Forum Discussion

RVcrazy's avatar
RVcrazy
Explorer
Jun 01, 2017

RV vs residential refrigerator?

We are on the fence about trading out our 10yr old Dometic for a Whirlpool residential refrigerator. Because of space in our floor plan, it looks like the only choice still made that small... It looks like it will consume our small kitchen, but could fit. I am concerned about fridge fires. We do have the recall fix done.

Is the fire hazard all because of the propane, or is it regardless of your power source in use? A repair person is talking about installing a fire suppression device that fits in the back of the refrigerator as a safety check if there should be a fire. Have any of you seen or used such a device? Our other option is to have the gas capped & jut use it on electricity.

If you have changed to a residential refrigerator, would you do it again? I am concerned about needing to keep the residential fridge within such tight temperature limits (55-90 or so). We RV, not really camp, and have had electricity every night except 1 in 3 years on the road.

We would appreciate your input. Thanks!

Will it make a difference when we are ready to sell, a + or a -?
  • TechWriter's avatar
    TechWriter
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    RVcrazy wrote:

    If you have changed to a residential refrigerator, would you do it again? I am concerned about needing to keep the residential fridge within such tight temperature limits (55-90 or so).

    We switched to a residential fridge about 4 years ago and are still glad we did.

    For temp control, I installed fans to pull air in from our RV, behind our residential fridge, and then up through the roof -- see this thread.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Jun 01, 2017
    The fire hazard is because of Ammonia more than Propane. and in truth it is very very low.. Question: How many times a year do we hear of RV fires?
    How many of those are ENGINE or other v/s Fridge?

    How many RV's out there?

    We are talking fraction (And a small one at that) of a percent, and there are ways to make it even smaller with after market safety devices and automatic fire bottles.

    So.. Do you have full time 120vac.. I did, but alas it failed

    I still have full time 12vdc and half a tank of Propane though.
  • azrving's avatar
    azrving
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    Halmfamily wrote:
    Changed our Dometic out to a residential fridge over the winter and love it. Like you always stay where we have power. It's nice to have frozen ice cream and to be able to hold the fridge door open more than five seconds. We sold our 2 year Dometic for $450 so we broke even on ours


    Lol. I also sold my old Dometic for $400 and the crazy thing was that the buyer was telling me about his catching fire and getting it extinguished in time. He also said his friends MH caught on fire at a Walmart and burned to the ground. The police helped him with clothes from Walmart as he was outside in his underwear. I used to stack my phone, keys and clothes right where I could grab them. I told my DW there is something wrong with this picture.
  • azrving's avatar
    azrving
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    I just asked my wife if she would want a propane frig again. She scrunched her nose and said NOOOOO, maybe if we stayed in it for a weekend now and then. My son recently bought an older FW ad we calculated the risks involved such as frig replacement. As a weekended and vacationer it would be easy for him to run a resi without an inverter. Cool down overnight at home, drive 2 hours to Gulf campground and plug back in, drive home and put the stuff back in his house frig. When he does travel far, during his rest stops or lunch break he often runs his genny for ac so run the frig too.
  • Halmfamily's avatar
    Halmfamily
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    Changed our Dometic out to a residential fridge over the winter and love it. Like you always stay where we have power. It's nice to have frozen ice cream and to be able to hold the fridge door open more than five seconds. We sold our 2 year Dometic for $450 so we broke even on ours
  • NMDriver's avatar
    NMDriver
    Explorer
    Jun 01, 2017
    If you have had the recall fix done and the refrig is working fine, I would wait until it dies.

    If on the other hand you are not happy with the cooling or performance of the propane then switch it out for a similar size, energy efficient 120V refrig. We have both in the RV.

    My wife likes to keep her 120V refrig set for 40 degrees because she keeps mostly veggies in there. I like my propane refrig set at 34 degrees because I like cold milk. Mine generally goes down to 29 at night and will freeze her veggies, which she hates. I am not a veggy person so I am happy with the propane.

    ANYway, if you cannot get past the propane refrig issues then by all means get rid of it.

    I suspect your tech guy would be happy to sell you all kinds of fire suppression equipment whether it is a good idea or not.
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Jun 01, 2017
    what is the size of your domedtic ? 7+ c.f.? Two door over under freezer on top

    I replaced the norcold, that size with a 7.5 cu ft, Avanti residential fridge

    And had room to spare slipped right in with it modifying the cabinet space
    It was actually a little bit shorter and I had room to put a 5/8" plywood underneath, on top of the old cabinet floor, for extra support

    I capped off the propane line, will be 7 yrs this August

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