New Burner for Norcold Fridge

[SpeakEasy]

My camper has a Norcold 3-way fridge, model 323T. On our trip last summer we had some problems with it. First it began giving off an odor when running on propane, sort of like incomplete combustion. Then, eventually it quit cooling on the propane side of things. It still cooled fine on AC and/or DC current.

I tried a number of things including cleaning the chimney and messing with the baffles. The problem remained.

A couple of weeks ago I was back to messing around with it and noticed some small gas flames coming from where they are not supposed to! I decided to see if I could replace the orifice-burner assembly. I was able to find a parts diagram on Norcold's website, find the part number for the orifice burner assembly, locate a local Norcold repair shop, and order the part. Today I replaced it, and everything looks to be functioning normally. Tomorrow I'll pop open the camper and run the fridge with some stuff in it to see if it cools correctly and doesn't smell.

In the process of examining Norcold's website I found that they had issued a recall for certain serial numbers of this particular model for a bad orifice burner. I got all excited thinking maybe they'd fix this for free. No such luck. The listed serial numbers were close to mine, but not a match. I asked the local repair guys what to do if Norcold expands the recall to include my serial number. They said to keep the old part, keep the reciept for the new part, and Norcold would refund me the cost of the part. OK. I think I may also write to Norcold and describe my problem. Maybe that will help them decide to expand the recall.

Just a heads up - If you have a Norcold, check your model and serial number on norcold.com to see if yours has been recalled. This can create a dangerous situation if you don't correct it.

-Speak

[SpeakEasy]

Well, the other day I put a bottle of beer in the fridge, fired up the fridge and checked back about lunchtime to see if the beer was cold. Not only was there no combustion odor, the beer was FROZEN! I was disappointedl, but glad the fridge was fixed.

-Speak