Forum Discussion

Billinwoodland's avatar
Sep 05, 2014

Another residential frig question

Wife and I have been seriously shopping for our first MH about the last month. We have been window shopping for about 2 years. We originally were set on a DP, but recently have seen some nice C and super C models that we both like, and aside from the diesel super C, the price is less on the C rigs. One observation I have seen is that most, if not all, of the newer A's have residential refrigerators. I understand they went to this because of the fire issues surrounding two way refrigerators. However, most, if not all of the C's we have looked at have two-way refrigerators in them. We plan to boondock a lot so the 2-way interests me. But, if the reason the A manufacturers went to the residential side if fire risk, why do you see so many 2-way frig in new Cs? I know many of you love your residential refrigerators - am I making a mistake considering the 2-way units?

13 Replies

  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    I think it is size more than fire safety because though we all hear about fridge fires, and yes, there was a batch of bad ones, (Both Norcold and Dometic got hit) the fact is fridge fires are not all that common.. There are also electrical fires, engine fires, Smoking in bed fires, Kitchen fires and other fires.. Proper maintenance is a bit more important with a 2-way is all.

    Size, however, is usually better with a residential.
  • As Bill says, the size is of importance to some people. The largest DPs have fridges the size found in many homes or larger. But the down side to some, is that you have to have them plugged into electrical power, enough battery power and inverter power to run them during the driving day, or have an auto start generator that will start to recharge the batteries on board.

    My truck camper has a three way fridge in it, propane, 12 volt or 120 volt. Down side is it is slow to cool, and small but I don't have much room in my TC anyways.
    Our 5th wheel has a two way, propane and 120 volt fridge. It is a bit larger by about 2 cubic feet, but has the same drawbacks of being slower to cool. The residential style fridges cool quickly as they have a compressor which the propane ones don't have, being they are absorption types.

    If a person plans to live in their rig or mainly camp in full hook up sites in campgrounds, the residential ones work very well. For boondocking, if you don't mind your diesel generator running at different times of the day and night to power your fridge, then they work as well for that.

    I have been running RVs for 50 years now and have never had a fire in a fridge unit and all of mine have been the multi fuel source, gas or electric. So I wouldn't be the least concerned with a fire. But as with any use of propane or NG, you have to check for leaks on a regular basis, especially if you get a smell of the gas in or around your rig. Not saying a fire couldn't happen, but as a former fire fighter and arson investigator, I have never had to deal with a fire in an RV fridge.

    It tends to be easier to get a residential fridge repaired, it seems. Many times when one of the RV multi fuel source fridges goes bad, it just gets replace at a high cost.
  • 1. People always like larger refers, so a house type would give them that.

    2. Most people don't boondock so it doesn't matter.

    3. House type probably last longer so less complaints.

    4. The ice cube makers probably work better in the house type.

    5. Don't know, but suspect the house type is cheaper?

    Me, I'll stay with the mult-powered unit.

    Bill