Rv Refrigerators vs Household Refrigerator in your Rv
I would like to chime in on replacing your rv fridge with a household fridge. First of all for years now I have been educating anyone who ask me for my opinion on which is better, I have a very simple answer for that. If you dry camp (camp where there is no utility hook-up) then a rv refrigerator is a must. If you live full time in an rv and travel only where there is shore power (full time electricity)then a household fridge will do you fine. A rv fridge at the best has to be level facing the fridge plus/minus 3 degrees side to side and 6 degrees front to back. Where as a household fridge can run off level both ways as much as 30 degrees. Mind you if you take your rv fridge out it is best to store it just in case you sell the rv either the new owners or the rv dealer may ask you to discount the price for a new rv fridge replacement.
Once I had a gentleman call me and ask "out of all the rv fridges out there which woulds I suggest as the best"? First thing out of my mouth was if you have a fridge that is not cooling I could fix it "knowing that the big rv companies would tell a customer if the cooling unit was out you need to buy a new fridge" He finally told me that he had bought a new rv that had a household fridge in it and the dealer told him that the rv had plenty of solar panels and deep cycle batteries not to mention the inverter to safely run the fridge without the generator, this guy did his research and these people had the best sells pitch out of everyone he had talked to. He bought the rig and started to use it well since he bought the rv with the express purpose of using it to live in while he was working he quickly realized that that living off the grid his generator would kick on and run 6 hours on a 24 hour cycle. He called the dealer and they told him he must be doing something wrong maybe it was a cloudy day or anything but their system. Well after a few weeks later he called them back and finally gave them his professional opinion on their system. He told them that he was a electrical engineer sub-contractor for Southern Cal Edison and spends allot of time working out in the middle of no where. and gave them the stats on their system, after they realized he knew what he was talking about, the rv manufacturer told him if he signed a confidentiality statement they would install any rv fridge he chose. He told me this before he signed the agreement. Household fridges have their place in rv's if you plan on never dry camping I know there will be people out there that will tell me they do fine with their solar panels and batteries, but unless you are like my friend that engineers electricity for a living, as he said you better have a lot of solar panel on your roof with tracking capability and plenty of storage batteries and never go where it is cloudy.
Once I had a gentleman call me and ask "out of all the rv fridges out there which woulds I suggest as the best"? First thing out of my mouth was if you have a fridge that is not cooling I could fix it "knowing that the big rv companies would tell a customer if the cooling unit was out you need to buy a new fridge" He finally told me that he had bought a new rv that had a household fridge in it and the dealer told him that the rv had plenty of solar panels and deep cycle batteries not to mention the inverter to safely run the fridge without the generator, this guy did his research and these people had the best sells pitch out of everyone he had talked to. He bought the rig and started to use it well since he bought the rv with the express purpose of using it to live in while he was working he quickly realized that that living off the grid his generator would kick on and run 6 hours on a 24 hour cycle. He called the dealer and they told him he must be doing something wrong maybe it was a cloudy day or anything but their system. Well after a few weeks later he called them back and finally gave them his professional opinion on their system. He told them that he was a electrical engineer sub-contractor for Southern Cal Edison and spends allot of time working out in the middle of no where. and gave them the stats on their system, after they realized he knew what he was talking about, the rv manufacturer told him if he signed a confidentiality statement they would install any rv fridge he chose. He told me this before he signed the agreement. Household fridges have their place in rv's if you plan on never dry camping I know there will be people out there that will tell me they do fine with their solar panels and batteries, but unless you are like my friend that engineers electricity for a living, as he said you better have a lot of solar panel on your roof with tracking capability and plenty of storage batteries and never go where it is cloudy.
