Heartland Torque 345 and large fridges?

[roller183]

I'm in the market to upgrade from my 13 year old Sierra F40SPTS, which is still in excellent shape.

The Heartland Torque model TQ345JM has caught my eye for price and equipment.

Anyone out there have this model or other model Torques, quality, construction etc? ( I've had the new RV blues with my current unit when new. In shop first 6 months fixing issues-no exaggeration )

The second question is: I was REAL excited about the full sized fridge in RV's until I read they do not run on propane? True?False?

TIA.

Ed

PS: Looked at the Heartland forums, and best I could tell, they don't break it down by model..

[Copperhead]

I only set things up with Xantrex inverter / charger models for keeping all outlets live. I have outlets set up so they only run off the Xantrex. The larger stuff like AC units and MW are on the shore power circuit. Even a small 2000w generator running for few hours on .5 gallons of gasoline, hooked up to the Xantrex will have batteries multi pass charged up in short order. It doesn't take much to meet all DC power and AC outlet needs when boon docking. A residential fridge is a piece of cake.

That being said, Norcold makes full blown compressor RV fridges that run on AC and DC. When on DC, they use about 2-3ah. One can go quite a while on DC with one of those fridges. I have one that has been on continuously for 5 years in a commercial vehicle. I can shut down for the weekend and leave the fridge running and the vehicle starts fine 48 hours later. No auxiliary charging of the batteries. And the 4 group 31 batteries are standard batteries, not deep cycle.

[roller183]

I have lived with the RV one for 13 years and even lived in it in between moves, homes etc. I'll stick with the smaller propane one. Thanks.

Now I have to get more info on Torque's. 🙂

[CA_Traveler]

Res refers use a lot of power relative to propane types. The refer size makes a difference. The popular 18 cu ft Samsung draws about 1.5A AC which is about 17A inverter draw.

I would not have any battery bank less that 4 6's deep cycle golf cart rated at 440Ah. Even so you will run the gen 1-2 hours every day assuming your charger is 100A+. Plus most will also want solar.

There are many posts etc that can get you up to speed. Be aware that a deep cycle 12V marine battery is a compromise and little more than a starting battery.

Many campers travel from pedestal to pedestal so battery power is a not issue to them. But boon docking is a completely different type of camping.

[Bedlam]

I have read about complaints the use of residential fridges in campers used for boon docking. Even with dual batteries you will be lucky to get two days of use without a charge source. The 7-pin power from the truck will not keep up with the draw of the inverter, so you will need run a dedicated large gauge charge line (like many truck camper people do) or invest in significant solar that has enough capacity to run the inverter and still recharge your battery bank for night time use.

[nayther]

the res. fridge is all electric, just like in your sticks and bricks home. They provide an inverter and probably one group 24 12v battery assuming you'll be in hookups or towing. The one battery won't hack it very long. Additional batteries, solar, etc will be necessary for more than one day of boondocking.

You should check with the dealer, it's possible they can order one with a regular RV fridge.