Community Forums

moisheh · 02-18-2019, 08:58 AM

Our Dynasty has a factory installed Jenn Air side by side. Monaco picked a high end fridge for the Dynasty's. It has every feature one could want. Monaco installed matching Cherry panels on the doors. Very deluxe. It has always worked well. But 2 years ago it stopped cooling. I had a retch come to the house and although it was not leaking he said the cooling system was plugged. Overcharged the system slightly and it worked for one year. Repeated the overcharging. Waked well for 6 months. it is still cooling but cannot get cold enough. I suspect it has a leak. We are in Mexico and a tech ( ??) is coming out later this week. I have called the boys at Elite and we discussed putting in a new fridge. The model I have is long since discontinued. There are a number of SxS units that will fit with no modifications. I am not crazy about French door units. Our fridge is much bigger than the Samsungs that owners put in their Rv's. Most new units with residential fridges are either Samsung or Whirlpool. But that just means the mfr. got a good deal! I spent about 3 hours looking at the various makes that are available. There are not many mfrs. of fridges. Whirlpool, Maytag, jenn air and a few others are all made by Whirlpool. LG are junk. Samsungs have their problems. Both the GE and Frigidaire have some very nice features. The Frigidaire has the most room but reviews are horrible. Very noisy. Even the GE profile is not that great. In today's world the life of a fridge is about 5-8 years. I sure don't want to replace another fridge. We have always had good success with Whirlpool appliances but they were made by Maytag. Not the same today. So I am asking if anyone else has installed or bought a MH with a residential fridge? If so what make? Are you pleased? Thanks.

vito.a · 02-18-2019, 10:36 AM

The reason most of us use a French door model is the limited space makes a large single door unmanageable. The smaller French doors use less space with the doors open and the bottom freezer places your food items down low where they are easy to reach.

Our 2007 Executive came with a large Maytag. After 10 years the ice maker stopped working but it was easy to replace. This Maytag was still working well when we sold it. But you are right, most of these companies have consolidated now and are made by the same manufacturer.

Regardless, I think you need to find the exact measurements for your Jenn-Air model and replace it with one that is almost identical in size.
You also need to think about how to get it out and your new fridge back into the coach. Some refrigerators will go in the front door with the doors off, but the very large ones have to come in through a window.
Best of luck!

Mhcorrigan · 02-18-2019, 10:59 AM

Installed a Kitchen Aid in my Sig and had to remove front window to get it in. Has worked fine ever and since.

moisheh · 02-18-2019, 11:57 AM

Vito. Mine has to come out the drivers side window. There are actually a number ff side by sides that fit my space. The Maytags before 2008 were great units. Repairmen always tell me they re the best. Another problem you can run into is the lack of parts. Control boards for fridges as little as 6 years old may be obsolete. What a game! One would think that a $3500 fridge is better than a $1500 unit. In many cases they use the same components but the expensive unit has more bells and whistles.

CountryB · 02-19-2019, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Whirlpool Corporation owns/markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Gladiator GarageWorks, Inglis, Estate, Brastemp, Bauknecht, Ignis, Indesit, and Consul. Whirlpool Corporation is the world's largest home appliance maker. Their website also mentions Hotpoint, Diqua, Affresh, Acros, and Yummly brands.

I had Maytag Washer and Dryer (2010 I think) the Dryer broke about three times under warranty and the Washer bearings failed twice. The repair tech said the circuit boards are the biggest problems on the new appliances.
I just ended up replacing the Washer last week (Dryer still working). After much researching (all the Consumer review sites and several forums) I bought an LG Washer. They have the best reliability ratings.

I also had a Kenmore Elite refrigerator which failed 5 times while still under warranty, so finally Sears gave me a credit for a new unit. I bought a Samsung four door model, and it has been flawless since (going on four years now).

So LG and Samsung are my top go-to brands now.

jacwjames · 02-19-2019, 06:05 PM

No matter what you buy I would recommend getting the extended warranty. Historically I never use to get them but with all the electronics on the new appliances I think it's pretty much a necessity.

Just build a new house and have had to buy new appliances.

