Help with Refrigerator Decision

[Rbertalotto]

I've totally HAD IT with my propane refrigerator. Camping at the beach last week where the temperatures at night got down to mid 50s and during the day into the high 80s, the propane refrigerator temperature in both the freezer and main unit was all over the place. Melted Ice Cream in the afternoon and frozen vegetables in the morning! I bought an internal fan system and a rheostat temperature control from JC Refrigeration and it didn't help at all.....Soooo...

 I've decided to go with a compressor refrigerator.....8 cu ft

The choice is a $1500 12V DC unit or a 120v residential unit for $400 and an inverter.

My trailer has a 1000w Xantrex inverter, 520watts of solar and 200aH of Lithium

If the inverter and residential frig needs more battery bank, I can buy a bunch of battery Ah for the $1100 difference!

What say the board? Any experience with the residential/inverter situation?

The residential refrigerator I'm looking at has a rating of 6a @ 120v.
The DC refrigerator is 3a at night -9a during the day at 12V



Thanks in advance!

[Campinghoss]

I have had several different rv's and all but the one I have now was elec/propane. My current one has a 23 cubic foot Frigidaire in it and I will never go back to propane. My stays plugged in year round and since my batteries charge while hooked to the truck long distance travel has never been an issue. We don't boondock so that is not an issue either. However if we did need to boondock I could hook the pigtail up to the truck and keep the batteries charged. I never expect to do that though.

[Veebyes]

I was thinking about going the domestic fridge route also. The big issue was finding one to fit without major carpentry surgery to make it look good.

The bottom line came out that replacing the refrigeration unit of my ten year old Dometic four door was less than a new seventeen cu ft plus carpentry. Another consideration is how much dry camping does one intend to do? We do a fair amount of dry camping and for that, using a domestic fridge, one needs to be running a generator frequently or having a massive battery bank and pure sine wave inverter. Not very practical.

If you are a FHU camper then the domestic fridge will work just fine, provided it fits.

[Lantley]

If you don't travel long distances or boondock much it's a simple decision.
However if you want to keep the unit running while traveling down the road.
Or want to use the fridge off the grid it gets more complicated.
Adding an inverter into the mix is straight forward and easy enough to do if you're handy. But is does add to the cost.
I figured and inverter, battery and wiring would add $500.00 or so to overall cost.
An new scratch and dent absorption fridge cost me $1,100.00.
A residential Fridge from Home Depot was $400.00. But I needed an inverter and battery. So I estimate $900.00 vs. $1,100.00.
With the cost being close enough I saw no need to change.
I have been using absorption lp/electric fridge since 2005 and this was my first issue.

[Grit_dog]

LouLawrence wrote:
Go residential and you will never go back!

You forgot the rest of your statement which reads, “only if you’re hooked to shore power full time or have a battery and inverter system that could light up a small town.”
If neither one of these is true then a resi fridge is somewhere between a hinderance and a nonstarter.

[LouLawrence]

Go residential and you will never go back!

[valhalla360]

With a toy hauler, probably a no brainer.

One item to check into (probably won't change the outcome) but the running wattage (amp * volts) by itself doesn't tell you which is more efficient.
- I suspect at least for the 120v AC unit, they are providing the max amps. I doubt it's pulling 720w while running.
- The other big question is what percentage of the day the compressor is running. The higher wattage unit may be more efficient if it runs less time each day
- On a related note, how well insulated are the units. This can heavily impact how much the compressor runs each day.

[Rbertalotto]

Since I am stuck in one place with full hookup, I replaced my refrigerator with a Hotpoint 9.7 cu ft residential -- $400 from Lowes

That is the EXACT refrigerator I'm looking to use.....

[Walaby]

Rbertalotto wrote:

First consideration is how you're gonna get it inside the camper.

My trailer is a Toy Hauler...No problem whatsoever getting old out and new in...

Yeah, I don't think you'll have an issue there.

OTOH - for me, I'd have to probably move my island and take out the pantry wall, or remove window. That's why I haven't done it yet.

Mike

[TenOC]

Since I am stuck in one place with full hookup, I replaced my refrigerator with a Hotpoint 9.7 cu ft residential -- $400 from Lowes. I had to trim about 1/2 inch off of the left side of the opening to allow it to fit. Very happy now.

[Rbertalotto]

we stored our class A with a Whirlpool resi fridge in the heat of summer
and cold of winter.

Thanks...You'd think they are warehousing these units and shipping them in standard trailer trucks with no temperature control......And trailer trucks bounce the s$%t out of stuff.....Maybe the whole caution is just a CYA on the part of the manufacturer?

[rk911]

we stored our class A with a Whirlpool resi fridge in the heat of summer
and cold of winter. only trbl was auto ice maker. get some ice cube trays…pblm solved.

[Rbertalotto]

I'm reading a bunch of Q and A on Home Depot and Lowes sites about using residential refrigerators in an RV.....Two issues jump out. The manufacturer says to not store, unused non operating, in freezing or over 100 degrees. This might be an issue when not using the trailer....Second issue is manufacturer says these residential refrigerators are not meant to be bounced down the road while operating....voids warrantee

[Rbertalotto]

First consideration is how you're gonna get it inside the camper.

My trailer is a Toy Hauler...No problem whatsoever getting old out and new in...

[rk911]

providing you can get it inside residential is the way! get a bigger inverter or one dedicated only to
the fridge. same with the battery bank.

[Walaby]

Agree on thinking through the physical remove and replace aspect first. But I would venture to say probably not much difference dimension wise on the various options. I looked at a 10 cu ft fridge yesterday and it was just a tad smaller than my current Dometic. Heck you may have just as difficult a time getting the old one out as getting the new one in.

I've been thinking over the past year or so of doing the same. I've been leaning residential, but paying attention to this thread to see what others recommend.

Price point wise, it's an easy decision. $400 vs $1500.

Mike