Why switch to a Residential Refrig, thinking out loud !!

[supercub]

My only concern with my Norcold is fire. As far as cooling, My rv refrigerators have always performed well. Sooooooooooo........instead of doing a costly switch over to a residential.......I'm considering adding a fire extinguisher from "Mac the Fire Guy" and be done with it. I'm sure the chances of having a unit fail resulting in fire is very low overall, but the extinguisher would be added insurance. Looking for thoughtscomments on this subject? Thanks
Brian

[Bill_Satellite]

The fridge turns itself on and off many times per day and uses exactly NO POWER when the doors are closed and the compressor is not running. What possible difference would turning it on and off make.
I believe he was talking about using a dedicated 1000W inverter just for the fridge and if that's the case then it's a moot point anyway.

[moisheh]

desret captain: I think you are missing some info.
1. Most owner conversions have been in DP's
2. Most DP's already have an inverter
3. If the existing inverter is not large enough then a simple 1000 watt unit can be dedicated to the fridge. No need to disconnect anything.
4. Modern residential fridges do not consume a lot of power. They also do not run constantly.
5. Samsung and Whirlpool with both honor the warranty and I bet others do as well. In our Dynasty the power to the fridge is seamless. When running down the road the inverter is supplying power to the fridge. When we connect to shore power the inverter stops inverting and the shore power takes over. The reverse takes place when we leave the CG. Nothing to turn on or off and nothing to disconnect. Next time you are in a CG I would suggest you seek out an owner who has done the conversion. You will be shocked to learn that it is a no brainer and that 99.9% of the owners are more than pleased. As I stated earlier a residential fridge is probably not a good option for TT's.
Moisheh

[TechWriter]

Installing a residential fridge in my Class A was probably one of the last things I wanted to do.

However, while we weren't worried about a fire hazard, our 12-year-old Dometic NDR1292 could not keep what I (and others) consider a safe fridge temp of 40 degrees or below.

I fulltime and after several mods including a new cooling unit, internal and external fridge fans, and an adjustable fridge thermistor -- my Dometic could just not maintain safe fridge temps in hot weather.

So we spent about $2K to have a 12 cf ft Whirlpool fridge installed. Our residential Whirlpool maintains safe temps and we like it better than our old Dometic.

If we could have kept our Dometic, we would have, but . . .

[dons2346]

Desert Captain wrote:
Mosheh,
If you turn your frig off and on like a light to enable running other acc toys you will shorten its life. A residential frig needs a steady, 24 hour supply of ac power and since your warranty is probably void it is something to consider.

Do you have anything to support your statement? Please expound on your statement.

[Desert_Captain]

Mosheh,
A 1000 watt inverter is fine if that is your only ac toy. Run anything else and you will come up short. If you turn your frig off and on like a light to enable running other acc toys you will shorten its life. A residential frig needs a steady, 24 hour supply of ac power and since your warranty is probably void it is something to consider.If you are an AC- aholic maybe non hookups isn't the best way to go.

[lhatton]

Not being plugged in doesn't mean being without electricity 8-)

Absorption fridge lets me use limited electrons for other things.

If mine failed tomorrow, I'd look hard at the solar/residential combination vs the absorption. Cost and battery maintenance etc being key points.

But never without enough solar to cover the energy usage.

[Dog_Folks]

It is rather quite simple. Any business has to make a profit. They will not make a profit on something that the customer will not buy.

There must be demand as many RV makers are offering more and more residential models. If the public would not buy them, they would not be offered.

Of course, residential refrigerators are not for everyone.

There are a lot of us that will not camp without electricity. My wife is one. She will camp without city water, TV, or even bathroom facilities in the trailer, but electricity is a must.

So we use and love our residential refrigerator.

[JimM68]

Don't think I'll read all 8 pages of this, but I will chime in.

Our Monaco has a dometic "Z-door" side by side, and I have NO complaints at all. It will keep ice cream cold (freezer runs at zero degrees always) and veggies fresh (fridge is at 36.)

It came with various fans preinstalled that I hear cycle on and off. Judging from how well it works, I'd guess Monaco got the installation and airflow in a slide right.
It has both water and ice thru the door.
It's big. not 18 cubic foot big, but big enough that even as we look forward to full timing, it is not on my list of things to replace/upgrade.

