Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I pulled out the 14 year old 7.5 cu ft fridge in our coach that was becoming less than reliable. I replaced it with a 10 cu ft residential fridge that was a near perfect fit in the space. Once it was in, anchored, and trimmed out, I began researching ways of securing the fridge and freezer doors for travel since I really hate it when the leftover meatloaf goes flying across the coach in a tight turn.After perusing a variety of options that other folks have used, I ruled out bungee cords and baby latches as too ugly and/or awkward to use. We wanted a latch system that could allow normal door use when parked on a site, and eventually I turned to window sash latches to see if I could find a solution. The latches I finally chose were a whopping $3.28 each at Home Depot, and only needed a minor modification to fit my purpose.The latch assembly as show on the Home Depot site:For my intended use, the little tab seen in the center of the keeper needed to be ground off as the keeper would be installed reversed from its normal position. A few minutes with a Dremel tool took care of that.One latch installed on the trim:The keeper installed on the freezer door:The latches in travel position:The latches in normal use position:For those that store their RV, putting the latches in the travel position with the doors open creates a spacer for keeping them open a bit to prevent odor buildup.

:C I like that, simple, neat and CHEAP.

I like it too....I'll have to see if I can do the same. Tired of the straps I use to keep it closed!

It is a good thing that you did not drill into the refrigerator framework. There can be freon lines right next to the door, to prevent condensation on the door and freezer gaskets, and prevent them from freezing shut.In the past, designers would install electric heaters near the freezer door, and they would run all the time, keeping the door gasket warm, but using a small amount of power 24/7. Even 10 watts adds up to 87 KW a year, adding significantly to the cost of running a refrigerator each year. Now they use hot freon gas from the compressor, and it is easy to drill into the freon tubing while installing a door lock.Great job on your installation!Fred.

Residential refrigerator travel lock | Good Sam Community

galtgirl
Explorer
Mar 05, 2016
I have a residential side by side refrigerator in my 5th wheel. It did not come with a latch to keep the doors closed when traveling.

I use a bungee cord wrapped around the handles of the refrigerator and freezer to keep them closed. The only time it didn't work was when I forgot to bungee the doors.

Cost: $ 0 (I already had the bungee cord)
jjrbus
Explorer
Mar 01, 2016
Most residential fridges have reversible doors leaving 2 holes on the handle side. With a bit of imagination a simple stop can be fabricated. Every fridge is slightly different so there are no plans or specifications for this, whatever is handy, I used a small bolt and drilled out dowel for the stop and a too thick piece of stainless that was a bear to work with! Watch some reruns of McGiver for inspiration.
HTH Jim
Bucky_Badger
Explorer
Feb 28, 2016
Good ideas
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Feb 28, 2016
Still my favorite. Made by LAMP and simply flips up and down to lock and unlock very similar to the OP lock.
RayChez
Explorer
Feb 28, 2016
Gdetrailer wrote:
RayChez wrote:
And that has been the problem when you replace an RV refrigerator with a residential fridge. The refrigerator doors keep flying open on just about any turn you make. So yes, you have to install something to keep things in the refrigerator or else it will be all over the floor. I like the one Dutch shows on his pictures.

My problem would be that I can not go up anymore, my fridge is all the way to the ceiling, so I would have to go down and the furnace is under there somewhere. Don't know how much room I would have. Hope I never have to go into making such modifications on my coach. I think I would rather go the with the Amish coils since my Norcold has worked flawless so far. Keeps the ice cream solid.

Many RV fridges do not have a "lock", I had a RV fridge that didn't have a lock, it relied on the magnets in the gasket like a home fridge, never spilled anything.

As far as spending money on a "Amish" cooling unit, it is money tossed down the drain. Spend $600 on a CU and you STILL have other expensive things like control board ($250), gaskets and some models DOOR HINGES (which some of those there is no replacement for)..

Ice cream in a RV fridge? Yeah, right, the one we had you would have a sloppy mess, couldn't even take popsicles since they would just turn into one huge clumped mess.

Home fridges are very easy to add a latch, typically they have extra holes already in place to allow you to flip the door opening..

Just measure between the doors and go to your local hardware store and find a simple latch which will fit between the doors.

