Residential Refrigerator Problem

I would say your problem is a battery that is below 10V after being in storage so the inverter will not turn on. After being plugged in awhile, the battery gets above 11V and the inverter turns on by itself because you now have enough voltage. A $5 volt meter would might help isolate the problem or pressing the battery switch before plugging the rig in to see what shape your battery is in.

It sounds to me like the fridge is bad- if I understand correctly, the inverter is on and reading 121 volts but the fridge is dead.
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28843658.cfm

Chris Bryant wrote:
It sounds to me like the fridge is bad- if I understand correctly, the inverter is on and reading 121 volts but the fridge is dead.
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28843658.cfm

that's what i'm beginning to fear. it's obviously been a bit of a problematic situation as you can tell by its reoccurrence.

the inverter is in fact running.

thanks for your input.

Don't wish to go on a tangent...but will do it anyway.

I guess I'm old school. With a popup I had an icebox. Two TTs and now a 16 year old motorhome...all had (have) a Dometic gas/electric fridge, and all worked just fine....still do.

More and more posts about "residential" refrigerators here on the forum...mainly being discussed with new or newer RVs. Is this "residential" now the standard? What real advantages does it have over the "older" propane powered gas/electric units? If buying a new RV can one order one of the older style fridge or must it come with this new "residential" thing?

I agree with jerseyjim, our next 5ver will still have the gas/propane option. My wife, even agrees....don't want to worry about an inverter, and don't want to worry about the need for extra batteries to keep the fridge going on long hauls or situations in which we might be off the grid. The gas/propane gives you2 ways to run the fridge, an electric residential only has one way.

Sometimes, old products are better...

On that note, I'll throw in my .02.

I love our residential fridge. Its huge, has a great ice maker, and we never dry camp.

The biggest downside? Fortunately for me, I paid for the Forest River 2 year warranty. 13.5 months after we bought our Vengeance, the fridge couldn't get cooler than 38 degrees in the freezer and around 48 in the fridge. The compressor had gone bad. Forest River paid almost $900 to have the compressor replaced. It would have been cheaper to just replace the fridge but they are so big, the trouble of getting it out and a new one brought in was too much. They said these fridges are actually installed before the slideouts are put on.

lawnspecialties wrote:
On that note, I'll throw in my .02.

I love our residential fridge. Its huge, has a great ice maker, and we never dry camp.

The biggest downside? Fortunately for me, I paid for the Forest River 2 year warranty. 13.5 months after we bought our Vengeance, the fridge couldn't get cooler than 38 degrees in the freezer and around 48 in the fridge. The compressor had gone bad. Forest River paid almost $900 to have the compressor replaced. It would have been cheaper to just replace the fridge but they are so big, the trouble of getting it out and a new one brought in was too much. They said these fridges are actually installed before the slideouts are put on.

That was another concern. I just can't see any situation where that unit comes out of the camper without removing the slide.

Inverter has a transfer switch so the fridge should run fine on utility power.

Could also try plugging the fridge in direct to utility power with a short HD (#12 wire) extension cord.

If that fails then it is the LG that is bad.

Have seen pictures where the fridge goes in/out though a window or even the windshield.

IT depends a lot on the type of camping you do. We do about 20 percent dry camping so a residential fridge is obviously the way to go. Bigger, better cooling, less power usage, can be run by solar panels thru an inverter, cheaper per square cubic foot even with the cost of the inverter. Every one has different experiences but for us residential has been considerably more reliable.

If I was a straight dry camper I would go propane electric absorption.

As suggested by time2roll, if you can access the plug, plug the refrig directly to a 120v outlet and see if it works.