Forum Discussion

lamoz1's avatar
lamoz1
Explorer
Jun 27, 2018

simple newbie question , refrigerator

If using my fridge on propane how long will the battery last?
Does it draw the 12v from the chassis battery or the house batteries?

Will be dry docking for 3 days and Im wondering If i should run the engine every day for a bit or will running the generator recharge the batteries for me ?


thank you in advance.

30 Replies

  • Between your fridge,water pump, lights, and other parasitic drawers, going 3 days with only one battery will definitely require charging the battery through some source.
  • the fridge controls are wired to the DC fuse panel
    look above and below the fridge for the 110v circuit breakers and the 12dc fuses

    your fridge should in no way be connected to the chassis/engine battery
    your engine battery should not be affected by RV house systems

    does your TV work, without the generator running ?
    if the answer is yes, you have a 12v to 110v 'inverter' installed somewhere
    fridge could be using that power and will suck your batteries dead

    make sure fridge is NOT on automatic
    put it on LP use the push button the 'control' above the fridge door
    set to 'GAS'

    is your fridge the side by side doors, with ice maker in the freezer ?
    if yes, open outside fridge access door and unplug the 110v cable marked icemaker, if not marked unplug both 110v cables
  • If you will be doing much dry camping in your RV life, I would suggest installing a 100 watt solar panel on your RV and it should keep your house batteries adequately charged then you won't need to run your generator. I have one on mine and it keeps both my house and chassis battery charged.

    Best of luck and safe travels.
  • if your running the frig on 12v? yes it,ll drain in a couple days, put your frig on propane and leave it there.
  • It's a brand new chassis battery, previous owner was using a deep cycle.
    I do have 2 deep cycle batteries running parallel for the house. Reason I
    bought a new battery is because it was being drained rapidly and figure
    I should not be using a deep cycle as a chassis battery. Not sure if I have a 3 way fridge but it will automatically change to gas since Im not plugged in to power. My rv is a 99 fleetwood bounder with 51k miles so is in very good shape.
  • If you just installed one battery I will point out that most folks, especially if they boondock use two.
    Is there enough space where you installed the first to add a second identical battery next to it?

    If so, and you only installed one, you should consider adding a second, wired parallel to the first.
    It's not only the fridge that ran the battery down, use of the water pump, lights, all non driving functions are coming from the house battery, so having the second in place will prove very useful.
  • around here
    Chassis means engine/drive battery

    RV/house is for the RV things that need power

    something is way wrong in power use for the engine battery to go dead
    fridge can't use that much electric power
    unless you have a 3-way fridge
    LP, 12-dc, 120vac
    never run on DC mode, that is heavy power use will suck a battery dead in hours

    thats an OLD fashion 'keep cold' mode, for when the engine is running, and LP flame is not legal, like driving true some tunnels back east
  • thank you for the reply , I have a brand new chassis battery ( 2 days old )
    ran the fridge on propane for 2 days and now the battery is dead and the fridge
    turned off, so it must be drawing power from the chassis battery. Bought the Rv about 1 month ago so I'm getting to know her.
  • depends on the age/year of the fridge/RV

    early 70'sand before, with manual igntion on the LP flame
    doesn't use any 12v control, doesn't care about battery

    from the 80's up the fridge controls need 12v, but use very little power
    could go days, if there is NO other 12v use, like the lights, the water pump, 12v fans etc..

    brand new battery ? or old battery ?

    the fridge control power will be connected to the house battery, from the same fuse control center as the water pump and 12v lights

    running the generator, should charge the house/rv battery, and supply 12v to the lights etc at the same time
    run it early morning, before things get hot, or late evening after things cool down a little, or in the middle of the day if you need to
  • It should be powered from the house batteries and your generator should charge it up.
    If running ONLY the fridge on propane I would think you would get many days, possible a week or more. However, that won't be the case as you will have lots of other loads on. I would think lights, pump, furnace, etc would all be much larger loads than the little control board in the fridge.