adding extra fridge

[don1911]

2008 Keystone Raptor. We plan to live in RV. Wife wants second - extra fridge. She wants full size house fridge. I would prefer something smaller. It will go in garage of our toy hauler. Most important point, I think, is finding a fridge most compatible with an RV. RV will be on 50 amp hookup most if not all the time. On the rare occasions it is not hooked up to electricity, fridge will be empty or running on generator until we reach destination.

Any suggestions on particular fridge model? Why that one? Or what should I consider when selecting appropriate fridge?

Thanks.

[don1911]

I appreciate all the ideas, suggestions.

[theoldwizard1]

When my daughter went away to college her dorm room had a kitchenette with an apartment size refrigerator. She and her Mom realized what she really needed was a bigger freezer. It took awhile, but they finally found a small (3-5 cu ft ?) FRONT DOOR freezer.

[westend]

A newer residential fridge, even with a poor defrosting regime, will draw about 100W or less when operating. When shopping for your new fridge, look at the yellow specification label listing the yearly electrical usage. Divide by 365 to see real world power being consumed. The labels are very accurate, IMO.

[coolmom42]

don1911 wrote:
My biggest concern is the draw of electricity on our 50 amp service. Don't want to cause issues by trying to pull too much electricity. Even if worse case is just blowing a breaker switch/fuse occasionally.

I am definitely trying to please the wife with the fridge I get.

You should be fine with your amperage. If the fridge was in your home it would be on nothing bigger than a 15 or 20 amp service. And that level of current is a very brief draw at compressor startup.

The only thing that COULD be an issue is if the fridge and both your AC units (I'm assuming there are 2) try to start at the same time. Odds of that are slim.

[MrWizard]

Modern residential fridge will draw less electric power than your RV fridge on 120v

[don1911]

Ivylog wrote:
OP, is it a 08 or 05 Raptor? Is the current refer a 10+ year old NOCold 1200? I would replace a Norcold with a home refer especially if it will fit from the back to the front of your TH. It's not if, it's when the NoCold fails. I replaced mine with a 21 cuft Whirlpool... should have done it years ago saving thousand of dollars. Here is my DIY install. With the gun safe, do you need that much weight in the back?

it's an 08. It has new Dometic fridge. Seems to have been replaced just before I bought it. When it goes out, I'll probably do like you did.

With the gun safe, I'm not trying to add lots of weight to the back of the TH. She wants a fridge. I want to keep what firearms I have left. Those are the only "toys" we are planning to put in toy hauler. Stack on are lighter safes. But items moving inside can block locking linkage, preventing me from opening it. So a small, light safe is needed. I'll probably just use one in the house.

[don1911]

My biggest concern is the draw of electricity on our 50 amp service. Don't want to cause issues by trying to pull too much electricity. Even if worse case is just blowing a breaker switch/fuse occasionally.

I am definitely trying to please the wife with the fridge I get.

[wanderingbob]

We full time and have added a freezer about the size of a dorm fridge in our toy hauler . When underway we run it off an inverter and have not had any problems . Circumstances this week caused us to dry camp for three days with no way to charge batteries , After 68 hours the inverter shut its self off as it is supposed to do when voltage gets real low .Freezer was still at 18 degrees when we got electric back . The silly thing is , I have a Honda 3,000 and a Honda 2,000 sitting in the barn 200 miles away ! Maybe I learned a lesson ?

[Ivylog]

OP, is it a 08 or 05 Raptor? Is the current refer a 10+ year old NOCold 1200? I would replace a Norcold with a home refer especially if it will fit from the back to the front of your TH. It's not if, it's when the NoCold fails. I replaced mine with a 21 cuft Whirlpool... should have done it years ago saving thousand of dollars. Here is my DIY install. With the gun safe, do you need that much weight in the back?

[LynnandCarol]

we just purchase a small dorm size fridge from lowes with a small freezer at the top and we use it for beer/soda/water, and extra freezer space which frees up the main RV fridge for just food. We paid about $140 for it and it sits outside.

[coolmom42]

What specifically is your objection to a second full-size fridge? Weight, space, anything specific?

If the main thing she wants is just more space, go with a basic freezer on top model. It doesn't have to be HUGE to work. If she wants a side by side or French door or freezer on bottom, she probably has a reason. Unless you have some compelling reason NOT to get what she wants, then get what she wants!

I would avoid an icemaker. They are responsible for 50% of all repairs to new refrigerators. And unless you have sediment filters on your water system, you may pick up some grit that can cause it to malfunction. Worst case scenario is a flooded RV.

[mgirardo]

If we were living in our RV full time, I'd definitely want a residential refrigerator. We live in ours 4 - 5 months each summer. My biggest complaint is the size of the refrigerator and the tiny freezer. We have to adjust our food shopping habits because we can't always store everything we want to buy.

As for what to buy, whatever your wife wants 🙂

-Michael