Residential Refrigerator vs Propane/110 volt RV Type

Good thread. May I chime in?

Our present TT has a Norcold 2 door unit. It is going on 12 years old and no issues. I have done no PM on the unit short of an annual visual inspection. Always keep at coldest temp setting, and it works fine both 12v and propane. BUT, it is always on the back of my mind - absorption unit fire.

We are about to pull the trigger on a Class A, and if we do purchase the new Georgetown 329, it will have the SS package with the residential fridge. DW just fell in love with it when we saw one unit so equipped. We do dry camp for at most 2 days at a time, and hope to do just fine even if it takes running the Genny for an hour or two per day. Reports are that the new 2015 models are energy Sippers compared to just a few years ago.

MrWizard wrote:
" I have no idea what amperage our engine alternator uses. "

Your alternator does not use amperage
It produces amperage using engine power

Meant to say I don't know how many amps it produces.

I was happy with the performance of out Norcold 1200 after adding the Amish Cooling Unit, and some extra fans. We also had the SS-30 Halon automatic extinguisher, and a dedicated smoke detector in the rear of the fridge cabinet.

We too notice better cooling performance on propane vs electric, but electric was still supporting us well.

I just gave my ARP Control to a neighbor. I recommend that anyone retaining a Norcold 1200, not rely on the Mickey Mouse 'safety recall' from the company. I'd budget into your maintenance work an upgrade to the Amish Cooling Unit and also install the ARP Control too. Doing this on your schedule, and on your turf - is sure better then needing to do so while traveling, or worse having a fire. For the small cost, and as additional insurance, why not also have the peace of mind and safety edge of the SS-30 extinguisher too?

We did all of the above mod's on my dime, and as mentioned our turf. We did this because we wanted to retain the LP capability for being off the grid.

Well, things have changed. We now have a larger battery bank (800AH's of Lifeline's and a robust high efficiency 48V 1200W solar panel array. We also added the MS2812 (Missed the hybrid unit by a few months!) pure sine wave inverter.) We ran with that for the last year, including an extended trip to Alaska. We feel we have an abundance of capacity, with the ability to maintain their SOC level well with the solar panels. (We did find that 6" of snow on the solar panels, will result in the need to run the generator from time to time:)!)

So we are now in the process of installing the Samsung 18 RF197 successor. We are doing this to only to allow more cold food and freeze capacity. Wife is still not pleased about loosing her two favorite 'junk drawers' to allow the fitting of the Samsung...

We are going to run for 6 months or so, and decide if we want to add a smaller dedicated PSW inverter just for the fridge. This way we can continue to use our standard practice of only running the MS2812 when needed. (Old habit, and due to our real world usage of our new battery bank, we are really not denting the overnight SOC levels. So leaving it on 7/24 will be OK.)

This has been a good thread. I still maintain that it all comes down to personal choice, and no right or wrong way to go with this. Except the added safety items to correct the poorly built OEM norcold - that IMO, is the cost of retaining LP capability.

Best to all, be safe, have fun,
Smitty

timmac wrote:
I noticed many newer motorhomes have switch over to the residential refrigerator, even some smaller units under 35 ft, I can maybe understand in a 40 ft full timing type motorhome but when it comes to camping I like the propane refrigerator vs total electric that drains batteries, are the rv makers just doing this for cost savings..

Just wondering :@

I doubt if it's for savings and for preference, it's going to depend on how long your stays are, without power and before it becomes annoying. One will enjoy the replacement cost for a residential vs a combo unit and with an old coach, it's just not very cost effective to spend a lot towards a new fridge.
Right now, our OEM is still working fine and have installed an inverter circuit to feed it, as well and especially with going down the road in nice weather and when the get set isn't running.

" I have no idea what amperage our engine alternator uses. "

Your alternator does not use amperage
It produces amperage using engine power

I have a new mid size fridge and I have a small counter top freezer I am going to install them in my bus. I like Freon based refers and I will be using an inverter. My Avco has the Dometic unit with a seperate freezer and fridge. I will not remove it unless it dies. then will have to rethink. but as long as it works it will remain. It is a nice looking fridge. Glossy black and chrome trim. For a 79 it looks too new. might have been replaced. I don't know.

Just ran a quick check. The OP hasn't posted in a while. I hope he hasn't "r-u-n-n-o-f-t". Good information in this thread. I never thought a 20 cubit foot fridge could run off of a solar panel.

I'm sure when I upgrade to a DP (really don't want to go over the 36' we have now. Not too many sites at Elkmont we can get in) I will go with the residential fridge and its proper set up. I wouldn't want to retrofit my motorhome for it. I have 2 6V batteries and not too much room in the outside compartment to add more. It has a 5K genset that we rarely run going down the road. I have no idea what amperage our engine alternator uses. Might even trade later this year. A lot of what we saw at the last RV show we went to had the residential. Meaning if a year or so a lot of those will be coming up for sale.

I have propane unit and it works fine for my bus I am going to use a resident type. I don't want propane in my bus. all electrical and not installing a range for now just microwave. I don't dry camp and mainly will use thebus for trips to a and b so I can avoid motels and if needbe plug into shore power or use generator.

Rust pieces falling onto the burner that always need cleaning, recalls to install wind flaps, spiders blocking the burner tube, constant on and off of cooling fans in the vent stack, resetting or replacing control boards, etc, etc.
Give me a residential refrigerator any day over the propane models.

RayChez wrote:
I would have to say that Residential refrigerators give less problems and are a lot cheaper. They are great if you are on full hook ups.

But I can not complain about my four door Norcold. It has worked real good for us, with no problems so far. Even if it gave me problems now after twelve years I could not complain. We do use the propane side of it quit a bit and has been great.

But for those that say that it is cheaper for the manufacturer, I am not so sure because you got to have at least six, six volt batteries. Two being just for the refrigerator and the other four for other house use. Plus two for cranking the engine, for a total of eight minimum in batteries. Most have a separate inverter which are not cheap. Most have solar panels added to the roof of the coach to keep the batteries charged. So all that adds up.

So in the end I believe it is just a matter of preference on the individual.

Probaly is still cheaper for the manufacturer as My MH with the residential only has the engine battery and two 12v coach batterys. No solar panel but does have the high output alternator to run the fridge and keep batterys charged while driving. However, we don't dry camp.