Use a 110 V fridge in RV ??

[scottyboy28422]

can we use a regular 110V fridge in our RV for use a campgrounds w
electricity. The small dorm, home type ones. Walmart has some for under $200. The reason Im asking is because of the jolting down the road and also unplugging the fridge each time we leave a campground.

[John___Angela]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Almot wrote:

wmoses wrote:
I don't typically stay at private parks (RV parking lots) and so far have never used a campsite w/o electricity so putting the small Walmart special outside should not be an issue.

Hi,
how much do you think a very small residential weigh? 25 lbs, 35? And this is - empty. Tell you wife not to load your built-in LP frig up to the limit, it will work better.

Not that I like LP - if it were on-grid camping only, I would've got residential in place of existing LP. But not a 2nd fridge for sure. Try using less processed foods and junk drinks in small packaging, they take too much space.

Small "dorm" fridges are pretty light.. I have a 1.2 cu ft one in my sticks and bricks basement and I would say it weighs no more than 25 lbs and you can easily fit several gallons of milk in it and still have some room for other chilled food. Really is a "wash" in weight and may be much less weight than say a 40qt ice chest loaded with ice!

My 10cu ft home fridge weighed in at 125 lbs and the 9cu ft RV fridge that I pulled out weighed in at 138 lbs.. Something else to consider, RV fridges are actually rather top heavy and home fridges are bottom heavy.. So my home fridge actually has a lower center of gravity which is actually a real good thing..

One pair of 6V GC batts gives me plenty of battery to run the fridge plus furnace ALL night, plus some lights before we turn in.

I would not be afraid to boondock a weekend just using the gen in the morning a couple of hrs and in the evening a couple of hrs..

Perfectly do able and in most cases folks ARE going to run a gen for things like microwaves, perhaps A/C, hair drier and other heavy 120V loads so why is everyone here so worried about someone expressing an interest in a residential fridge.. Heck there IS full timers boondocking AND with a residential fridge and it never wrecked their lifestyle one bit..

We are one of those. We dry camped before the installation of our 22 cubic foot residential and still do now. Either way we run our genny about 1/2 an hour in the morning and 1/2 an hour at night at meal times. Hasn't changed our dry camping. Most with residentials have a robust solar array and that should be considered part of the installation of a residential. RV absorption units are power hogs when run on electric. Residentials sip power in comparison.

[Gdetrailer]

Almot wrote:

wmoses wrote:
I don't typically stay at private parks (RV parking lots) and so far have never used a campsite w/o electricity so putting the small Walmart special outside should not be an issue.

Hi,
how much do you think a very small residential weigh? 25 lbs, 35? And this is - empty. Tell you wife not to load your built-in LP frig up to the limit, it will work better.

Not that I like LP - if it were on-grid camping only, I would've got residential in place of existing LP. But not a 2nd fridge for sure. Try using less processed foods and junk drinks in small packaging, they take too much space.

Small "dorm" fridges are pretty light.. I have a 1.2 cu ft one in my sticks and bricks basement and I would say it weighs no more than 25 lbs and you can easily fit several gallons of milk in it and still have some room for other chilled food. Really is a "wash" in weight and may be much less weight than say a 40qt ice chest loaded with ice!

My 10cu ft home fridge weighed in at 125 lbs and the 9cu ft RV fridge that I pulled out weighed in at 138 lbs.. Something else to consider, RV fridges are actually rather top heavy and home fridges are bottom heavy.. So my home fridge actually has a lower center of gravity which is actually a real good thing..

One pair of 6V GC batts gives me plenty of battery to run the fridge plus furnace ALL night, plus some lights before we turn in.

I would not be afraid to boondock a weekend just using the gen in the morning a couple of hrs and in the evening a couple of hrs..

Perfectly do able and in most cases folks ARE going to run a gen for things like microwaves, perhaps A/C, hair drier and other heavy 120V loads so why is everyone here so worried about someone expressing an interest in a residential fridge.. Heck there IS full timers boondocking AND with a residential fridge and it never wrecked their lifestyle one bit..

[Almot]

wmoses wrote:
I don't typically stay at private parks (RV parking lots) and so far have never used a campsite w/o electricity so putting the small Walmart special outside should not be an issue.

Hi,
how much do you think a very small residential weigh? 25 lbs, 35? And this is - empty. Tell you wife not to load your built-in LP frig up to the limit, it will work better.

Not that I like LP - if it were on-grid camping only, I would've got residential in place of existing LP. But not a 2nd fridge for sure. Try using less processed foods and junk drinks in small packaging, they take too much space.

[wmoses]

This is an interesting thread.

I recently finished a 13 day road trip in 95 deg temps and while the DW had the on board fridge loaded too much, the POS Dometic fridge with "thermistor" failed to maintain proper temperatures (never had this issue with my previous Norcold w/ temp control, but I digress). I was (am?) ready to fire the fridge and get something that works but it must fit in the space and match the decor.

Even before I replace the on-board fridge with a "residential" one that fits, the use of a small auxiliary fridge to hold the more perishable items seems like a good idea. I don't typically stay at private parks (RV parking lots) and so far have never used a campsite w/o electricity so putting the small Walmart special outside should not be an issue.

