Norcold 120VAC/Propane refrigerator died

[CraigBU]

2018 Jayco Pinnacle 38FLWS with Norcold Propane and 120VAC fridge. Typical story... getting ready to leave this Thursday for vacation and I am going through the preflight check and I notice the display on the fridge is blank. No amount of coaxing, pleading or laying on of hands will bring this fridge back to life. Fridge was working fine until 2hours ago and now there is no cooling or interior lights or display. I checked the GFCIs and they have not been tripped.and the microwave next to the fridge is still operational. I checked the 15amp refrigerator fuse in the DC fuse panel and it looked good. Swapped it with another 15 amp fuse and still no joy. None of the AC breakers have tripped. I am not sure where to look next. Any suggestions on how to salvage this vacation?

[CraigBU]

I forgot to add this Pinnacle was purchased new in December of 2021 and is still under the new vehicle warranty until December of 2022

[Parrott]

First thing, unplug the fridge from the 120 volt receptacle and plug something else in that you know works to confirm 120 volts there. Light bulb, drill, etc.
The display is 12 volts so check all of your fuses. On my Precept, I kept getting low voltage on my display. My fridge was on the same fuse as the outside, inside radios and the co detector. I moved mine to a separate fuse by itself.

[Parrott]

You can remove your access panel outside and check for 12 volts at the control board.

[Learjet]

controls are 12 volts....check as suggested above.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Learjet

controls are 12 volts....check as suggested above.

I think there is also a fuse in the control board outside in the fridge compartment. You need a VOM meter to check voltages to be sure you are getting power to the control board.

[goducks]

Guessing it doesn't work on propane or 120V?

[CraigBU]

A quick update to the problem. The 5amp automotive style fuse on the input to the 12VDC control board was blown. Replaced the fuse, fridge worked for 20 minutes then blew the fuse again. Tried one more time, same result. When the fuse blows, there is no display therefore I can not try it on gas or electric. The display goes blank. Something is drawing too much current in the control board. The positive thing is if it is a control board, that item is easy to replace. Time to cancel vacation plans and head to the dealer.

[Parrott]

Originally Posted by CraigBU

A quick update to the problem. The 5amp automotive style fuse on the input to the 12VDC control board was blown. Replaced the fuse, fridge worked for 20 minutes then blew the fuse again. Tried one more time, same result. When the fuse blows, there is no display therefore I can not try it on gas or electric. The display goes blank. Something is drawing too much current in the control board. The positive thing is if it is a control board, that item is easy to replace. Time to cancel vacation plans and head to the dealer.

Search Amazon. Most likely get a better price and faster. Check Dinosaur boards also. Call them and they will help you diagnose the problem.

[CraigBU]

The Norcold plant is less than an hour away from me. Tomorrow morning I will visit the factory and see what kind of service they offer. The unit is still under warranty and I don't care about the price. I care about the cost of the lost memories, the non refundable campsite, the nonrefundable Lake Superior charter fishing trip....etc. Cross your fingers and lets see what the factory does when they are confronted with hurt feelings, tears and a good story.

[KTR]

We had the same problem with the 5amp blade fuse. One of the fans (3 total outside) froze and would blow the fuse after a few minutes. I disconnected the problem fan and that stopped the fuse blowing. Needed to replace the fan and all is good.

[CraigBU]

KTR,
Thanks !! That makes a lot of sense and sounds exactly like my problem. I put in a new control board and it made no difference. I will check the fans tomorrow. Were the fans hard to access?

[Parrott]

Originally Posted by CraigBU

KTR,
Thanks !! That makes a lot of sense and sounds exactly like my problem. I put in a new control board and it made no difference. I will check the fans tomorrow. Were the fans hard to access?

If your fridge is in a slide then access to the fans is real easy. Remove the top access cover and the fans will be down behind a cover piece across the opening. You can pull the red power wire off and see if the fuse still blows.
Here is a pic of a fan I replaced. Very easy access. I also replaced the plywood diverted board with aluminum flashing. Installed an extra fan down below to blow up and force heat out the top.

[CraigBU]

Parrott, Many thanks!! I will go check it out this morning. Amazon has the fan for $62 and can have it here in two days. The only thing I hate more than paying for items that are supposed to be under warranty is waiting for a two months during the peak season to have something fixed that shouldn't have broken. With diesel at $5.65/gal, its cheaper for me to fix it myself than to take it to the dealer.

[Parrott]

Originally Posted by CraigBU

Parrott, Many thanks!! I will go check it out this morning. Amazon has the fan for $62 and can have it here in two days. The only thing I hate more than paying for items that are supposed to be under warranty is waiting for a two months during the peak season to have something fixed that shouldn't have broken. With diesel at $5.65/gal, its cheaper for me to fix it myself than to take it to the dealer.

You will most likely have 2 fans at the top from the factory. There’s a thermocoupler mounted on the fins at the top. Pull one wire off of it and that will take the power off of the fans.
You can also put 12 volts to the fans to confirm they work and flick them with your finger to see if they turn freely.

[Rock]

Good luck. I have a pinnacle and cannot even stick my hand down behind the upper coil. Just pull one of the wires off the t stat screwed to the fin on upper coil to make fans inop. I just replaced that Tstat since fans would not come on (bad t stat). I also added a fan to my top vent for more air flow. I wired it to a switch so I can leave it on all the time or turn it off and it is not controlled by the t stat.

[klirg]

If you google your fridge model you may find a procedure to reset it.