There are two of us that will be traveling. However, we eat a lot of fresh organic vegetables...we cook from scratch almost every day, so we stock a lot of veggies in the fridge.As we have shopped, I saw that the single ref/freezer combo units are quite small. Have any of you that cook like we do found it to be adequate, or do you think that we should opt for the rig with a double combo unit?We will be living in the 5er while we remodel our house and then in CA for another 6 months or so, with traveling to parks off and on in-between.

If you are going to live in it, I would opt for the units with the full size residential fridge. They are nearly twice the size of the double wide RV fridges.

MookieKat wrote:There are two of us that will be traveling. However, we eat a lot of fresh organic vegetables...we cook from scratch almost every day, so we stock a lot of veggies in the fridge.As we have shopped, I saw that the single ref/freezer combo units are quite small. Have any of you that cook like we do found it to be adequate, or do you think that we should opt for the rig with a double combo unit?We will be living in the 5er while we remodel our house and then in CA for another 6 months or so, with traveling to parks off and on in-between.Try to find a unit with double door fridge, it will make a big difference.

I agree with Atom Ant. We had a double wide 4 door ref/freezer with ice maker for 9 years. 14 cu ft, the largest in the industry. Hated-every-minute-of-it!FINALLY it died. Considered replacing the absorbtion fridge at $3,600 and opted for a 20 cu.ft. Samsung French door bottom freezer w/ice for $1,000. What a vast improvement! Lights you can see with. Shelves you can clean. Thermometer right in the door header. It will "hold the cold" for a full day's traveling. Which is good enough for us. But if it wasn't I'd go for a generator before I'd go back to the absorbtion refrigerator. Residential grade fridges are an entire category better than the gas/electric fridges. The plastic liner is a better grade of plastic. The insulation is thinner and better. Recovery on a compressor cooled fridge is much faster than an absorption fridge. The frost free feature for the freezer alone is worth it to make the switch. And they work in a greater ambient temperature range. When we had the old absorbtion fridge, when the outdoor temps got over 90 the food would warm up. And it never kept the ice cream solid. They're not only better, they're cheaper, unless you have to have alternative power source. We've only been without shore power once in ten years. Once the truck had a problem and we were stuck at a gas station on a hot day. I got out an extension cord and plugged into the gas station for just enough juice for the fridge. It may not be an option for you to find a unit with a residential type fridge. But it's not that hard to upgrade. Truthfully, it was more difficult trying to figure out how all of the plastic parts went back into the fridge than it was figuring out how to install the fridge. The ventilation panels are already in the side of the camper. Just don't block the air flow and everything's cool.

As also stated, if a regular fridge isn't an option, go with the 4 door fridge. We have one in our 06' and have never had the first issue and it is twice the size of the 2 door fridge...

X2, the "thecampingman" is right on. We switch to a residential refrigerator and it is 100% better. We now have a Samsung and love it. It also eliminates the fire hazard. See our blog and click on Tragedy at Timothy Lake to see what a refrigerator fire looks like. Also you can see our refrigerator installation.

Refrigerator size question | Good Sam Community

Atom_Ant
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
Also takes about a day to stabilize, then it fills the ice tray!
GoPackGo
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
Yes, I have one of the 4-doors in my new rig and I am really impressed. I need to give it a full day to cool down at setting #9 (max), but then I turn it all the way down to #4 and it keeps everything really cold. I bought a thermometer to hang in it because I was hearing all the horror stories but on #4 the temp in the freezer is about 'zero' and mid-30's in the fridge. And mine is also in a slide-out. Outside temp does not seem to have any effect.
Atom_Ant
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
Knock on wood, our 4dr Norcold has been doing great. I don't have fans like shown in the picture, but there are fans somewhere behind it that I can hear kick on every once in a while.

I use a thermometer, and we are holding temps in the correct zone on setting 5, regardless of outside temps.
720Deere
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
MookieKat wrote:

How do you add the fans and where are they installed?

This isn't my setup, but you get the idea. I borrowed the picture from the ebay seller where I got mine. The fan has an alligator clip that acts as the ground. On the 12cf model, you can't wire it to the light. I had to run the wire down the drain tube and tied it into 12v power at the controller.

