Residential Refrigerator

[egh33]

(Residential Refrigerator) you folks that have replaced your RV fridge with a residential one, did you have to modify the cabinet a lot where the RV refrigerator was placed??

I can not take the bottom drawer out below the fridge as the convertor is behind the drawer.

Also where do to find a residential refrigerator even close to the size RV fridge that's in there?
I have a 2006 Winnebago Adventurer 36' 4 door refrigerator
thanks

[Bob_AnnaMarie]

Jeff,
There have been a number of alternatives on the ventilation. Basically, residential units want to take air from the bottom, run it through the condenser coils and out the back where it is expected to flow up the back and out the top of the refer. S&B homes do not have vents right over the back like RVs do. So, you can do whatever here. I chose to leave a bit of space over the refer (some of which I may close with molding later), seal the top vent and let the hot air return to the room for the air conditioner to take out. You may want to leave the roof vent open to let the hot air escape there. Just be aware that cold air can come in during the winter and hot air may creep in during summer if you leave it open.

If you have a Samsung unit, they also run some of the piping along the outside walls of the refer and count on some air circulation up the sides and out the top. Depending on your unit, you may need to be sure there is air-flow here too.

[Mr__Jeff]

OK - We're convinced now too! So much so we pulled our Nevercold out this weekend and slid in a residential fridge. Still need to finish up the trim in the coming days.

So now what to do about the condenser airflow. Most of these fridges pull air in through the lower front grill (under the doors), it flows across the coils, then is directed across the condensation pan and back out the front. Do we seal up the outside vents? Do we seal up the roof exhaust vent? Redirect the cooling flow out the wall vent?

Thanks!

[crasster]

There is no going back once you cross over to the residential or dorm fridge side. 🙂

[DSDP_Don]

I have to agree with "John & Angela".....having the residential refer really hasn't changed our way of camping. Typically, both before and after our refer install, I ran the generator in the morning to for about 1.5 - 2 hours due to TV and heater use. With the addition of the refer, the time didn't change. We almost always ran it for about an hour around dinner time.

"Executive"....about 12-15 seconds on the ice cream, depending on how big a bowl you eat. The ice in the door also is a little noisey when the wife goes to bed....so I add water from the door first!

[John___Angela]

Bucky1320 wrote:

Billinwoodland wrote:

Groover wrote:
"Once you go residential, you will never want to go back to an absorption RV fried. Cold beer and hard ice cream is great! " I absolutely agree but on my trip to Glacier NP it would have been nice to have the gas option so that my batteries would last longer. It was too shady in the campsite for solar cells and generator hours were very limited. I cannot imagine why camper fridges don't have at least a compressor chilling unit from a dorm type refridgerator in them. Heck, the whole fridge only costs about $100 so the chiller must only be about $50. On a $1,500 RV fridge that would be trivial.

Wife and I plan to do a fair amount of boondocking. All the newer MHs that we have looked at have residential frig installed. While I understand that the battery capacity on the coach determines how long you can go without the generator on, on the average, how much do you need to run the generator to keep the house batteries charged and the frig cold?

I avoid them alltogether. It limits how long you can go without 110V power. So long trips....you run generator part of the time? Same with boondocking? It kind of takes the vehicle part of RV out for me.

Howdy. I may be misunderstanding your reply. But if not, while travelling there would never be a need to run the generator as the coach motor via the alternator would do that. As far as dry camping goes, it all depends on how much solar you have on the roof, your battery capacity and if you park in the shade all the time. For us it has made no real change to our dry camping as we tend to run the genny during meal prep times anyway. Our fridge uses less power than our 32 inch flatscreen. Right around 1 amp at 120 volts...when the compressor is cycled on which is about 1/3 of the time.

[Bucky1320]

Billinwoodland wrote:

Groover wrote:
"Once you go residential, you will never want to go back to an absorption RV fried. Cold beer and hard ice cream is great! " I absolutely agree but on my trip to Glacier NP it would have been nice to have the gas option so that my batteries would last longer. It was too shady in the campsite for solar cells and generator hours were very limited. I cannot imagine why camper fridges don't have at least a compressor chilling unit from a dorm type refridgerator in them. Heck, the whole fridge only costs about $100 so the chiller must only be about $50. On a $1,500 RV fridge that would be trivial.

