12 volt compressor fridge- any reason not to buy this one ?

bigfootford wrote:
Trailer, Class A, C's do not reply to this post please.

Most of us "CAMPER" folks do not have much more room for over 200watts of solar.

Some of you guys that own one of these fridges should use a trimetric or equivalent and tell us your Amp hour usage for 24 hrs. in cold and hot weather.

The way I see it, if the amp draw is 5 amps when running and the fridge only runs 1/4 of the time that would be 1.25 AH..

1.25 AH X 24hrs =30 AH....

Our rig is setup as lean as it can be for AH use. We rarely hook up to shore power except when home.

We use about 20AH Summer and 25AH Winter per day.

So If I have one of these Compressor fridges using the above "MINIMUM RUN" numbers I would be pulling 50AH to 55AH per day.

I have 200watts of solar... During the summer and winter there would be no way that I could keep up...
I would need to run the Gen to complement the charging...

Most of us solar guys have solar to keep us from using our gen's and we prefer quiet.

Lastly, over the past 40+ years my beer, milk, steaks have stayed sufficiently cold using Absorption Fridges as have 10 of thousands of folks so I don't quite get the need for a AMPAHOLIC compressor fridge.

Jim

Compressor technology has been around for a long time and judging by the fact that it is used by 100% of domestic/commercial fridge/ freezer applications, until replaced by other better, more efficient appliances, is still the way to go.

Absorbtion technology was developed in RV,s etc because most of the time, owners were not hooked up to the grid. Back 40 years ago, batteries were less efficient, nobody had a generator, vehicle alternators had relatively low output and solar was non existent or way too expensive and as you already had propane as a fuel for cooking/heating, absorbtion fridges worked a lot better than the ice box.

Nowadays, if you have enough solar, batteries and a high out put alternator, a compressor fridge is an alternative to the propane fired fridge.

We started with 190W of solar and found when the desert temps got over 90F in the day we were sometimes running a bit short so we added another 140W and couldn't be happier. Our panels take up about half of one side of our roof with the canoe taking the other side. We have a 9.5' TC.

I don't know how many times we have pulled into a place which is way out of level for the night or have sat for hours on a 14% ramp waiting for a ferry with no worries about ill effects on the fridge.

Compressor fridge advantages:

Faster cooling and freezing
Less energy use
Can set up on any angle up to 30 degrees.
Almost no fire hazard
Can run in tunnels, ferries etc.
Do not have to shut off when fueling
More consistant cooling/freezing

180 nights, 5 with shore power, 3-4 hours genny time.

We need and choose a compressor fridge because of the camping lifestyle we have. Others may choose differently.

Dave

pezvela wrote:

WOW, that is a roof profile made for the NW! LOL!

Vents? We dont need no stinkin', leakin' vents!!!! A/C.....What's that???

Amazing roof profile.

LMAO, yeah it does look a bit different from the average cityscape TC camper roof.

We do have powered side vents and all the double pane windows open, and there is a AC unit (or will be) but it is mounted inside and vents through the side of the camper :)

The roof is solid continuous aluminum with a top coating of truck bed liner. Every 30 years or so we should probably do some maintenance on it.

Jfet wrote:

pezvela wrote:
I would say it's a no brainer, assuming you have the battery capacity to go with that incredible amount of solar generation (I take it this is not a TC?). But you live in an area where the sun is iffy. Does it take that much more solar generating capacity to make it work in the Pacific NW?

If you have the batt and solar capacity and can use them in your environment, go compressor.

Yes it is a TC, but the roof is vast and has no vents or anything, so can be covered in solar once I make the side mounted roof rack. Technically could have probably 3000 watts of solar up there.

WOW, that is a roof profile made for the NW! LOL!

Vents? We dont need no stinkin', leakin' vents!!!! A/C.....What's that???

Amazing roof profile.

Trailer, Class A, C's do not reply to this post please.

Most of us "CAMPER" folks do not have much more room for over 200watts of solar.

