klebs wrote:
I'm am a total newb to RV'ing and I'm also new to this forum. I'm coming up on retirement and am researching the purchase of our first Class A RV for full-timing when we sell our house. I see that a popular option is a double door stainless refrigerator with a thru-door ice/water dispenser. In fact, one I saw in RVTRADER looks suspiciously like the one I have in my house. The wife saw this and has added them to her list of must-haves when we go to buy the rig.
My question is: am I giving anything up when I choose an RV with one of these fridges? In my short history with other venues (pop-up trailers) I liked the fridges designed for campers that can be powered with 12V, LP gas or 120V alternatively. When on the road, whether engine-on or engine-off, what provides the capacity to keep a domestic fridge running? I hope this isn't too basic a question for this forum.
Most RV fridges, nowadays are gas/120vac and you don't see much 12vdc anymore. As for the residential units, they're much better, but depends on having an inverter, with a number of batteries and how much you expect to operate on without power. I installed my own inverter in this old coach and operate the OEM fridge on it when going down the road, but with two 6v batteries only, it won't last long without power, so now it's the genset if you're without a gas model. As for pulling in late in the evening and just for one night at wally world for example, it's fine and one can just let it go until morning without the door opening much or put it on the inverter, once the tv is off and just let the batteries run down during the night. Reset the inverter in the morning and the batteries will charge back up with the engine alternator while going down the road. With no inverter, you're limited to it holding it's own for awhile or having shore power or the genset running.
