Are you having trouble with your Norcold 4-door refrigerator? We may have the fix for you.
If you’re not a fix-it person, owning an RV means you’ll become a fix-it person whether you want to or not.
Even though we have a brand new rig, there have been several issues, and we’re going to talk about the fridge. While it’s not easy to find the problem, once we figure out what is wrong with the fridge, I can assure you that the fix is very easy.
But before jumping into the repair, let’s go through the story, and hopefully, this will save you a service call.
Let’s talk about the problem
We have a Norcold four-door fridge and we kept noticing water in it, particularly on the bottom shelf. Things were dripping. I would take out a thing of cottage cheese, and there’d be water on the lid. I would take out stuff on the bottom, and there’s a whole bunch of water.
So, the first thing we checked was the condensation tray in the back. We wanted to make sure it was in all the way. If it’s not connected, then the water from the condensation could just be dripping into the fridge.
So, at times when the tray gets pulled out, the hose gets disconnected and if that condensation collection tray fills up, of course, it comes over the top. it would only fill up if that hose or the drain out of the tray is clogged. You need to check to see if that hose is properly connected.
You might need to take that shelf off to ensure the hose is not clogged. It’s really simple. You just need to remove one screw from the wall of the fridge, and it’s out of your way.
This way, you can get your whole hand on the tube and ensure it’s connected properly to the drain. Just push the tube to the nipple and see if it’s secure.
After checking the drain, we still had water, and the problem persists. So, I went
on some blogs, and I found that there was talk about door flaps not popping back into place. And that was the root of this problem.
We also noticed that water was starting to puddle outside of the fridge –in front of the fridge in the center –that definitely gave us cause for concern. Every morning, there would be puddles of water in front of the door
The main problem with these norcold four-door refrigerators is that the flap on the door that seals the two doors together keeps the cold from escaping. There are times when the door flap doesn’t always drop and stays in place to create a seal.
Because of that, you end up with a leak on your seal, and then the water comes down. And because you have a constantly running refrigerator and everything gets wet.
The first thing we decided to do was to try and make it close all the way right.
I also heard some talk about the decal at the bottom of the fridge made in the usa interfering with that flap. In our case, that wasn’t there.
If you have a fridge like this and you notice that the decal is in the way of the flap, then you might have to peel that off.
So we decided just to close the fridge very mindfully so that it would close all the way, but that wasn’t solving the problem.
One of the things we found is that when I took all the stuff out of the door, the flap worked 100% of the time. But when I loaded the door, I noticed that the flap was not flapping.
How to Fix the Door Flap
The fix for this is to raise the door just slightly. What we’re going to do is to put a washer underneath the bottom hinge.
I went to the hardware store and bought some brass washers. I got two of them: one for each door. It’s 55 cents a piece, and the size is 5/16 S.
Installing the washer into the door
You’ll take the lid that covers the door’s hinge before you take the door off. But before you remove the screws, you want to get the weight out of the door because you’ll be lifting the door off.
You’ll need a flat blade screwdriver and a 5/16 or eight-millimeter socket wrench. You need a flat blade screwdriver to pop this trim piece off that covers the screws holding the door in place. Once the trim piece comes off, there are three 5/16 or 8-millimeter screw heads.
I have a screwdriver with interchangeable bits, and when you take the bits out, you have a 5/16 socket. Using the driver without the bits, we got the bracket off or unscrewed the screws that held the door in place.
What you need to do next is you’re going to lift the door bracket out of there. Once the bracket is out, you can just lift the door out of the fridge and put it in a safe place where it will not fall. Nothing is holding the door at the bottom, so you can easily lift it.
Once the door is out, you will see a screw that latches the bottom of the door to the fridge, keeping it in place. You need to insert the 5/16 washer you just bought into the screw. The washer will lift the door slightly higher, just enough for the door flap to close properly. The door should not be too high, so using a very thick washer is not recommended.
After the washer is placed, you can now return the door to the fridge. It’s critical to make sure that the door’s weight doesn’t pull it down in the middle of the fridge, so you’re going to take some of that weight off the door by pulling it back. You must pull back just enough to place the screw back on the door’s hinge.
When you pull it back, you’ll see the bracket moving in there. So you want to get it probably somewhere in the middle. You might need to try this a few times to ensure you got it right.
You’ll know the bracket is placed properly when you hear that second click from the flap when you close the door. Then, you can tighten all your screws and give them a little snug with the ratchet. But don’t over-tighten them. You don’t want to strip these screws out, so don’t go grill on it.
This is the easiest way to fix the door flap on your Norcold 4-door refrigerator, which may have saved you some money.
Leave a comment below if you had this problem and if this tip fixed your fridge. We’d be happy to hear your troubleshooting stories about your fridge!
