Norcold Fridge Not Starting on Propane

**Camping Carpenters** · 06-28-2019, 12:50 PM

Our Norcold 300 used to start and run great on propane. Now the burner starts, but goes out as soon as you release the safety valve. All other gas appliances work fine. We installed a new burner and ignitor coil, with no change. The flame, during start does not look as big as it used to....at least as I recall (don't know if I'm sure of that or not, LOL). The meter does take longer than it used to to get into the green, and does not go as high in the green as it used to. The gas safety valve "button" seems to not be very firm when depressed....perhaps a little soft (?). I'm not certain what to check next. Ideas? Oh, and we've checked the connectors at the top front of the fridge (Norcold recall). Those connections are all good.

**Bill** · 06-28-2019, 02:47 PM

Quote:

The meter does take longer than it used to to get into the green, and does not go as high in the green as it used to.

Is the thermocouple fully immersed in the pilot flame? Sounds like maybe not - and this is critical to easy operation. Read about it in the owner's manual for your refrig. If you don't have your original manual, Rickst29 put one in the forum's TM Technical Library (TM Info You Won't Find Anywhere Else).

Bill

tentcamper · 06-28-2019, 03:57 PM

There is a known issue with the norcold n300 for what you describe. It could be this problem. The fix is replacing 2 wires. Google "Norcold Wire upgrade 628119"

I had this issue and the wire did fix the problem. The connectors all looked good, with micro voltage of the thermocouples any resistance is enough to make it fail.

**Camping Carpenters** · 06-28-2019, 04:05 PM

Tentcamper: No, I noted in the description that my connectors are fine. Plus, when I checked my wires, I believe a previous owner has already accomplished this wire replacement.

Bill: I have a manual, and I am aware what the thermocouple is for. Yeah, I have considered this, given what the thermocouple does....I'm going to bypass it at the interrupter if possible, and see if that will work. I think there's a way to bypass it. But that still leaves the fact that I'm not getting that much flame.....?

**Bill** · 06-28-2019, 07:15 PM

The problem can also be caused by low propane gas pressure. I suppose the regulator could be on the way out. Wouldn't hurt to have a tech measure the pressure with a manometer. I know you said all other appliances work fine, but is it possible that the flame on the stove burners looks a little anemic? The proper value is 11 inches water column. It doesn't have to drop much below 10 to cause a problem, while the stove still looks pretty close to normal.

Bill

**Camping Carpenters** · 06-29-2019, 06:02 AM

Bill - Checking further, I see the indicator on the propane selector (Marshall 254) is red. So I may have a gas flow problem. The flame on the stove top is fine, though. My wife says they light easily and the flame is where it always is. So I need to do more troubleshooting. Thanks for the idea.

**lederhos** · 07-09-2019, 12:50 AM

I had the same issue you describe and my reduced propane flow rate was caused by a spider that had built a web inside the gas line across the screen mesh reducing flow rate just enough to cause problems. I overlooked it during my first troubleshooting efforts because the web was so consistent across the screen it looked to be part of it. A quick burst of air removed it.

**Camping Carpenters** · 07-09-2019, 06:08 AM

Thanks to all who posted helpful replies ! We finally got the fridge - and propane system - back. Dual problem. One: bad regulator. Two: thermocouple just slightly out of the flame enough that it would not sustain gas flow (ie., interrupter trip). Should not have been so tough to figure out. Live and learn. Again, thanks to everyone who contributed...it all helped our thinking to locate and solve this problem.