the Wife and I are shopping and we see a lot of fivers with residential Fridges and Inverters in them now. Are they really more prone to breakdown because of the bouncing around in the trailer or it is just folklore? Should I just go with a Large Gas/Electric fridge? Do the Residential fridges last long on the inverter and dedicated 12 battery? Should I consider a Onan generator? How the heck do you winterize a residential fridge with Ice and Water in the door? I know a lot of questions for one thread... Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your input.

All depends on your type of camping and needs. We just traded up to get the Residential Fridge with a larger freezer section, but we spend 7 to 10 months a year in our unit. We've added 2 extra batteries for a total of 4 and can go for a few days without power.If we were just weekend warriors don't thing it would have been worth it, or if you spend days boondocking probably the norm Gas/Electric would work best.

If you are going to dry camp, I would recommend an RV gas/electric. If you primarily use hookups, a residential fridge works fine. You should use at least two batteries in parallel. Your truck should keep the batteries charged while traveling. I would have a generator as backup, especially for dry camping.I can't answer your question for winterizing; that is something I don't have to worry about. :)

I still have a Dometic but read all I can about residential. If I do get one I dont think using it in an RV is an issue. I dont drive fast on dirt roads, I usually crawl so I dont think I would be hammering it enough to hurt it. Maybe I'm wrong? My concern is mainly energy use. I have four 6 volts and 520 watts of solar. I dont think I would have a problem and might only have to run my Honda 3000 if there were a few bad days. I have had a couple people tell me that they had friends that had them and couldn't install on enough solar to keep up. Who knows what their install was like? Maybe they wired it with 16 gauge. Sounds like BS. It's just a matter of crunching the numbers for each model and figuring out their expected energy use is. My solar stuff is new so I'm not 100% in tune to how well it will do this winter. I have a Bogart 30 solar control and a Trimetric so I will be able to monitor it better this year.You have to power an inverter which uses some power also so it wont run long on one group 29 battery, maybe 2 but who knows how much generator time you would have the next day. Then you get into the whole issue of how your converter performs. 13.6 volts wont get it at all. I leave my house unheated all winter so it has to be winterized. The frig has always been the biggest pita. I use compressed air to blast the whole system out and it works well but I was always nervous about leaving residual water laying in a solenoid valve and damaging it. At first I fabricated a 5 gallon air tank so that it could be filled with rv solvent and pressurized it to feed the appliances. It worked good on the dishwasher and the washing machine but it was difficult to purge the ice maker. It worked ok for the first couple years but I messed up and cracked the valve bank for the ice maker. So we bought a new counter dept frig with all the gizmos. I now remove the water filter and complete ice maker valve bank. The valve is probably $150- $200. I then blow out the lines to the filter etc. The pressure tank method wasted too much solvent so I started using a small drill motor driven pump connected directly to each appliance. It worked good for the dw and washing machine but I still didn't trust it with the new frig so I remove valves.In theory if you put the time into cycling the ice maker you should be able to push solvent through it. I know the water filters work so good that they take the pink out. I would have to smell and look closely at the glass of water to know when the solvent was making it through. My Dometic is 15 yrs old and as long as I keep researching this issue it should keep working. I do also have a couple large fire extinguishers. :R

Until the RV frig manufacturers get their act together and build a frig that will cool and least longer, I will not have another one.We have a 22 cu.ft Frigidaire residential frig with 4 large 6 volt batteries and a solar charge on the roof/ We have never had an issue with the frig, the batteries, the inverter or the solar charger.If you are going to dry camp, I'd suggest a Honda EU2000i to furnish some power in the event, the batteries cannot keep up.Ken

I finally gave up on my NOcold 1200 and installed a 21 cuft home refer. I added a separate battery bank (500 AH AGM) and a 1000W PSW inverter with a 100 amp charger and transfer switch as we boondock often. When running it's 8 amps into the inverter (100W) and 22 amps during the icemaker harvests cycle. Amazing how energy efficient these Energy Star refers have gotten. The compressor is not much bigger than a grapefruit. Just got back from first camping trip with it and I did a test of my battery system even though we had power. Did not get on the DW about leaving the door open too long...:B and used a fair amount of ice. The batteries started at 13.2V and 24 hours later they were at 12.5V. After one hour with the 100 amp charger they were back to 13.2V. Could probably go 36 hours before reaching the 50% point on the batteries but we usually run the generator every evening.OP, while one battery might go 12 hours, you really need two for it and two for the 5er... total of four.