Bought a Frigidaire french door model for the main floor kitchen. It does have 2 ice makers. It is loud and never shuts off, power for the year is suppose to be $87. This was a $2400 unit but paid $650 on clearance at Lowes, did buy the extended warranty.
I bought a LG french door in door model for downstairs. It is quite, never know when or if it is running. This was a $3400 unit, both top handles had deep dents, it was on clearance at Lowes for $300, replaced the handles for $125 and it is working perfectly. This is wifi capable and has all the bells and some of whistles. Have not bought extended warranty yet but probably will.
Also bought a RF18 Samsung for my coach but have not installed yet. Did use it for ~4 months in the basement until I bought the LG. It also ran all the time but was fairly quite. This was on clearance for $900, offered them $800. Did buy the extended warranty on this.

Although the Samsung will run on a MSW inverter I will probably install a small 1000 watt inverter dedicated to it in the motorhome. We do boondock and need to conserve as much power as possible.

moisheh · 02-19-2019, 06:10 PM

Extended warranties are a good idea for all of these junky appliances. But I don't know if either the mfr. or the extended warranty will honor the warranties for a unit installed in a motorhome. I think Whirlpool does. I doubt LG or Frigidaire will. If the fridge has to come out of it's hole will they pay for that?

moisheh · 02-19-2019, 06:16 PM

The tech that last worked on our fridge told me he had just come from a service call on one of those $10,000 plus built ins. I forget the name. It was out of warranty and one part needed replacing. BUT there was no way to access the part. he had to cut a whole in one part. He was vey handy and made a nice cover the hole!

Ivylog · 02-20-2019, 06:29 AM

I put in a 21 cuft Whirlpool in my Dynasty... not counter depth so removed driver’s side window. Hoped it would fit perfectly in the 1200 hole but ended up being 1/2” to tall. Amazing how energy efficient it is...8 amps measured before the 1000W PSW inverter and only 1.2 KW/day...16 cents/day. I was worried the 10 year old JennAir in my “new” Navigator would not be as efficient...came close at 1.3 KW.

bpotter · 02-22-2019, 12:14 PM

Our 05 Dynasty has a Whirlpool Gold side-by-side factory installed when built. We have not had any problems with it and is a great fridge. Also a second bank of batteries were installed when built to take care of the "electric" rig. Works great.

robertj1979 · 02-25-2019, 06:48 AM

Ours has a Frigidaire side by side and has worked ok but has some strange characteristics. When temperatures get into the 40's or lower, the freezer thermostat never turns off resulting in extremely low temperatures on that side and the refrigerator side does not maintain a "normal" temperature either. The solution to keep this from happening is to place a small heater blowing hot air into the vent area at the bottom of the refrigerator. For whatever reason we have not had problems since we started doing this. It actually quit working on one occasion when temperatures got really cold outside and we had a Sears Technician come out and replace the control board but we still had the same issue. Many residential refrigerators do not like extremes in temperature and seem to cause problems in those conditions so might be worth researching if that could be an issue for your travel locations. I have discovered that many models offer a "garage kit" that is supposed to eliminate some of these problems but worth considering depending on your installation or if you want to leave the refrigerator on when the motorhome is not in use. On ours, even though the inside of the motor home was kept in the 60 degree range, we would still have problems with the refrigerator when temperatures outside were in the 40's or lower unless we blow warm directly into the bottom of the unit.

Freqz · 02-25-2019, 06:58 AM

I had a LG fridge previously that was a tank. We sold it to MIL who later sold it to a friend of ours. It’s still trucking along 13 years later. Curious as to why they’re junk?

Currently in the S&B we have a Liebherr which is probably the best fridge you can buy. That’s probably what I’ll have put in my next RV when I have it built.

barmcd · 02-25-2019, 07:16 AM

We bought a low tech Frigidaire 10 CU Ft. model for a little less than $400. No fancy electronic controls and it fit the spot without having to enlarge anything. It provides about the same amount of real space the original 12 CU FT Norcold did. As a bonus it draws very little current and is quiet. I unknowingly ran it off a MSW inverter for a year with no issues.