RVTORESIDENTIAL FRIDGE ?

edatlanta wrote:
One thing no one is talking about is battery cost over time. We all know purchase price of batteries is all over the map depending on brand, 12v or 6v, etc. But when you run batteries down to whatever degree you are comfortable with their life decreases. Yes 6 volt golf cart batteries are designed to be deep discharged, but the deeper the discharge the shorter their life also.

While a residential refrigerator costs much less initially and other features as described above, for boondocking I don't think it makes any sense due to replacement battery costs.

My Norcold does me fine and I'm using the same 6 volt T-105's I have had for the past 5 years full time.

So far, one pair of 6V GC batts from Sam's has lasted me 9 seasons and still going strong.. Heck of a lot cheaper than replacing RV fridges or even a cooling unit on a RV fridge..

I needed a battery anyways to power other 12V items in my TT so really for me the cost of the GC batts is NOTHING for my fridge to use..

So for me, $300 for a residential 10 cu ft fridge plus $250 for a 1200W inverter puts me at $550 and nothing for the batts since they pull double duty for powering my lights and furnace..

Puts me $1000 ahead of game..

For that $1000 I could buy 5.5 "pairs" of GC batts and at 10 years of life per set that is easily 50-60 years worth of "camping"..

Many RVrs are lucky to get 3-4yrs of life out of a RV fridge with a few that might get 10 yrs now days..

That would mean $1500-$2000 every 10 yrs IF you have an exceptional RV fridge life..

So if you kept your RV for 50-60 yrs you could expect to have spent as much as $12,000 just on RV fridge replacements.. And if only cooling unit replacements you most likely will spend $3,600 in cooling units over 60 yrs..

I figure if I had to replace my residential fridge every 10 years, I will have only spent a whopping $1,800 over 60 yrs..

There, I just talked about batteries and put some "perspective" into your angle..