Returned today from a side trip and noticed the fridge emitting a rattling noise.

After looking in the rear area, from outside I noticed a piece of plastic which appeared to in the shape of a small fan blade. Only one piece was laying within site.

Looked at Thetford/Norcold parts diagram on line. There are two small DC voltage fans in the rear near the top of the fridge. They are out of site, of course.

Anyone had a fan blade or fan go south on their Norcold 1210IM? This fridge is in our 36RL.

Looks like a complete removal of the fridge to gain access to those two small PC desktop cabinet like fans.

Check the top access panel, should be able t9 get to them from there without removing the fridge.

Thanks for the quick response. Will get the ladder right after coffee in the AM. It was dark when I was poking around and forgot about the upper vent cover.

On the Norcold site the parts list indicates that the fans are no longer available for my serial number range. After a quick peek in the AM I will call their customer support for the current part number.

Thanks a bunch.

x

Yes they are a computer fan, about 4-6" square. I read that others have built a bracket to mount the originals & a third one to so its easier to get to them. Just be sure they are pulling air from the bottom & pushing out the top.

The upper vent area is about 75% covered. Per the installation manual this section serves as a baffle. When installed per their diagram only the upper vent opening in the cover is above the baffle. The two fans are about 4" below the opening and not reachable. The baffle screws are not accessible without removing the fridge so I will cut out the wallboard like material and reinstall with a simple method of some kind. We have a great supply store nearby ( Micro Center). I can see the fan data labels so that will give me CFM with a little research. Photo of the upper opening attached.

I removed that piece of paneling almost 5 years ago & never could remember to put it back & fridge has worked flawlessly ever since. Yes its still not back in there. I know it was to improve air flow across the coils, but they were well below the top opening.

A piece of duct tape dried out and fell into the one fan breaking one blade. All the fabric tape has now been replaced with high temperature HVAC rated aluminum tape. The original fans are rated at 93 CFM each. I found 105 CFM replacements, with sealed ball bearings on Amazon for about $12 each. I will replace the baffle as it assist with air flow over the upper coil unit which should help in a lower internal fridge temperature and reduced propane cost if not on AC. Without the baffle, some air will bypass into the grill cover as the grill assemble protrudes into the air stream far more then I would have guessed. The baffle prevents the bypassing until the air passes over the upper radiatior and until the final opening in the cover is reached. Bypassing the upper coil unit cooling could reduce overall fridge efficiency. One last note-the top baffle had also fallen loose. That baffle prevents heat from entering the RV. We often wondered why our pantry was blazing hot even in the winter. Hopefully the rebuild I did today, which totalled sealed the top baffle will lower the heat entering the RV from the fridge. Thanks to all for sharing your insights and so quickly.

Years ago we had a 2008 Crossroads Seville. Norcold Refer similar to the 1210IM. Had 4 doors and ice maker that worked well. Then one day it quit cooling as well as normal. Checked for function of fans by using a flashlight and mirror. Determined one fan quit working. Was able to get model from the fans. Searched and determined they actually had a cfm rating. Tried like heck to find 2 new replacement fans that had equal or higher cfm. Used Tiger Direct and a few other places to narrow down my search. Actually only a few had a cfm listed on them at all. Ended up getting them from MSC. They didn't have in stock here in Elkhart, but could ship directly to our house, I found it odd that they wouldn't ship to the store in ELkhart to have me pick up, they wanted me to pay for shipping. When I removed the Norcold Refer I also stuffed lots of insulation in the cabinet above and around the refer. The old baffle wasn't nearly the size the manufacturer required. The thick insulation around the burner tube came apart, so I taped it well with Foil duct type tape. Created panels and sealed off well with the foil tape to allow the heat to be forced out the vent instead of just lulling around making the 5th wheel hot in the process. You can see from the pictures that there was good sized gaps in the insulation that allowed the heat to go all the way to the face stiles of the cabinet. Again, this was on our previous 5er, which we lost a few months later due to our house fire. I would repair the baffle and any insulation issues you find when you remove the refer to replace the fans.

Chris & Maria
2012 36RL

A final note - having repaired the top baffle, which was laying on top of the top radiator and blocking air flow to the outside has reduced the pantry temperature to near room ambient. The fridge now cycles about once every 4-hours and is noticeably cooler inside the fridge. I suspect the top radiator coil hi-temp T'stat was controlling the cooling cycle on hi-temp shut downs. Thank goodness for the hi-temp safeties as this restricted air flow appears to be a potential fire hazard. The lower vent has been on my spring/fall inspection because of the ice maker line. Now the upper vent area is on that list for sure.

The replacement fans, from Amazon will be installed this Saturday. The total costs for the two fans was about $25. The are rated 12 CFM higher than the original 93 CFM fans and have sealed ball bearings. As much as I would have liked to move up to a higher CFM the fridge controller is not capable of powering a heavier fan load. I would have had to install a load isolation relay and a separate 12 VDC line. Seems like the original fans did the job until until the one fan tangled with the loose duct tape combined with an out of position top baffle. On hot summer days that upper area must have been very warm and most likely well above the fan ambient temperature rating.

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and recommendations. It made the repair much easier and me a little wiser.