Household refrigerator to replace Norcold N641?

[HadEnough]

Since the Norcold 641 refrigerator is so common, I assume a lot of people have done this.

Is there an energy efficient, off-the-shelf, household type refrigerator to fit in the same space the Norcold N641 refrigerator fits in? It could be about a foot taller, but not wider.

Has anyone made this replacement?

[jjrbus]

Some refrigerators today use the skin to dissipate heat and do not have coils on the back. Requiring air space on the sides and top. Check the installation instructions available online before purchasing.

[Airdaile]

Both Dometic and Furrion make an AC/DC compressor fridge in 6 and 8 cuft. The Dometic one draws about 8 amps DC.

[AllegroD]

We have Samsung, Tripplite RV1250ULHW (previously RV750ULHW) and 2 Duracell 6v..

Works great but we only do 3 nights a year (round trip) dry, while driving to a location. Est. driving time is 13-14 hours a day.

[HadEnough]

I don’t think there is any more info. Thank you very, very much for that. That really tells the entire story. I think anyone looking at this thread could change to a residential refrigerator of this type without any problem looking at what you wrote. Excellent guide.

[wires]

HadEnough wrote:

Thank you very much for that write up. I am doing exactly the same thing with solar. Off grid. So I’m trying to find one that not only fits the general cut out, but also doesn’t draw too much.

This one looks like it draws more than the one in the previous post. I’m getting about 90AH per day at 12V doing the math on this Whirlpool and using its Energy Guide. How does that compare to your real world use? What do you see per day from this one?

My setup is a Magnum Hybrid 3012 with 440 AH of three year old AGMs. I have 900 Watts of solar on a 60A MPPT charger.

Based on my experience I'd have to say that the 90AH from the guide is probably an accurate average. But expect 1.5X that value during mid-summer and something lower in the cooler months.

I'm in Las Vegas with plenty of sun and go out all year long. Before the resi fridge when boondocking the inverter would still be on 24 hours a day to keep the Directv DVR running. Since installing the fridge all of my outings have been during hot weather. The worst I've seen so far is about 25% SOC of increased usage from sunset to mid-morning sun when the panels start producing decent amps.

In mostly-sunny or better conditions I don't need the generator at all to keep up with the fridge and my other appliance usage (coffee, toaster, etc). If it's overcast two days in a row then I'll need to run the generator for an hour (the Magnum can charge at 120 Amps)

My amp meter indicates that the fridge draws 1.3 AC Amps when running. If nobody is opening the door I'd estimate 50% compressor duty cycle in the summer. I haven't had any outings in cool/cold weather yet, but I'm expecting much lower.

Installation went better than I expected. Admittedly, after ripping everything apart I had a "what was I thinking" moment or two. But after getting the new one shoved into the opening it worked out fine.

From an installation standpoint, here's a short version of my approach:

1) Lag bolt slotted angle iron across the back wall of the opening at the same height as the fridge.
2) Attach slotted angle iron across the rear-top of the fridge using a liberal amount of VHB tape.
3) After getting the fridge into the hole and leveled I drilled a hole through the front two feet and ran screws through them into the floor.
4) Using the old fridge's outside top vent cover in the back wall as an access point, I used threaded rod to connect the slotted angle on the back wall to the slotted angle on the top of the fridge.
5) Attach travel latches to front of frige using VHB tape. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKFIICE

I purchased from goedekers.com since that was the best price that I could find.

Let me know if you need more info.

[HadEnough]

wires wrote:

HadEnough wrote:
Since the Norcold 641 refrigerator is so common, I assume a lot of people have done this.

Is there an energy efficient, off-the-shelf, household type refrigerator to fit in the same space the Norcold N641 refrigerator fits in? It could be about a foot taller, but not wider.

Has anyone made this replacement?

I recently swapped out a Norcold 811 which is the same width but 6" taller than the 641. I went with a Whirlpool model URB551WNGZ. The opening width and depth was OK but I did need to mod the cabinetry for the added height of 74.5" for the fridge plus another 2" for air circulation.

I did a lot of research before making my selection. One of the main reasons that I chose this model is that it has the (heat rejecting) condenser coils on the back of the cabinet. That means it doesn't have a a condenser fan typical of bottom-condenser designs. No fan means less energy consumption (I boondock on solar) and it's quieter.

Having the resi fridge is great. After our first trip out my wife commented that she didn't need to throw out the remaining food after our trip. With the Norcold, it was usually either too warm or freezing things in the refer section.

Thank you very much for that write up. I am doing exactly the same thing with solar. Off grid. So I’m trying to find one that not only fits the general cut out, but also doesn’t draw too much.

This one looks like it draws more than the one in the previous post. I’m getting about 90AH per day at 12V doing the math on this Whirlpool and using its Energy Guide. How does that compare to your real world use? What do you see per day from this one?

[wires]

HadEnough wrote:
Since the Norcold 641 refrigerator is so common, I assume a lot of people have done this.

Is there an energy efficient, off-the-shelf, household type refrigerator to fit in the same space the Norcold N641 refrigerator fits in? It could be about a foot taller, but not wider.

Has anyone made this replacement?

I recently swapped out a Norcold 811 which is the same width but 6" taller than the 641. I went with a Whirlpool model URB551WNGZ. The opening width and depth was OK but I did need to mod the cabinetry for the added height of 74.5" for the fridge plus another 2" for air circulation.

I did a lot of research before making my selection. One of the main reasons that I chose this model is that it has the (heat rejecting) condenser coils on the back of the cabinet. That means it doesn't have a a condenser fan typical of bottom-condenser designs. No fan means less energy consumption (I boondock on solar) and it's quieter.

Having the resi fridge is great. After our first trip out my wife commented that she didn't need to throw out the remaining food after our trip. With the Norcold, it was usually either too warm or freezing things in the refer section.

[HadEnough]

neschultz wrote:
I’m not familiar with your Norcold model but we did replace our 6 cu ft Dometic with a 10.1 Magic Chef residential from Home Depot.

Thank you. That’s the refrigerator. The 6cuft Norcold. Pretty much the most popular RV refrigerator out there. It’s in almost every RV I’ve ever looked at.

And thank you for the reference to the magic chef 10.1. That’s about the right size. Seems a little power-hungry, but it’s a good start.

[neschultz]

I’m not familiar with your Norcold model but we did replace our 6 cu ft Dometic with a 10.1 Magic Chef residential from Home Depot.

[agwill]

So easy measure the opening and then go shopping. Fine one just a little smaller. Most trim pieces can be adjusted with just a cut or two to close a small gap.