcold 323 heating instead of cooling?

Norcold 3-way 323 fridge

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#1 WillTheThri11

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Posted 13 September 2019 - 02:37 PM

Hi all,

 

Been meaning to finally post here.  Been a long time lurker and finally purchased a 90s FWC Ranger II (8' model).

 

I'm starting to wonder if i overpaid as it seems to be falling apart ever since i picked it up.  I've been trying to do my research on this site since there is soooo much information, while some of it is overwhelming and some of it is "just what I'm looking for" I decided to finally post up with this question:

 

Is my fridge a boat anchor?

 

Unfortunately when i went through it with the previous owner, we couldn't get confirmation that the fridge was working.  With AC plugged in there wasn't any "noise" which i figured there should be although now i'm not so sure.  with propane plugged in, we couldn't get the burner to stay lit.  It would light for a couple seconds and then there would be a poof of flame and it would be out or there would be a flame from the air inlets on the burner tube.

 

So, I got it home and plugged in to shore power and waited.  The following day, i was cooled to ~60F, the day after ~50F and the day after that ~38F (checked with meat thermometer so probably not that accurate).

 

This morning i went out though and found that it is 80F!!!!

 

Any ideas how this can happen? Anything I can try or check that you guys can think of?

 

I've pulled the burner off and cleaned it out.  There was some debris in the tube which i think kept the propane from getting to the burner outlet, so I'm expecting when I put that back in it will actually fire up, but somehow I suspect that won't actually lead to the fridge cooling down.

 

Had a great trip driving back from Boulder to Southern California using dry ice in the fridge, but I'm wondering it this is like buying a boat where the best day in a boat owners life is the day he buys and the day he sells the boat.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated...looking forward to being more involved in this forum overall, so much great information and great people on here.  Thanks in advance!


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#2 Dirt Rider

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Posted 13 September 2019 - 04:45 PM

Mine is doing the same thing, time to buy a 2 way IMHO


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#3 ckent323

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Posted 13 September 2019 - 07:15 PM

Some things to check:

Make sure it is level
Check the burner flue for blockage, clean as needed

Here are some links on cleaning:

https://sites.google...old-n300-burner

http://www.wanderthe...n-norcold-n300/


http://blog.goodsam....norcold-burner/

Edited by ckent323, 13 September 2019 - 07:15 PM.

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1993 Dodge Cummins W-250 Club Cab long bed, 2007 FWC Keystone


#4 WillTheThri11

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Posted 14 September 2019 - 08:30 PM

Thanks ckent...i didn't realize #1 how sensitive these things were to angle and #2 how poor my perception of angle was.  I put the iPhone level app on the camper and realized I was 5.7 deg front to back and 0.7 side to side.

 

Luckily I just built a dolly for the camper and it's now sitting quite a bit more level.  Plugged back in and hoping it cools on AC and didn't burn anything up in the process. 

 

I cleaned out the burner and it looks pretty good.  The whole thing looks barely used, no soot anywhere, i think there was a spider egg sac in the burner tube causing not enough propane to make it through to the burner outlet and backing up (causing the big poof).  Hoping this thing works.  I'll "cool" like this for a day or two and then see about switching to the propane and seeing if that maintains the cool for another few days.

 

For my DC connection though, it looks like it's been disconnected and the supply line wires were cut and electrical taped.  Am i correct that for AC and DC, what you're powering is a heater to heat what the propane burner would otherwise be heating? I'm wondering if the DC heater is blown. and they cut the connection for some reason.  I put an ohm meter accross the connection for the DC heater and it's open circuit, but i suspect the selector needs to be on DC to check this correctly.

 

Anyone know how to check the DC element?


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#5 WillTheThri11

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Posted 15 September 2019 - 09:02 PM

fridge was at 30F this morning so I switched it over to propane...cleaning the burner worked and it stays lit.  Went back a few hours later and it was at 60F...cranked the knob to High and it's recovered about 10degrees...hoping it fully recovers.

 

Next up figure out why the heater isn't lighting and replace rear lift panels (and likely the front too)


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