An answer to a question please?

[Okie_in_Wyoming]

Our friends just bought a 40 foot motor home, planning to travel a large part of the year. The motor home has a residential refrigerator, does this mean it will ONLY run when plugged in to electricity at a campground? If so, how does the fridge run if you are going down the road? This also crosses out any boondocking?
Thank you for your help, Okie

[Bill_Satellite]

I was referring to powering the fridge alone since that's the thread I quoted was talking about. I suspect I could "get by" with a 750 even if I had to turn off the ice maker but 1000 would give a better cushion. I have a big honking inverter in my coach but it powers the fridge, TV's and satellite equipment for 2 TV's, the microwave and coffee maker, 120V lights in the bathroom and several outlets. That's why I also have 4 - 8D AGM batteries and a 150 amp battery charger.

[dougrainer]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
Three options for powering a residential fridge.

1: Shore
2: Generator
3: Big honking inverter (Eats battery power).

RV's use all 3 methods.. I prefer the absorption unit cause not all places I park have enough electricity to power the blang things... But Propane always works .

Not sure why folks who don't like something try to post scary words and inaccuracies to try to make others feel like they do. A residential fridge does NOT require a big honking inverter and it doesn't Eat battery power. It does require an inverter and an inverter does use battery power but that's why they put batteries in your coach! A residential fridge draws about 3 amps while the compressor is running and none when it is not. You can easily use a RR in your RV and once you do you will likely never go back. I have a 20cf GE Profile side by side with filtered ice and water through the door. Over night when you are on battery only the fridge doors never open and the compressor runs much less often. I already have a whole house inverter so using it is just logical but if you want to install a stand alone inverter...let's see 3 amps, 360 watts. To me that sounds like a 750W to 1000W inverter would easily handle the load.

You forgot the ICEMAKER. That adds about 200 watts(1.8 amps). So, you now need an Inverter that supplies about 6 amps(700 watts). Going LESS than 1000 watt Inverter is foolish. 1000 and up should be the minimum standard for residential refers. BUT, why not spend a few dollars more and get the 1500 or 2000 watt to power the Entertainment and Microwave? The added cost is not that much more. Doug

[Okie_in_Wyoming]

Thank you all for your information! I knew the right place for answers would be here. You are most kind to reply so quickly.

[Bill_Satellite]

wa8yxm wrote:
Three options for powering a residential fridge.

1: Shore
2: Generator
3: Big honking inverter (Eats battery power).

RV's use all 3 methods.. I prefer the absorption unit cause not all places I park have enough electricity to power the blang things... But Propane always works .

Not sure why folks who don't like something try to post scary words and inaccuracies to try to make others feel like they do. A residential fridge does NOT require a big honking inverter and it doesn't Eat battery power. It does require an inverter and an inverter does use battery power but that's why they put batteries in your coach! A residential fridge draws about 3 amps while the compressor is running and none when it is not. You can easily use a RR in your RV and once you do you will likely never go back. I have a 20cf GE Profile side by side with filtered ice and water through the door. Over night when you are on battery only the fridge doors never open and the compressor runs much less often. I already have a whole house inverter so using it is just logical but if you want to install a stand alone inverter...let's see 3 amps, 360 watts. To me that sounds like a 750W to 1000W inverter would easily handle the load.

[azrving]

It doesn't take a big inverter. I could probably run my 10 cu ft whirlpool on a 1000 but I have a 2000 so I can make toaster now and then quietly. I was running four gc 2 batteries and 520 watts of solar prior to the residential refrigerator. After adding the resi it would never fully charge but we run the house furnace and use the 40 in led television a lot. After the resi I added 480 more watts and two more gc 2. While not using the rig this summer with panels flat and a good deal of shade along with rainy weather it could carry itself. Panels are cheap.

[wa8yxm]

Three options for powering a residential fridge.

1: Shore
2: Generator
3: Big honking inverter (Eats battery power).

RV's use all 3 methods.. I prefer the absorption unit cause not all places I park have enough electricity to power the blang things... But Propane always works .

[Mile_High]

rjxj wrote:
Ask them to join you but dont park real close to them so you dont hear the generator auto start at 4 am.

Or show them how to use the "quiet time" feature on the auto start so it doesn't start at 4 AM. It will only start during the day when voltage is low, and will start at 2 hours before quiet time regardless of voltage to top off the batteries.

[Sam_Spade]

Okie in Wyoming wrote:
Our friends just bought a 40 foot motor home, planning to travel a large part of the year.

"Your friends" need to ask a dealer or the maker of the fridge how it is supposed to work.

If bought new, they should have gotten a set of owners manuals.

IF you could supply the make/model of the MH and the make/model of the fridge, someone here might be able to help.

A google search for the make and model of the fridge probably would help more.

(Edit) Well your original post didn't ask the REAL question.....so my first answer wasn't appropriate for the situation.

So, if these really are friends, have a discussion with them about their "dry" camping capabilities and desires. The refrigerator may not be the only issue.......or even an important one.

[Ivylog]

Having recently gone residential, with two batteries for the refer nothing has changed in our boondocking power usage. Before the residential we had to run the generator aprox 2 hours/day when boondocking BUT I added an additional charger.

[azrving]

Ask them to join you but dont park real close to them so you dont hear the generator auto start at 4 am.

[smlranger]

Yep, will need to run generator for few hours each day to recharge the batteries. As noted, will need a decent house battery bank to power the inverter to run the fridge when not on shore power or running the generator.

Another option is to install a sufficient solar panel set up to keep the batteries charged. Even so, will need to run generator some if in shade or on cloudy days.

[Bill_Satellite]

They will likely be able to dry camp without issue as long as running their generator from time to time is OK. Depending upon how they use the coach and what goodies they want to use the generator will likely need to be run a bit at night so they can watch TV and cook and this will keep the batteries charged before going to bed. There should be plenty of battery power to keep the fridge running over night and since you are going to need power for the coffee maker and breakfast, running the generator for a few hours in the morning will get the batteries charged back up again. Solar can help with the morning but won't help at all for the evening hours so a generator is still going to be necessary to some degree.

[rr2254545]

Yes we have 6 batteries to run the fridge and other items
if the batteries run down they can run their generator and charge them back up

[Okie_in_Wyoming]

Thank you ScottG and wrgrs50s. I appreciate the info.
Now we'll be comfortable asking them to join us at the lake!??