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MetalGator's avatar
MetalGator
Nomad
Jun 01, 2017

Traveling with residential fridge

We will hopefully be taking delivery of our new Class A motorhome in the next couple of weeks. The motorhome has a residential fridge. I am assuming that the inverter will keep the fridge running while we our underway? I am also assuming that while underway the coach batteries will be getting charged. Having said that, assumptions can get you in trouble! Since we live in Florida, most of the time we will probably be running the generator to run at lease one of the AC units while underway but I was wondering if we would be OK running the fridge on an all day drive without running the gen.
Class A

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  • tropical36's avatar
    tropical36
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    MetalGator wrote:
    We will hopefully be taking delivery of our new Class A motorhome in the next couple of weeks. The motorhome has a residential fridge. I am assuming that the inverter will keep the fridge running while we our underway? I am also assuming that while underway the coach batteries will be getting charged. Having said that, assumptions can get you in trouble! Since we live in Florida, most of the time we will probably be running the generator to run at lease one of the AC units while underway but I was wondering if we would be OK running the fridge on an all day drive without running the gen.

    Ours still has the RV fridge and a real power hog. We run it on the inverter, underway, as we did with our old gas coach and with it just having two 6v batteries. It's also on invert for short periods with engine off, but will switch over to gas, when without power for the night. With a residential, our 4 12v house batteries should supply it adequately. Then again it depends on what else you might be doing with the power when sitting still.
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    Jun 01, 2017
    A residential refrigerator needs two batteries in addition to the normal 4-6 that a coach should have at a minimum. Two will run it for 24+ hours...longer than the house batteries will last before needing charged. Now that I have LED lights and TVs I charge an hour and a half in the evening in a half hour in the morning when making coffee to keep my battery jo now that I have LED lights and TVs I charge an hour and a half in the evening and a half hour in the morning when making coffee to keep my batteries up.
  • Mile_High's avatar
    Mile_High
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    As said, in transit you will have nearly all features on inverter, and the rest will come on with the gen. We even dry clothes in transit.

    You'll have to play with the "off-grid" to see. Using 11.5 volts as the minimum, I think I only get 35-40 hours running the fridge, but I'm not positive. I have 6 AGM batteries for the coach and 2800 Watt inverter.
  • Two_Jayhawks's avatar
    Two_Jayhawks
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    time2roll wrote:
    You should have no issues in transit. Camping off-grid is when it gets interesting.


    We are not big off grid campers but I have friends with residential units that claim it's not very interesting at all. Curious what your take would be.
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Jun 01, 2017
    You should have no issues in transit. Camping off-grid is when it gets interesting.
  • Two_Jayhawks's avatar
    Two_Jayhawks
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    Absolutely you can keep the fridge powered with the inverter. Our fridge has been running on either shore, genny, or inverter for two years without interruption. Fridge would also have plenty of staying cold capacity if you desired to not keep it powered for short intervals. Also, yes your battery bank will be kept charged while you are driving should you choose to invert.

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