House Refrigerator VS RV Refrigerator

The larger side-by-side residential 120V reefers use about 1 KW/day or less. A buyer can look on the yellow Energy label and see the yearly amount, divide by 365.

Beyond that, it's mathematics to understand the amount of battery capacity necessary to run the reefer. Most folks that are bent on long time RV'ing eventually get to the point where solar becomes a needed accessory. That can happen after a trip to elevation in an off-season where full hook-up campground sites are not available. When you wake up at 3:00 AM, the batteries are dead, and cabin temps are falling, you'll have wished you had solar.

The wife and I explored this topic fairly in depth as we searched for, and purchased the fifth wheel we intend to use for retirement in about 18 months. (Not for Fulltiming, just lots of travel).

We did notice that the residential refrigerators were virtually always the cheaper option even with the included inverter, with the dealers claiming the residential fridge inverter combo were cheaper than the larger absorption units. Also, when pushed most of the dealers claimed about 9 hours of useable battery life for the trailers using the two group 24s they would include unless you negotiated otherwise. The friends I have using this type setup all have 6 or 8 6 volt battery setups with solar and generators so I have no source of reliable information on what I could really expect to do on just a couple batteries.

Having just replaced all the household appliances in the stick and brick I've been rather disappointed in the new rather pricey GE refrigerator performance wise. The default main area default setting is for 37 degrees, but it allowed the temp to climb to 45 to 47 degrees prior to running again to cool back down. I was told by the repairman we had come out to look at it that they were set that way to help with energy consumption. He was able to reprogram it more to our liking although the temp swings are still wider than I would like. I mention all this in that the main complaint I see regarding the absorption refrigerators is they tend to have temp swings on the warm side.

In the end, the Bighorn 3270 we settled has an 18cf absorption refrigerator rather than the 21cf residential option. We went this route as we intend to be on the road a great deal for at least a few years rather than parked in just one or two areas a year. Some of the places we hope to see won't have hookups which with the bigger power hog units can be hard on batteries even without the residential refrigerator load. We've only used the rig twice, and not in the dead of summer so we've only experienced temps mid 80s. That said, the initial cool down has been under five hours to mid 30's in the main box, and it will cool well below freezing in there on the high cool settings. As for our previous Norcold 8cf unit it would get cold enough to put ice crystals in my beer with temps well above 100 degrees outside.

creeper wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
You must have had a real dud. 2-3 hrs ahead of time is usually fine. If you are packing it with pre-chilled food, you can turn it on when you load the fridge.

Not at all. I know lots of people who do that, plus my instruction manual said the same thing to bring it up to operating temp.

creeper:

HOGWASH and IMO you're dreaming about your instruction manual calling for those times you quoted to bring it up to temp and I CHALLENGE YOU to provide the actual source by title and version/manual number that supports that absurd claim.

Here is the EXACT quote from the NORCOLD Owner's manual for the N61X and N81X model R.V. refrigerators 632221B (6-09) and I would bet a small fortune that later manuals along with all the DOMETIC model R.V. refrigerators has similar times.

Food compartment:
Start the refrigerator and let it cool for eight hours before loading with food. If the refrigerator does not start ot cool down after about two hours,l contact your dealer or a Norcold Authorized service center.

I also highly question the accuracy of the rest of your claims since they are IMO HIGHLY EXAGGERATED.

BTW I wish folks would only post real information and not make stuff up to prove some questionable position to begin with.

Larry

pnichols wrote:
.... and when built with good quality and properly installed/vented ... they come pretty close to amazing.

Here's and interesting read on them: http://io9.com/5706535/the-story-of-einsteins-refrigerator

That's the problem. Finding a quality one. None of the current propane fridges are built well. Anything after 5 years you are on borrowed time.

Few are properly installed but that can be fixed easily.

Adam

We are currently on an RV trip that may top out at 10,000 miles. We have made no reservations and we have over-nighted or camped at nearly a different spot every night - some with hookups, some without hookups - as dictated by availability where we found ourselves at the end of the afternoon each day. Some days we had the sun, some days we did not. Some of the spots we wound up in did not have a enough room for big RV's with gobs of roof square footage - whether a MH, or a FW, or a TT.

For this type of RV travel you need maximum self-containment in as compact a unit as you can get by in. IMHO, an all-electric refrig would not fit travel like this. An absorption refrigerator is the only way to go for maximum flexibilty .... and when built with good quality and properly installed/vented ... they come pretty close to amazing.

Here's and interesting read on them: http://io9.com/5706535/the-story-of-einsteins-refrigerator

I have a 12 VDC Nova Kool compressor fridge with a 5.2 amp draw and usually no more than 50% cycle rate. Easy to keep with my solar capacity.

"valhalla360"......You're exactly the type of poster I discussed earlier. The residential refers are a fairly new addition to the RV market. You own a 19 year old 27' 5th wheel. Residential refrigerators were not designed for your type of coach or how you use a refer, yet you're here criticizing them. It's like someone with a 1960 VW criticizing water cooled engines.....no offense, but it's just a discussion you really don't have any experience to participate in.

Chris Bryant wrote:
A huge irony in all of this- Dometic makes and sells *a lot* of absorption refrigerators to hotels for mini bars. They buy them because they are silent.
They also just divested themselves of their medical branch, who makes absorption and compressor driven coolers for worldwide use- systems like this one.

Absorbtion mini fridges, which are in many hotels,is something that I did not know. They use them because they are silent. The problem is, these are all electric units which must be on the grid and would kill batteries in an RV in hours if not minutes. Google energy consumption and cooling efficiency for the compressor vs absorbtion mini bars and you will find there is no comparison. A study that I read from Denmark said up to 10% of hotel electric energy costs where from absorbtion mini bars.

Dave

A huge irony in all of this- Dometic makes and sells *a lot* of absorption refrigerators to hotels for mini bars. They buy them because they are silent.
They also just divested themselves of their medical branch, who makes absorption and compressor driven coolers for worldwide use- systems like this one.

Regardless of which refrigeration system you decide on, modern RV's have a lot more electrical requirements than 50 years ago so when off the grid you need a way of storing and replenishing that power. With the advancement of technology in solar, inverter generators, inverters, batteries etc.,and most importantly, the costs associated with this technology dropping to the point where the average person can afford it, it is a lot easier now to be away from shore power than ever before even with an all electric fridge /freezer. You just have to be set up for it.

Dave