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Bad circuit board on Norcold 838EG2 refrigerator?


borffmann

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I'm new to this forum, good to be here. My family of four and I live in a 1987 Fleetwood Bounder, that we recently bought from the first and only owner and our refrigerator has stopped working on both electric and propane power. It's a Norcold 838EG2 two-way fridge with what looks to be recall circuit board kit already installed. The fridge switch is powered up and seems to be working fine - if I switch it to GAS, the blue light comes on and the red "check" light comes on briefly before going out and leaving just the blue light on. When I switch to "Elec" the blue light goes on. But the fridge cooling system never powers up on either setting. On GAS, the igniter doesn't fire and there is no propane coming out of the electric inline valve to the burner (I pulled the gas line going into the valve and it is providing gas, but when I pull the line off the downstream outlet of the valve there is no propane coming out of the valve). On Elec, the elec heater doesn't turn on. I have checked power into the circuit/power board and the board is getting 12V (actually about 13.5V) from the batteries but there is no voltage coming out of the board to the electric propane valve, nor is there any power coming out to the elec heater. Can I assume that this circuit board is bad and is the cause of the fridge ceasing to work?

 

This is the third RV my wife and I have lived in in the past 15 years, and the second that we've lived in with our two daughters (5 and 2 yrs old) and every one of these RVs has had a fridge that crapped out on us in the first week. Must be something in our karma?

 

Thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Living in a 1987 Fleetwood Bounder with my wife and two daughters.

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What recall circuit board kit. If it is the little device with the red light on it that can be reset with a magnet.

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Welcome to the Escapees forums. We are happy to have you and we will do all we are able to help.

Can I assume that this circuit board is bad and is the cause of the fridge ceasing to work?

Unfortunately the model refrigerator that you have is one that I do not have access to a service manual for. As a retired service tech, I believe that it would be pretty risky to just assume that the circuit board is bad with so little trouble shooting. Keep in mind that if you buy a new circuit board and try it, the seller will not allow you to return it since there is no way for them to know what has been done to a circuit board once it is removed from the packaging. It is possible that you might get lucky, but impossible to say for sure.

 

I will drop a note to one of our forum members who is a working RV tech to see if he can join in and offer an opinion as he may have a manual for this model. I would also suggest that you contact Chris Bryant, of Bryant RV as he is also pretty good about helping people to figure out this sort of problem.

 

Bryant RV Services 2819 West State Road 44 DeLand, Florida 32720 386-734-8311 voice 386-490-1536 fax email chris@bryantrv.com

And there is no prohibition of posting links to RV related sites here.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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Thanks so much, Kirk. I am going to check the fuse on the board and clean the contacts. I'd also like to check the thermistor per someone's recommendation but I am not sure where it is located. I will call Bryant RV and get their advice.

Living in a 1987 Fleetwood Bounder with my wife and two daughters.

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. I'd also like to check the thermistor per someone's recommendation but I am not sure where it is located.

The thermistor is located on the cooling fins, inside of the top of the chill box portion of the refrigerator. It is attached to a clip which can be moved in order to shift the range of temperature settings. It has two small wires attached that run through the side of the box and out to the main control circuit board. I'm not familiar with the particular model refer you have, but in most cases a failed thermistor will cause the unit to go into a constant cool mode that tends to get too cold, rather than not working at all so it isn't likely to be the problem. Checking things never hurts even so, as it does eliminate that possibility from the diagnosis.

 

This test procedure is pretty good.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Welcome to the Escapees forums. We are happy to have you and we will do all we are able to help.

Unfortunately the model refrigerator that you have is one that I do not have access to a service manual for. As a retired service tech, I believe that it would be pretty risky to just assume that the circuit board is bad with so little trouble shooting. Keep in mind that if you buy a new circuit board and try it, the seller will not allow you to return it since there is no way for them to know what has been done to a circuit board once it is removed from the packaging. It is possible that you might get lucky, but impossible to say for sure.

 

I will drop a note to one of our forum members who is a working RV tech to see if he can join in and offer an opinion as he may have a manual for this model. I would also suggest that you contact Chris Bryant, of Bryant RV as he is also pretty good about helping people to figure out this sort of problem.

And there is no prohibition of posting links to RV related sites here.

 

\

Kirk, I read a post by you about the Norcold Refrigerator. Can't find it now but my problem is some wiring. I put the cold weather kit 634913 on my unit but the directions are not clear what to do with the wires. I think they go on the electrical box that has 2 green wires going to it but not sure. Can you help me out with this. Nels Larsen Michigan. skeeter185@charter.net

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