Basement Refrigerator/Freezers - Dometic vs. Norcold

[LWBAZ]

A couple of motorhomes ago, we had a 2007 Winnebago Vectra. It came with a small refrigerator/freezer in one of the basement compartments, but we wanted more capacity so I bought and installed a Norcold MFRT-60. This particular refrigerator/ freezer is no longer offered by Norcold, but what looks to be the same product is available from Engel:

https://www.engelcoolers.com/mt60f-u1.html

In any case, the Norcold MFRT-60 worked well in the Winnebago and we kept it when we sold that coach. The 2010 Tiffin Allegro Bus we purchased to replace the Vectra came with a Dometic CF-80, the same refrigerator/freezer Entegra installs in their current motorhomes (unless they’ve changed to something different in the 2019 models):

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/us/pro...cf-80-_-139581

Living in Arizona, we frequently travel in really hot weather. With the Norcold MFRT-60 that wasn’t an issue, but we found the Dometic CF-80 that came in the Allegro Bus was incapable of keeping food and ice cream solidly frozen in hot weather. I assumed something was wrong with our unit until I came across this statement in the CF-80 owners manual:

“If the ambient temperature is above 32 degrees C (90 degrees F), the minimum temperature cannot be attained.”

So much for the Dometic CF-80 in the Allegro Bus. I took it out and installed the Norcold MFRT-60 in its place. Fortunately the two units are virtually the same size so the swap was pretty easy.

Fast forward to our decision to order a 2018 Entegra. I opted for the basement refrigerator/freezer even though the information I was able to obtain indicated Entegra was installing the same problematic Dometic CF-80. I lobbied Entegra a bit, pointing out that Dometic has a newer line of refrigerator/freezers (the CFX series) which do not list the same “unable to attain minimum temperature” caution in their owners manuals. As such, I suggested to Entegra they might want to switch to a refrigerator/freezer from the newer CFX product line instead of the older CF-80.

That fell on deaf ears and our coach came with a CF-80. I wasn’t overly disappointed, in that I had some hope that Dometic had perhaps remedied the hot weather issue after all these years. No such luck on that.

We’re currently getting ready to hit the road, so a few days ago I fired up the CF-80 with the coach parked inside on onsite RV garage, connected to 50 amp shore power. The weather is plenty warm here in Arizona this time of year, and the temperature inside the RV garage is hovering right around 100 degrees F day and night. After letting the CF-80 run for two days with the temperature set to zero, the best it could achieve was 14 degrees F.

Fortunately, we still have the Norcold MFRT-60 because I removed it from the Allegro Bus and reinstalled the virtually unused Dometic CF-80 when we sold that coach. Having determined the newer Dometic CF-80 that came in our Entegra is just as inadequate in hot weather as the older one that came in our Allegro Bus, out it came and in went the trusty Norcold MFRT-60. I had to do a little bit of work to complete the installation, but fortunately the sliding tray Entegra installed was obviously designed to accommodate either unit (the Dometic CF-80 or the Norcold MFRT-60).

Despite the different product numbers, both units have about the same cubic feet of storage capacity, and even if they didn’t the Norcold has the advantage of being able to achieve and maintain zero degrees F even in very hot weather. The closest thing to a downside is that the Norcold MFRT-60 is a bit nosier than the Dometic CF-80, but that’s a small price to pay for ice cream that doesn’t come out of the carton looking like soft-serve!

[brobox]

Larry, I had one of the old Norcold's and it was a good freeze, but it burnt out on me quickly as did one a friend had. We think it was from lack of air flow in the basements. Glad to hear yours is still working. I replaced it with what is now Dometic, but it was a German company that Dometic bought out. They had external power supplies, which I kept a fan running on, but managed to burn out 3 different power supplies. Your post has me thinking about running the small fan across the air intake of the Dometic and see if it will get colder. It was 93 in my hanger yesterday, so a good time to try it.

[Grower15]

Chuck, We run a small fan in the basement frig compartment and it helps reduce the temperature. It’s been in the low 100s for a while and the fan definitely makes a difference. We keep it set on “0” degrees, and while it doesn’t make that temp, it’s definitely colder than without a fan.

