Life with a compressor fridge...

A while back I posted about installing a compressor fridge in my TC. Well, here's an overview of my experience after ~3 months of continuous use;

In most regards the Vitrifrigo has proven to be superior to the Dometic absorption unit it replaced. It sips on electricity, it maintains consistent temperature in both the fridge and freezer compartments, it's has loads of storage space, it cools quickly, it doesn't consume any propane, and I never ever have to think about leveling when parking (of course I still do level when parking overnight).

However I have found a few downsides as well;
- Frost builds up evaporator's cold-plate fairly quickly in humid weather, especially in the fridge (I have kids and they open and close the door a lot!). This means that I need to manually defrost about every 10-14 days. I picked up a 1000W travel hair-dryer and I can do a complete defrost in less than 15 minutes, but it's a chore that I'd rather not have to do. I'm not sure if the same thing would have happened to the Dometic or not. I'll add that this wasn't an issue in the west where the air is much drier, and it only became apparent once we hit the gulf coast.

- As it happens, I'm now in Florida... where it's hot and humid (85ºF, 75% RH), AND it's Winter Solstice & partly cloudy. In these conditions, my 320W of solar doesn't quite keep up with the TC's electrical needs. So, for the very first time since we hit the road in October, I ran the generator for a couple hours to top-up the batteries. This was after two full days of boondocking in Cape Canaveral.

- The Vitrigo fridge has a plastic drip tray between the fridge and freezer compartments. When I spoke with the company's service rep' he described the tray as "optional". In practice what I have found is that in order to maintain the desired temps (~35ºF fridge / ~5ºF freezer), I need to remove the tray in warm weather and re-insert it in cool weather. Once I return home I'll modify the drip tray to include a sliding vent so that airflow between the compartments can be more easily adjusted.

- The door handle/latches provided by Vitrifrigo are a terrible design. Unless you have super dexterity and hand strength (my kids don't), it requires both hands to open the door. To solve this I installed regular cabinet handles (from Home Depot) on both doors... and on the fridge I removed the catch altogether. Now while driving use a small bungee to hold the door shut.

All in all I am VERY happy with having a compressor fridge and I can't imaging ever going back. However, as with most things in life, there are pro's and there are con's.

Cheers,
-Mark

Truck Campers

c_traveler2
Nomad
Jan 10, 2016
msiminoff, Congratulation on dumping your absorption unit, I've had my Dometic CR1110 compressor refrigerator since 09/28/2013. As far as the performance of this unit has been outstanding, it uses the Danfoss BD35 compressor and is a fairly efficient unit.

Our electrical need are fairly low so my setup has work well for us, our camper has only at the present time a 85 watt solar panel which isn't enough. I did add a second battery, 4D Interstate RV/marine battery. Soon I'll be upgrading the solar system to better handle the demands of the refrigerator, but in the 16,000 miles of our 2015 summer trip we had zero trouble with this unit.

We also have the frost build up on the back of the refrigerator and occasionally remove it.
2oldnslow
Explorer
Jan 10, 2016
zcookiemonstar wrote:
(snip) Any weight advantage or disadvantage with the compressor fridge?

My NovaKool weighed a LOT less than the absorbtion fridge I took out.

However, since it is almost twice as big inside the weight of the extra food you can / will carry may offset much of this weight savings. The extra 50-65 lbs of battery + 20-25 lbs of solar panel to run it will make it heavier overall.

But it works so well I don't mind the extra weight. Its well worth it.
Roundtowner
Explorer
Jan 04, 2016
I just installed a compressor fridge and am looking forward to checking it out. It's been working fine here at home with cool temps. I'll be leaving soon on a trip out to Quartzite, AZ. and should know soon if it works better than my old Dometic. It's installed in a slideout and I could not get the old one to maintain cold temps consistently.

Larry
Nemo667
Explorer
Jan 02, 2016
ticki2 wrote:
IF I am reading correctly almost your entire solar output on a sunny summer day is going to the fridge . I am trying to determine the full cost of a compressor fridge . The extra solar plus extra battery . On the other side there is no cost for propane . To be honest I have had better life span out of my RV gas fridges than I have from the ones in my home . One I replaced last year that was 40 years old , and the other is still going at 48 years old . To be fair they have not been running every day for all those years . Still in the learning process .

For us, not having to listen to a generator was worth the cost of solar. We didnt purchase solar to run a compressor fridge; it was a bonus.
Jfet
Explorer
Jan 01, 2016
ticki2 wrote:

IF I am reading correctly almost your entire solar output on a sunny summer day is going to the fridge . I am trying to determine the full cost of a compressor fridge . The extra solar plus extra battery . On the other side there is no cost for propane . To be honest I have had better life span out of my RV gas fridges than I have from the ones in my home . One I replaced last year that was 40 years old , and the other is still going at 48 years old . To be fair they have not been running every day for all those years . Still in the learning process .

