Dry camping with Residential Fridge

[CountryFit]

my old ndr1292 had two heating elements, 210w each. it went to trash bin after found out it leaked ammonia.

[lowryc50]

Originally Posted by OLYLEN

Now that everyone has had their say because of what "THEY" have and have an opinion about what's best, can we get back to the OP's question.
The arguably best batteries for an RV are true deep cycle batteries, be they 6 volt in series parallel or 12 volt in parallel. 6-6volt GC2 type in wet or gel are the most cost effective and the wet take the prize with the Costco at $85 each and have seen the Gel at $130. They all give between 210 and 230 AH so you have a bank of 630-690 AH with 315- 345 AH usable before degrading the cycles. This gives somewhere around 100 AH for the Refer and 100 AH for the furnace with a 100 AH reserve for the rest of the coach utilities. In cool weather the furnace will use more and the Refer less. In hot the Refer will use a bit more and the furnace less, kind of a balance. In whatever RV I have boondocked in I have run the Gen for between 4-6 hours a day to keep comfortable. If you like or need the quiet solar comes into play. With the larger coach's needs without AC, 600-1000 watts could/should keep 4-6 batteries happy depending on sun hours and sun angle.
Now all that said budget for a Res-Refer, for the OP, can be adding a couple of the same batteries you have and run the Gen 4-6 hours a day for a little over $200 plus a bit and running the Gen for 2-3 gallons of fuel a day. Or if you can install your self, add 2 batteries and solar at 600-1000 watts for under $2000. Or go with 6 6volt for $550 to $700 for Gel and maybe solar. These are just three, say frugal options. And of course having someone do the install would add a bunch of $$.

LEN

Thank you for your input and getting the subject back on track. Your opinion and advice is well taken. Wish I was more tech saave and could hook up a set of batteries myself. May have to look at some help if I go with a better battery bank. Thank you

[PanJH]

Originally Posted by OLYLEN

Now that everyone has had their say because of what "THEY" have and have an opinion about what's best, can we get back to the OP's question.
The arguably best batteries for an RV are true deep cycle batteries, be they 6 volt in series parallel or 12 volt in parallel. 6-6volt GC2 type in wet or gel are the most cost effective and the wet take the prize with the Costco at $85 each and have seen the Gel at $130. They all give between 210 and 230 AH so you have a bank of 630-690 AH with 315- 345 AH usable before degrading the cycles. This gives somewhere around 100 AH for the Refer and 100 AH for the furnace with a 100 AH reserve for the rest of the coach utilities. In cool weather the furnace will use more and the Refer less. In hot the Refer will use a bit more and the furnace less, kind of a balance. In whatever RV I have boondocked in I have run the Gen for between 4-6 hours a day to keep comfortable. If you like or need the quiet solar comes into play. With the larger coach's needs without AC, 600-1000 watts could/should keep 4-6 batteries happy depending on sun hours and sun angle.
Now all that said budget for a Res-Refer, for the OP, can be adding a couple of the same batteries you have and run the Gen 4-6 hours a day for a little over $200 plus a bit and running the Gen for 2-3 gallons of fuel a day. Or if you can install your self, add 2 batteries and solar at 600-1000 watts for under $2000. Or go with 6 6volt for $550 to $700 for Gel and maybe solar. These are just three, say frugal options. And of course having someone do the install would add a bunch of $$.

LEN

Len,
Where have you seen the AGM's for 4130 ? I may be in the market to replace my flooded with AGM.

[Jager]

Sorry, I realize this thread is a little dated. I am fine with the battery part of this thread. I'm looking at doing the resdential conversion on my coach as well. Don is 100% correct . . . all electric is the way to go IMO.

So . . .

CountryFit - do you have any photos of doing the change? Did you completely eliminate the LP in your coach? Did you have any other appliance, like a gas cook top that you had to replace?




The GE fridge everyone referenced is out of production. This is one of the only units I have found that is the correct dimensions. Has anyone made the conversion recently?



https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/aj...MaAjnNEALw_wcB

[Scottybdivin]

I haven't recently, but I put that fridge in 4-1/2 years ago. We love it so much that the wife wants the bigger version of it in the house when the old one goes out. We have done a lot of dry camping with it in our MADP.

[G Schulz]

I am currently finishing an installation in my coach. My fridge fits in my slide so I’m limited in height. I still had to remove the top of the enclosure. I installed a 17.5 cu ft Fisher Paykel French Door model. If you take the feet off it, it measures 66 1/4” high. Not cheap but it’s a very nice fridge. It also requires a pure sine wave inverter.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

I haven't recently, but I put that fridge in 4-1/2 years ago. We love it so much that the wife wants the bigger version of it in the house when the old one goes out. We have done a lot of dry camping with it in our MADP.

