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03-25-2015, 10:11 AM
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#1
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 59
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Residential fridge?
What are the advantages of a residential fridge?
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03-25-2015, 10:17 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Show Low Az
Posts: 1,254
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Cold beer, hard ice ream, more room, less propane, absorption cooling unit going out, need I go on?
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Dale&Susan, 08 Alfa Gold, DaGirlsRv Blog
2015 F-150XLT_2000W Solar_800 AmpHr Lithium
Magnum_MSH 3012 & PT100
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03-25-2015, 11:21 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Texas Hill Country
Posts: 349
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Peace of mind of not having to worry about having a fridge fire!!
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Marathon
Grand Cherokee Toad
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03-25-2015, 11:34 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 515
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Gas absorption cooling requires that the fridge be level to work. That's a not a given as you drive down the road, not to mention they generally don't work well on 12V so you'd need to run it on propane as you travel. Long term, the residential fridge also gets a nod for a self-defrosting freezer. The only advantage a gas absorption refrig has in that it requires zero electricity to operate and use very little propane. That allows long term boondocking.
Based on my experience with them, I'd avoid them if possible. I wish RV manufacturers would offer the smaller 12V DC/120V AC compressor fridges as options. There are plenty of them of all sizes in the marine industry, and it doesn't take much solar power to keep up with their energy usage.
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03-25-2015, 11:55 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Fulltime/ SE Minnesota
Posts: 3,081
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All of the above.
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08 Foretravel Nimbus 40 ft tag axle / 1000 watts of solar
2019 Ram 1500 Big Horn Hemi 4x4
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03-25-2015, 12:32 PM
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#6
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Registered User
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NW Ohio
Posts: 7,114
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Advantage - Lower price for replacement. Leveling isn't as finicky as the LP frig, but this isn't a big deal.
Disadvantage - need 110 volts AC. My LP frig will run for months and months and months on a tank of LP.
Your lifestyle will dictate. If your always within a couple hours of an AC outlet (shore or genny) then it would probably be OK.
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03-25-2015, 12:44 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club Solo Rvers Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 37,725
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cwsqbm
Gas absorption cooling requires that the fridge be level to work. That's a not a given as you drive down the road, not to mention they generally don't work well on 12V so you'd need to run it on propane as you travel. Long term, the residential fridge also gets a nod for a self-defrosting freezer. The only advantage a gas absorption refrig has in that it requires zero electricity to operate and use very little propane. That allows long term boondocking.
Based on my experience with them, I'd avoid them if possible. I wish RV manufacturers would offer the smaller 12V DC/120V AC compressor fridges as options. There are plenty of them of all sizes in the marine industry, and it doesn't take much solar power to keep up with their energy usage.
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Not true as they do require 12V to run the electronics, it's not much but is is far more than zero.
__________________
2009 45' Magna 630 w/Cummins ISX 650 HP/1950 Lbs Ft, HWH Active Air
Charter Good Sam Lifetime Member, FMCA,
RV'ing since 1957, NRA Benefactor Life, towing '21 Jeep JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel
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03-25-2015, 12:45 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club Solo Rvers Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 37,725
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldkarphart
Peace of mind of not having to worry about having a fridge fire!!
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I never worried about it in my over 50 years of RV'ing.
__________________
2009 45' Magna 630 w/Cummins ISX 650 HP/1950 Lbs Ft, HWH Active Air
Charter Good Sam Lifetime Member, FMCA,
RV'ing since 1957, NRA Benefactor Life, towing '21 Jeep JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel
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03-25-2015, 12:57 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Warren, Oregon
Posts: 2,549
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All of the above. The first thing I did when we got our coach was to ditch the Not-So-Cold so we could sleep at night.
2 stroker
__________________
2006 Country Coach Inspire 360 40ft Genoa Designer Series, Samsung 197 RR
Cat C9--STEEL & COPPER Bolt Together Radiator w/ updated rubber mounting
SilverLeaf 330 Magnum 2812 PSW 2011 Ford Edge Sport-Air Force One
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03-25-2015, 01:12 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 8,055
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FWIW We will not buy a unit with a residential fridge. Period. It takes an extra set of batteries just for the fridge to do an overnight. The gas one's work well enough that I see no advantage and a lot of disadvantages to using a residential refer and needing to supply that much electric when we like to go a lot of places that do not have electric available.
