Residential fridge?

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

And... When I have no shore power and do not feel like burning nearly 1 gallon per hour to run the ONAN.... It still keeps the food cold.

Originally Posted by Waiter21

For the frig to work, you need to be within a couple hours of an outlet.

I have never run my genny just for my frig. Maybe you two can explain to me what I'm doing wrong.

I can sit for 24 hours without needing to run my genny. In fact I wasn't using it enough that it was causing genny problems. Now I fire it up and have to turn everything on just to put a load on the genny and exercise it.

You guys should really stop spreading these false rumors, the OP asked for facts.

[Scottybdivin]

Re-sale - May not be important, but is a factor.

A residential refrigerator will narrow the resale audience. The potential buyer will probably use the MH the same way you use it. For the frig to work, you need to be within a couple hours of an outlet.

For some buyers, (like myself) I probably will stop reading the ad when I get to the part that tells me what the refrigerator is. An LP frig is a must for the way I use the MH.

My feelings were just the opposite. When I saw a Norcold, I moved on. Based on the current trend, I think you may narrow the field of prospective buyers more with an absorbtion fridge than a residential. Even the lower line MH's and 5th wheels are beginning to offer a RF's as an option. I intend to dry camp as much as ever. As I mentioned before, I can easily run the fridge on batteries alone for 24 hours and indefinitely while driving or on the genny. I'm going to add 500-600W solar this year before the tax rebate expires and should be able to run indefinitely while dry camping.

[Waiter21]

John, I don't believe I am spreading false rumors. Please allow me to clarify.

The fact is, a Residential frig needs a 110 ac plug. Yes, I bet the contents of the frig will stay cold with no power to the 110 outlet for a day or so. Some of the modern refrigerators are nice and tight with very good insulation, and should be able to safely keep food cold for a day without power.

The 110 AC plug can get its power from multiple sources; shore, genny, batteries, Solar, etc. If the OP has access to these resources, and this fits his lifestyle, this could be a solution for him.

On the other hand, if he doesn't have access to all or some of these resources, perhaps an absorption would be the best fit for a solution.

OR he may decide he needs neither, and a simple ice box could be his solution.

It sounds like you have a good handle on your systems capabilities and limitations.

[Waiter21]

Scotty - Yes, you and I agree. The frig type could narrow the prospective buyer range.

You said you won't look at a MH that has an absorption frig. I said I won't look at one that has a residential frig. I bet there are plenty more like us that are potential buyers.

We both like the way our current systems work, We both know their limitations and we operate within them.

If the OP is replacing a failed absorption with a residential, he is making a significant change that could effect how he operates his MH. The change could be positive, negative, or little impact.

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by Waiter21

John, I don't believe I am spreading false rumors. Please allow me to clarify.

Yes, I bet the contents of your frig will stay cold with no power to the 110 outlet for a day or so. Some of the modern refrigerators are nice and tight with very good insulation, and should be able to safely keep food cold for a day without power.

It sounds like you have a good handle on your systems capabilities and limitations.

The thing is: There is always power, my inverter is always on. My 2800 watt inverter will run everything, including the microwave. When no power is being drawn, it goes into power save mode. On power save it still keeps all the clocks going, but as little to no battery draw. Inverter technology has come a long way and has made the all electric coaches what they are. Even 5 wheels are joining in on the res frig.

An all electric coach isn't a gas coach retrofitted , or even running a gas coach on all electric. It's designed to run with no propane, all it's systems are matched for efficiency. Using what you posted, frig keeping cold for 24 hours with no power, I could then go 2 days before needing power. 24 hours before my usage runs the batteries down and 24 hours before food starts warming up. That is longer then most of the boondockers go before adding some form of power to their coaches.

There are a million threads on this forum about boondocking long term. Even the people with gas frigs have massive discussions on keeping batteries charged. From solar systems to Honda gennys.

Even the people with res frigs boondock without issue.

All the people in this thread with res frigs aren't hiding problems, we're simply not having problems.

You can't understand until you've experienced it. I won't go back.

[vtwinwilly]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

I never worried about it in my over 50 years of RV'ing.

