Residential Fridge or Not?

[Bellpr]

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.

[zb39]

Been Rving since 1968. 9 diff units, only had 1 problem with a RV fridge in that time. Got it fixed in a couple hours. I love being off the grid. Fires in RV's are like plane crashes, they get a lot of press. I don't have a problem with res fridge, they just aren't for me. If it works for you, thats great.
my .02 cents

[routemaster]

This is what I did to hold the doors.

[RustyJC]

The elephant in the room that hasn't been mentioned is that I'm not aware of ANY fridge fires caused by residential refrigerators. We have 2 friends that have lost RVs to absorption cooling unit fires.

We're very pleased with the residential fridge in our 5th wheel. It's powered by a 1500W PSW inverter while traveling, with the 5th wheel batteries being replenished by the truck's alternator.

Rusty

[Mile_High]

Our manufacturer started offering the residential fridge (Samsung), but not without suffering from some growing pains. The fridge themselves are fine, but:

No provisions to winterize the ice maker when they installed them.

No provisions to secure the doors when travelling.

No provisions to secure the fridge itself to the opening (lots of dented doors)

No real OFF switch, only "less cool", so the batteries had to be disconnected whenever you were done using it, otherwise the inverter would drain them every time you put it in storage.

Many issues may have been fixed - I'm not sure. We don't really follow it because once you go to residential, you are no longer a self contained or dry camp unit beyond about 8 hrs- you are dependent upon that power.

[austinjenna]

austinjenna wrote:

How do you guys pre-cool the fridge and how long does that take? Currently I go to the storage lot and fire up my fridge the night before we leave. Would a residential be able to do that for lets say 12 hrs maybe running off 2 12volts?


We store our RV at a storage lot that has no electricity (for us), I usually go over early in the morning to start the fridge. We load it up later around noon or so and it's plenty cool by then. I simply turn on the inverter and the fridge starts running, very simple.

If you have your batteries fully charged when you start up the fridge, running the fridge for a day, day and a half shouldn't be a problem. I did it with two six volt before I hooked up the solar panels. The solar will keep up with the fridge, my trouble is here in Wisconsin I don't get 100% sunshine so if we have a couple of "grey" days in a row my solar power is pretty much zilch until the sun shines again

Thanks for the info. I also store mine off sight, have 2 12V batteries and a 120w solar panel that keeps them topped off. I may not always have the luxury of starting it up only a few hours before we leave and may have to do it the night before we leave. I didnt know if it could go that long oe not. Thanks again

[dapperdan]

austinjenna wrote:
How do you guys pre-cool the fridge and how long does that take? Currently I go to the storage lot and fire up my fridge the night before we leave. Would a residential be able to do that for lets say 12 hrs maybe running off 2 12volts?

We store our RV at a storage lot that has no electricity (for us), I usually go over early in the morning to start the fridge. We load it up later around noon or so and it's plenty cool by then. I simply turn on the inverter and the fridge starts running, very simple.

If you have your batteries fully charged when you start up the fridge, running the fridge for a day, day and a half shouldn't be a problem. I did it with two six volt before I hooked up the solar panels. The solar will keep up with the fridge, my trouble is here in Wisconsin I don't get 100% sunshine so if we have a couple of "grey" days in a row my solar power is pretty much zilch until the sun shines again.

Dan

[Endricken]

Have towed almost 30K miles with my 07 Whirlpool apt size Fridge replacement for the old Dometic since 07 - no problems

[CarlT100]

pcm1959 wrote:

I have 2 6volt group 24 batteries and a GoPower 1k watt inverter.
I do not use the inverter for powering the fridge while on shore power. My inverter is dedicated to the fridge and has an auto switch over between shore power and inverter.

That is a really good setup.

