Community Forums

bluegrassrv · 01-06-2014, 06:57 PM

In my search for my first class A, I'm seeing a number of coaches that I like that have residential fridges. I'm not opposed to that, I don't think.

Here is how things go with my tt. When it's parked at home, no problem, it's plugged in all the time. When on the road, propane. When camping with a hookup, plugged in. However, I take a few trips each year where we boondock for five days straight. Sometimes I run the genny a lot for A/C if it's hot out. Other times the weather is really nice and I only run the genny once every other day to charge the batteries. Worst case, I've burned about 12 gallons of gas in the genny in five days. Best case about 1 gallon.

Okay, I guess I need some folks with experience to enlighten me on boondocking with a residential fridge in a class A. Will it make much difference in fuel burn in the genny? I don't mind a gallon or so extra per day, but I would mind 4 gallons extra. ( extra meaning just for the fridge)

HVAC Bill · 01-06-2014, 07:08 PM

I have a 2013 Thor Palazzo 33.3 DP and it has an awesome 18.5 cft. residential refer, I dry camp often as well. spent a week on the beach during thanksgiving and set the genny on auto start. It cycled 2-3 times a day to maintain the whole coach. I don't measure consumption of fuel, rather spend my time enjoying myself

vsheetz · 01-06-2014, 07:18 PM

Might want to consider adding solar power. Several threads here. To include residential frig with solar.

HVAC Bill · 01-06-2014, 07:21 PM

I expect that will be my next addition to my coach.

Dutch Star Don · 01-06-2014, 07:32 PM

Even when boon docking, before we replaced our refer, I like to watch TV at night and would always run our generator in the morning to recharge our batteries. It takes about 1.5 -2 hours to bring them to a full charge (this is in a DP). The refer has really only added a few more minutes of run time.

I've now added two 100 watt solar panels, but really haven't done enough boon docking to see what they do.

brobox · 01-06-2014, 07:46 PM

I just ordered an new MH all electric with a residential refrigerator. The main reason was to get rid of the NOcold. With the residential refrig. I also ordered 200w of solar along with 8 AGM batteries. I am not worried about a few gallons of fuel consumption a day, I was more worried about the NOcold quitting again or catching fire as they are known to do. JMO

capnqball · 01-06-2014, 08:59 PM

We also just ordered our new Ventana with RR. I did not feel really safe with the Norcold in our '07 Journey. Just too many reports of fire in coaches and the logical reason being the frig. I'm happy to spend a little extra fuel for the peace of mind.

bluegrassrv · 01-06-2014, 11:50 PM

Sounds like the residential fridge really doesn't draw that much from the 120v system. If it only requires a few hours of gen time a day, I'm good with that.

Thanks for the replies.

Papa_Jim · 01-07-2014, 09:17 AM

Our life did not change at all after making the switch to a residential fridge. When the fridge went in, so did additional house batteries. Diplomat Don said it right. The generator doesn't run more often. It simply runs a little longer when it does run. Comparing the cost to run propane fridge vs. electric fridge is probably a toss up.

Jim

ohhwell · 01-07-2014, 10:41 AM

The residential Fridge doesn't use much power when it is at temperature unless there is ALOT of door opening throughout the day so maybe a small cooler for beverages when boon docking?

bruceisla · 01-07-2014, 10:56 AM

As mentioned by others, residential reefers are very efficient. Ours (10cf) will keep food at safe temps for about 4 hours with NO power if we don't open the doors frequently.

Dr4Film · 01-07-2014, 11:09 AM

Just to give you an idea of how much a residential fridge will use from your batteries everyday, my Samsung RF197 Energy Star Rated uses 1.81 - 1.83 KW on average everyday.

I used a Kill-O-Watt for two months measuring the total KwH's for the month. One month was 1.81 KW's and the next month was 1.83 KW's average per day.

Using the residential hasn't changed our dry camping ability for one second.

With the AGS programmed, when the batteries get to 50% SOC the generator comes on and charges them back to Float SOC and then turns off. It doesn't matter if we are there or not, it's all automatic.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

Dutch Star Don · 01-07-2014, 11:56 AM

The best part of the residential refer is to stand there with the doors wide open, take your time deciding what you need and NOT worrying about the loss of cold air. We've had ours for over six months and I occasionally open and close it quickly, reverting back to what I use to do with the Notcold. I'm slowly getting over it.