Wife and I plan to do a fair amount of boondocking. All the newer MHs that we have looked at have residential frig installed. While I understand that the battery capacity on the coach determines how long you can go without the generator on, on the average, how much do you need to run the generator to keep the house batteries charged and the frig cold?

I avoid them alltogether. It limits how long you can go without 110V power. So long trips....you run generator part of the time? Same with boondocking? It kind of takes the vehicle part of RV out for me.

[eheading]

See, Dennis you wouldn't have that problem if you had an RV absorption refrigerator:B Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

Ed Headington

[Executive45]

I still haven't mastered the time needed in the microwave to get the ice cream soft enough to dish up....:W.....Dennis

[John___Angela]

Billinwoodland wrote:

Groover wrote:
"Once you go residential, you will never want to go back to an absorption RV fried. Cold beer and hard ice cream is great! " I absolutely agree but on my trip to Glacier NP it would have been nice to have the gas option so that my batteries would last longer. It was too shady in the campsite for solar cells and generator hours were very limited. I cannot imagine why camper fridges don't have at least a compressor chilling unit from a dorm type refridgerator in them. Heck, the whole fridge only costs about $100 so the chiller must only be about $50. On a $1,500 RV fridge that would be trivial.

Wife and I plan to do a fair amount of boondocking. All the newer MHs that we have looked at have residential frig installed. While I understand that the battery capacity on the coach determines how long you can go without the generator on, on the average, how much do you need to run the generator to keep the house batteries charged and the frig cold?

Depends on the weather, or more specifically the amount of sunshine. If it is sunny for most of the day a couple of 200 watt solar panels will cover all the needs of the fridge on a daily basis. With no sun I would count on 45 to 90 minutes per day with a robust 60 amp or greater charger. Run it at meal prep time so you have 120 for the kitchen appliances as well. This is how we roll.

[Billinwoodland]

Groover wrote:
"Once you go residential, you will never want to go back to an absorption RV fried. Cold beer and hard ice cream is great! " I absolutely agree but on my trip to Glacier NP it would have been nice to have the gas option so that my batteries would last longer. It was too shady in the campsite for solar cells and generator hours were very limited. I cannot imagine why camper fridges don't have at least a compressor chilling unit from a dorm type refridgerator in them. Heck, the whole fridge only costs about $100 so the chiller must only be about $50. On a $1,500 RV fridge that would be trivial.

Wife and I plan to do a fair amount of boondocking. All the newer MHs that we have looked at have residential frig installed. While I understand that the battery capacity on the coach determines how long you can go without the generator on, on the average, how much do you need to run the generator to keep the house batteries charged and the frig cold?

[mci7]

We did the Samsung 24.5 cf from Lowes, had to lower the bottom but width worked well, agree on the correct temps. Each side has thermostat, so keep freezer T -2 & reftig side at 34f. Does everything wonderful. Have a 2500 watt inverter that includes a 100 amp 4 step charger, battery setup is 4 8D Gel Cell string, so 24 hour off the post is no issue.
The Samsung 24.5cf has ice (cube or crushed) and water in the door, that is a new thing for us, we do enjoy it and have over a year with no issues. Would not ever go back to the ammonia type, they are a joke.
Dave M

[Groover]

"Once you go residential, you will never want to go back to an absorption RV fried. Cold beer and hard ice cream is great! " I absolutely agree but on my trip to Glacier NP it would have been nice to have the gas option so that my batteries would last longer. It was too shady in the campsite for solar cells and generator hours were very limited. I cannot imagine why camper fridges don't have at least a compressor chilling unit from a dorm type refridgerator in them. Heck, the whole fridge only costs about $100 so the chiller must only be about $50. On a $1,500 RV fridge that would be trivial.

[John___Angela]

Found it at Lowes. Ours is Fridgidaire 22 cubic foot. Yes we had to do a few changes and then trim it in. We have a furnace below the fridge. We had to lower the cabinet floor an inch to get it to fit. It sticks out 2 inches more than the last one but because of how we trimmed it in it still looks like it is factory.

[smlranger]

Depends on what you have now. If you have a Norcold 4 door fridge (1200LRIM or similar) there are several residential units that will generally fit the opening with little modification. Many times the height is more of an issue than width.

The Samsung RF197 is a popular model used by many folks. I used a top freezer Frigidaire on a previous coach. Measure your opening and head to Lowe's with a tape measurer and see what fits. Once you go residential, you will never want to go back to an absorption RV fried. Cold beer and hard ice cream is great!