the Wife and I are shopping and we see a lot of fivers with residential Fridges and Inverters in them now. Are they really more prone to breakdown because of the bouncing around in the trailer or it is just folklore? Should I just go with a Large Gas/Electric fridge? Do the Residential fridges last long on the inverter and dedicated 12 battery? Should I consider a Onan generator? How the heck do you winterize a residential fridge with Ice and Water in the door? I know a lot of questions for one thread... Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your input.

All depends on your type of camping and needs. We just traded up to get the Residential Fridge with a larger freezer section, but we spend 7 to 10 months a year in our unit. We've added 2 extra batteries for a total of 4 and can go for a few days without power.If we were just weekend warriors don't thing it would have been worth it, or if you spend days boondocking probably the norm Gas/Electric would work best.

If you are going to dry camp, I would recommend an RV gas/electric. If you primarily use hookups, a residential fridge works fine. You should use at least two batteries in parallel. Your truck should keep the batteries charged while traveling. I would have a generator as backup, especially for dry camping.I can't answer your question for winterizing; that is something I don't have to worry about. :)

I still have a Dometic but read all I can about residential. If I do get one I dont think using it in an RV is an issue. I dont drive fast on dirt roads, I usually crawl so I dont think I would be hammering it enough to hurt it. Maybe I'm wrong? My concern is mainly energy use. I have four 6 volts and 520 watts of solar. I dont think I would have a problem and might only have to run my Honda 3000 if there were a few bad days. I have had a couple people tell me that they had friends that had them and couldn't install on enough solar to keep up. Who knows what their install was like? Maybe they wired it with 16 gauge. Sounds like BS. It's just a matter of crunching the numbers for each model and figuring out their expected energy use is. My solar stuff is new so I'm not 100% in tune to how well it will do this winter. I have a Bogart 30 solar control and a Trimetric so I will be able to monitor it better this year.You have to power an inverter which uses some power also so it wont run long on one group 29 battery, maybe 2 but who knows how much generator time you would have the next day. Then you get into the whole issue of how your converter performs. 13.6 volts wont get it at all. I leave my house unheated all winter so it has to be winterized. The frig has always been the biggest pita. I use compressed air to blast the whole system out and it works well but I was always nervous about leaving residual water laying in a solenoid valve and damaging it. At first I fabricated a 5 gallon air tank so that it could be filled with rv solvent and pressurized it to feed the appliances. It worked good on the dishwasher and the washing machine but it was difficult to purge the ice maker. It worked ok for the first couple years but I messed up and cracked the valve bank for the ice maker. So we bought a new counter dept frig with all the gizmos. I now remove the water filter and complete ice maker valve bank. The valve is probably $150- $200. I then blow out the lines to the filter etc. The pressure tank method wasted too much solvent so I started using a small drill motor driven pump connected directly to each appliance. It worked good for the dw and washing machine but I still didn't trust it with the new frig so I remove valves.In theory if you put the time into cycling the ice maker you should be able to push solvent through it. I know the water filters work so good that they take the pink out. I would have to smell and look closely at the glass of water to know when the solvent was making it through. My Dometic is 15 yrs old and as long as I keep researching this issue it should keep working. I do also have a couple large fire extinguishers. :R

Until the RV frig manufacturers get their act together and build a frig that will cool and least longer, I will not have another one.We have a 22 cu.ft Frigidaire residential frig with 4 large 6 volt batteries and a solar charge on the roof/ We have never had an issue with the frig, the batteries, the inverter or the solar charger.If you are going to dry camp, I'd suggest a Honda EU2000i to furnish some power in the event, the batteries cannot keep up.Ken

I finally gave up on my NOcold 1200 and installed a 21 cuft home refer. I added a separate battery bank (500 AH AGM) and a 1000W PSW inverter with a 100 amp charger and transfer switch as we boondock often. When running it's 8 amps into the inverter (100W) and 22 amps during the icemaker harvests cycle. Amazing how energy efficient these Energy Star refers have gotten. The compressor is not much bigger than a grapefruit. Just got back from first camping trip with it and I did a test of my battery system even though we had power. Did not get on the DW about leaving the door open too long...:B and used a fair amount of ice. The batteries started at 13.2V and 24 hours later they were at 12.5V. After one hour with the 100 amp charger they were back to 13.2V. Could probably go 36 hours before reaching the 50% point on the batteries but we usually run the generator every evening.OP, while one battery might go 12 hours, you really need two for it and two for the 5er... total of four.

Residential Fridge or Not? | Good Sam Community

Endricken
Explorer
Sep 08, 2015
Have towed almost 30K miles with my 07 Whirlpool apt size Fridge replacement for the old Dometic since 07 - no problems
CarlT100
Explorer
Sep 08, 2015
pcm1959 wrote:

I have 2 6volt group 24 batteries and a GoPower 1k watt inverter.
I do not use the inverter for powering the fridge while on shore power. My inverter is dedicated to the fridge and has an auto switch over between shore power and inverter.

