Absorption Refrigerator or Residential

[homeless]

If someone doesn't like the flame why not keep your Norcold on AC and run it through the inverter, or an inverter of its own, and of course add a few batteries?

Rather than have a residential and have to remodel and have to tie the doors closed!

When at a camp ground on AC my Norcold seems to be colder!

Then you could have gas for back up....

[MSHappyCampers]

I'm a little confused about your post. Are you saying that's what you do and asking why others don't do that, or are you asking if you can do it that way?

Sorry, I'm a little dense sometimes!

[JFNM]

Originally Posted by homeless

If someone doesn't like the flame why not keep your Norcold on AC and run it through the inverter, or an inverter of its own, and of course add a few batteries?

Hi George,

In my case, my Dometic pulls 300 watts continuous when on AC. That is a pretty serious load for any battery bank (24 amps @ 12.5V). Assuming most RV refrigerators consume similar amounts of power, running them via an inverter for long periods of time is a challenge for the battery and solar (or whatever) systems.

I am curious about the power consumption of the new, small, efficient residential refrigerators as compared to my existing Dometic only from a power consumption perspective. Running on propane works ok, but my fridge (old) has never been "great" (in terms of cold). The thought is that a residential refrigerator is not terribly expensive and they seem to be pretty reliable so possibly a reasonable alternative depending on actual energy consumption. I have a bit of excess solar power available (but not THAT much) and would like to run the numbers on a residential refrigerator. However; I haven't found hard numbers on them - though I admit I haven't searched real hard yet - only at the curious stage.

[MSHappyCampers]

Originally Posted by JFNM

Hi George,

In my case, my Dometic pulls 300 watts continuous when on AC. That is a pretty serious load for any battery bank (24 amps @ 12.5V). Assuming most RV refrigerators consume similar amounts of power, running them via an inverter for long periods of time is a challenge for the battery and solar (or whatever) systems.

I am curious about the power consumption of the new, small, efficient residential refrigerators as compared to my existing Dometic only from a power consumption perspective. Running on propane works ok, but my fridge (old) has never been "great" (in terms of cold). The thought is that a residential refrigerator is not terribly expensive and they seem to be pretty reliable so possibly a reasonable alternative depending on actual energy consumption. I have a bit of excess solar power available (but not THAT much) and would like to run the numbers on a residential refrigerator. However; I haven't found hard numbers on them - though I admit I haven't searched real hard yet - only at the curious stage.

I run my fridge on inverter power ONLY while driving. If we stop for more than a few minutes I switch the fridge to LPG.

[wa8yxm]

Originally Posted by homeless

If someone doesn't like the flame why not keep your Norcold on AC and run it through the inverter, or an inverter of its own, and of course add a few batteries?

Rather than have a residential and have to remodel and have to tie the doors closed!

When at a camp ground on AC my Norcold seems to be colder!

Then you could have gas for back up....

Well, to answer your questions
1: Refrigerators have effiecency ratings. The Norcold (And it's competitors) are the worst, they take the most electricity per unit cooling. UNLESS (See exceptioN) Residential units come in 2nd on the list of 3. Most effiecent is the exception mentioned above. Both Norcold and Dometic make high effiency COMPRESSOR 'fridges that suck LESS than 50 watts with the door closed... So you understand what that means... The light fixture over my head, two 1156 lamps, that's MORE than 50 watts. A small "Dorm/office fridge is 100 watts.

Second: Absorption cooling units are kind of bulky, a compressor fridge has more "interior space" for the same footprint. so you can store more food.

Finally you assume you have to tie the door shut.. NOT TRUE.

Camping world sells a very nice latch that will hold the door shut quite well plus there are other ways to lock it that do not involve tying it closed. Alas they don't make 'em with a proper latch any more.. but you can add one easily.

[newmar10]

A norcold or dometic using the heating elements on Ac will draw about 5 to 6 amps Ac or 60 t0 70 amps Dc. That will kill your batterys in no time at all. A high efficiency house hold fridge will draw about 7 amps Dc when running for about 20 minutes out of an hour depending on use.

[MSHappyCampers]

Originally Posted by newmar10

A norcold or dometic using the heating elements on Ac will draw about 5 to 6 amps Ac or 60 t0 70 amps Dc. That will kill your batterys in no time at all. A high efficiency house hold fridge will draw about 7 amps Dc when running for about 20 minutes out of an hour depending on use.

You are correct IF you are parked with nothing recharging the batteries. We have a solar panel plus running the engine so have never had a problem as long as we are driving.

[Selah]

To add a little to w8yxm. A Maytag bottom freezer shows typical energy usage of 404 kW per year. Breaking that down that's about 1106 wats per day (24 hr) or 117 amps@12volt/day. Add some inefficiency of the inverter and let's call it 130 amp/day.
Four T-105 batteries will give you 235 amp-hour usable. So, you should be able to run the fridge, watch some TV, use some LED lighting and only run the genny once a day.
Somebody check my math.... It's been a long way from school to here.

[homeless]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

I'm a little confused about your post. Are you saying that's what you do and asking why others don't do that, or are you asking if you can do it that way?

Sorry, I'm a little dense sometimes!

I was just throwing the idea out there to clear my head!

[dons2346]

My 18cuft Samsung fully loaded weighs less than my old Dometic 12cuft empty. My ice cream is harder and the beer colder.

And I don't tie the doors shut.

[GoneFishin]

dons2346, what is your door lock made of? Looks interesting. Thanks.

[dons2346]

Originally Posted by GoneFishin

dons2346, what is your door lock made of? Looks interesting. Thanks.

It is made from either a 1/2" or 3/4" piece of plywood covered with a felt material

[RonNBama]

Originally Posted by dons2346

My 18cuft Samsung fully loaded weighs less than my old Dometic 12cuft empty. My ice cream is harder and the beer colder.

And I don't tie the doors shut.

You had me at "... and the beer colder".

[Muddypaws]

Originally Posted by homeless

If someone doesn't like the flame why not keep your Norcold on AC and run it through the inverter, or an inverter of its own, and of course add a few batteries?

Rather than have a residential and have to remodel and have to tie the doors closed!

When at a camp ground on AC my Norcold seems to be colder!

Then you could have gas for back up....

It would be extremely inefficient to do that. It would drain your batteries very quickly.

As an example: I've seen people leave their 3-way refers on battery power when they arrive somewhere and had their batteries go flat in the middle of the night.

Adding an inverter would simply accelerate that process because no inverter is 100% efficient.

Heat is heat no matter where it comes from. But if someone fears the flame, no matter how irrational that may be, there are several alternatives.

My first RV had an ice box!

FWIW my Norcold works very well. Consistently at 34F. Ice cream at -18F. No residential I've ever had could get near those temps. How did I get it to do that? With a piece of styrofoam from a discarded coffee cup and 4 12v muffin fans I bought for next to nothing. And a little patience.

I refer to this as the 'Muddypaws Mod'. I've done it to several Norcolds with similar results. An unknown number of folks on this board have done it as well. The trick is to retard the response curve of the thermistor just enough to effect the set point by about -7 degrees.