Some of you guys that own one of these fridges should use a trimetric or equivalent and tell us your Amp hour usage for 24 hrs. in cold and hot weather.

The way I see it, if the amp draw is 5 amps when running and the fridge only runs 1/4 of the time that would be 1.25 AH..

1.25 AH X 24hrs =30 AH....

Our rig is setup as lean as it can be for AH use. We rarely hook up to shore power except when home.

We use about 20AH Summer and 25AH Winter per day.

So If I have one of these Compressor fridges using the above "MINIMUM RUN" numbers I would be pulling 50AH to 55AH per day.

I have 200watts of solar... During the summer and winter there would be no way that I could keep up...
I would need to run the Gen to complement the charging...

Most of us solar guys have solar to keep us from using our gen's and we prefer quiet.

Lastly, over the past 40+ years my beer, milk, steaks have stayed sufficiently cold using Absorption Fridges as have 10 of thousands of folks so I don't quite get the need for a AMPAHOLIC compressor fridge.

Jim

pezvela wrote:
I would say it's a no brainer, assuming you have the battery capacity to go with that incredible amount of solar generation (I take it this is not a TC?). But you live in an area where the sun is iffy. Does it take that much more solar generating capacity to make it work in the Pacific NW?

If you have the batt and solar capacity and can use them in your environment, go compressor.

Yes it is a TC, but the roof is vast and has no vents or anything, so can be covered in solar once I make the side mounted roof rack. Technically could have probably 3000 watts of solar up there.

I would say it's a no brainer, assuming you have the battery capacity to go with that incredible amount of solar generation (I take it this is not a TC?). But you live in an area where the sun is iffy. Does it take that much more solar generating capacity to make it work in the Pacific NW?

If you have the batt and solar capacity and can use them in your environment, go compressor.

Bringing back up this older thread. We have a brand new Norcold 6.3cuft 3 way absorption fridge ready to be mounted in our camper build but I am toying with the idea of selling it and getting a Nova Kool compressor fridge.

My thoughts:

1) The fire hazard from a compressor fridge is much less than that from an absorption fridge

2) I don't have to plumb propane to that area (so a little easier install)

3) I don't have to worry so much about how level our camper is

4) Perhaps the compressor fridge will work better in very hot weather?


The downside is I already have the brand new Norcold 3 way and I do not know much about the reliability of the compressor fridges. We do plan to have 500 to 1000 watts of solar. We will be using propane for the furnace, stove and water heater.

Thoughts? I paid $1000 for the Norcold but could probably get something out of it local. The Nova Kool is about $2000 for a similar size?

KansasKen wrote:
I had Host install a NovaCool RFU9000 9.1cuft (DanFoss Compressor) frig when I had my Everest built 2011 (July delivery). The frig has run continuously since, except for three times I have needed to defrost, and has performed flawlessly. Never have to level up and unit has maintained temp in wide range of temps. Draws just under 4amps running. To support installed 4 100A/H AGMs and 2 190watt solar panels.

My NovaKool 7.5 cuft draws 4.6A as per ammeter. As per NovaKool specs, my fridge draws 4.4A while your fridge draws 5.2A. You state under 4A.

Did you verify with an instrument or am I missing something?


Dave

I had Host install a NovaCool RFU9000 9.1cuft (DanFoss Compressor) frig when I had my Everest built 2011 (July delivery). The frig has run continuously since, except for three times I have needed to defrost, and has performed flawlessly. Never have to level up and unit has maintained temp in wide range of temps. Draws just under 4amps running. To support installed 4 100A/H AGMs and 2 190watt solar panels.

Well my search for a fridge is now over as I purchased today a gently used Dometic absorption fridge for 300.00. The seller ( a dealer ) had it running on 110 and switched over to gas and it worked great. At the same time he had a Coleman Mach 3 roof AC ( also used ) for 350.00 so I snagged that also. He had that plugged in and running it was quiet, no vibration and blowing nice and cold. So two more items off the restoration check list !