That is a really good setup.
pcm1959
Explorer
Sep 08, 2015
I store in a lot between trips. Precooling was my big concern especially in the hot FL summers. I have had NO issues at all.
I have 2 6volt group 24 batteries and a GoPower 1k watt inverter. The Samsung is very efficient. I turn it on no more than 2 hours before a trip and it is at proper temps when I'm ready to load. That is in 80+ degree mornings.
As long as the batteries are topped off (which they are after a trip) the battery level is still at 2/3 when I load up after precooling. I have had no trouble then using my Big Foot jacks to hook up or powering the pump for the disc brakes. The truck keeps the battery from discharging any further below 2/3 during travel. I have never had any trouble on a 7 hour trip with the battery dropping below a safe level.
Good batteries, an efficient inverter not oversized for the job, and an efficient fridge will make a difference in the power needed to precool.
I do not use the inverter for powering the fridge while on shore power. My inverter is dedicated to the fridge and has an auto switch over between shore power and inverter.
austinjenna
Explorer
Sep 08, 2015
How do you guys pre-cool the fridge and how long does that take? Currently I go to the storage lot and fire up my fridge the night before we leave. Would a residential be able to do that for lets say 12 hrs maybe running off 2 12volts?
tvman44
Explorer
Sep 07, 2015
My only concern about a residential fridge is we have a rear kitchen and I am worried about the bouncing if that would cause a problem with the refrigerant lines from the compressor shaking so much. Of course as I understand it the compressors on these small residential fridges are pretty small and light weight so it may not be as much of a problem as I am thinking it might be. Anyone put a residential fridge in a 5er with rear kitchen? Our fridge is on the rear wall. :)
dapperdan
Explorer
Sep 07, 2015
Bellpr wrote:
the Wife and I are shopping and we see a lot of fivers with residential Fridges and Inverters in them now. Are they really more prone to breakdown because of the bouncing around in the trailer or it is just folklore? Should I just go with a Large Gas/Electric fridge? Do the Residential fridges last long on the inverter and dedicated 12 battery? Should I consider a Onan generator? How the heck do you winterize a residential fridge with Ice and Water in the door? I know a lot of questions for one thread... Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your input.

We've had a residential fridge now for a little over a year. We LOVE it! But as some here have mentioned it all depends on what kind of camping you're doing. We have not had a single issue with the fridge to this point and I really don't anticipate any.

As for a generator, probably not a bad idea if you can afford the Onan. We have a Honda that we can carry along if we're staying someplace without electricity but that RARELY happens. We have two six volt GC batteries and an inverter that will keep the fridge going for a day and a half maybe but that's about it without being plugged in. I have three one hundred watt solar panels on the roof but after "experimenting" this summer my two batteries don't quite keep up with the fridge. They do "ok" for extended days as long as I have FULL sun during the day. Cloudy days are a killer for me if I want to keep the fridge running 24/7. I'm going to be installing/adding a couple more GC batteries probably at the beginning of next season and that should rectify my power "shortage".

Winterizing is easy peasy, the ice maker itself "lives" in the freezer so it doesn't need winterizing but the line to it will :B, you cycle the ice marker while running your RV antifreeze through your system. Same goes for the water on the door, that's actually easier, just pour a glass or two of "water" while running the pink stuff through till you get pink in the glass.

We like all the extra space the residential has over the elec/propane. Another thing I've noticed is the residential seems to cool down much quicker than the other kind, could be my imagination, just saying.

Hope this helps you in your decision.

Dan
dahkota
Explorer
Sep 07, 2015
rjxj wrote:
I still have a Dometic but read all I can about residential. If I do get one I dont think using it in an RV is an issue. I dont drive fast on dirt roads, I usually crawl so I dont think I would be hammering it enough to hurt it. Maybe I'm wrong? My concern is mainly energy use. I have four 6 volts and 520 watts of solar. I dont think I would have a problem and might only have to run my Honda 3000 if there were a few bad days. I have had a couple people tell me that they had friends that had them and couldn't install on enough solar to keep up. Who knows what their install was like? Maybe they wired it with 16 gauge. Sounds like BS. It's just a matter of crunching the numbers for each model and figuring out their expected energy use is. My solar stuff is new so I'm not 100% in tune to how well it will do this winter. I have a Bogart 30 solar control and a Trimetric so I will be able to monitor it better this year.
...
:R

We also have a Dometic, 440AH of 6V and 520+W of solar. While we are very happy with our current fridge, we would like the greater capacity of a residential. What stops us is the extra weight of additional batteries. The Dometic weighs 242lbs. a Samsung, 232lbs. Adding 2-4 batteries dedicated to the fridge means 130-260 lbs. additional weight (and where would we put them?). Something else would have to go or we would have to run without full fresh water tanks. While we are not at our rig's capacity, we are close (around 90% with full fresh). So we will continue to think on it until our current dometic dies. If we are lucky, it will last the 15 years yours has!
routemaster
Explorer
Sep 07, 2015
We second that getting a Samsung.
pcm1959
Explorer
Sep 07, 2015
I have previously posted my poor luck with a Norcold 4 door that I ordered in my 2014 Lifestyle fiver. BIG MISATKE and waste of money. After a year of poor performance in inconsistency and no satisfaction from Norcold we pulled it out and replaced it with a Samsung residential. Best RV mod I have ever done! We do not dry camp so power is not an issue. The 2 6 volt batteries and inverter pre-cool it just fine with power to spare for in route travel and cooling. Do yourself a favor and get the residential. You'll love it.
robsouth
Explorer II
Sep 07, 2015
I changed one Norcold and one Dometic to a GE residential fridge and never looked back. Much better and faster cooling...BUT..we only camp with full hookups, no boonie stuff. In traveling, I can get about 6 hours with the residential fridge not running and notice very little drop in temps and ice stays frozen even in South Georgia - North Florida heat.