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03-25-2015, 01:15 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 515
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_D
Not true as they do require 12V to run the electronics, it's not much but is is far more than zero.
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The ones I owned had manual controls and didn't need any electricity to run. Today, its more likely to be found that way on the smaller 2-way refrigerators.
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03-25-2015, 05:22 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Thor Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 758
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldkarphart
Peace of mind of not having to worry about having a fridge fire!!
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I have owned various RVs and boats, all with various sizes and models of absorption refrigerators. I never missed any sleep having to "worry" about a fridge fire.
If you have ever actually seen the "fire" required by an absorption refrigerator, you would know that it's not much more than a candle flame in size. And, the tiny flame is completely shrouded by sheet steel to contain the minimal amount of heat upward.
I really like absorption refrigerators, because they are virtually noiseless. And, I have never had any problems with them, (as he knocks on the nearest piece of wood). The only disadvantage is having to defrost. There are large units. Hard ice cream and plenty of ice has never been a problem.
A residential refrigerator is also nice, (I do like their size, automatic ice makers, and not having to defrost), but they require extensively more infrastructure in order to allow for boondocking. More batteries, a solar panel setup is the way to go.... necessitating a charge controller, pure sine wave inverter, dedicated circuit, and that's just to keep it running for more than a few hours without hookups. They also generally require some method of locking the door(s), and careful thought to food and beverage placement, (as they were not designed to be installed a mobile environment).
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03-25-2015, 09:47 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Lake City, Florida
Posts: 450
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Beachdude
All of the fridge fires I have read/heard about started when hooked up to electricity, and not when using propane. The four door Norcold 1200 seems to have the most trouble. Some say the older units were less fire prone. When fires happen and a civil suit ensues, apparently there is an agreement not to discuss any aspect of the fire. So its pretty difficult to come up with numbers in order to gauge just how concerned a Norcold 1200 owner should be. Its not like a car where NHTSA keeps statistics. Our Norcold 1200 was never very good at keeping things cold and would from time to time warm up. We had the black box installed as well as a halon system with the suggested 155F trigger. We saw the aftermath of a Norcold fire and then met the couple and spoke with them about it. We changed over to a Samsung 197 and really like it. Much bigger, much colder, no fire worry. We seldom spend nights without electricity, and when we do it is followed by a full day driving, so the batteries recharge via alternator. If its hot we can run the generator all night for air conditioning--but the price of diesel makes it about cheaper to go to a Passport America Campground. I never sleep as well at a Walmart, anyway. The 4 six volt batteries can run the Samsung all night without dropping below the dread 50% charge where the batteries' ability to charge can be damaged. If you dry camp lots, then absent the 4 coach batteries and a generator with auto start settings to avoid the 50% discharge, you are probably better off with a gas absorption fridge. Yes, there are folks who manage quite well and even have banks of solar chargers, but that is not me. We had to turn the temperature UP in the freezer section because the ice cream was too hard, especially with the ice maker turned on. When our fridge at home goes, we will replace it with a Samsung French door with bottom freezer as we have in the coach. Samsung actually replied to my email concerning using an MSW inverter (as opposed to pure sine wave) and they wrote that as long as the power was within their stated range, a modified sine wave inverter was fine. I admit I am a worry wort, but I sleep better without that worthless Norcold.
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Frank W. '09 Cayman 38 SBD '08 CRV
Lake City, Florida
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03-25-2015, 09:53 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club Solo Rvers Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 37,725
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cwsqbm
The ones I owned had manual controls and didn't need any electricity to run. Today, its more likely to be found that way on the smaller 2-way refrigerators.
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When I first started RV'ing we had to find ice blocks in AZ and TX in the middle of summer!
And yes older ones did not require even 12 V but they're a dinosaur now.
__________________
2009 45' Magna 630 w/Cummins ISX 650 HP/1950 Lbs Ft, HWH Active Air
Charter Good Sam Lifetime Member, FMCA,
RV'ing since 1957, NRA Benefactor Life, towing '21 Jeep JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel
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