Residential Fridges

I guess sipping electricity is relative. That 3.5 amps @ 120 is 35 amps @ 12 volts. That means the refrigerator will take an averaged sized RV battery down to 50% in about 90 minutes of continuous run time.

I have timed my NovaKool which pulls less than 1/10th the amps. It might run at about 30% if everything inside is cold, and the door is not opened, and the ambient temp is about 70 degrees. If the ambient climbs to 80 then it seems to run more like 70%. Add a few more degrees, which is plenty common in the Summer and my unit will run pretty much continuously.

time2roll wrote:

jjrbus wrote:
The only caution I see is small inverters. There is no federal bureau of inverter ratings and they just plain lie about output. I put a small inverter in for house hold fridge and even though the specs said it would work, would not start the compressor in fridge.

I was unable to find the locked rotar amps for house hold fridges at the time.

How small? Really need 1000 watts with close to 2000 surge watts and wire to match. Starting watts are easily 7x to 10x running watts.

We use a magnum 2000w pure sine inverter but during startup I have never detected any heavy draw, and running it is hardly noticeable. It is also important to remember that the duty cycle is only about 20 minutes an hour. Modern inverter microprocessor controlled residential reefers sip electricity compared to old dinosaurs.

Here is the data plate for ours:

jjrbus wrote:
The only caution I see is small inverters. There is no federal bureau of inverter ratings and they just plain lie about output. I put a small inverter in for house hold fridge and even though the specs said it would work, would not start the compressor in fridge.

I was unable to find the locked rotar amps for house hold fridges at the time.

How small? Really need 1000 watts with close to 2000 surge watts and wire to match. Starting watts are easily 7x to 10x running watts.

RollandB wrote:
I certainly see some day the absorption fridge in outs gets replaced with a residential fridge. My question is for those who have them do you have problems with the door opening in transit, if so what do you do to secure it?

Rolland,

Our slide closes in front of ours so we just stick a couple of pool noodles between the doors and the slide.

Beyond that it is night and day difference from the Never Cold that consistently provided warm beer and frozen eggs.

Had a door open when we turned on first trip. There is a "lock" at the base of the two top doors that is simply a small plastic pin that slips in place when the base it sits on is slid sideways (looks very fragile) My solution is a bungee cord. Not nearly as fragile

ford truck guy wrote:

RollandB wrote:
I certainly see some day the absorption fridge in outs gets replaced with a residential fridge. My question is for those who have them do you have problems with the door opening in transit, if so what do you do to secure it?

I use a piece of velcro wrapped around the door handles... works like a charm, never had a door open when we stopped in 4 years...

Same here and the freezer drawer has a cabinet latch added. I do wedge pillows between the freezer drawer and island cabinets.

RollandB wrote:
I certainly see some day the absorption fridge in outs gets replaced with a residential fridge. My question is for those who have them do you have problems with the door opening in transit, if so what do you do to secure it?

I use a piece of velcro wrapped around the door handles... works like a charm, never had a door open when we stopped in 4 years...

RollandB wrote:
I certainly see some day the absorption fridge in outs gets replaced with a residential fridge. My question is for those who have them do you have problems with the door opening in transit, if so what do you do to secure it?

I installed a couple of common window latches to secure the doors while underway. Cost about $5 for the pair at Home Depot.

There's lots of different child safety lock options for fridges. That should secure the doors just fine.

Mike

I certainly see some day the absorption fridge in outs gets replaced with a residential fridge. My question is for those who have them do you have problems with the door opening in transit, if so what do you do to secure it?