[Almot]

scottyboy28422 wrote:
can we use a regular 110V fridge in our RV for use a campgrounds w
electricity. The small dorm, home type ones. Walmart has some for under $200. The reason Im asking is because of the jolting down the road and also unplugging the fridge each time we leave a campground.

Yes, you can. Inside your trailer you can install anything you want.

Outside, as a portable - don't know. Unless you have a really big company in your trailer, for a short stay a standard 6 cu.ft propane fridge is roomy enough. I personally wouldn't want to lift and move around even a small 110V fridge, even when it's empty.

Walmart has small fridges much cheaper than $200. Though it depends what you consider a "small".

One thing I don't understand is how unplugging it for travel is the benefit of 110V fridge. Propane fridge you don't have to unplug - its 12V circuit will work just fine through the 7-pin connector to truck. There are debates sometimes as to whether it's safe to drive with propane fridge running, this is a separate issue. In any event, 110V fridge you HAVE to unplug when leaving the camp.

As mentioned, a very small 110V fridge can be run off a single solar panel ~200W. But it has to be very small, a few cu.ft. Cheap mid-size fridges from Walmart, say, 10cf and larger are not the most efficient, and inverter adds another 10%-15% loss. Some of them are too wide, designed for home kitchen, not trailer closet.

I'm not so sure that many new RV's come with 110V fridges, or that this is a good idea for everyone. Big motorhomes with a monstrous alternator and on-board generator - probably so. A typical 30 ft trailer or 5-er - I doubt. Unless you are always on camps with electrical hookups, a 10cf or 15cf 110V fridge will require an hour of daily generator run, - this is for the fridge alone, not counting your other needs. And a decent inverter with substantial battery bank. Because you don't normally run the fridge off generator - you run fridge all day and all night from the battery, and then need to recharge the battery, and this involves losses too.

[westend]

Sure you can!
I use a dorm fridge powered by an inverter and 235W of solar. It works well for me, cools down fast and no worries about propane use, chimney stacks, leveling, or other absorption fridge issues.
IIRC, paid about $65 for it, on sale at Target.

[cpaulsen]

We use a small frig by Igloo for our 5ver. I set it up under the front skirt when camp. When we leave I just put it inside the 5ver and it survives.

[Gdetrailer]

scottyboy28422 wrote:
can we use a regular 110V fridge in our RV for use a campgrounds w
electricity. The small dorm, home type ones. Walmart has some for under $200. The reason Im asking is because of the jolting down the road and also unplugging the fridge each time we leave a campground.

Residential fridges are becoming more and more common even in new RVs. The energy efficiency of residential fridges HAVE been greatly improved over the years along with the advent of Inverters. 20 yrs ago it was practically impossible to get a reasonable sized inverter which would be affordable and light weight enough to take with you. Now days an inverter is inexpensive and will easily fit in a shoe box for size.

You DO need to make wise choices in the fridge, small dorm size (1.1-5 cu ft) tend to have very little insulation and hence they run longer and more often then the larger fridges.

Apartment size fridges 6-13cu ft tend to have considerably more insulation pretty much like a full size home fridge and tend to operate the compressor about 20-22 minutes per hr.

The important item to look for is the name plate data, many of the newer fridges use only .9A-1.2A while the compressor is running and when in defrost mode they will use about 2A. Pretty much a doable thing even for "boondocking" providing you take this draw into account in battery capacity.

We are very pleased with our home fridge conversion, our camper it was a no brainer since it was not worth putting a new $2000 RV fridge into a trailer we paid $700 for!

We typically overnight and travel using an inverter and one pair of 6V GC batteries which so far has supplied all the power we need!

I don't have a lot of photos of our setup online but you can check out what I have in the following online PDF..

HERE

There are a few photos of our fridge in our rebuild PDF

HERE

[Dog_Folks]

edbehnke wrote:
rv parks may not want it outside however.

Valid point. We have run into this in PRIVATE parks.

State and federal parks do not seem to have that rule.

So I guess it will depend on where you camp.

[John___Angela]

Our little bar fridge in our outside entertainment centre has been bouncing around for 11 years with no problem. We also have a residential as a main fridge for the last two years.

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum limit of 640px maximum width.

[edbehnke]

rv parks may not want it outside however.

[Matt_Colie]

Yes, you can. There are some minor drawbacks.....
Most small reefers sue the sides as the condenser (cooler - where heat goes out), so that has to be in clear space.
If you are going to travel more than a few hours, you will need a 500+ watt inverter to start the compressor.
The electric power demand is too high to effectively boondock or dry camp.

When the original reefer in our coach decided to stop working, I looked at my alternatives. Replacing it in kind was simply not possible as we had recently had decades of personal investment for retirement "redistributed".
The cheep reefer and inverter got us back on the road at a fraction of the cost of replacement.

Matt

[Dog_Folks]

We have both a residential fridge inside the camper and also a small one outside for "extras." No trouble so far.

Some RV's are offering a residential fridge as an upgrade.

[sch911]

Yes, Newer RV's with outdoor kitchens use them in the outdoor kitchen.