I never worried about fridge fires either...

Until I had one!

[Dr4Film]

Originally Posted by AZaficionado

What are the advantages of a residential fridge?

I think this thread needs to refocus about what the OP was originally asking.

Any more thoughts out there?

What say the OP as to the information you have received to date?

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[Waiter21]

John, Thank you for clarifying the process you go thru to keep that 110 volt outlet supplied with power. Its obvious your happy with your configuration and it sounds like it meets your needs entirely.

I'm still curious as to the nature of the OPs question,

Is he considering a new purchase that could be all electric or perhaps replacing an absorption frig?

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by flynnwalter

Scarab
Look at Samsung's website and it lists the 197ACR "counter" model's dimensions w/o doors. I can't trust my memory, but its only 30.5 x 32.2 x 69.8 inches with doors--and significantly smaller without doors. Ours came in through a window aft of the door...Look at the weight--surely lighter than the Norcold.

That's a nice looking Fridge:
http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/RF197AC.html

A 30"x32" Fridge would fit through most any RV door

My comment about the windshield pull was based on most retrofits I have read about that were the Fridge was a bit bigger than those dimensions.

FWIW, we sometimes travel with a stand-alone electric icemaker and dorm size fridge in our Outlaw's garage. The icemaker just cannot be beat for fast ice and the extra cold storage is really great...but only used when we have shore ties, because we have not added the extra batteries to give the inverter enough "legs" to make it overnight on the standard house battery bank.

Safe travels

[Davdeb1]

Forget all the scary fire stuff and and the bad food stuff and the defrost stuff.
Unless you full-time the odds of fire are less than .1%.
My 15 year old Norcold finally gave up the ghost. I never had spoiled milk, always had plenty of ice. I needed to defrost every 2-3 months. Once a month I bought ice cream, never soupy. All in all not a bad experience.
HOWEVER.. replacing it would've been $3000, + installation. My new GE 15.5 was $581 including tax + installation.
My 4 batteries let it run all night with my oxygen machine. When I travel, I don't run the Genny. It holds temperature for 6 hours, so why bother? It sticks out about 2" further than the other one. I'm not crazy about it but its not that important.
I live in my RV full-time. Any problems with either refrigerator are much more bothersome than someone who uses it for recreation.
The bottom line, don't fix what isn't broke. If your absorption fridge works, keep it until it breaks. If it cost more than $300-$500 to fix, replace it with a residential. The cheapest one that is a name brand. Forget all warranties, they are rubbish once you install in a motorhome. I have my fingers crossed and am hoping for the best.
For now, I have lots more room in it, and I can drive 6 hours and everything stays cold with it off.
Just don't "fix what ain't broke"!

[DonDee]

Have had several MHs over the years, all with absorption units. I recently converted a bus to MH and chose a small residential unit. Our fridge is 4.5 cf and suits our needs perfectly.
I have a Xantrex 2000 and about 600ah of batteries and without any solar I can go UP to 3 days on 50 percent.
I did just add 200w of solar and now it's unlimited as long as there's sunshine.


I have no issues with absorption but I do like the all electric in our new coach.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Scarab0088

But, a retrofit means pulling the windshield to get it in the coach and the cabinet work, so not so great for those on a budget.

Helped a friend put a Samsung 197 in his Camelot. It went in through a side window with no trouble. He had sold the old but still working refer to someone and they came with a pickup. We loaded the Samsung into the PU bed, got it close to the MH, then passed it in and the old one out went pretty easily.
So, it does not always require removing a windshield!

[Dr4Film]

Personally from what I have seen based on a large number of installations documented here, having to remove the windshield is the exception not the norm. Usually one will choose the windshield IF they are replacing it anyway.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[Davdeb1]

Originally Posted by Dr4Film

Personally from what I have seen based on a large number of installations documented here, having to remove the windshield is the exception not the norm. Usually one will choose the windshield IF they are replacing it anyway.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

I agree. You may get lucky and get it in through the door, but usually the worst being taking out the side window, which is a snap. The only cost is butyl tape.