Cheap Refrigerator question

IMHO it is not the process that invites problems or criticism, it is the manufacture.

Today's gas refrigeration cooling units are garbage compared to Servel cooling units of the 1030's - 1960's

The cooling units were made in Sweden from Swedish alloy steel and the steel was three times as thick. Wrestling a full size Servel cooling unit meant risking tearing a muscle. I was dismayed handling 22 Servel refrigerators given to me by a resort that switched from gas to self generated low head hydro power. Six the of units did not function and their style and condition was beyond saving.

When I purchased an 8 CF Norcold I was aghast at the tinny construction of the cooling unit. Thunk-thunk-thunk versus tink-tink-tink.

When the Norcold rep spent over a week with "Sal" then the chief technician with KOOL FUN in Irwindale California in early 1990 trying to get the refrigerator temp below 40F in July they exchanged cooling units two more times. Baffles were supplied by me. Crimped 20 gauge galvanized sheet metal.

I picked the unit up and a month later the cooling unit malfunctioned the same as it always did, the entire unit defrosted to 70F on high flame and only shutting it down for two days and restarting it restored cooling which in blistering Yucatan summer temperatures could not get the refrigerator into the thirties nor it's freezer lower than 17F.

At the time I had a 1.5 cf Domestic F540 chest freezer that on gas cooled into the single digits. Seven hundred dollars worth. Remember this was 28 years ago.

Enough was enough. The refrigerator was tossed out the back door, and thousands of dollars worth of Vest Frost custom units were installed. Their 24vdc motors are brushless and ball bearings are oil bath immersed. I forgot how much they weigh but it is several hundred pounds, way too heavy for a standard cardboard crate RV. BOTH keep food max cold on less than 100 amp hours of 24 volt battery. Parked within feet of where the Norcold malfunctioned.

To me there just isn't a magic solution. Lots and lots of money, weight, modifications, and fundamental re engineering of the electrical supply is a heavy penalty to pay. But my food stays cold and no more 200 mile shopping trips.