Norocold Refrigerator latch fail.

[bzizzi]

Just came back from a beach trip with my Globetrotter, on the way back the latch on Norocold refrigerator door failed, door swung open and out flew three cans of ginger ale, one broke open and made a mess in my bedroom, fortunately the can stayed in one place and contained the sticky mess of soda. I used hot soapy water to clean up, cleaned floor three times to make sure no sticky residue, last cleaning was with hot water only and a sponge mop. So what happened to the latch ?
Turns out that one of the plastic spacers on door hinge broke in half and door dropped down and safety catch pin would no longer engage slot in door striker plate. I removed both doors, made a spacer from brass and put back together.
Latches fine now. I won't ever carry too much weight in door shelves ever again while traveling. I had four containers on bottom door shelf and I believe this was too much weight on door while traveling, next time those will go in the Yeti while traveling and once I get to destination I'll put them in fridge.

[Spartanfam]

It’s the worst design known to man. Older refrigerators on Argosy/Airstream had a rotating clasp to hold while traveling. My previous camper had a truly solid latch with a sliding secondary latch to keep it secure during travel. The Norcold in my 2023 FC has a cheap plastic pin. I have a threaded bolt and washer I now use to keep it secure during travel.

[richard5933]

I've installed a short leather strap for both the lower and upper doors to keep them closed during travel. On the fridge end they're connected with a large snap, and on the cabinet side by a twist lock connector like found on old convertible tops. Keeps the fridge tightly closed so never and spilled contents. I've never trusted the plastic latches, especially as they age and the plastic gets more brittle.

[bzizzi]

Even the refrigerator in my Forest River was way better at securing doors while traveling, it had latch on each door that you swing shut and lock in place while traveling, also had a little tab you install to keep door open a little after shutting fridge off so won't mildew. I am going to install some sort of positive locking device on the doors when traveling so this will never happen again.
Might VHB tape a dead bolt assembly on each door.

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by bzizzi

Just came back from a beach trip with my Globetrotter, on the way back the latch on Norocold refrigerator door failed, door swung open and out flew three cans of ginger ale, one broke open and made a mess in my bedroom, fortunately the can stayed in one place and contained the sticky mess of soda. I used hot soapy water to clean up, cleaned floor three times to make sure no sticky residue, last cleaning was with hot water only and a sponge mop. So what happened to the latch ?
Turns out that one of the plastic spacers on door hinge broke in half and door dropped down and safety catch pin would no longer engage slot in door striker plate. I removed both doors, made a spacer from brass and put back together.
Latches fine now. I won't ever carry too much weight in door shelves ever again while traveling. I had four containers on bottom door shelf and I believe this was too much weight on door while traveling, next time those will go in the Yeti while traveling and once I get to destination I'll put them in fridge.

Do you remember hitting a pot hole or rough pavement that may have caused plastic spacer to break and the door swing open? Just curious.

[bzizzi]

Originally Posted by Hans627

Do you remember hitting a pot hole or rough pavement that may have caused plastic spacer to break and the door swing open? Just curious.

Not really, just the normal bouncing around going over bridges at highway speeds. I did notice along with the broken pin hinge spacer laying on floor the striker plate screws were a little loose.
After I made brass spacer on my lathe and adjusted everything both doors close and pin engages striker plate cavity like it should now.I still don't trust this latch system and will install some sort of positive lock on doors.

[Mollysdad]

Is this the fridge where you can fix the door latch by adding a washer in the hinge, thereby raising the door a tiny bit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_S2nV339T8

[2012FB]

Same ongoing issue. I pull a bit of duct tape out and fold the end over. Then I pull about 9” out and tear it off. I then put it on the corner of the cabinet wall and the refrigerator door. Get to destination and pull it off by the folded tab and gently stick an edge to the back the TV. Put it back on when moving. Great trick for a 2022 100k trailer. I have all of my cabinet doors and most of the drawers retrofitted with marine type push latches. The kind often on lower cost trailers.

[bzizzi]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

Is this the fridge where you can fix the door latch by adding a washer in the hinge, thereby raising the door a tiny bit?

No, My Norocold has horizontal latches in the door that engage a striker plate in the middle of outer fridge box, striker plate has cavities that the spring loaded pin must align with, if pins don't align then door closes but can fly open while traveling down the road, however similar concept. when spacer broke and fell out door dropped 1/8" pin was out of location and would not slide into hole.
I removed all plastic spacers and made one out of brass the correct thickness so it'll never happen again. Brass spacer ended up being about 7mm thick. I used brass because that's what I had that wouldn't rust, aluminum or stainless will work as well.