RV Residential Refrigerators

I always have wondered, what happens to the motor on a residential refrigerator when the batteries start going dead and the motor starts dragging. Isn't that bad for the motor? Is that why they do not warranty residential refrigerators IF you are going to install them on an RV that does not have the solar and extra inverter? I am talking about dry camping with no shore power or auto-start on your generator.

on a 6 hour trip I run the inverter for 4 hours and then the gen set for 2. never had a problem with house batteries. never have done a "scientific" check on house batteries after 4 hour drain. my particular coach does not charge the house batteries with the engine alternator.

Labor is around $125.00 per hour. So ten hours, add another $1250.

SabreCanuck wrote:
JMHO was all that was requested, Thanks guys.

I would be more than happy to tackle all of the above myself so wasn't too concerned with labor so actually forgot to mention it. DW says with the amount of $$ we saved on labor around the house over the years we should be able to just buy a new MH.. I might have to take her up on that but then I'd get bored pretty quick. LOLOL

:)

Good luck with the project.

JMHO was all that was requested, Thanks guys.

I would be more than happy to tackle all of the above myself so wasn't too concerned with labor so actually forgot to mention it. DW says with the amount of $$ we saved on labor around the house over the years we should be able to just buy a new MH.. I might have to take her up on that but then I'd get bored pretty quick. LOLOL

I've done two Samsung installs. On mine, I bought the SS model that was $1100.00. My 2000 watt Magnum inverter was fine for the installation, but I added a Magnum 600 watt inverter (MSW) ($500.00) because I wanted to leave the main inverter off, except when I was boon docking (personal choice).

Again, my Diplomat had four batteries which worked fine for me and everyone doing the conversions. I wanted two more, so I added two rebuilt Interstate batteries that matched what I already had ($70.00).

Lastly, I never had solar, so I added two 100 watt panels and controller ($250.00).

I did all of my own work, so no labor involved. The Samsung install with miscellaneous parts was about $1300.00. I could have gone down the road at this price. I added another $900.00 in panels, batteries, inverter and parts for a total of $2200.00.

I did a Samsung install for my sister and nothing was added but the refer and some miscellaneous parts, again, about $1300.00.

If you can do your own work, adding a residential refer is about the same price as repairing the Norcold with a new cooling unit.

Two more Norcold posts on failures running along with this one!!!!

SabreCanuck wrote:
Just curious. For strictly BALLPARK figures, what would the cost be of replacing an existing Norcold 1200 with a comparable Residential fridge and I think I would add the solar?
1) cost of Fridge?
2) cost of inverter if required?
3) cost of sufficient solar?
equals $####.00?

Just some sort of ballpark number would be nice without having to sort through 80+ pages of "mines better than yours" or "propane will blowup" posts. is it $500.00 or $5000.00 when all is said/done?

Thanks in advance.

Excellent question. I have been involved with a few of these conversions so I'll kind of average it out. Here goes.

#. The most expensive fridge was about 1200 bucks. (Ours was 1050 for a 22 foot frigidaire).

#. The inverter i have been using for installs has been a gopower 1000 watt sine wave inverter. On these installs it was a dedicated install as that's what they wanted. The inverter, install kit including catastrophic fuse, various parts pieces etc was around 600 dollars. I've done a couple, including my own, that used the existing inverter as well. Not much to say here. There was already a plug at the back of the fridge cabinet so ....

#. They got their own solar and I just installed it but usually it has been 2 or 3 160 watt panels which I think they paid around 700 dollars.

#. Batteries. Well, in each case there were already 4 batteries and that's what they stayed with. Some have plans of putting larger capacity batteries in the same footprint when their existing batteries wear out.

I don't know what labour would be for something like this (I just do it for fun and experience) but I'm guessing you would be paying for about 10 hours of labour. That one I"ll leave to you as maybe you "know a guy". :).

If you are starting with nothing I would say 2500 should cover it without labour. None of it is hard to do and it's all kind of fun not to mention a learning experience.

Remember, all of this is JMHO.

Good luck and happy trails.

