Community Forums

snapper23 · 05-21-2019, 05:36 AM

Hello fellow campers. I have a question or two in regards to residential refrigerator's in travel trailers. I just purchased a new trailer that has a residential refrigerator and within the first 4 months I had an issue with the init staying cold. We used the trailer a total of 4 days and the unit started warming up. After taking it to the dealer we discovered that the freon started leaking out and needed repaired. This however was no easy task. Our unit required the removal of the kitchen slide because the fridge is too big to fit out the door. After one month at the dealer and a total of 16 hours of labor the refrigerator was back to working order. How many of you had a similar experience or am I just that unlucky. Question # 2 how durable are these units, I am starting to think that the traditional RV refrigerator is the best way to still go. I am not looking forward to this issue again because my trailer will be out of warranty and I will be paying for the repairs and the large labor bill that comes with it. When we purchased the trailer it seemed like a great idea and a very nice feature to have such a large fridge. Any thoughts on your experience with these unit are greatly accepted.

astrocamper · 05-21-2019, 11:27 AM

I have a factory installed Norcold 641. I am considering putting in a Unique 6 cubic foot DC powered compressor fridge. I want the more consistent performance and have 1000 watts of solar and 400 amp-hours of LiFePO4 batteries. I am going with a model that weighs 75 pounds and can fit through the trailer door because I know sometime in the future it will be replaced again and don't want to deal with removing a window to bring it in or out.

I do think it is crazy to have a fridge that won't go through the door. Eventually it will have to be replaced and it will be when the unit is off any warranty. I believe the stove and anything else in the unit will fit through the door so why get a fridge that won't.

raineman · 05-21-2019, 11:54 AM

I am certainly no expert about refrigerators, but common sense tells me a residential fridge isn’t designed to go bouncing down the road in an RV.

snapper23 · 05-21-2019, 12:12 PM

I agree raineman. These companies,in my opinion need to show the customer that they are confident in there product and provide some type of additional warranty coverage, especially covering any type of labor costs. I hope it lasts for quite some time but I am not that confident right now.

charliez · 05-22-2019, 09:39 AM

Lots of owners have changed to this type. I just did. I went thru the rv fridge working/not working. It would work perfect at home, but get somewhere and it would be stupid. I just got tired of it. i had a good dorm type fridge already. Mine would work as long as the fridge was leveled perfect. Not the TT, but the fridge. On the last trip, my grandson let a slice of cheese get into the door when he was getting his juice out. Not too long after that happened, i noticed the temp inside going up. Just a simple slice of cheese bent the bottom hinge enough to hold the back side of the door open and the recovery rate on the smaller ones are very slow. So out it went yesterday.

No they will not fit out of the door. I was able to take a few components off the back and get mine out. I'm very surprised the OP's dealer went thru taking the slide out. That was just plain silly. There is no reason to do that. They should have just fixed the fridge inside the TT. Maybe because they sent it out to a shop???

jimcumminsw · 05-22-2019, 05:49 PM

I have had three different 5er's two with an RV fridges both different makes. My current 5er has a residential fridge in the trailer. My last 4 years of ownership with the current 5er and fridge I have had zero issue with my residential fridge. That's more than I can say with both the Norcold or the Dometic brands that I had. Neither would keep the food cold when the sun was on fridge wall side. The plastic slider that was on the fins in the freezer compartment would fall off from time to time and the fridge would not cool. I had to replace the control module on the Dometic unit so, they all may have problems.
I think it would be easier to fix a residential unit, in my humble opinion.

wingnut60 · 05-22-2019, 06:10 PM

I too have the res fridge, don't expect it to cause as much trouble as previous Dometic, and now have hard ice cream.....

1bigmess · 05-22-2019, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raineman

I am certainly no expert about refrigerators, but common sense tells me a residential fridge isn’t designed to go bouncing down the road in an RV.

Installing an appliance designed for household use in a vehicle might void the warranty the first inch the tires roll on the ground.

jimcumminsw · 05-23-2019, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1bigmess

Installing an appliance designed for household use in a vehicle might void the warranty the first inch the tires roll on the ground.

Most fridges in an RV only have a 1 to 2 year warranty so, I would not worry to much about warranty issue.

My trailer and many other trailers have the residential fridge as standard equipment from the factory. The RV manufactures are installing these units in them as standard equipment, requiring you to pay an upcharge for an un-reliably RV Fridge.

I myself would buy a trailer/motorhome with a residential fridge in it over a RV fridge in it. In my humble opinion the residential fridges are easier to operate and work better than the RV fridge.

sbleiweiss · 05-23-2019, 07:52 AM

No issues with our Whirlpool fridge after 4+ years and 57K miles. It is on 99% of the time.

Dom · 05-23-2019, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raineman

I am certainly no expert about refrigerators, but common sense tells me a residential fridge isn’t designed to go bouncing down the road in an RV.

I am an expert on residential fridges ,40 plus years. The only problem you could encounter is weak springs on the compressor. The compressor and motor, (all one unit) is mounted inside a metal can, suspended on four springs with very tight tolerances. AS this does not be too much concern from the many, many residential fridges being used in motor homes, I wouldn't be too concerned buying one

wingnut60 · 05-23-2019, 09:18 AM

Common sense tells me it is unusual for a res fridge to burst into flames...

kdauto · 05-23-2019, 09:39 AM

The whole debate is moot. People who enjoy dry camping will not want an energy hungry 120V fridge, I am one of them.

I do automotive A/C and know how residental fridges and heat pumps/A/C work. None of the domestic stuff was intended for use on bumpy roads. While they may work OK it wouldn't be my first choice. If I had a 40 000 lb air ride Prevost car I might change my mind.

One might need disassembling fridges to make them fit in many RVs. I have read of some removing bay windows to get the in, too much of a hassle for me.

I haven't had many issues with my now 14 year old 2 way fridge nor the previous one. Both will make ice, keep ice-cream, etc. Of course if you're loading 48 cans of hot soda and beer at once it may take awhile to get real cold again.

Many don't know about fridge maintenance and some units are poorly installed at the factory. Both the fridges we have had have small electric cooling fans on the outside.

charliez · 05-23-2019, 10:15 AM

For sure, all of my rv fridges took a day or two to get down to temp. The dorm fridge I just put in took about an hour and that was with no extra buckets of ice to help it.