Residential refrigerator?

Also, can the residential one handle being turned off for several months and then used for a weekend and then turned off again? I've always understood that normal house refrigerators need to be running and not just sitting. Which one would cost more to replace if needed?

plasticmaster wrote:
I've always understood that normal house refrigerators need to be running and not just sitting.

If that were true, how could they ever manufacture one and then let it sit unused until purchased? A new refrigerator would, then, be inoperable or at the least damaged, since it has not been running since manufactured! Common sense should tell you that you are wrong!

That is true, they do sit unplugged on the show room floor until they're purchased. However, they aren't normally fired up for only 3 days at a time, 7 times a year. That's the part I was questioning.

A large inverter would be required. If you don't open the door, the fridge and freezer will be good for 6 to 8 hours depending on ambient temperature. Depending on the battery and room temp, the fridge is unlikely to reach operating temperature from room temperature while disconnected from SP.
I'm fairly certain the fridge can survive long periods of no use.

Not enough imfo ? How big refrfig , how big battery , My guess would be that a RV size refig running off a normal battery would run on battery only, for at least 24 hours before low battery would shut down the inverter . My two 6 volt on a 2,000 invert will run a dorm refrig at least 48 hours .

Big household fridge is a power hog. huge battery bank would be required to operate it for any length of time.... say at least 400 amp hours, and that will only get you about 24-36 hours of operation I would suspect.
Bad idea for dry camping.

"Residential" is usually a misnomer when talking about use of compressor refrigerators in RVs. What is usually being installed is a compact to mid-size refrigerator made for apartment, dorm, motel room, mini-bar use.

Small compressor fridges built for these uses will consume much less power than big "frost free" models most of us buy for home use. Greatest power consumption in residential use is usually running the defrost cycles, after that it will usually be the ice maker, while this also depends on patterns of use, e.g. how often the door is opened, ice-maker used. Leave out these features in a fridge with a small box, power consumption goes way down.

Still, running off an inverter means running off a 12V source, which could be your trailer battery or the battery charge line from your tow vehicle, if that source has adequate voltage to the inverter. These refrigerators are more often installed in motorhomes where there is adequate supply from the alternator when moving, at least 150 amp-hours battery capacity (sometimes a lot more than that) and a generator ready to self-start when battery voltage drops.

In a trailer, you are on batteries only if not hooked to a power post or running a generator, but the "how long" depends on the size and charge condition of the trailer batteries, how much power is needed by the specific refrigerator, and what else is drawing from the batteries.

I would have no problem with the idea of replacing the 6 cu ft absorption fridge with a similar-size non-frostfree compressor fridge, because most of the time I'll have the engine running or be hooked up to power, and if it is really hot, I'll be running the generator anyway for air conditioning while on the road or parked temporarily. With a travel trailer, I would have to be more careful about watching power use, and for dry camping, I want a fridge running on LPG.

It should be a 1000 watt inverter. This will run the RV going down the road. Your truck will hold the charge one the battery.
The fridge should run about a week on 2 battery's. Its appealing to people, but in the long run Nor-cold and other company's have a long standing relationship and build a good fridge. I would choose the typical rv fridge and wait to see the results of residential fridges in an RV.

IMHO

I have a standard, small, compressor fridge in my trailer. It consumes about 40-60 AH daily at moderate ambient temps and use. Beyond the start up draw, it operates at about 80 watts consumed. A full sized residential model with typical features will consume about 1KWH in moderate use and ambient temps.

I have 300AH of battery capacity, a 1000W PSW inverter, and 235W of solar panel. If the sun shines, no worries. If it is cloudy/stormy for three days, my eyes are on the battery monitor for amount of charge remaining. I've never had to shut it off but an overnight shutdown would still keep everything cold until daylight. Of course, a generator obviates any critical brown outs.