Norcold Refrigerator not running on AC, but runs on propane- Solution

dhaig · October 21

Yesterday, I retrieve OTT LEII Hull 990 from storage to prepare for a photo trip to shoot fall color in The Smoky Mountains National Park. Upon arrival home, I unhitched, connected shore power and turned ON the Norcold 3-way Refrigerator. The refrigerator would not startup on AC shore power and the fault indicator on the door displayed an "A". I consulted the Norcold N41x_ N51x_Service Manual and found troubleshooting steps in P. 21. I checked the AC breaker in the power panel under the rear dinette seat, which was ON. I checked the GFCI protected outlets and they were ON. Next, I removed the exterior access panel to the refrigerator, next to the entry door. I removed the AC supply line from the refrigerator (located in the lower left, near the control board cover) and found NO AC voltage on the supply line.

This morning, I phoned OTT Technical Support and described the problem and symptoms and asked if there we any other breakers or fuses between the breaker panel and the refrigerator. Mike Strong informed me there were none. He did, however, tell me the refrigerator AC supply line plugs into an outlet below the left/forward galley drawers. This outlet is accessed by removing the bottom two drawers and removing a thin plywood hatch attached with four wood screws to the bottom panel of the drawer cabinet.

I proceeded to remove the drawers and found the plywood panel. Removal of the wood screws requires a short Phillips screw driver. I used a small ratchet set with a ¼" Phillips No. 2 bit to remove the screws. I found the outlet and the AC supply line to the refrigerator. The AC plug was partially dislodged from the AC outlet. I reinserted the plug and tightened the zip tie, which had been installed to prevent the plug from vibrating or otherwise coming out of the outlet. With AC power restored, the refrigerator now operates normally.

The first step in the troubleshooting flowchart on P. 21 of the service manual calls for checking the AC power input to the refrigerator. However, it provided no clue to the existence of the concealed AC outlet beneath the galley drawers. My thanks to Mike for informing me where to find the concealed outlet.

Our trailer was delivered in mid-February, 2022, and now has traveled over 12,000 miles. I suspect the cause of the AC plug dislodging from the outlet was vibration while underway. I would expect other OTT owners will have similar experiences. See photos below.

Access hatch removal