Running Norcold fridge on propane

Cathy · Post by **Cathy** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 6:55 pm

I have the original Norcold in my Born Free & I'm not sure if its electric start or I have to put a match to it. Does anybody with a 99 BF know?

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:47 pm

I purchased new a 1999 BF 24' RB coach and it had a Norcold refrigerator that operated on either AC or propane. You should have a blue 3-ring binder containing the manuals for all of the installed appliances in your coach.

Turn the frig ON with the right most ON/OFF control as shown in the picture below. Then if you press and hold in on the MODE control, it should cycle thru the following three modes, 1) AU - automatic, 2) AC - AC powered, and 3) LP - propane powered. If you release when the indication is LP, an electric igniter in the back of the frig will light and cause the LP burner to fire up and power the frig. If you release when the indication is AC, then the frig will run on AC power as long as your are either plugged into shore line power of if you start your generator. If you release when the indication is AU, then the frig will automatically select AC power to run on if AC power is available. If not then it will automatically revert to LP power.

Read you Norcold manual.

Cathy · Post by **Cathy** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:47 pm

Thank you!!! That helps a lot, I wasn't sure if I needed to light with a lighter.

delrob · Post by **delrob** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 4:42 pm

Cathy,

Your 99 Norcold is probably "living on borrowed time". Our 98 had to be replaced three years ago. It cost $1,500 but the old one never worked as well as this one even when new. Please be careful with an old "gas absorption" unit like this. They can fail and catch fire and burn down your coach especially when running on propane. Do a google search and learn all that you can about this. Our next motor home will definitely include a residential style refrigerator.

Bob

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:05 pm

I'm curious as to how you would run a residential fridge while dry camping.

William Higbie · Post by **William Higbie** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:46 pm

I have a 96 26' President RSB. When you have a coach of that age everything in the coach is "living on borrowed time" I am enjoying my 4th year of borrowed time. My total expenditures in 4 years other than "maintenance" is 3800 dollars. I am now getting ready to install new tires but I also consider the purchase of tires normal maintenance. The 460 V8 has 87k miles and runs oh so smooth. The ford dealer chief mechanic tells me the 460 is the finest engine he has ever worked on. Virtually trouble free. I spoke with the previous owner and he said the coach never left him stuck on the road and he purchased it new. The coach fits real nice with my 2000 honda accord (toad) with 157k miles. Seems well used and maintained fits my style. I must admit I do get urges to purchase a new car, new bf, and a new truck. When I get these urges I fill up my wine carafe, sit in my old born free and wait for these urges to pass and they always do. I like to think of myself as thrifty but I know some of my friends, relatives and acqaintances would think of me as a plane old cheap skate. Anyway I hope all of you get much enjoyment out of your bf be it new, old, or all the ages in between.

delrob · Post by **delrob** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:16 pm

Mock Turtle,

When not connected to shore power or running your generator you have to power it (the residential refrigerator) with your inverter. All the "big rigs" are going this way now as well as many smaller class A's due to safety concerns with gas absorption units.

delrob · Post by **delrob** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:37 pm

William,

I estimate our spending on the coach for repairs to be about $1,000 per year, about the same as your experience. The big ticket items have been replacing all "4 corners" of our disc brakes along with new zerk fitting ball joints when the coach was about 5 years old (correction almost 7 years old at 72,000 miles). That was nearly $3,000. Since then I have the brake fluid flushed and replaced every two years, as recommended by the Ford Service Manager, and have not had to touch the brakes again in 8 years (not even pads). Another big ticket item was having the over cab window replaced at the Born Free factory in order to correct a chronic water leak that could not be corrected by removing and resealing. Apparently the window was defective and leaking between the frame and the glass. That cost me about $600 as I recall. Another was replacing the refrigerator as mentioned above at a cost of $1,500. The serpentine belt disintegrated on the road in Louisiana at about 80,000 miles requiring road service and ending up costing about $400 as I recall. Not bad for 14 years of ownership.

Bob

tomzleapin · Post by **tomzleapin** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 6:24 am

mockturtle wrote:I'm curious as to how you would run a residential fridge while dry camping. :?:

A residential fridge would not be a good choice for dry camping. If you are thinking of replacing your current fridge a better choice would be an RV style unit that uses a freon compressor. Both Norcold and Dometic make such units. When running, these type draw about 3.5 amps. Keep in mind that the compressor does not run continuously so figure on an average current draw of about 2 amps.

William Higbie · Post by **William Higbie** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:50 am

Bob,

The previous owner gave me detailed records of all expenditures since the coach was new. Apparently in year 9 he replaced the ball joints and in year 5 he replaced the norcold with a new one. Apparently 96 era norcolds had issues. I cannot imagine installing a residential fridge. My norcold does exactly what I want a fridge to do. It keeps food cold, keeps frozen food frozen. I dry camp on occasion and it works great. Would I install a norcold in my house seems almost as silly as installing a residential fridge in my coach. Uses and needs and quantities of storage are diff. I am far from a full timer. I must say I did meet a full timer last year who had installed a residential fridge but still had his norcold. He had cut offs for both. Was a pretty cool and well done install.

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 9:53 am

If I remember correctly, most of the RV fires from Norcold refrigerators occurred when running on shore power. I think the cause was leaking heating coils. Since I mostly dry camp, I prefer my propane fridge.

tomzleapin · Post by **tomzleapin** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:16 pm

The typical 3-way fridge still uses an absorption process just like the 2-way. When using it on 12 volt it sucks up lots of electricity. You would still use it on propane when dry camping.

The fridge I mentioned previously runs on 12 volt DC to power the freon compressor. It usually has a 120 volt power supply to power the 12 volt compressor when the coach is plugged into shore power or running on generator. I had one of these in my pickup camper prior to my Born Free and it worked quite well. You don't have to worry about the RV being level. It will operate at any angle.

delrob · Post by **delrob** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:47 pm

tomzleapin wrote:

A residential fridge would not be a good choice for dry camping. If you are thinking of replacing your current fridge a better choice would be an RV style unit that uses a freon compressor. Both Norcold and Dometic make such units. When running, these type draw about 3.5 amps. Keep in mind that the compressor does not run continuously so figure on an average current draw of about 2 amps.

The Samsung residential that most folks are installing in their class A's (RF197 18 cubic foot $1599 at Amazon.com) only draws 2 amps and of course it does not run continuously either. There are many advantages of using a residential fridge.The biggest is safety. Of course it will hold more food and drink, doesn't need to level or to be defrosted and they simply perform better. Also there can be no doubt that residential fridges are more durable than gas absorption types.

tomzleapin · Post by **tomzleapin** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:28 am

delrob wrote:The Samsung residential that most folks are installing in their class A's (RF197 18 cubic foot $1599 at Amazon.com) only draws 2 amps and of course it does not run continuously either. There are many advantages of using a residential fridge.The biggest is safety. Of course it will hold more food and drink, doesn't need to level or to be defrosted and they simply perform better. Also there can be no doubt that residential fridges are more durable than gas absorption types.

This would be a great fridge if it would fit. The fact is, a Born Free coach would require some major surgery. The furnace would have to be moved for one thing.

I couldn't locate any facts on what the amperage is, but Samsung specs say Energy Consumption = 445kWH/year. This would calculate to a continuous 4.2 amp draw. This would be like leaving a 50 watt light bulb on all the time.

This fridge runs on 120 volt only. If the 2 amps mentioned is for 120 volt then that would be 240 watts when it's running.

mockturtle · Post by **mockturtle** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:10 am

No one seems to give much thought to how much an 18 cu ft. refrigerator would weigh!