Residential refrigerator?
I'm looking at 2 identical units, except one has a residential frige and the other has typical camper style frige. Dealer told me residential frige still works while traveling down road, because it w...
Forum Discussion
"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.
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.
