Community Forums

rcrevolution · 01-23-2018, 08:48 PM

The Prevost we had was all electric. The generator was running most of the time. I remember one trip to Air Venture in Oshkosh where they wouldn’t allow us to run the genset. With no AC and no fridge, we ended up leaving early.

The Amish cooling unit is better quality and operates at lower temps than the original, but you’re still dealing with ammonia and hydrogen in close proximity to a flame/heating element. The risk of fire still exists.

gregsdart · 01-24-2018, 03:23 AM

If you rarely dry camp, and go residential, some ice in the fridge will take care of the main part of the fridge for a day or so. It would also slow the thawing of frozen foods, but then you need to plan for using them up real soon. Personally, after only a few weeks with a residential, i will never go back. I will figure out how to get by when i can't hook up to shore power. If you go residential and opt for inverter and batteries, consider how much reserve capacity you will need. Running batteries down real low hurts their life span.

Papa_Jim · 01-24-2018, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALLOY

For those with residential fridges that do dry camp I'd appreciate seeing info on your solar/battery bank sizes and gen run times.

When we switched to the residential fridge, I was actually surprised how little difference, if any, there was in our power consumption. I'm not an electrical engineer but I do know that every minute the generator has to run costs me money for fuel. With the residential fridge, the generator did not cost me one penny more to run one minute longer to keep the battery bank charged up.

Actually, we found that the fridge was possibly the smallest user of power in our motorhome. The propane furnace was an absolute power hog of electricity. My wife and I both use CPAPs, which drain considerable power from the batteries overnight.

Our system was four 4D batteries, 2800w sine wave inverter, 6.5kw propane generator. If we had kept the motorhome, we were going to add solar, which I believe would have almost eliminated having to rely on the generator to maintain the system.

ramwheel · 02-03-2018, 08:31 PM

Had to add two after market fans at opening to bottom of Ref blowing up to ceiling. Also added a little awning to side off MTH where ref is to shade . After adding fan and awning everything has worked good even in 100deg weather without problem. These MTH ref need good air flow and shade to reduce heat on side of MTH . Most stock fans have failed. In most cases have to remove ref to replace fans there are two 3" square almost in the middle of Ref just above cooling fins Worked for us lot cheaper and less changes.

mricet1005 · 02-03-2018, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALLOY

For those with residential fridges that do dry camp I'd appreciate seeing info on your solar/battery bank sizes and gen run times.

I have 660 ah battery capacity (so 330 ah usable). I can go at least 14 hours and probably longer without running gen. I don’t have any solar. Usually run generator 1.5-2 hrs in morning while making breakfast then another 2-2.5 hours in evening while cooking dinner and into earl evening. Timing depends if area has quiet hours for generators. Going down the road no issues, alternator keeps batteries charged as Fridge runs.

My residential fridge is not noisy, not sure what one poster referring to. Don’t have firsthand comparison since I’ve never owned an RV with evaporative fridge.

SCVJeff · 02-04-2018, 12:16 AM

So in other words, you run the generator essentially to keep up the batteries just to support the reefer.. people need to factor in "living" power as well on dry camping. I'm a terrible energy hog going to bed between 1&2 Am nightly pulling ~16A to support the Direct TV, 32" monitor, light(s), and to charge the cell phones and iPads for the night (it all adds up), and I don't intend to change to run a compressor fridge. Either way, this is the reason we stayed with LP on the fridge. It's been replaced with Helium, I can easily maintain 33&5 in the fridge. And the Helium is inert so far safer. There are trade offs when dry camping, and I've elected to refine and improve on what's been the proven better choice in this mode

mricet1005 · 02-04-2018, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCVJeff

So in other words, you run the generator essentially to keep up the batteries just to support the reefer.. people need to factor in "living" power as well on dry camping. I'm a terrible energy hog going to bed between 1&2 Am nightly pulling ~16A to support the Direct TV, 32" monitor, light(s), and to charge the cell phones and iPads for the night (it all adds up), and I don't intend to change to run a compressor fridge. Either way, this is the reason we stayed with LP on the fridge. It's been replaced with Helium, I can easily maintain 33&5 in the fridge. And the Helium is inert so far safer. There are trade offs when dry camping, and I've elected to refine and improve on what's been the proven better choice in this mode

No, not just the reefer. TV, satellite, lights, CPAP machine, etc. Again I don’t have a BMK to accurately measure SOC so probably running generator more than necessary. However there is no doubt LP fridge will certainly use less electricity. However cooling effectiveness and capacity are much better. It’s all about trade-offs and what’s important to you.