Poor Latch Design on Norcold Frig in NoBo 19.6

[Stingingfork]

Last week we completed our first trip with our new 2022 NoBo 19.6 and all went well with the exception of the Norcold N10 Frig because we discovered the Frig Door wouldn't stay closed while heading down to Florida and at the time I thought I had taken care of the problem with a strip of packing tape to hold it shut until I could return home and add a kid's protection type of latch between the door and the wooden frame surrounding the Frig which I had ordered from Amazon while on our trip. The biggest problem on the return trip was while traveling back home from the Florida Panhandle that night we discovered about 40 miles of washboard interstate they call I-59 North. Somewhere before Fort Payne, Al and continuing towards the Georgia/Tennessee border the right outside lane was continually up and down and even at holding our speed between 55 to 60 mph I felt like we were on a roller coaster for most of the way. The inside lane would have been acceptable but with the other trucks and cars doing 70 to 80 mph I didn't have much of a chance to use it. Once we arrived home and opened the door of the NoBo and found the Frig door laying on the floor even after using another strip of packing tape. Thankfully my wife had used the RV Refrigerator Bars I had purchased which held our food and drinks in place on the interior shelves during our travel home. I called the warranty department of Couch's RV the next morning and sent them a number of pics including the one showing the lower door bracket which was bent down below the level position which may have added to the self-destruction of the door. They are in the process of trying to get approval from FR and Norcold to ship me a new door replacement along with the hinge brackets for me to install. I believe the fact that the door would never lock in place with its' intended bracket while we were pulling the camper probably started the domino effect and our packing tape ended up failing to hold it in place too. Before we left Couch's I had discovered the issue with the door and the young man doing the walk through with us tried to lower the bracket slightly by drilling a new hole in the door frame but we noticed when we stopped for lunch on this first voyage it wasn't staying shut. For the short term I thought the packing tape would suffice and it seemed to have worked fine until the return trip and we hit the roller coaster portion of I-59. Live and learn, next time I will add another hour or more to our trip by routing through Georgia from Florida to get home to Tennessee and hope for better roads... Btw has anyone else had issues with the Norcold brand and their door not staying latched???

 

[faithie999]

we have a 2021 surveyor and have the same issue with the door latch on our norcold 10 cu ft fridge. we traveled from indy to phoenix a few weeks ago and after a stretch of very bumpy I-30 east of Dallas, we stopped for brisket at a Buck-ees. I went into the camper to get a bag of chips and found that the fridge door had come open (and then closed itself) but 4 cans of beer had fallen out, 3 of which burst. quite a mess but at least the floor got a good cleaning!
I first thought that the latch keeper needed to be lowered, which I did by filling the original holes in the frame around the fridge with epoxy then drilling new holes. upon closer inspection, I decided that the keeper bracket was actually about 1/8 inch too short. If I position the keeper so that the pin on the freezer door goes into the keeper fully, then the pin on the fridge door interferes with the very bottom of the lip of the keeper. it's been REAL cold in the driveway since we got home, but when it warms up a bit I plan to use my Dremel to shave off the bottom lip of the keeper so that the fridge door pin fits properly. the lip on the "front" edge of the keeper will still keep the fridge door pin fully engaged even though the bottom of the lip has been shaved off.

 

[faithie999]

I have a "thread drift" question. how effective is the freezer in your norcold? our norcold fridge compartment is sufficiently cold, but the freezer compartment at max setting barely keeps things frozen. ice cream gets very soft--not quite melted, but almost. ice cubes stay frozen but water takes overnight to freeze into cubes. I have about 6 weeks left on our warranty so I need to do some research before I run out of time.

thanks

 

[Stingingfork]

I have a "thread drift" question. how effective is the freezer in your norcold? our norcold fridge compartment is sufficiently cold, but the freezer compartment at max setting barely keeps things frozen. ice cream gets very soft--not quite melted, but almost. ice cubes stay frozen but water takes overnight to freeze into cubes. I have about 6 weeks left on our warranty so I need to do some research before I run out of time.

thanks

Thanks for your comments, we were only able to use our 10 cu. ft. Norcold Frig for slightly over a week before the door fell off but up till then the freezer appeared to work sufficiently to keep our items frozen. With only six weeks to go with your warranty I would probably go ahead and turn in a warranty request if it can't keep your ice cream frozen. I'm not sure how long a warranty issue between FR and Norcold should take to resolve but its' been over a week now and still no reply from either of them.

 

[wildmanabe]

The norcold aka Never Cold i had in my class a, door kept shut but keeping things cold was a chore. Just got a 5'er. Residential frig. 10 Cubic ft. has a lever that locks both at same time (frig/frez). ice cubes froze in a matter of few hrs. Duct Tape or Tie downs...

