House Refrigerator VS RV Refrigerator
Been looking at new 5th wheel trailers about half coming with house refrigerator (110 volt only) and the other half coming with large RV refrigerator (propane, 110 volt). Not sure if going with a h...
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Argh... fumble finger city in my previous reply. I don't mean to be redundant, but what I meant to state was that absorption fridges are common in RVs, compressor fridges are replacing them.
As time goes on, lithium batteries (well, LiFePO4 or similar) get cheaper, solar panels become standard, we will see batteries that can handle the 2-3 amp-hours a compressor fridge (the biggest Nova-Kool fridge is at around 5.5 amp-hours) uses. We also will see solar setups that can put that much electricity back into the batteries. A move to lithium batteries means they can be drawn down to 10% without damage, giving one almost double the usable battery capacity. Of course, it means a charger... but those are falling in price as well.
The only place I see absorption fridges (ones that use propane) are small RV units which either don't have the space for at least 400 amp-hours of batteries, or don't have the solar panel space, and are used mainly for boondocking. Even those, such as truck campers, as technology improves with batteries and solar, those will wind up with compressor units eventually.
There is one piece of the puzzle missing; a game changer. A few years ago, Truma made a VeGA fuel cell which give a relatively low, but steady wattage from incoming propane. We have EFOY's methanol fuel cells which last about a month, and give 80, 140, or 210 amp-hours per day (a more relevant figure is about 3, 11, and 17.5 amp-hours, respectively.) However, their cost is very expensive, about $3600, $5000, and $7000, and that is without installation. The 10 liter methanol jugs are about $80 each, and last about a month.
However, if the price on fuel cells does come down, this changes everything. If the 17.5 amp-hour model got to a $2000 price point, absorption refrigerators will be history. If someone makes a propane fuel cell that puts out 10-20 amp-hours... again, there would be no need to have an absorption fridge.
I'm crossing my fingers... fuel cell technology for RVs is where lithium batteries were in 2010, and MP3 players were back in 2000 -- relatively expensive curiosities. The technology is there, but it is going to take a well-heeled company to get it to the mass market at a price people would pay.
As time goes on, lithium batteries (well, LiFePO4 or similar) get cheaper, solar panels become standard, we will see batteries that can handle the 2-3 amp-hours a compressor fridge (the biggest Nova-Kool fridge is at around 5.5 amp-hours) uses. We also will see solar setups that can put that much electricity back into the batteries. A move to lithium batteries means they can be drawn down to 10% without damage, giving one almost double the usable battery capacity. Of course, it means a charger... but those are falling in price as well.
The only place I see absorption fridges (ones that use propane) are small RV units which either don't have the space for at least 400 amp-hours of batteries, or don't have the solar panel space, and are used mainly for boondocking. Even those, such as truck campers, as technology improves with batteries and solar, those will wind up with compressor units eventually.
There is one piece of the puzzle missing; a game changer. A few years ago, Truma made a VeGA fuel cell which give a relatively low, but steady wattage from incoming propane. We have EFOY's methanol fuel cells which last about a month, and give 80, 140, or 210 amp-hours per day (a more relevant figure is about 3, 11, and 17.5 amp-hours, respectively.) However, their cost is very expensive, about $3600, $5000, and $7000, and that is without installation. The 10 liter methanol jugs are about $80 each, and last about a month.
However, if the price on fuel cells does come down, this changes everything. If the 17.5 amp-hour model got to a $2000 price point, absorption refrigerators will be history. If someone makes a propane fuel cell that puts out 10-20 amp-hours... again, there would be no need to have an absorption fridge.
I'm crossing my fingers... fuel cell technology for RVs is where lithium batteries were in 2010, and MP3 players were back in 2000 -- relatively expensive curiosities. The technology is there, but it is going to take a well-heeled company to get it to the mass market at a price people would pay.