I have 2 of these in a 12cf. Normally 1 does the job, but if we have it packed extra full and the ambient temp is above 90, the second fan helps out. Using one of these, you don't get frost buildup on the cooling fins either. I haven't found anything negative about these yet other than increased battery drain if you are boondocking. Even then, I think each fan only draws less than 0.14 amps.
Vulcaneer
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
ken white wrote:
NC Hauler wrote:
Gotcha...My 4 door fridge is in a slide, but again, there is an outside vent near the top and one in the bottom, (two vent's), with a very efficient fan blowing on the coils, when on...Again, have never had an issue was just curious. I know some have added a fan or two, mine already had the two vents and a very good fan.

X2...

We also have a Norcold 12 cuft 4 door. In a slideout. One upper, one lower vent. Works great. Never a problem. Operates on A/C or gas.

If you do decide to go with a compressor type residential, try to stay within a reasonable size. More for the weight considerations. When full an 18 cuft compressor fridge can get real heavy when bouncing over the road. And if in a slide out, that is another issue.

If you find a trailer with a normal absorption 8-10 cuft, and find that is not enough capacity for you, then go buy a small dorm sized compressor fridge and stick it in the cargo bay. They are light, and can easily be moved in or out depending on your needs.

We sometimes do that when we camp with Grandchildren. We use the Dorm fridge for drinks. And set it near the steps...under the slideout. Keeps our main fridge available for the extra food we need to feed those hungry kids. And keeps them from running inside for a drink. When packing up to go home it goes back into the cargo storage. Weighs about 40 pounds.

When there are just DW and I we leave the dorm fridge at home.
MookieKat
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
720Deere wrote:
NCHauler, most people that experience cooling issues have their fridge located in a slide out. When located in a slide out, the top vent is on the side of the slide and does not allow heat to easily escape straight out of the top like a roof vent. Usually adding a fan or two above the coils helps fix this problem.

The biggest problem I have seen with them is like any other absorption fridge, they lack a fan inside to circulate air over the cooling coil. Adding a decent fan helped mine achieve the same temperatures on #7 as it did previously on #9.

How do you add the fans and where are they installed?
ken_white
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
NC Hauler wrote:
Gotcha...My 4 door fridge is in a slide, but again, there is an outside vent near the top and one in the bottom, (two vent's), with a very efficient fan blowing on the coils, when on...Again, have never had an issue was just curious. I know some have added a fan or two, mine already had the two vents and a very good fan.

X2...
NC_Hauler
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
720Deere wrote:
NCHauler, most people that experience cooling issues have their fridge located in a slide out. When located in a slide out, the top vent is on the side of the slide and does not allow heat to easily escape straight out of the top like a roof vent. Usually adding a fan or two above the coils helps fix this problem.

The biggest problem I have seen with them is like any other absorption fridge, they lack a fan inside to circulate air over the cooling coil. Adding a decent fan helped mine achieve the same temperatures on #7 as it did previously on #9.

Gotcha...My 4 door fridge is in a slide, but again, there is an outside vent near the top and one in the bottom, (two vent's), with a very efficient fan blowing on the coils, when on...Again, have never had an issue was just curious. I know some have added a fan or two, mine already had the two vents and a very good fan.
720Deere
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
NCHauler, most people that experience cooling issues have their fridge located in a slide out. When located in a slide out, the top vent is on the side of the slide and does not allow heat to easily escape straight out of the top like a roof vent. Usually adding a fan or two above the coils helps fix this problem.

The biggest problem I have seen with them is like any other absorption fridge, they lack a fan inside to circulate air over the cooling coil. Adding a decent fan helped mine achieve the same temperatures on #7 as it did previously on #9.
NC_Hauler
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
jnharley wrote:
We have a 10 cf Norcold. It is plenty big enough for the 2 of us and does not seem to have the same problems that the 4 door ones have. We have a wireless thermostat that monitors the freezer and fridge separately and also one on our residential fridge. The temp swings are almost exactly the same. The residential freezer can maintain a lower temp than the Norcold. I generally see temps around 6 degrees with the Norcold freezer and 10 degrees lower with the residential one.

What problems do the 4 door fridge's have?? Just curious, ours is 7 years old, a Norcold and we've never had the first issue with our's..Does a very good job of keeping things frozen in the two freezer sections and does an excellent job of keeping things cold in the refrigerator portion. has two outside vents with an OEM vent fan...