 

[REL]

Same issue. Too much stuff in the door. The weight slightly racked the door and the latch on top of the door wouldn't fully engage

 

[Stingingfork]

Same issue. Too much stuff in the door. The weight slightly racked the door and the latch on top of the door wouldn't fully engage

REL, actually in our case the small number of items may have added upwards of 4 lbs. to the door but the latch wouldn't allow ours to lock in while traveling and for a quick fix until I could get back home to address the issue I used some scotch clear packing tape but that didn't hold once we hit the bad stretch of Alabama Interstate on the way back home. I believe they placed the plastic latch up high enough to where it worked great for the freezer door but wouldn't allow the pin on the frig door to engage properly with the latch.

 

[faithie999]

when I was investigating the problem with my Norcold, I removed the "keeper" from the frame. then I opened both doors to see if the pins from both doors would fit inside the lip of the keeper as designed. the two pins barely fit, meaning the keeper needed to be positioned on the frame within probably 1/32" which wasn't going to happen in my case. hence my decision to use my Dremel to remove a small part of the keeper rim at the bottom. then both pins will seat properly and I'll have a bit of leeway in reattaching the keeper to the frame.

 

[Tundra 2014]

Door closure

Look at the straps they sell for the residential refrigerators. They are a strap w/ a stick on ball and socket strap, work very well. On my previous TT we used an elastic tarp strap (plastic ball w/ elastic loop) between the 2 doors. This added a safety measure for the factory locks and also worked well.

 

[NavyLCDR]

The freezer door on my Norcold would not stay latched. I had to adjust the hinges so the door is actually crooked, with the latch end of the door lower than the hinge end so that the latch on the door will fully engage the notch in the center bar between the two doors. The center bar is not adjustable. I may look into a secondary door latch too.

 

[John bodey]

Dometic refrigerator door handle

Has any member replaced a broken left door handle. I can't find any pn or any info on this handle, my unit is only 6 years old

 

[JHurtgen]

Norcold 10 cu ft Door latch fix

we have a 2021 surveyor and have the same issue with the door latch on our norcold 10 cu ft fridge. we traveled from indy to phoenix a few weeks ago and after a stretch of very bumpy I-30 east of Dallas, we stopped for brisket at a Buck-ees. I went into the camper to get a bag of chips and found that the fridge door had come open (and then closed itself) but 4 cans of beer had fallen out, 3 of which burst. quite a mess but at least the floor got a good cleaning!
I first thought that the latch keeper needed to be lowered, which I did by filling the original holes in the frame around the fridge with epoxy then drilling new holes. upon closer inspection, I decided that the keeper bracket was actually about 1/8 inch too short. If I position the keeper so that the pin on the freezer door goes into the keeper fully, then the pin on the fridge door interferes with the very bottom of the lip of the keeper. it's been REAL cold in the driveway since we got home, but when it warms up a bit I plan to use my Dremel to shave off the bottom lip of the keeper so that the fridge door pin fits properly. the lip on the "front" edge of the keeper will still keep the fridge door pin fully engaged even though the bottom of the lip has been shaved off.

Same camper, same problem. Only when I first opened the camper I saw terrible scratches in the door from our steps. The steps kept the door from opening completely, but did a real number on our brand new fridge in our brand new camper.
I just thought I hadn’t latched it securely and put a fridge magnet over the scratches. When it happened again I realized it was not the latch, but the hinge. I used a couple of washers and a bolt large enough to fit over the door hinge pin as a shim. (Did have to remover freezer and fridge doors to do this). Put it back together and now the door latch works as it is designed. 6 months and three trips later It seems to be working.

 

[DJohnL]

Same issue in our motor home, finally tried the Fridge Fixer. The gentleman that owns the company uses a 3D printer to make a latch that is custom made for you fridge. Ours works great. Check it our at fridgefixer.com if you like.

 

[DES-1]

Has any member replaced a broken left door handle. I can't find any pn or any info on this handle, my unit is only 6 years old

What model # is your dometic fridge? We had to replace the fridge handle after 3 years, think it is a common part to wear out. Your fridge has a sticker with the model number, from which you can use to get the correct parts info. Also, we were given a "build sheet" at purchase that had a line item with numbers for the fridge.


A general comment on the topic, you need to verify the latching mechanisms as they are often misaligned (ours was).

 

[Stingingfork]

Same issue in our motor home, finally tried the Fridge Fixer. The gentleman that owns the company uses a 3D printer to make a latch that is custom made for you fridge. Ours works great. Check it our at fridgefixer.com if you like.

DJohn, I tried to link to the site you mentioned but it states that the domain name is for sale so I assume the business is no longer viable...

 

[faithie999]

Same issue in our motor home, finally tried the Fridge Fixer. The gentleman that owns the company uses a 3D printer to make a latch that is custom made for you fridge. Ours works great. Check it our at fridgefixer.com if you like.

I believe the website is now https://www.recubed.solutions

 

[Stingingfork]

I believe the website is now https://www.recubed.solutions

Faithie999, thanks alot for the follow-up, once I get my replacement door for the one that fell off and I get it installed I will check for the distance as stated on the recubed site and if I have sufficient space I will be sure to follow through and purchase it. It looks like a fool proof fix for doors that don't latch properly...