[brobox]

Alec, thanks for letting me know. I will find mine and connect it. BTW the 19 is also the CF 80

[Lisablue85]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

A couple of motorhomes ago, we had a 2007 Winnebago Vectra. It came with a small refrigerator/freezer in one of the basement compartments, but we wanted more capacity so I bought and installed a Norcold MFRT-60. This particular refrigerator/ freezer is no longer offered by Norcold, but what looks to be the same product is available from Engel:

https://www.engelcoolers.com/mt60f-u1.html

In any case, the Norcold MFRT-60 worked well in the Winnebago and we kept it when we sold that coach. The 2010 Tiffin Allegro Bus we purchased to replace the Vectra came with a Dometic CF-80, the same refrigerator/freezer Entegra installs in their current motorhomes (unless they’ve changed to something different in the 2019 models):

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/us/pro...cf-80-_-139581

Living in Arizona, we frequently travel in really hot weather. With the Norcold MFRT-60 that wasn’t an issue, but we found the Dometic CF-80 that came in the Allegro Bus was incapable of keeping food and ice cream solidly frozen in hot weather. I assumed something was wrong with our unit until I came across this statement in the CF-80 owners manual:

“If the ambient temperature is above 32 degrees C (90 degrees F), the minimum temperature cannot be attained.”

So much for the Dometic CF-80 in the Allegro Bus. I took it out and installed the Norcold MFRT-60 in its place. Fortunately the two units are virtually the same size so the swap was pretty easy.

Fast forward to our decision to order a 2018 Entegra. I opted for the basement refrigerator/freezer even though the information I was able to obtain indicated Entegra was installing the same problematic Dometic CF-80. I lobbied Entegra a bit, pointing out that Dometic has a newer line of refrigerator/freezers (the CFX series) which do not list the same “unable to attain minimum temperature” caution in their owners manuals. As such, I suggested to Entegra they might want to switch to a refrigerator/freezer from the newer CFX product line instead of the older CF-80.

That fell on deaf ears and our coach came with a CF-80. I wasn’t overly disappointed, in that I had some hope that Dometic had perhaps remedied the hot weather issue after all these years. No such luck on that.

We’re currently getting ready to hit the road, so a few days ago I fired up the CF-80 with the coach parked inside on onsite RV garage, connected to 50 amp shore power. The weather is plenty warm here in Arizona this time of year, and the temperature inside the RV garage is hovering right around 100 degrees F day and night. After letting the CF-80 run for two days with the temperature set to zero, the best it could achieve was 14 degrees F.

Fortunately, we still have the Norcold MFRT-60 because I removed it from the Allegro Bus and reinstalled the virtually unused Dometic CF-80 when we sold that coach. Having determined the newer Dometic CF-80 that came in our Entegra is just as inadequate in hot weather as the older one that came in our Allegro Bus, out it came and in went the trusty Norcold MFRT-60. I had to do a little bit of work to complete the installation, but fortunately the sliding tray Entegra installed was obviously designed to accommodate either unit (the Dometic CF-80 or the Norcold MFRT-60).

Despite the different product numbers, both units have about the same cubic feet of storage capacity, and even if they didn’t the Norcold has the advantage of being able to achieve and maintain zero degrees F even in very hot weather. The closest thing to a downside is that the Norcold MFRT-60 is a bit nosier than the Dometic CF-80, but that’s a small price to pay for ice cream that doesn’t come out of the carton looking like soft-serve!

We bought a Whynter. Got way more fridge/freezer for the money than the Norcolds & Dometics. Excellent & quality purchase for us.

[LWBAZ]

Thanks Lisa. I've heard of the Whynter brand but don't have any experience with their products. Glad to hear you're satisfied with yours.

More info on the company and its product lines here:

www.whynter.com

[rogelling]

Larry, we just ordered a CFX 65W go replace the smaller unit that comes with the 2015 coaches. That unit had trouble reaching under 10 degrees with 90s outside. Hope the CFX will perform better. These newer units use a compressor and coolant coils around box. Ours will be delivered Monday. We got show price on it at FMCA from Dometic. Bought it from Dyers RV in Phoenix.

[jobobjet]

CFX manual has the 'ambient above 90F' warning like the non-X version.

