Help me understand the flaws with these "features"

[TurnThePage]

There are a couple other threads floating around where people are complaining about certain features. These features are available/common in the particular brand I'm looking at right now. I can understand the frustration that might go with having a fridge installed in the slide resulting in constantly running fans. But this seems like it could be easily remedied in a variety of ways. The other feature I thought was pretty clever was the TV that rises out of the counter top. It appears to me that adequate counter space is usually even more rare than adequate storage space. The pop-up TV seems like a great way to solve some of that. I want a TV and my wife wants counter space, but usually not at the same time. Unless it's prone to breaking, what's the beef with this feature?

[georgelesley]

ktmrfs wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I agree the Pop UP TV sounds great till you relize that parked it is almost always UP and moving it is down. An overhead tv does not move and you still get shelf space. Either way you loose storage space except with modern Flat Screen TV's you can make it into a cabinet door very easily at the drawing board phase.

Refer in a slide....

I would rather keep the weight in the slide down as much as possible.. I worry about the weight in the slide. More stress on the hardware.

not in our case. I'd say 95 percent or more of the time the TV is down, we just seldom use it. About the only time it is used is if the weather is bad and we are spending some time relaxing inside. We camp 90-120 days each year. This last year we used the TV twice to watch a movie in the evening.

And with the tv down, we have a huge back window to see the outdoors. best of both worlds.

+1 since we do not watch it when moving, putting it down is fine. When stopped it then goes up as needed.

[ktmrfs]

wa8yxm wrote:
I agree the Pop UP TV sounds great till you relize that parked it is almost always UP and moving it is down. An overhead tv does not move and you still get shelf space. Either way you loose storage space except with modern Flat Screen TV's you can make it into a cabinet door very easily at the drawing board phase.

Refer in a slide....

I would rather keep the weight in the slide down as much as possible.. I worry about the weight in the slide. More stress on the hardware.

not in our case. I'd say 95 percent or more of the time the TV is down, we just seldom use it. About the only time it is used is if the weather is bad and we are spending some time relaxing inside. We camp 90-120 days each year. This last year we used the TV twice to watch a movie in the evening.

And with the tv down, we have a huge back window to see the outdoors. best of both worlds.

[CampbellDaycrui]

When in our fiver, we read and listen to music as many hours as we watch TV. Why have a big black screen in your face when it's not in use?,

[wa8yxm]

I agree the Pop UP TV sounds great till you relize that parked it is almost always UP and moving it is down. An overhead tv does not move and you still get shelf space. Either way you loose storage space except with modern Flat Screen TV's you can make it into a cabinet door very easily at the drawing board phase.

Refer in a slide....

I would rather keep the weight in the slide down as much as possible.. I worry about the weight in the slide. More stress on the hardware.

[mvpmich]

X2 regarding emblethen's comments on the fridge in the slide. It took us an entire year, 1 replacement fridge, 4 different fan configurations and the installation of a curved sheet metal cap at the top of the shaft to get acceptable cooling. We also have dark paint so the wall has tremendous heat gain as well. After three units with roof venting and our current unit with side venting, we noticed an extreme difference in cooling between the two formats. We are currently looking to install a residential unit to get better cooling. As a side note, the manufacturer still has our original fridge in the shop where it has been running for three years at an extremely low temperature that it could never reach when it was in our rig.

[goducks10]

Grand Design makes a nice popup tv in the Imagine line up. If you're wanting an RK layout this is a pretty slick layout.
https://www.granddesignrv.com/showroom/2017/travel-trailer/imagine/floorplans/2650rk

[georgelesley]

We specifically did not want the TV over the driving area, in the kitchen like some are or having to turn our head 90 degreees to watch or sit in an uncomfortable dinette to watch. The pop up tv solved all issues.the tv is normal eye height, we can sit in a recliner or comfortable couch, and if we are not using it and need the counter space, we store the tv. The cabinet space lost is not an issue to us as we still have cabinets with little in them.

We can use ours siting on the couch while boondocking in a walmart parking lot withe the slides in something we do when traveling.

[enblethen]

tinner12002 wrote:
So your telling us that a frig in a slide is vented different than one in a fixed position...how and why can that be if they are the same frig??

It is not that the refer is built different it is the rig. Through the roof venting in non-slide, the hot air goes close to straight up to get out.
On a slide install the hot air must make a 90 degree bend to get out the slide's side wall.

[SoundGuy]

SoundGuy wrote:
My current Coachmen has the fridge mounted in the more conventional manner so the exhaust vent is on the roof of the trailer and as such is not equipped with a fan to draw hot air out, certainly an advantage when dry camping. It's not the fridge but the installation that determines venting methods used.

Lynnmor wrote:
It is the wasted battery power from fans running that is my main objection. If you dry camp in hot weather, that wasted power becomes an issue.

Agree, and yet another good reason for investing in some sort of solar to help offset this "wasted" power running those fans. I'd bet many don't even think of this, probably also don't consider the "wasted" energy also used to power the fridge climate control system which on many models these days can't even be turned off. What a waste of good battery reserve. :M

[Lynnmor]

SoundGuy wrote:
My current Coachmen has the fridge mounted in the more conventional manner so the exhaust vent is on the roof of the trailer and as such is not equipped with a fan to draw hot air out, certainly an advantage when dry camping. It's not the fridge but the installation that determines venting methods used.

It is the wasted battery power from fans running that is my main objection. If you dry camp in hot weather, that wasted power becomes an issue.

[SoundGuy]

tinner12002 wrote:
So your telling us that a frig in a slide is vented different than one in a fixed position...how and why can that be if they are the same frig??

The fact it's the same fridge is irrelevant ... my own KZ Spree 240BH had a standard Norcold fridge mounted much lower than is typically the case in order to provide a shelf / television area above the fridge. That in turn meant exhaust venting had to be through the side wall of the trailer rather than the roof which is much more often the case. Since venting hot air out a side wall is less efficient than venting straight up and out the roof of the trailer thermostatically controlled fans are often added to ensure adequate air flow. My current Coachmen has the fridge mounted in the more conventional manner so the exhaust vent is on the roof of the trailer and as such is not equipped with a fan to draw hot air out, certainly an advantage when dry camping. It's not the fridge but the installation that determines venting methods used.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

MrWizard wrote:
TV's not really installed in 'kitchen counters'

Sorry to disagree - but the RV I saw was definitely KITCHEN counter with the TV sunken into it - it was about 6" from the kitchen sink and part of the contiguous countertop for the entire kitchen work area. When the TV was lowered, its Corian "cap" sat flush with the rest of the counter.

We were wandering around an RV Show at Daytona - I can't remember which one of the dozens of RVs we went into, had that feature. Bet it gets changed out, though...LOL!

[tinner12002]

So your telling us that a frig in a slide is vented different than one in a fixed position...how and why can that be if they are the same frig??

[myredracer]

We've had our current TT for 3 seasons now. It has a fridge in the slide and it has never been a problem and has cooled just fine in over 100F temps. Has the upper vent on the sidewall. Don't know exactly what it has for a fan - have never heard a fan tho. I'd go take a look but the cover is on with at least 6" of snow on it.

For the early production of 2014 KZ Spree 262RKS models, the factory moved the fridge out of the slide and put it beside the entry door. That substantially reduced kitchen counter space. They had so much flak from dealers they ended up putting it back into the slide and has remained there since.

Some have had problems with the fridge in a slide and would never get another. We have the later edition of a 2014 Spree 262RKS and love having the fridge (Norcold) in the slide.