Norcold Propane System Overview

This is the landing page for fixing a Norcold refrigerator when the propane system does not work or needs troubleshooting. Ever ask - how do I fix Norcold fridge for no cooling on propane & burner, igniter, gas pressure, and flue tube - baffle & cap solutions?

Your are in the right place 😁


Entire Norcold Propane System
This image shows the following for a typical Norcold fridge:

Propane Tank ♦ Regulator

Gas Valve ♦ Filter ♦ Orifice

Burner Assembly ♦ Igniter

Flue Tube ♦ Baffle ♦ Cap

Please note that the 'Propane System Issues' drop-down menu above is ordered from start to end of the LP gas system:
Propane Tank ⇒ Flue Cap

How to use these Pages

If you know exactly what you need to fix, look above at the blue menu and select the subject you need. Otherwise, following is an overview of the entire propane system. We suggest starting with the overview, and then selecting the proper menu item:

Norcold Propane System Overview

Your Norcold fridge requires a precise amount of fuel, and in turn heat to be delivered to your fridge cooling unit to operate correctly, we have coined the term Quality of Heat, click here to read more on 'Quality of Heat' for your RV fridge + VIDEOS.

If the quality of heat requirement is not satisfied, the fridge will not cool properly on propane. Either too much heat or not enough heat will destroy the fridge. The Fridge Defend protects the cooling unit for either of these issues.

Starting at the propane tank, the gas pressure is controlled by the propane regulator. The piping in the RV delivers the propane to the fridge at the gas valve.

When the operator puts the fridge into the LP Gas or Propane mode, the fridge controller turns ON the gas valve and igniter. Propane is delivered to the burner gas orfice (also called gas jet).

The burner assembly mixes the propane from the burner gas orfice with air which is issued from the burner. The igniter sparks to light propane/air mixture to produce a flame. In addition on newer refrigerators’ the igniter is the safety to turn off the gas valve if the flame does not light or is blown out. On older refrigerators’ a thermocouple is used as a gas safety.

The heat rises from the flame up the chimney, which in this case is generally called the flue tube. Within the flue tube, there is a flue baffle (also called a diffuser) which is just a spiral that causes the heat to spiral up the tube rather than running up the tube without transferring heat to the boiler assembly.

It is the quality of the heat delivered to the boiler assembly that is critical, if the fridge is not cooling on propane gas mode, but does cool on shore power, it is the quality of heat that is the issue. The Fridge Defend protects against failures due to these problems, thus the Fridge Defend is the best tool for knowing that the proper heat is not getting to your fridge cooling unit. Otherwise, you will notice that the fridge is not cooling, and this means that damage occurs due to the quality of heat issues, ARPRV will teach RVers how to troubleshoot and/or fix all of these parts needed to make the LP gas system work.

Propane Tank & Regulator


For those that like videos, this YouTube video teaches how to fill the propane tank properly. How the tank works, propane tank regulator adjustment, and fridge gas valve testing and cleaning.