Getting Rid of a Residential Refrigerator

chasfenwick wrote:
In starting this topic I was looking for a post from someone who has actually done an upgrade to RV fridge, or heard of it being done, to a coach that was not originally offered with one from the factory. But thus far no one has come forward with such a tale. Anyone?

I wonder why? It's because nobody has been dumb enough to do that!

chasfenwick wrote:
In starting this topic I was looking for a post from someone who has actually done an upgrade to RV fridge, or heard of it being done, to a coach that was not originally offered with one from the factory. But thus far no one has come forward with such a tale. Anyone?

Sorry dude. Just trying to help. I certainly respect your choice of wanting to go to a propane fridge but am curious as to what attracts you to the propane fridge vice a comprssor type residential.

Cheers.

John.

chasfenwick wrote:
In starting this topic I was looking for a post from someone who has actually done an upgrade to RV fridge, or heard of it being done, to a coach that was not originally offered with one from the factory. But thus far no one has come forward with such a tale. Anyone?

Chances are NO

RV fridge to residential......YES many folks have done that!

Residential to RV propane fridge.
LP line....connections
DC wiring and fuse allotted
Vents.......lower one in side wall and a roof vent (or upper in side wall if in a slide out)
Little cabinet rework
Proper clearances/insulation requirements

Chances are NO......


On Edit:
I'm not sure I would change out to a residential
I have had many RV fridges and none have failed me.
Absorption fridges have been in use longer than compressor models.

Mfg. cutting corners/cost cutting measures lead to failures on some units which rightfully gave them a bad name.....so I understand those swapping out to residentials.

If I was in the market for new RV....I'd want one with regular absorption fridge.

In starting this topic I was looking for a post from someone who has actually done an upgrade to RV fridge, or heard of it being done, to a coach that was not originally offered with one from the factory. But thus far no one has come forward with such a tale. Anyone?

Ole B wrote:
I have checked on how to remove a residential refrigerator from a class A and in most cases one must remove the windshield to get them in or out. That is how Newmar does it. So this may be a negative.

It's how we did ours but in the big scheme of things this is not a big problem. 300 bucks in and out would probably cover it.

I have checked on how to remove a residential refrigerator from a class A and in most cases one must remove the windshield to get them in or out. That is how Newmar does it. So this may be a negative.

Well, like anything it's doable. There will be some gas line work, cabinetry, venting, re and re etc. You would want to have it done right as insurance might be an issue otherwise. You could sell the residential to help offset the the propane unit a bit but I would think you would still be around 4000 to 6000 dollars.

I would recommend

* seeing if the manufacture you are looking at would put in a propane unit at the factory.

* talking to the many of us who went through a bunch of hoops to do just the opposite and go to a residential freezer. I can't think of a single down side to a residential and a whole lot of downside to propane especially in a class A. If dry camping a lot is in your future a simple robust solar array and maybe expansion of battery bank will solve those problems as new residential fridges don't use much for power.

Good luck in your travels and welcome to the Forum.

I've already decided that if our RV unit ever goes out, we'll be replacing it with a residential unit for less than $400 and with this smaller unit installed, I'll have room for a slide out pantry and won't have to cut out any drawers below. Still most sure it will have more room inside. Wouldn't want anything too fancy anyway and might have problems with running it on my mod sine wave inverter.

The Dometic fridge problem was on some 1997-2006 2 door models. Our 4 door 1360 keeps ice cream just fine.

When we purchased our rig, one of the deciding factors was having a propane fridge. We did not want to rely on electric only.

We have 600W of solar with 440AH AGM batteries and a 1200W pure sine inverter. And we still don't want an electric only fridge. We do not want to run the generator for an hour or two a day just for the fridge, we don't want to have to plug in or drive to keep the batteries charged for the fridge, we don't want to constantly have to monitor our batteries and conserve power just to run a fridge.

We had 4 days of rain recently in Oregon. We didn't have to worry about running the generator to keep our food cold - the propane did that. And we didn't have to conserve power to keep the fridge running - we did what we wanted. It all comes down to what your priorities are. Not having to listen to the generator is one of ours.

I haven't looked into why the 1200's go up in fire. Where does the fire start in these units?