Scotty -
Did you put that fridg in yourself or have it done?



Do you know if they got the fridge in through the door or if they had to remove a window?



The specs say it is nearly 71" tall! When I measure my RV unit it is only 64" tall. Is your unit really 71" tall or is it shorter?



Tom

[Jager]

Originally Posted by G Schulz

I am currently finishing an installation in my coach. My fridge fits in my slide so I’m limited in height. I still had to remove the top of the enclosure. I installed a 17.5 cu ft Fisher Paykel French Door model. If you take the feet off it, it measures 66 1/4” high. Not cheap but it’s a very nice fridge. It also requires a pure sine wave inverter.

G - I looked at that unit also. I'm not so much worried about the price as I am the size. I am worried about the fridge being too tall.


What coach do you have?


1) Did you do the work or hire it done?
2) Did they bring the new fridge in the door or a window?
3) Did you have to remove anything else like the passengers chair? Door frame?



Photos?


Tom

[CountryFit]

Originally Posted by Jager

CountryFit - do you have any photos of doing the change? Did you completely eliminate the LP in your coach? Did you have any other appliance, like a gas cook top that you had to replace?

Tom - I have some photos related to the install in my blog. I gave you the link on Country Coach forum you asked yesterday.

I capped the propane and water pipes in the space behind the fridge. That was it. Our water heater still uses propane, and we still have the gas cooktop but we don't use it for we have been using induction cooktop for 8 years. We use propane from the tank for BBQ, too.

[higginst255]

Originally Posted by lowryc50

New owner of a 2018 Winnebago Sunova 36Z. Has a residential fridge. We want to dry camp but was told it drains the battery quickly on inverter. We unplugged at the rv park to see and it did go down fast. Has anyone dry camped with a residential fridge? Did you use solar to help keep up the charge? What did you do overnight? Did you turn the breaker off? What do you recommend we do? Thanks.

We did five nights dry camping with a residential fridge however I just kept the genset on

[rarebear.nm]

Its done all the time. Various ways to provide that power. If you are putting a residential frig in a slide pay attention to the weight of the frige and what the slide can handle. Most residential units weigh more than the propane unit you're removing. I have read about some people whose slide with the frig sagging or having other problems. It may work just fine, just a heads up.


If you're going to run a residential frig without shore power you can run a gen set a lots. If you and neighbors will put up with the noise. Running it off the inverter is fine is you have enough battery capacity. You can recharge the batteries via the geny and/or solar. To do it totally on solar will require a fair sized panel array. How much, it depends on the load requirements of the frig, type of panels, where you camp and many other factors. There's plenty of other threads about sizing solar systems. Just remember everyone has a different power footprint. So what works well for your friend may have nothing to do with your needs.

[Scottybdivin]

Originally Posted by Jager

Scotty -
Did you put that fridg in yourself or have it done?



Do you know if they got the fridge in through the door or if they had to remove a window?



The specs say it is nearly 71" tall! When I measure my RV unit it is only 64" tall. Is your unit really 71" tall or is it shorter?



Tom

Tom, I had it installed when I bought the MADP. It had a cracked windshield that they were going to replace, so I drop shipped the Samsung to their shop and they installed it while the WS was out. It consumed about 1/2 of the cabinet above the fridge. They also blocked and sealed the louvered vent on the side of the coach. Best $500 I ever spent for the install.

[G Schulz]

My coach is a 2009 Safari Cheetah.
I am doing the installation myself, in an RV park as we are now full-time.
Disconnected the door stop above the door so it folds open further and removed all the hand rails as well as the passenger seat. All pretty easy things to do. At 66 1/4” tall it’s the only fridge that would fit in the space without a lot of modifications. To get it down to 66 1/4” you have to remove the feet but you would want to do that anyway. It’s about 3” taller than the Norcold I removed. I had to remove the top frame rail in the cabinet but that’s about it. I also had to install a pure sine wave inverter to run it while we travel.
I do have a couple of pictures but I’m not sure how to post them. As well the installation is not quite finished yet. I bought some trim for the sides of the fridge. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to post the pictures.

[higginst255]

Originally Posted by G Schulz

I am currently finishing an installation in my coach. My fridge fits in my slide so I’m limited in height. I still had to remove the top of the enclosure. I installed a 17.5 cu ft Fisher Paykel French Door model. If you take the feet off it, it measures 66 1/4” high. Not cheap but it’s a very nice fridge. It also requires a pure sine wave inverter.

How many watts is the inverter that you are using?