Just curious. For strictly BALLPARK figures, what would the cost be of replacing an existing Norcold 1200 with a comparable Residential fridge and I think I would add the solar?
1) cost of Fridge?
2) cost of inverter if required?
3) cost of sufficient solar?
equals $####.00?

Just some sort of ballpark number would be nice without having to sort through 80+ pages of "mines better than yours" or "propane will blowup" posts. is it $500.00 or $5000.00 when all is said/done?

Thanks in advance.

justme wrote:

John & Angela wrote:

justme wrote:
It is said the sine wave inverters are better the modified inverters. However, I have been powering my cabin's refer, lights, computers and furnace for 5 years with a modified sine wave inverter (Xantrex 3kw) and have no problems. I guess because theory is better than real life to some. Also, some refrigerators require 8-10 amps at 120vac(100+amp @ 12v) and I wonder how the life of the vehicle alternator is affected by this intermittent power draw from the batteries while driving.

Good afternoon "justme". Yes in many cases modified sine wave inverters do a fine job, however with a 120 volt AC motor on many residential fridges (not all) a sine wave inverter will do a better job.

Also you may have slipped a decimal point on the power usage of a modern compressor type fridge. Although there was a time when they did indeed draw that much power, a modern residential fridge will draw around 1 amp of power when running and actually only runs about 20 minutes out of the hour.

Cheers.

J and A

I don't think I slipped a decimal point because I was reading the label on many units at the RV show. The current drain ranged from 2-10 amps at 120vac. Where did you get your information from? Also 4 door absorption units draw 5.5 amps at 120vac and 2.2 amps at 12vdc on propane. Also, every residential unit will operate properly with modified sine inverters-- albeit slightly less efficiently, but not worth noting. Also, if your can identify what residential units will draw around 1 amp, I would be greatly interested.

Good morning. All good questions. The tags on the appliance indicate a worst case sceenario for the appliance, for example, during a compressor startup my fridge draws about 9 amps for just under 1/3 of a second. You can see why this number is irrelevant in calculating daily power usage. The most accurate way to measure current draw is with a clamp on ammeter however a "kill-a-watt meter" is a 19 dollar alternative. You can also look at the energuide rating which for most will be around 400 kilowatts plus or minus annually. Using 365KW as a guide (for simplicity of math) means it uses about 1kw per day. Doing a little backwards math, .9 amps (that's point 9 amps) at 115 volts comes out around 100 watts. Multiply that by 24 hours and if the fridge ran all day it would use 2.4 kilowatts per day. But of course fridges don't run all day and usually only cycle on about 30 to 40 percent of the time. So let's say for easy math 1kw per day, times 365 days gets you to an energuide sticker of 365. These numbers are a little off from mine but you get the idea.

Hope that helps.

Happy trails.

J and A

John & Angela wrote:

justme wrote:
It is said the sine wave inverters are better the modified inverters. However, I have been powering my cabin's refer, lights, computers and furnace for 5 years with a modified sine wave inverter (Xantrex 3kw) and have no problems. I guess because theory is better than real life to some. Also, some refrigerators require 8-10 amps at 120vac(100+amp @ 12v) and I wonder how the life of the vehicle alternator is affected by this intermittent power draw from the batteries while driving.

Good afternoon "justme". Yes in many cases modified sine wave inverters do a fine job, however with a 120 volt AC motor on many residential fridges (not all) a sine wave inverter will do a better job.

Also you may have slipped a decimal point on the power usage of a modern compressor type fridge. Although there was a time when they did indeed draw that much power, a modern residential fridge will draw around 1 amp of power when running and actually only runs about 20 minutes out of the hour.

Cheers.

J and A

I don't think I slipped a decimal point because I was reading the label on many units at the RV show. The current drain ranged from 2-10 amps at 120vac. Where did you get your information from? Also 4 door absorption units draw 5.5 amps at 120vac and 2.2 amps at 12vdc on propane. Also, every residential unit will operate properly with modified sine inverters-- albeit slightly less efficiently, but not worth noting. Also, if your can identify what residential units will draw around 1 amp, I would be greatly interested.