Convert RV fridge to residential
We are in the process of buying a Solitude 378MBS to fulltime in. We will be adding 1200 watts of solar, 3kw inverter and 3 SOK Lithium batteries. We plan to boondock at least 50% of the time (proba...
Forum Discussion
ajriding wrote:
Bad idea for boondockiing. Those who install resi fridges tend to drive from outlet to outlet and are always plugged into hookups. This is just not a good solution for an RV.
Running an inverter to run a fridge is just not a good use of available battery power. You will be replacing batteries more often due to cycling them regularly.
There are electric DC fridges that will run more efficiently and could work for boondocking.
Are you not wanting the propane fridge because of high outside/ambient temps? That makes sense as the propane absorption fridges do have limitations and needs at higher outside temps.
The best solution is to address the weaknesses of the propane fridge or to install a DC fridge that uses a Danfoss -style compressor. The chest fridges are the most efficient, but there are front opening fridges also. There are also kits to convert a propane fridge to a compressor DC fridge, but this is only for a few select models and requires some know-how and time.
My advice is that you will be glad to have spent extra money to do it right than to have dying batteries constantly from trying to run a resi fridge off grid
Sorry, I disagree. Converting to a residential fridge was the single best thing we did on our rig. We boondock exclusively and have a setup almost identical to the OP's proposal. It works great and it certainly does not draw down the battery bank. We typically make very free use of the available battery capacity (600 AH Li) and wake up to 70-75% available, which is topped up before noon. Our batteries have never been below 50%.