No, I said the fridge consumes about 800 watt-hr per day max and on a sunny day we get 900 watts PER HOUR at high sun. So the juice to the fridge for an entire 24 hour period is replenished in under an hour. In reality because of limitations on absorption charging of batteries it might take longer than an hour to replace the charge.
ticki2
Explorer
Jan 01, 2016
Jfet wrote:
Our NovaKool 9.1cuft double door compressor refrigerator uses about 600 to 800 watt-hr per 24 hour period.

Our battery bank is 3000 watt-hr and I like to keep it above 50%, so we have 1500 watt-hr (two 12V 125AH Lifeline AGM). Solar is 1080 watts but the max I have seen in this north western climate during the summer is around 900 watts under full sun. Obviously with that kind of power coming in, 800 watt-hr per day is nothing. During the winter under trees, it is a lot.

I figure we can go about 2 days under trees until the fridge and a few led lights + water pump bring us down to near 50% DoD. That is what a generator is for.

IF I am reading correctly almost your entire solar output on a sunny summer day is going to the fridge . I am trying to determine the full cost of a compressor fridge . The extra solar plus extra battery . On the other side there is no cost for propane . To be honest I have had better life span out of my RV gas fridges than I have from the ones in my home . One I replaced last year that was 40 years old , and the other is still going at 48 years old . To be fair they have not been running every day for all those years . Still in the learning process .
Jfet
Explorer
Jan 01, 2016
Our NovaKool 9.1cuft double door compressor refrigerator uses about 600 to 800 watt-hr per 24 hour period.

Our battery bank is 3000 watt-hr and I like to keep it above 50%, so we have 1500 watt-hr (two 12V 125AH Lifeline AGM). Solar is 1080 watts but the max I have seen in this north western climate during the summer is around 900 watts under full sun. Obviously with that kind of power coming in, 800 watt-hr per day is nothing. During the winter under trees, it is a lot.

I figure we can go about 2 days under trees until the fridge and a few led lights + water pump bring us down to near 50% DoD. That is what a generator is for.
crosscheck
Explorer II
Jan 01, 2016
Nice report Mark, much like the very useful info you have supplied over time to this forum.
Most questions about the compressor fridge,/freezers are about electric consumption because in my experience, they have the largest draw of any other electric appliance in your rig because the fridge is on 24/7 even if it is not cycling and unless you are in a full hook up situation or have unlimited generator running times, battery drawdown is a concern.

Our NovaKool 7.5cuft fridge consumes 4.4a when cycling which is about 1/2 of all power coming from the batteries but this can vary because of the 25 ahr to 65ahr per day usage depending on how often it has to cycle which is governed by a number of factors: surrounding interior RV temps, door openings, warm food placed in unit, amount of extra insulation added around unit during installation, interior set temps, etc. Unless you attach some sort of an ahr measuring instrument on the unit itself, daily consumption is kind a guess. We keep a cool TC at night and even though the compressor is quiet, I can still hear when it starts to cycle and many nights in colder climates, it is never on. This would vary from the lifestyle of different campers as would the daily usage of the furnace, which is another big battery drain(blower).

When boodocking, having adequate solar and battery ahr capacity cannot be stressed enough if you don't want to be using your genny all of the time.

I appreciate the fact that 15 minutes after our compressor fridge is turned on, frost is forming on the freezer walls and constantly camping on unleveled areas or being stranded 5 hours on an 18% ramp waiting for a ferry was not going to impact the workings of the fridge later on.

Dave
zcookiemonstar
Explorer
Jan 01, 2016
I wonder if using a little fridge fan to circulate the air would help with the frost build up. Any weight advantage or disadvantage with the compressor fridge?
pnichols
Explorer II
Jan 01, 2016
kohldad wrote:
My wife would love to switch to a compressor fridge just so we don't have to worry about being level....

WHEN ..... is someone going to invent the mounts for, build the mounts for, and install in RVs ..... absorption refrigerators that are mounted on gimbals (like the drink holders in boats) so that they are kept level almost all the time? It would only take a cabinet about 2 inches wider and taller to hold any given absorption refrigerator and the necessary gimbals to keep it a lot more level in a lot more tilted-chassis situations. :h

It's been my experience that temperature regulation is not a big problem in absorption refrigerators (if venting is optimized). Keeping the refrig level enough, continually enough, is the main issue - which a robust heavy duty steel gimbal arrangement could eliminate, or at least radically reduce.