buying another pusher.

[paulm]

All the motorhomes I am seeing for sale are all electric with residential fridges.
We do a lot of boondocking and I think the coaches with the 2-way fridges that can use propane make boondocking easier.
I have owned 4 motorhomes and 3 airstream trailers over the years and they all had the 2-way fridges. do they make them any more? Please, I would like your thoughts on using an all-electric for boondocking. The coach that I really want to buy is all electric.

[paulm]

Most likely it will be a tiffin

[Mr_Mark1]

paulm wrote:

Mile High wrote:
I think you would find that you either have to go back a few years or get into an entry level to keep that LP fridge. I always thought the LP fridge was a "must have", but now I think there are many advantages to all electric coaches and smart use of the generator can probably extend your stay equivalent to or better than an LP coach.

I have been convinced. the all electric is the way to go. My last coach was a brand new Monaco signature and even it had the 2-way fridge. I really appreciate all your comments and education. nice to hear from people who are doing it.
we are looking at 2012 up to 2015 and they all are all electric. our only choices are Tiffin, Newmar and Country Coach, coaches.

The newest Country Coach will be an 2009 as they closed up shop. Parts and service are still available.

Safe travels,
MM.

[msmith1199]

Something else to consider if you're worried about running the big generator too much, is get a Honda 2000 watt generator. They are about $1000 and can be stored in the basement. That will keep the batteries charged while boondocking and is very easy on fuel. If all you're doing is charging batteries 7500 watts and burning a half gallon of fuel an hours is overkill.

[msmith1199]

You ever see one of those residential fridges that has Internet access and a TV screen on the front and all kinds of bells and whistles? One of those is cheaper than a two-way rv fridge! I just had to replace the guts of my two-way fridge and the total cost was close to $2000. Would have been a lot more if I had to replace the entire thing. I boondock too, but based on the repair costs, I'd have no problem going with an all electric rig and residential fridge next time.

[paulm]

Mile High wrote:
I think you would find that you either have to go back a few years or get into an entry level to keep that LP fridge. I always thought the LP fridge was a "must have", but now I think there are many advantages to all electric coaches and smart use of the generator can probably extend your stay equivalent to or better than an LP coach.

I have been convinced. the all electric is the way to go. My last coach was a brand new Monaco signature and even it had the 2-way fridge. I really appreciate all your comments and education. nice to hear from people who are doing it.
we are looking at 2012 up to 2015 and they all are all electric. our only choices are Tiffin, Newmar and Country Coach, coaches.

[Mile_High]

I think you would find that you either have to go back a few years, or get into an entry level to keep that LP fridge. I always thought the LP fridge was a "must have", but now I think there are many advantages to all electric coaches and smart use of the generator can probably extend your stay equivalent to or better than an LP coach.

[Mr_Mark1]

Our 2008 Monaco Dynasty was all electric with Aqua-Hot (diesel). I boon-docked with my group of friends in Quartzsite every January for 5-7 days for about 4 yrs. in a row.

I used the genny 2 hrs. in the morning and 2 hrs. in the evening as that was breakfast and dinner time (preparing food for the pot-luck).

Our genny would auto-start if needed but it never did with my 2 hr. AM and PM regimen. We had 8 house batteries, a 10K genny and one solar panel.

On our current coach we have 3 Lithium Ion batteries for house (replaces 8-10 AGM's) and I can go 11 hrs. before the genny kicks on. We have two refrigerators (Jenn-Air in the kitchen and a small one in the bay). The reason I know I can go 11 hrs. is that the electricity has gone out twice at my storage facility. :R
Of course that is with minimal loads. We do not have solar.

I never wanted propane on the coach, electric works perfectly for us.

Safe travels,
MM.

[paulm]

Thanks as always good advice from you guys.

[Bruce_Brown]

A few years back I put a new cooling unit in our Dometic fridge.

If I was doing it again I would change it to a residential style instead.

[dons2346]

Looks like there are a bunch of us with residential refers that are managing quite nicely without being plugged in 100%

[tropical36]

paulm wrote:
All the motorhomes I am seeing for sale are all electric with residential fridges.
We do a lot of boondocking and I think the coaches with the 2-way fridges that can use propane make boondocking easier.
I have owned 4 motorhomes and 3 airstream trailers over the years and they all had the 2-way fridges. do they make them any more? Please, I would like your thoughts on using an all-electric for boondocking. The coach that I really want to buy is all electric.

I still see them in the entry level models.
New residential's are pretty energy efficient and should run for a long time between charges, with the amount of batteries, most have.
I mean, run the genset for a couple of hours, during dinner and for charging things up, at the same time.

[Ivylog]

I just converted our new ride to all electric...took out stove top and replaced with an induction. We are on our maiden voyage with it and have stayed in a private CG 2 nights out of 30 and no solar yet. A energy star refer uses 100W when running less than half the time so 2 batteries will run it 30+ hours before needing to be recharged.

You are better off buying a rig that’s already total electric as it should have the PSW inverter you need (except for Samsung’s) and more AHs of batteries. I made the mistake of putting way too much money in a NoCold 1200 because of the BS about boondocking with a residential. Going total electric (not really as you heat with a AquaHot) is the best mod ever and I’ve done quite a few mods.

[msturtz]

Big Katuna wrote:

paulm wrote:
thanks for the info. I know about the quite gensets. Had a Monaco signature and we boondocked a lot.
so I guess with the all-electric coaches there would be an auto start on the gen set if batteries get to low. Correct?

Most newer all electrics have auto start.
Another point is that with LED lighting, you would only need to run the genset a few hours a day.

If you run AC you have to run genset anyway.

Quiet Diesels don’t run at a fixed RPM; they change RPM to meet load.

The 5000, 5500, and 7000 W Onans run at 1800 fixed.

The little 4000 runs at a noisey 3600.

My QD6000 unit is water cooled and inverter (variable RPM) genrator. We have a Magnum Energy AGS system that starts the generator it the coach becomes too hot or if the batteries are too low.

[paulm]

good advice on the solar. some I am looking at have 4 panels on the roof.

[janstey58]

One word, Solar. We have no trouble boon docking in our Class A with residential fridge.