Getting Rid of a Residential Refrigerator

[chasfenwick]

I want to move up from Class C to Class A but, from what I am reading, one would want to avoid a residential refrigerator like the plague. I love the Norcold in my Jayco Melbourne; it is a marvel of engineering. What is the practicality of junking one of these residential refrigerators and replacing it with a decent RV refrigerator?

[mpierce]

Seems like the builders are assuming that their coach will be plugged in. Otherwise, you need several batteries, and a decent solar array for boon docking with a residential. Unless you want to run the benny a lot.

[BillMFl]

The new Georgetown gassers now have residential frig with ice maker. Only complaints I am aware of is battery capacity when boon docking.

[chasfenwick]

The relative efficiency on AC power is something that I wasn't aware of. Interesting.

[MrWizard]

economically absorption is very cheap running on propane

but dry camping electrical use is much higher than a residential fridge

it uses 3 times the electrical power to heat the element over running a compressor, and has a longer duty cycle

i never used the electric mode on any RV fridge i owned,
and i have had 4 class A's and two camper vans

But none of that was the point of this thread..
the initial question was about retrograde conversion

and getting the full story was like pulling wisdom teeth.
troublesome, painful and slow

[John___Angela]

chasfenwick wrote:
If you want the best of both worlds, especially if you're going to be carrying around propane anyway, get an absorption unit (Like my Norcold N621) that will switch seamlessly back and forth between AC and propane. Install a bunch of dedicated golf cart batteries, solar panel, inverter and, so long as it is getting AC, the fridge will perform just like a residential fridge. But if something craps out in the delivery of AC, you have the propane for backup.

Sort of. The power required by an absorption fridge is about 6 to 8 times that of a residential fridge. An absorption fridge running on AC 120 volts will drain your batteries fairly quickly. The electric element draws closer to 5 to 6 amps of current at 120 volts vice 1 to 1.5 amps of power to run a compressor. Plus the duty cycle of an absorption fridge (2:3) is much higher than that of a modern compressor type residential fridge (1:3) From a power point of view absorption fridges are very inefficient. Of course different residentials have different efficiencies.

Hope that explains it a bit.

[chasfenwick]

If you want the best of both worlds, especially if you're going to be carrying around propane anyway, get an absorption unit (Like my Norcold N621) that will switch seamlessly back and forth between AC and propane. Install a bunch of dedicated golf cart batteries, solar panel, inverter and, so long as it is getting AC, the fridge will perform just like a residential fridge. But if something craps out in the delivery of AC, you have the propane for backup.

[John___Angela]

chasfenwick wrote:
I'm pleased to see some balance creeping into this discussion. It is definitely not OBVIOUS that residential fridge is optimal for all or even most RV users. Far from it. And, if an RV mfr is going to offer only the residential fridge, they are being dishonest if they don't compliment it with a decent level of power management support as part of the standard design of their product.

I hear ya, but I think part of it is in the presentation. An honest question to the buyer, do you intend to dry camp a lot? If so then consider adding blah blah blah. I have been in this position and have found some simply don't ever plan to dry camp. For them the inverter, solar panels and extended battery bank are not a requirement. For them its nice to have the negative option.

[Cloud_Dancer]

IMO the dealers are happy to offer the residential frige as standard equipment, but if you really want the absorbtion unit they'll do that too,....as a special option that the customer insisted on. This plan might just leave them in the clear in event of possible legal action down the road. They might even ask you to sign a waiver and release form.

[chasfenwick]

I'm pleased to see some balance creeping into this discussion. It is definitely not OBVIOUS that residential fridge is optimal for all or even most RV users. Far from it. And, if an RV mfr is going to offer only the residential fridge, they are being dishonest if they don't compliment it with a decent level of power management support as part of the standard design of their product.

[the_silverback]

I am very happy with my RV frig. It is great for the way I use the RV. Even works good when the power goes out at home. Talking with a RV manufacturer at a recent show, the residential frig was a $2000.00 because of the bigger inverter and battery bank. No change to a res. frig for me.

[Cloud_Dancer]

It occurred to me that the magnesium sulfate trick will become more popular. It seems that you can extend the life of your batteries by 2 to 3 years.
Just "google" rejuvenating batteries using epsom salt.

[93mastercraft]

Hum, guess I will chime in because Palazzo came up. As far as the residential fridge goes, I absolutely love it. After having 3 RV's without a residential fridge, I would never go back. To one's post about the length of time a residential fridge can go on batteries and an inverter, I think common sense here has to prevail. The length of time I have gone on batteries and generator so far have been 5 days.

Keep in mind, you are running a compressor motor that runs on an inverter. Inevitably that will run your batteries down. Keeping the fridge closed and turning to a higher temp setting will most certainly extend that time. While those can complain that only 1 or 2 days are achievable on batteries alone they are probably correct. I for one will not take that chance, that is what a generator is for. I successfully can theoretically go as long as I want on batteries, so long as I charge them each day. I accomplish this by running the generator a maximum of 1 hour per day.

Where the common sense part comes in is keeping a check on your battery voltage. That is what the display status on your inverter/charging center is for. Use it and enjoy your residential fridge while disconnected from shore power.

[nomad_289]

chasfenwick wrote:
avoid a residential refrigerator like the plague

OP: You inadvertently put everyone who owns a residential fridge on the defensive. Yikes!

Thor Palazzo and other entry coaches have insufficient batteries to run a Residential, yet it is the only option. Last weekend the Palazzo Salesman Admitted:E he promised people 3 days run time but they were only getting 1.

For all the reasons you mentioned, I too prefer adsorption. Unfortunately many/most of the best floorplans and manufacturers no longer offer this option.

Many folks seem happy with theirs, given their use patterns, but this does not diminish the validity of your preference (and in some cases concerns).

The biggest obstacle to a conversion I see would be ensuring that there is not a supportive wall structure exactly where the vent holes need to go.

Since the "Industry standard" has shifted to Residential, perhaps the conversion money could be spent on batteries/solar instead.

I'm facing the same dilemma. Maybe a list of Manufacturers / Models that offer adsorption would be helpful to all. Tiffin Phaeton offers it as an option, hopefully there are others.

[Old-Biscuit]

chasfenwick wrote:
This marathon thread says as much about people as it does about refrigerators. Thanks to the several of you who actually understood my concerns and addressed them. Clearly there are pluses and minuses to both residential and RV fridges. I may end up with residetial, but it will certainly not be all positives. Few choices in life are black and white. One beauty of the RV fridge run in propane mode is not having to be constantly worrying about state of charge of batteries. Fridge will run on propane, typical tank size, for a VERY long time. Believe it or not, right this minute I am riding down interstate highway in RV, fridge running on propane, and I could care less what the state of the
coach batteries may be.

Well you shouldn't need to worry about the state of your coach batteries as they are being maintained via alternator while running down the road.

BUT boondocking battery load management is always necessary even when fridge is on propane because of the need for proper DC voltage to operate fridge controls.

So whether absorption or residential fridge you still have to manage energy loads.

Proper planning prevents poor performance.....part of the 7 P's