[DGBPokes]

[rogelling]

Originally Posted by jobobjet

CFX manual has the 'ambient above 90F' warning like the non-X version.

Lawyers.

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by jobobjet

CFX manual has the 'ambient above 90F' warning like the non-X version.

Well, that’s interesting. I obviously missed that when I skimmed through the manual back in mid-2017.

Here are some quotes from the CFX portion of the Dometic web site (underlining added for emphasis):

“The most common cooling technologies are: compressor coolers, thermoelectric coolers and absorption coolers. Compressor coolers are very powerful and can provide an excellent cooling performance, even at extremely high ambient temperatures.”

“An important aspect to consider is whether you need a cooler that keeps, cools or freezes. A compressor box has the power to freeze regardless of the ambient temperature.”

“Pick an electric cooler according to the ambient temperature. If you want to be able to keep your ice cream frozen in extreme heat, you should look into a compressor cooler.”

“Advanced compressor electronics ensure ultra-low power consumption using AC, DC, and solar power.”

But you’re right, the CFX series manual does have the same note regarding not being able to attain minimum temperature if the ambient temperature is above 90 degrees F. I guess their definition of “extreme heat” doesn’t include anything above 90.

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by rogelling

Lawyers.

Probably so, but in this case they may actually be telling the truth!

[Cruzer]

I've gone through the motions regarding freezers. Leann is an excellent cook and we travel with lots of good food, plus save room for bringing back local delicacies. So we have always traveled with two basement freezers since 2007. Our first freezers were the Norcold MRFT-60. Every few years one would fail and we would have to replace it. Yes, they were noisy but they did a decent job of keeping things cool. The last few years of out '07 Bus saw one Norcold and one Dometic CF-80 when a Norcold failed and was no longer made so we bought the Dometic.

When we sold the Bus and bought the Cornerstone, which came with a CF-80, we removed the existing CF-80 from our Tiffin and put it in the Cornerstone as the second freezer. Neither it, nor the CF-80 that Entegra supplied overly impressed on keeping things solid when in the Texas Hill Country summers. Although I must admit that it was worse with the older CF-80 so it appears that the CF-80 slowly degrades rather than suddenly fail.

We replaced the 3 year old sub-par CF-80 with a new CFX-100W. I found that the extra (more usable) interior space is a big improvement over the CF-80, even more that the numbers would imply. The larger freezer won't fit in the short front bay where the CF-80 resides on its slideout rack but it will fit on the cargo tray in the Cornerstone.

I've been monitoring the temperatures with a remote thermometer and I put sending units by each freezer as well as in the main storage area. It does get warm in there but the CFX-100W holds its temperature better than the CF-80. When it gets hot the CF-80 can go to 10-14 degrees while the CFX-100W holds it at 0-2 degrees. One time in sustained 100+ degree temperatures the CFX-100W did get eventually up to 6-8 degrees but the CF-80 was dangerously up in the mid to high teens.

I would replace the front CF-80 with a CFX-80 if they made it but unfortunately they only make a CFX-65 dual zone unit in that physical size - at least as of this time anyway. I don't want a dual zone because I strictly use it as a freezer and don't want that big divider in the middle. Too hard to fit a big beef brisket.

So the CFX is better than the CF series but in extreme heat you'll have to rel;y on their disclaimer rather than the cooler. I am toying with the idea of a small 12 volt air conditioner that could cool the basement area by the freezers. I'm finding that the front freezer exhausts its heat out the right side, which faces forward and is only a few inches away from the compartment sidewall. The intake on the CF-80 is right next to the exhaust so its basically cycling hot air back into the intakes. A duct of cool air in that area would help immensely but the 12VDC air conditioner needs to be a split unit where the evaporator and condenser are far apart. Most I've seen are small units that are self contained and I can't see how they will work very well.

[brobox]

Excellent informative post. Thanks Mark for your explanation. I now realize that the inverter outlet (power bar) to the freezer area is going to be a must to be able to run a fan while we travel in hot areas. Like you Mark, the freezer is full of prime meat on the way home as Florida is famous for Swamp Cows which I have never acquired a taste for. I would hate to loose 50 lbs of fresh salmon we caught in CA because of poor air circulation. Great post, thank Larry.