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Old 07-04-2013, 02:26 PM   #1
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Inverter or Propane

Being an ex fifth wheel guy (no inverter in 5'ver) who is relatively new to my motorhome, I'm wondering what the norm is for Class A's while traveling and running the fridge.
Do you always travel with the inverter on and the fridge running off of 110v, or the inverter off and use propane?
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Old 07-04-2013, 02:35 PM   #2
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I use propane. I think you'll find most who use the inverter are all electric coaches that have an extra inverter (either 2,000 or 2,800 watts) dedicated to the refrig...also, they normally have eight 6v coach batteries.
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Old 07-04-2013, 02:36 PM   #3
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I only have a propane powered Onan jenny. But, if I had an inverter I would use it over the jenny.
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Old 07-04-2013, 02:44 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cat320 View Post
I use propane. I think you'll find most who use the inverter are all electric coaches that have an extra inverter (either 2,000 or 2,800 watts) dedicated to the refrig...also, they normally have eight 6v coach batteries.
Don't need an "extra" inverter for the fridge - one 2800w is sufficient for most all-electric units. Eight does seem to be the magic number of batteries for manufacturer all-electric, though. Unless you have a bus conversion unit or the new Newmar King Aire that has 16 batteries, because they're set up to run one of the AC units off the second inverter.
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Old 07-04-2013, 02:55 PM   #5
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We travel w/the propane on. Occasionally side wind will blow out the pilot & fridge has an error code when we stop. We just restart it. Had one helluva long hot summer day across the Mojave Dessert where fridge blew out & stuff got warmer than I'd like, but still not big deal. Now days I run the gen to keep the wife cool when its really hot out. Solves the fridge issue.
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Old 07-04-2013, 03:19 PM   #6
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propane here...
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Old 07-04-2013, 03:26 PM   #7
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x2 on propane
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Old 07-04-2013, 03:28 PM   #8
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Propane.
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Old 07-04-2013, 03:59 PM   #9
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Have a 2,000 watt inverter (Fridge only needs about 350-400) so I tried running it on battery power.

Went back to propane when on the road.
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Old 07-04-2013, 04:42 PM   #10
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Also being new to the MH scene, I decided to use propane for the refrigerator when driving. My reasoning is, the batteries must be recharged by the engine alternator, and the increased load might contribute to alternator failure a little sooner while placing slightly more load on the engine.
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Old 07-04-2013, 04:59 PM   #11
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Inverter or Propane

My answer is we have traveled 124,000 miles in 2 motorhomes and have never run propane except one occasion we lost our fan belt.
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Old 07-04-2013, 06:02 PM   #12
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Propane unless on shore.
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Old 07-04-2013, 06:12 PM   #13
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We no longer have a Norcold but when we did we ran it on shore or inverter power virtually all the time. The 4 door Norcold uses approx. 4 amps on 110v or about 40 amps of DC. We have a 200 amp alternator and never had an issue with it keeping up with battery discharge rate.
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Old 07-04-2013, 06:13 PM   #14
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Not an option for us we have a residential refrigerator. We have to use the inverter but when we are running down the road the alternator from the engine recharges the batteries
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