Current Draw Of Residential Refrigerator ?

2oldman wrote:
yes. Two breakers is nuts for the whole RV.

Huuuuhh ... how is two 15 amp breakers for a 30 amp RV ... "nuts"?

Sounds like the wife has more air fresheners plugged in.do you have a gfi in the circuit if so it could be bad and throwing the breaker instead of tripping itself

The compressor draw very little power around 2-3 AMPS but the Auto-defrost will pull up to 500 to 700 watts average. You might want to run a cord out to a separate plug on the pedestal for the fridge if possible. I would buy a Kill-a-watt meter and check each item on your outlets. You'd be surprised how quick thing add up. I have a electronic voltmeter plug in the kitchen outlet since it's easy to see. I try to keep the voltage about 110 at all times. The park we're in now has poor voltage and we can only run a few things at a time before it drops down below 110. Voltage is a little more critical on a rig with a built in generator system which I found out last week when the Transfer switch burned out!!

Thanks for all the ideas. Here are some answers to your questions.


Don't know the amp rating of refrigerator, I will look for a sticker.

Hot water heater on electric but a different circuit.

Space heaters? Sometimes two 750 watt ones, sometimes none.

Breakers are fairly new.(two years old)

Don't know if this will help but ours draws about 8 amps on start up (for less than a second) and then just around 1 amp after that. It seems to run for about 7 or 8 minutes and then off for 15 or so.

Hope this helps. Maybe you can add another one or maybe your breaker is getting weak. It happens.

Good luck. Merry Christmas.

Dog Folks wrote:
We live full time in a travel trailer with 30 amp service. All our 120 volt service seems to be wired on two breakers. Two years ago the breakers started tripping frequently. We traced it down to the “straw that broke the camel’s back” were three electric air fresheners my wife purchased. Removed them and has been good since then.

The problem has now reoccurred. The only difference this time is we have replaced our Dometic refrigerator, this past summer with a residential compressor type. The breakers were not tripping then. We always ran the Dometic on electric.

My question: Does the residential refrigerator draw more current than a Dometic running on electric?

What is the listed amp rating of the new refrigerator? Also what else are you running on electric(water heater, space heater, etc.)?

The surge current to start a compressor is much higher than the required run current. Plus they like to quote yearly average for power requirements. I'm no expert but I suspect that a fridge in a colder climate may consume less power than a fridge in a warm climate. Most refrigerators are in 70 degree homes so an average may be reasonable assumption. Well, how about that same fridge in in an RV that may not be that climate controlled? I suspect their calculations on power consumption could be off quite a bit when you put that same fridge in an RV. I did some calculations for my style camping. I bought an RV with a dometic instead of an all AC fridge. JMHO.

2oldman wrote:
yes. Two breakers is nuts for the whole RV.

household refer and inverter2009
Household refer Class A 2009
residential fridge- boondocking 09
Residential refer Class A 2010

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Thanks for the fast response and the info. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I have more than two breakers, but the ones that are tripping control the 120V electrical plugs. (including the refrigerator)

By the way, this question was answered in only four minutes!! I like to see any other RV forum with such fast response!! Outstanding!

yes. Two breakers is nuts for the whole RV.

household refer and inverter2009
Household refer Class A 2009
residential fridge- boondocking 09
Residential refer Class A 2010