And when I need it to, either boondocking or running down the highway, it will run on propane.

Back to the OP's question?
If it died, I would switch.

[OhhWell]

harold1946 wrote:

lhatton wrote:
Don't bet on it.

Non generator trailers outnumber us 10 to 1 so I'm thinking absorption will be around for awhile.

And as a lover of the sights and sounds of the outdoors vs Mr Onan, I hope they do.

I believe you will find that most of those trailer ownwers also carry a portable generator.
Absorption refers require 12 volt dc to operate.

I used to be one of those and in that situation, an absorption fridge is still preferable even with a generator for most owners that dry camp. Yes, it uses 12v for the control board but not that much and so do a lot of other things. I never had an issue making it 24 hours on a single cheap semi deep cycle battery. Also, you don't often find room for more than 2 batteries on TTs and usually only a box for one from the factory. I do realize you can build a vented compartment for more batteries but they are going to outfit the trailers for the battery bank they leave the factory with and that will require an absorption fridge.

[lhatton]

Sorry guys... "large motorhomes" are not the center of the RV universe even if we think so in this forum.

There are many of us who like to CAMP not park in a full service parking lot, and many of the high demand areas have no electricity and thankfully strong generator run restrictions. The majority of campers in these parks don't have generators.

I have no doubt a residential fridge is nice if you stay plugged in or "boondock" in the walmart for a night. I'm talking about a week or two off the grid, running the gen maybe three hours total during that time. Yes it can be done quietly with an absorption fridge. Only possible with a good solar powered residential fridge setup.

Solar is tempting so I can reduce that gen time to zero.

So again "Don't bet on absorption fridges being "history" any time soon."

[harold1946]

lhatton wrote:
Don't bet on it.

Non generator trailers outnumber us 10 to 1 so I'm thinking absorption will be around for awhile.

And as a lover of the sights and sounds of the outdoors vs Mr Onan, I hope they do.

I believe you will find that most of those trailer ownwers also carry a portable generator.
Absorption refers require 12 volt dc to operate.

[moisheh]

Perhaps if Norcold or Dometic made a decent MODERN fridge the size of the 1200 this discussion would be moot. Many posters forget that the smaller propane fridges work rather well. But once the mfrs. went to the larger units it has become a joke. The cooling units are far too small. They overheat and either failure or a fire is the result. To add insult to injury Norcold does not understand the words: Customer Service. They provide a device to protect you from fires ( maybe) that fails if it encounters any moisture and in many cases you have to pay for the installation of a replacement. The gasket on the doors fails prematurely and you must buy new doors at a cost of nearly $1000. Give us a quality product and there would be no need of a residential fridge. Desert Captain: You should do some research on the electrical requirements for a house fridge. You do not need a 2000 watt inverter. In many DP's there is already an inverter with enough capacity. But if not a simple 1000 watt inverter is sufficient. If there is not enough battery capacity 2 6 volts is enough. Read 100 RV forums and look for a poster who changed to a house fridge and was unhappy. You might find one or 2. Most wonder why they waited so long to do the conversion. BTW: There is no requirement for an RV specific fridge. OEM's are using off the shelf fridges of various brands with no problems. Many of the appliance mfrs. will warranty them in an RV.

Moisheh

[MeanderMan]

lhatton wrote:
Don't bet on it.

Non generator trailers outnumber us 10 to 1 so I'm thinking absorption will be around for awhile.

And as a lover of the sights and sounds of the outdoors vs Mr Onan, I hope they do.

Sorry, I thought this was the Class A forum.....I was only addressing refrigerators in larger motorhomes.

[lhatton]

Don't bet on it.

Non generator trailers outnumber us 10 to 1 so I'm thinking absorption will be around for awhile.

And as a lover of the sights and sounds of the outdoors vs Mr Onan, I hope they do.

[uncle_t]

I switched to a residential because the refrigerator is 38 degrees and the freezer 2 below when it is 40 outside and when it is 110 outside. The No-cold fire threat was not my incentive because if the coach burned to the ground insurance would have given me what I paid for it. Beats being 60 grand upside down. My feelings were burn baby burn as long as we ain't in it.