Refrigerator??

[tvp]

Last RV had a Norcold twin door with ice maker ran on Propane or Elect.

Now I see a lot of domestic style full frig units that run off a 1000 watt inverter
And battery.....

Pro,s ...con,s Which is better ?

Thanks
TVP

[MSHappyCampers]

Lots of folks are switching to residential fridges, for various reasons. The absorption fridges that come in most RV's can be a real pain to keep working right!

One question to ask yourself is whether you plan to do a lot of boondocking. To do that with a residential fridge would require a hefty solar energy system, at least that's what I understand.

[tvp]

No just some overnight Walmart parking on the way ��

[barmcd]

Originally Posted by tvp

No just some overnight Walmart parking on the way ��

Why not? You can run it off your house batteries while parked.

[Mr_D]

We upgraded the Norcold refer the expensive way, traded the '02 DSDP in on the '09 Magna which has a 22 CF Jenn Air refer/freezer. Then I changed the gas cooktop to an induction unit. Only have 400 watts of solar but so far it's enough.

[WDW]

Advantages: greater capacity, keeps things colder, works better in warmer temperatures.
Most likely won't cause you to worry about it being level or catching the RV in fire.

Disadvantages: Hold more beer . Requires additional time for more consumption.

[GoneToTheDog]

I don't know that either is necessarily 'better'. Residential refrigerators are becoming more common, and popular. Long term durability after life in an RV still to be determined, possibly. I have seen a few threads on RV forums about problems or replacement of even relatively new residential units recently.

There are some naysayers when it comes to 'old school' absorption type RV refrigerators today. They are happy to no longer have one.

My experience with a gas/electric RV refrigerator in 5 different RVs over the years has been nothing but positive. Never had a minute's problem with any of them, even under full time living conditions in a very hot climate.

Can't say I have always been so lucky with refrigerators in a S/B home. I have had a couple repaired....more than once....and had to replace a couple.
We just had to buy a new one 2 weeks ago. Doing even limited research, you can read pages and pages of good vs bad reviews for virtually any brand of refrigerator out there.

As with many things today.....it may just be the luck of the draw.

[desertdd]

I look as one the best update we did to or MH was to replace the Norcold with a Samsung residential fridge. We now have frozen ice cream and unfrozen eggs. When winter in Arizona at an Rv park the electrical bill was cut in half with the new fridge.

[CountryFit]

i saw the problems with residential - though set it warmer in refrigeration gauge, a few times the ice was parked inside the fresh vegetables, and the wife complained about the ice cream out of freezer being too hard (i have since been remembering to take it out a few minutes ahead of happy hour) .

in the past, i had much fun to poke around and turn it on/off quite so often. now i even don't remember when it was turned on the last time. it runs 24/7.

[G.G.]

All I can say is we've had both and wouldn't go back to a RV fridge. We also don't do any camping without hookups, but from what I understand, it can be done.

One thing about a RV fridge is you must remember to turn it on long before you pack. I forgot one time, and the poor thing could never catch up after we packed it.

[tmw188]

Originally Posted by G.G.

All I can say is we've had both and wouldn't go back to a RV fridge. We also don't do any camping without hookups, but from what I understand, it can be done.

One thing about a RV fridge is you must remember to turn it on long before you pack. I forgot one time, and the poor thing could never catch up after we packed it.

And you had to level it and worry about it. Have to know where things are inside so you don't stand there too long with the door open looking for something.

[nothermark]

Originally Posted by tvp

Last RV had a Norcold twin door with ice maker ran on Propane or Elect.

Now I see a lot of domestic style full frig units that run off a 1000 watt inverter
And battery.....

Pro,s ...con,s Which is better ?

Thanks
TVP

The residential will suck up one to two batteries per day of power. If you don't have at least a 4 battery setup and/or solar you will be doing a lot of generator time. Not an issue if all you do is plug in all the time. Not much of a problem if you are in a DP but a major issue if you are in about any gas unit as they only have two batteries for the house.

Most of the problems revolved around the double door Norcold 1200. Those are in the bigger units. All of us who are running single door refrigerators are doing fine on LP. Another reason to question putting residential in a gas MH or smaller trailer.

As for the "more space" issue we wonder how many containers of green fuzzy wonder what's one needs to store. We handle enough food for several days to a week in our single door plus freezer. We just eat the leftovers at the next meal. ;-)

[89sandman]

Never have had a problem with a RV fridge, have bought serveral electric ones for my house. My 4 door Norcold works perfect, never a problem with anything in the fridge freezing and my ice cream is frozen. I guess if you plug in all the time all electric would work but we NEVER plug in and buying a bunch of solar and adding batteries just to run a fridge is not anything I'm interested in. We are just weekend warriors through the summer and the last thing I want to have to worry about is running low on batteries, just one less hassle to deal with.

[MO Fred]

I just ordered a new Domectic RM 3962 electric/LP Fridge. The old RM 4801 stopped working. It was 27 years old and I am hoping that newer technology will make the new one a much better quality unit.