Our 10 cu ft home fridge cost $300, a simple latch from hardware store cost $3.. PRICELESS to not have 50F fridge temps and we now have rock hard ice cream.

And by the way there HAS been several members of this forum that have experience major malfunctions of their Amish replacement CUs and one after several attempts changed over to a home fridge and they full time boondock..

So you do not believe that my Norcold 1200 LRIM keeps the ice cream solid in the freezer? I hope you are not thinking I keep it in the refrigerator part where it is 34 degrees. :S
And I guess all these other gentlemen that showed pictures of how to prevent the doors from flying open are also posting pictures that are not true?

Also I never did say that a residential refrigerator was not a good idea, BUT! you got to have the room to put one in, and every situation would be different. That is why I said I would probably go with the Amish coils for my situation. Joe Blow down the street might be different.

SOME the doors will fly open if they do not have a good locking system. Some were not designed to be in motor homes where they bounce around. That is why SamSung will not warranty any refrigerator that is installed in an RV that was designed for a stick house.

If the doors did not pop open why would Dutch 12078, Ivylog, Don2346 post pictures of good ideas as to what they have done to prevent the doors from flying open? It is not me making this things up, IT IS A FACT.
Acampingwewillg
Explorer II
Feb 28, 2016
Have to agree with the above statement...the best 300.00(residential Fridge) I ever spent! With that being said, I do worry sometimes while enroute someplace about over nights in rest area's with keeping things cold but it hasn't been a problem yet.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Feb 28, 2016
RayChez wrote:
And that has been the problem when you replace an RV refrigerator with a residential fridge. The refrigerator doors keep flying open on just about any turn you make. So yes, you have to install something to keep things in the refrigerator or else it will be all over the floor. I like the one Dutch shows on his pictures.

My problem would be that I can not go up anymore, my fridge is all the way to the ceiling, so I would have to go down and the furnace is under there somewhere. Don't know how much room I would have. Hope I never have to go into making such modifications on my coach. I think I would rather go the with the Amish coils since my Norcold has worked flawless so far. Keeps the ice cream solid.

Many RV fridges do not have a "lock", I had a RV fridge that didn't have a lock, it relied on the magnets in the gasket like a home fridge, never spilled anything.

As far as spending money on a "Amish" cooling unit, it is money tossed down the drain. Spend $600 on a CU and you STILL have other expensive things like control board ($250), gaskets and some models DOOR HINGES (which some of those there is no replacement for)..

Ice cream in a RV fridge? Yeah, right, the one we had you would have a sloppy mess, couldn't even take popsicles since they would just turn into one huge clumped mess.

Home fridges are very easy to add a latch, typically they have extra holes already in place to allow you to flip the door opening..

Just measure between the doors and go to your local hardware store and find a simple latch which will fit between the doors.

Our 10 cu ft home fridge cost $300, a simple latch from hardware store cost $3.. PRICELESS to not have 50F fridge temps and we now have rock hard ice cream.

And by the way there HAS been several members of this forum that have experience major malfunctions of their Amish replacement CUs and one after several attempts changed over to a home fridge and they full time boondock..
MPI_Mallard
Explorer
Feb 28, 2016
Frau Blücher uses Velcro, she gets the 2" self-adhesive stuff from wally-world, one piece of 2x2' hook on both doors and on the fridge then one piece of 4x2" to cover both pieces, keeps both doors shut perfectly and I've not had to replace them in 7 years and all-in at $4 works great on my beer fridge too!

Red Green: If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Moderator edit to re-size pictures to forum recommended limit of 640px maximum width.
RayChez
Explorer
Feb 27, 2016
And that has been the problem when you replace an RV refrigerator with a residential fridge. The refrigerator doors keep flying open on just about any turn you make. So yes, you have to install something to keep things in the refrigerator or else it will be all over the floor. I like the one Dutch shows on his pictures.

My problem would be that I can not go up anymore, my fridge is all the way to the ceiling, so I would have to go down and the furnace is under there somewhere. Don't know how much room I would have. Hope I never have to go into making such modifications on my coach. I think I would rather go the with the Amish coils since my Norcold has worked flawless so far. Keeps the ice cream solid.
dons2346
Explorer
Dec 04, 2015
For those with a French door refer.