[pcm1959]

I store in a lot between trips. Precooling was my big concern especially in the hot FL summers. I have had NO issues at all.
I have 2 6volt group 24 batteries and a GoPower 1k watt inverter. The Samsung is very efficient. I turn it on no more than 2 hours before a trip and it is at proper temps when I'm ready to load. That is in 80+ degree mornings.
As long as the batteries are topped off (which they are after a trip) the battery level is still at 2/3 when I load up after precooling. I have had no trouble then using my Big Foot jacks to hook up or powering the pump for the disc brakes. The truck keeps the battery from discharging any further below 2/3 during travel. I have never had any trouble on a 7 hour trip with the battery dropping below a safe level.
Good batteries, an efficient inverter not oversized for the job, and an efficient fridge will make a difference in the power needed to precool.
I do not use the inverter for powering the fridge while on shore power. My inverter is dedicated to the fridge and has an auto switch over between shore power and inverter.

[austinjenna]

How do you guys pre-cool the fridge and how long does that take? Currently I go to the storage lot and fire up my fridge the night before we leave. Would a residential be able to do that for lets say 12 hrs maybe running off 2 12volts?

[tvman44]

My only concern about a residential fridge is we have a rear kitchen and I am worried about the bouncing if that would cause a problem with the refrigerant lines from the compressor shaking so much. Of course as I understand it the compressors on these small residential fridges are pretty small and light weight so it may not be as much of a problem as I am thinking it might be. Anyone put a residential fridge in a 5er with rear kitchen? Our fridge is on the rear wall. 🙂

[dapperdan]

Bellpr wrote:
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.

We've had a residential fridge now for a little over a year. We LOVE it! But as some here have mentioned it all depends on what kind of camping you're doing. We have not had a single issue with the fridge to this point and I really don't anticipate any.

As for a generator, probably not a bad idea if you can afford the Onan. We have a Honda that we can carry along if we're staying someplace without electricity but that RARELY happens. We have two six volt GC batteries and an inverter that will keep the fridge going for a day and a half maybe but that's about it without being plugged in. I have three one hundred watt solar panels on the roof but after "experimenting" this summer my two batteries don't quite keep up with the fridge. They do "ok" for extended days as long as I have FULL sun during the day. Cloudy days are a killer for me if I want to keep the fridge running 24/7. I'm going to be installing/adding a couple more GC batteries probably at the beginning of next season and that should rectify my power "shortage".

Winterizing is easy peasy, the ice maker itself "lives" in the freezer so it doesn't need winterizing but the line to it will :B, you cycle the ice marker while running your RV antifreeze through your system. Same goes for the water on the door, that's actually easier, just pour a glass or two of "water" while running the pink stuff through till you get pink in the glass.

We like all the extra space the residential has over the elec/propane. Another thing I've noticed is the residential seems to cool down much quicker than the other kind, could be my imagination, just saying.

Hope this helps you in your decision.

Dan

[dahkota]

rjxj wrote:
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.
...
:R

We also have a Dometic, 440AH of 6V and 520+W of solar. While we are very happy with our current fridge, we would like the greater capacity of a residential. What stops us is the extra weight of additional batteries. The Dometic weighs 242lbs. a Samsung, 232lbs. Adding 2-4 batteries dedicated to the fridge means 130-260 lbs. additional weight (and where would we put them?). Something else would have to go or we would have to run without full fresh water tanks. While we are not at our rig's capacity, we are close (around 90% with full fresh). So we will continue to think on it until our current dometic dies. If we are lucky, it will last the 15 years yours has!

[routemaster]

We second that getting a Samsung.

[pcm1959]

I have previously posted my poor luck with a Norcold 4 door that I ordered in my 2014 Lifestyle fiver. BIG MISATKE and waste of money. After a year of poor performance in inconsistency and no satisfaction from Norcold we pulled it out and replaced it with a Samsung residential. Best RV mod I have ever done! We do not dry camp so power is not an issue. The 2 6 volt batteries and inverter pre-cool it just fine with power to spare for in route travel and cooling. Do yourself a favor and get the residential. You'll love it.