Residential Fridge or Not? | Good Sam Community

pcm1959
Explorer
Sep 12, 2015
tvman44 wrote:
Do you have a picture of your setup, sure would like to see one as I cannot quiet visualize what you did?

Check original post on page 3 now. Got pix posted.

pcm1959 wrote:
I didn't want to drill into the attractive wood around the fridge and deal with straps and such. So I fabricated my own travel lock for the fridge. I got the 3 small screws, the threaded rod, bracket, the washer and knob at Lowes. I simply screw the threaded rod with know into place and I'm all set. So simple and no unsightly straps and hooks visible while enjoy the trip.
On the subject of service, securing the unit into place, winterizing, etc.....Since I converted mine, I still the exterior access panel (now totally blocked) which allowed me to easily secure the bottom to the floor. I did NOT hook-up the ice maker. I didn't want o hassle with the stale water in the lines between trips or winterizing even in N FL. I use traditional ice trays which freeze quickly and then I just dump them into the ice bin in the freezer.
I will NEVER own another RV with an absorption fridge. I don't dry camp, so power is not an issue.
I could buy 4 Samsung fridges for what the 12 cu ft Norcold cost. No thanks.
Mile_High
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
magic43 wrote:
routemaster wrote:
magic43 wrote:
One item for consideration that has not been mentioned is that true residential refrigerators deposit the heat from the cooling (compressor & condenser) into the living area where it is then cooled again by the RV's air conditioning unit(s). Double cooling. This could really matter in hotter areas of the country.

Of course it aids with heating.

We live in our 5er, travel and stay in CA, AZ Yuma and Southern NM and have had the Samsung now for 27 months I have the 2ins spacing around the fridge runs fine.

I was not questioning whether it would work, but that the roof AC's have to cool the heated air expelled from the residential refrigerator. Folks contemplating changing over need to take this additional heat source into consideration.
I've heard that complaint from some in our group. It kicks a bit of heat out the top, which may not make much difference in a large house but in 400 sq ft you can feel it.
magic43
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
routemaster wrote:
magic43 wrote:
One item for consideration that has not been mentioned is that true residential refrigerators deposit the heat from the cooling (compressor & condenser) into the living area where it is then cooled again by the RV's air conditioning unit(s). Double cooling. This could really matter in hotter areas of the country.

Of course it aids with heating.

We live in our 5er, travel and stay in CA, AZ Yuma and Southern NM and have had the Samsung now for 27 months I have the 2ins spacing around the fridge runs fine.

I was not questioning whether it would work, but that the roof AC's have to cool the heated air expelled from the residential refrigerator. Folks contemplating changing over need to take this additional heat source into consideration.
RustyJC
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
DanB-ON wrote:
Ours has a round handle with a piece of threaded rod attached to hold it closed. The female end is glued to the fridge in the space between the doors and you just thread it in where all 3 doors meet and it holds it nice and tight. I would take a picture but it's put away for winter already.

That's what ours had as well - until a trip across I-10 through Louisiana popped the glue loose from the base. I think you'd have to weld that sucker on to get it to hold on that stretch of road.

We're using velcro straps through the handles and a Z-bracket from the freezer drawer to the fridge doors to hold everything closed now.

Rusty
routemaster
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
magic43 wrote:
One item for consideration that has not been mentioned is that true residential refrigerators deposit the heat from the cooling (compressor & condenser) into the living area where it is then cooled again by the RV's air conditioning unit(s). Double cooling. This could really matter in hotter areas of the country.

