Thinking of replacing our old Dometic refer with a 10 cf residential refrigerator and was wondering if anyone out there has experienced any problems with theirs due the bumping and shaking that occurs while on the road. Has the compressor held up, etc.?

Maybe there's something in here.Household refer Class A 2009Residential refer Class A 2010

There needs to be room behind the unit for air flow over the coils.It will need to be bolted or strapped down. You do not want the coils to rub on anything. Check that the coil hold downs on the unit are tight so they do not rub through the coil.Some stores have the coils on the back removed. Make sure you know the true depth.You do not want to go over 4 hours with out power at a time. Inverter / upgrading batteries might need to be looked at for traveling.

Check out the new MH's, they are changing over to residential units at a much reduced price and control.

I put in a residential unit. You build a platform and you put in a board in the back to prevent it from going backwards. YOu then bolt it to the bottom platform and you put a wedge up top. You wil close off one of the vents. I would put screening on th bqck and close off the roof. I put in a 19 CU Ft Counter dept samsung RF 197 french door. Best up grade in a long time. I wish I did it a while ago. I have had 25 friends who have done the same thing in the last few months too. They have been standard with a whirlpool or Samsung in Foretravel for a number of years. No issues at all.

Your inverter and engine will run it with no problem on the road. I can go overnight with no issues on three 8ds. Also, the one I got has the coils hidden and do not show.

Residentail refrigerators in motorhomes | Good Sam Community

93 Replies

Rickyrocket
Explorer
Aug 25, 2013
This subject has been beaten to death,those of us that have a Res.Refer wouldn't go back,if the refer lasts 5-8 years your still way ahead,your food is at proper temp,you can fit whatever you want in it and your not worrying about fire,its worth it,some people just cant except change
John_S_
Explorer II
Aug 25, 2013
I dry camp and camp on 20 amps and sometimes pull out of the garage and do not plug into power for a week on the road. In the Sumer then generator is never off in the winter it is on for about an hour a day in the evening and again in the morning. I do not worry about saving power or whether I have it. I live in the coach hooked up or in a rest stop or off the road near a river the same way. The residential fridge, once you put it in is easy to change out if need be. To each their own but most Foretravel owners are converting. They have 2 or 3 batteries. Some of the early 90s models are adding a second inverter. We ave peope who live all the time off grid with them as well. Each person makes their own decision but the newer cooling units started going bad earlier. I am the moderator on the Foretravel site with 2200 members and we started noticing that new replacement cooling units were not sating as long as the originals. So the trend started to replace the whole unit but the new ones were not a drop in as the dimensions changed. So, the factory started putting in the same residential units they put inthe new coaches and it has taken off from there. They are doing three a week and have a couple guys dedicated to just that and the woodwork required. Nobody has regretted it so far.
moisheh
Explorer
Aug 25, 2013
Some of the naysayers do not understand that a modern MH, especially the DP's) have lots of current draws. There are multiple TV's, sound systems, Satellite units and a host of phantom draws. Even with a propane fridge dry camping will typically require running your generator. Adding a residential fridge will just extend the running time of the genie. Maybe 60 to 90 minutes extra. If you are just staying overnight or even 24 hours without power the fridge will run off your batteries without any problems. If you are fence sitting on whether to go electric or maybe Amish just PM one of the thousands who has done the conversion. Read the excellent on line posts from those who have done the conversion. You may need to join one of the forums that are dedicated to one MH mfr. Try the IRV Monaco forum for Diplomat Don's excellent write ups. You will not find one person who was sorry he went electric. Our Monaco came from the factory with a residential unit and I almost did not buy it for that reason. How dumb of me!! I can think of only one small negative. When you go to sell the unit some potential buyers may not understand that this is a plus and walk away. This will change over the next few years as more units are coming from the factory with residential fridges installed.
Even Ray Chez will eventually see the light!
Moisheh
Don_McL
Explorer
Aug 24, 2013
ClassAGeek wrote:
Don McL wrote:
Jack Mayer has a spreadsheet on his site with different examples.

scroll down to Residential Refrigerators to download the spreadsheet

After reading this summary, it appears that residential fridges @ 100ah are a stretch for those who don't like running a generator or lack an array of batteries with solar panels. I understand that many take great pride in their generator, so I can see how a residential fridge is virtually a 'must have'.

according to the summary a res fridge uses aprox. 3 times the watt hrs as a rv fridge. 1258/375. so switching to the res i'm looking at making up for what? an extra 68ah's

A viable alternative is a small 'beer fridge' for items that are not suitable for a gas fridge (can't think what those are but I gather they are common). These fridges consume as little as 20ah. But where's the fun in that? LOL.

your absolutely correct! now i too can get rid of that gasless "beer fridge" on the sliding tray outside and pick up at least another another 20ah.

and according to the link, turning off the ice will lesson the load by at least another 250 watt/day.
st687
Explorer
Aug 24, 2013
ClassAGeek wrote:
st687 wrote:
What do all the I dont run my genny people do when it is 90 outside and you want to watch a Nascar race,just asking.

The answer is fairly obvious. :D

Sorry Geek,I should have said what do all the boondookers do.
DSDP_Don
Explorer
Aug 24, 2013
"down home".....If you were to buy a new coach today, it would probably come with a 20-23 cubic foot refer, 6-8 batteries and a Pure Sine Wave inverter. When building new, they have the ability to design the size and opening that will fit just about any refer.

The people who replace the Norcold refers, are using smaller ones that will fit in the Norcold opening with some trimming in the height of the opening only. The Samsung refers have been the choice of most because they fit, don't require a Pure Sine Wave inverter and can run off of 4 batteries like yours. Those that add more batteries and solar are probably dry camping more than others and are looking for a little extra power. There is a Monaco forum where several people have installed the Samsung RF197 and they're all using just four batteries and the inverter that came with the coach.
ClassAGeek
Explorer
Aug 24, 2013
st687 wrote:
What do all the I dont run my genny people do when it is 90 outside and you want to watch a Nascar race,just asking.

The answer is fairly obvious. :D
down_home
Explorer II
Aug 24, 2013
Sorry for second reply.
Our Norcold kicked out this month. Reset the button in back cleaned etc and it wouldn't reset.
Checked again and saw a little yellow residue near flu. never smelled anything. Replace cooling unit with Amish unit. Ins covered. i often wondered about putting a residential unit in it instead. Read several post here about but nothing like the detail this evening.
We only have four T105's for the house. The inverter is more than necessary. Don't remember specs but just that it is a large unit.
Several here say 6 house batteries as a minimum. Is this opinions based on current load etc or experience?
down_home
Explorer II
Aug 24, 2013
chili's trip wrote:
John S. wrote:
I am goingto run my genset for the coffee maker and the microwave anyway so it will bulk charge the batteries then. I have friends who have put up soar and do not need to run the genset much at all. It is there and simple so I run it when it needs to be run. This coach does not have the same soar setup I ad on my last coach but my next coach will be designed with it in mind and will not require any real genset run time other tan baking in the microwave or the washing machine.

I run my gen sometimes for coffee and microwave. Maybe 15 min max. Doesn't seem be enough enough time to bring batteries to full charge. I have using dometic reefers for 8 years with no problems and complete independence from the grid and no p o neighbors. I don't get it?

Most coaches now have auto gen start, ours don't though. Shouldn't be any problem when load management system is set properly? It should kick on when the batteries get low and bring them up to full charge. It won't matter if you run the gen with the batteries at full charge. The load center sends excess to ground?
st687
Explorer
Aug 24, 2013
What do all the I dont run my genny people do when it is 90 outside and you want to watch a Nascar race,just asking.