residential refrigerator upgrade question

Keep in mind that the OP is NOT planning to have the fridge running while traveling as those of us with motor homes do. So the question is not will the fridge work while traveling (we all know it will) but rather is there any issue with towing it and bouncing in down the road for 8 hours and then powering it on when he arrives in the campground.

YC 1 wrote:

tewitt1949 wrote:
Do you turn it on right away when you park? Or is it on while traveling?

I have not run my refer on the inverter yet. I wanted to make the trip as uneventful as possible. Generally I ran the generator every four hours on the road and often more do to the heat of the day. The highest I ever say it get was 40. It cools incredibly fast and if not careful will freeze things.

The freezer side never rose above 30. Makes plenty of ice too.

Why not run it on the inverter? Once it is cooled down it doesn't use much power and your alternator will keep the batteries up.
Bill

Don't know how contaminates could get into the refrigeration system. It is a sealed system which means nothing can get out, or in. The only things in the refrigerant are what was put there at the factory. Park it and plug it in.

Have had a residential fridge for 10 years. It’s off when in storage, which could be as long as 5 months. As I prepare to leave, inverter is turned on and all AC outlets are active so fridge is on as I’m moving down the highway. When I’m going to shore power, inverter off, then I plug in and fridge goes back on.

tewitt1949 wrote:
I have a travel trailer that we are putting in a magic chef frig but we heard that since we move/travel quite often, we will have to let it set unplugged for 24 hours before plugging it in. They say vibration stirs stuff (contaminate) in the Freon and will harm it if plugged in. I find it hard to believe but just thought I ask what others do.

While traveling we just leaved it closed up and since its 110v its not running, until we get to the campground.

I take it the people who are telling you this don't have a residential refrigerator. Like I have said just leave it plugged into your inverter. When you are plugged into shore power it will pass the power through and when you unplug it will pull from the batteries. Your alternator will keep the batteries up when traveling. Once the refrigerator and contents are cooled down it doesn't take much power to keep it cool.
Bill

Thanks all to the reply's. It pretty obvious what I was told isn't correct. I'm gonna take my chances and leave it plugged in when traveling and when I plug the trailer in to the camp ground power it will start running. Thanks all.

375 miles (on the road, 2 week-ends worth of travel) on my new 5er. Residential refrigerator running 24x7 on the inverter. So far, hasn't missed a beat! Freezer compartment at a steady -2 and the refrigerator on a steady +36 degrees. I'm pretty certain you can turn them on immediately after transport.

When we had our new refrigerator delivered at home, in the house, the delivery guys set it up (put the doors on and stuff), and plugged it in immediately. 20 minutes later it was cold.

Way back in the day, which was long ago, the caveat was a refrigerator could only be transported UPRIGHT. Then the magic of science stepped in and things changed. EVERY modern day fridge can be laid FLAT, even upside down, altho that's not recommended.

To the OP. Don't worry about your fridge. If you have to turn it off while traveling, simply power it on when you get to your destination. It'll take about an hour to chill and all will be good again. If you're going to travel with it ON as we do, and you have an ice maker, either turn that OFF or turn on the water pump as the ice maker could be damaged by trying to operate with no water in it....Dennis

STBRetired wrote:
Don't know how contaminates could get into the refrigeration system. It is a sealed system which means nothing can get out, or in. The only things in the refrigerant are what was put there at the factory. Park it and plug it in.

Being brand new and hitting the road for a Summer trip I did not want to risk a failure do to running on inverter. I also wanted to test it to see how long it would stay cold. It did outstanding.

As for the OP.

Keep your shopping down and the freezer full of some frozen milk jugs. Move those to the refer side when making the long trip. Since this will not be a daily routine it should keep things nice and cold.

Once you arrive do your major shopping in the local community.

Have never heard the "Stirs stuff, contaminates, in the freon" line. in fact it's not freon but another refrigerante since 19something but that's a nit)

However I have heard many who have upgraded bemoaning "How do I keep it cold on a long trip".. You knwo with a tank of propane and a RV type Absorption Cooling Unit.. I never ask that question.. I just push the button and it stays cool.

Himacane (Used to call'em hurricanes but alas this one was named Matthew) came calling a bit closer than I was comfortable with and power was lost for like 3-4 days.. No problem Propane held. Generator kept batteries happy.

Less scary for me (Not for Digger) Digger O'Grady ran his backhoe through a little cable (The thousands of volts PRIMARY power feed to the RV park cable) (I'll bet that was impressive) and power was down for a few days till the power company spliced.. NO PROBLEM.

Many advantages to Absorption cooling units.. Many.