Of course it aids with heating.

We live in our 5er, travel and stay in CA, AZ Yuma and Southern NM and have had the Samsung now for 27 months I have the 2ins spacing around the fridge runs fine.
DanB-ON
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
One thing I didn't notice anyone else mention is the massive size advantage to the residential. For my trailer it was a 12 cubic ft RV fridge or a 23 cubic ft residential. With our old trailer I could never fit more than 5-6 beers or other drinks in the fridge because we needed the room for groceries. Now I can set several cases in there with room to spare.
Ours has a round handle with a piece of threaded rod attached to hold it closed. The female end is glued to the fridge in the space between the doors and you just thread it in where all 3 doors meet and it holds it nice and tight. I would take a picture but it's put away for winter already.
tvman44
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
Do you have a picture of your setup, sure would like to see one as I cannot quiet visualize what you did?

pcm1959 wrote:
I didn't want to drill into the attractive wood around the fridge and deal with straps and such. So I fabricated my own travel lock for the fridge. I got the 3 small screws, the threaded rod, bracket, the washer and knob at Lowes. I simply screw the threaded rod with know into place and I'm all set. So simple and no unsightly straps and hooks visible while enjoy the trip.
On the subject of service, securing the unit into place, winterizing, etc.....Since I converted mine, I still the exterior access panel (now totally blocked) which allowed me to easily secure the bottom to the floor. I did NOT hook-up the ice maker. I didn't want o hassle with the stale water in the lines between trips or winterizing even in N FL. I use traditional ice trays which freeze quickly and then I just dump them into the ice bin in the freezer.
I will NEVER own another RV with an absorption fridge. I don't dry camp, so power is not an issue.
I could buy 4 Samsung fridges for what the 12 cu ft Norcold cost. No thanks.
magic43
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
One item for consideration that has not been mentioned is that true residential refrigerators deposit the heat from the cooling (compressor & condenser) into the living area where it is then cooled again by the RV's air conditioning unit(s). Double cooling. This could really matter in hotter areas of the country.

Of course it aids with heating.
pcm1959
Explorer
Sep 11, 2015
I didn't want to drill into the attractive wood around the fridge and deal with straps and such. So I fabricated my own travel lock for the fridge. I got the 3 small screws, the threaded rod, bracket, felt, the washer and knob at Lowes. I simply screw the threaded rod with know into place and I'm all set. So simple and no unsightly straps and hooks visible while enjoy the trip.
On the subject of service, securing the unit into place, winterizing, etc.....Since I converted mine, I still the exterior access panel (now totally blocked) which allowed me to easily secure the bottom to the floor. I did NOT hook-up the ice maker. I didn't want o hassle with the stale water in the lines between trips or winterizing even in N FL. I use traditional ice trays which freeze quickly and then I just dump them into the ice bin in the freezer.
I will NEVER own another RV with an absorption fridge. I don't dry camp, so power is not an issue.
I could buy 4 Samsung fridges for what the 12 cu ft Norcold cost. No thanks.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/632/21354640005_ee3556eefc.jpg
Gib3633
Explorer
Sep 10, 2015
Winterizing Residential Fridge:
I didn't want to put antifreeze through the system so I did the following.
First I shut off the water at the valve feeding the line to the fridge.
Then I disconnected the line at that valve. Through the outside door on the Rv there is also a disconnect which I disconnected and blew the water out of that line.
I then got the wife to depress the lever and pump out all of the existing ice from the ice maker. Then I had her continue to depress the lever which opens the water inlet valve for the ice maker and with the air hose blew the water up the other way to clear the valve of water so nothing to freeze.
We left it dry and use regular ice cube trays that worked well for 50 yrs.
We find the ice maker made ice but not quality cubes anyhow.
On the other hand if I decided to use we wouldn't spend half the winter trying to get non antifreeze tasting ice.