residential refrigerator vs rv gas/electric refrigerator?

theoldwizard1 wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:

Lspangler wrote:
I have an 18 cu ft res fridge in a travel trailer. I have 2 6v GC batteries. We have to run the generator about 1.5 hours in the AM and 1.5 hours in the PM

If the trimetric says 100% when we head out, it says 100% when we get to our destination so my truck must be keeping up OK

Linc

That's similar to what we see when boondocking. A 1-1.5 hour generator run morning and evening, depending on what other loads we're using, and our 10 cu ft residential fridge does nicely on two Group 29 12-volt batteries. Going down the road, our 130 amp alternator easily keeps up with it.

Those are very useful numbers ! If your boondocking in hot weather, you will likely be running the A/C part of the day/evening so the batteries would be recharged anyway.

Going down the road, a TV alternator should be able to keep up with the inverter (assuming it will restart after a momentary shut down from low input voltage) although I don;t think it will properly recharge the house battery bank (long discussion elsewhere).

We just finished up a 12 night drycamping trip. Batteries were low in the morning. After hitching up my trimetric showed 24 amps going into the batteries. This was with the truck idling. This was with the fridge running

Linc

rjxj wrote:

tinner12002 wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
Our residential fridge, had been on and running and moving for 7 years
I have never seen a 'won't hold up to travel' comment on this board until now
Whoever told you that, does not know what they are talking about

It was a couple dealers I was talking to, when asked about the res frig vs the RV frig they said, 2 different dealers mind you, that they'd had lots of issues with the res frig not holding up well to the bouncing of the RV when traveling. Both were Keystone dealers.

The good thing is that we know they dont lie.

Well, true or not I have no issues with RV frig so was just passing on what I was told. I guess a person just needs to determine which unit serves them the best.

From the viewpoint of rough road surface G-Force affects on RV refrigerator reliability ... probably absorption technology wins over compressor technology for least amount of moving parts. I have no "proof" with respect to refrigerator moving parts being bothered by G-Forces ... just thinking out loud about Murphy's law and other things.

However, Good Enough usually wins over Perfection when it comes to getting by in the short to medium term. :)

tinner12002 wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
Our residential fridge, had been on and running and moving for 7 years
I have never seen a 'won't hold up to travel' comment on this board until now
Whoever told you that, does not know what they are talking about

It was a couple dealers I was talking to, when asked about the res frig vs the RV frig they said, 2 different dealers mind you, that they'd had lots of issues with the res frig not holding up well to the bouncing of the RV when traveling. Both were Keystone dealers.

The good thing is that we know they dont lie.

MrWizard wrote:
Our residential fridge, had been on and running and moving for 7 years
I have never seen a 'won't hold up to travel' comment on this board until now
Whoever told you that, does not know what they are talking about

It was a couple dealers I was talking to, when asked about the res frig vs the RV frig they said, 2 different dealers mind you, that they'd had lots of issues with the res frig not holding up well to the bouncing of the RV when traveling. Both were Keystone dealers.

The duty cycle is 2:3, so in my 6 cubic foot Dometic that means 40 minutes out of every hour. This happens even at temperatures below 20 c (68 f).

The boiler temperature runs between 173 and 189 C. When mine "misbehaves" it goes higher than the ARP can display but I have seen 225 C. It only reaches those temperatures whey I have bypass the shut off feature.

pnichols wrote:
I wonder if Norcold and/or Dometic absorption refrigeratros just happen to use the same cooling size unit for their various different cubic footage size models? :h

If they do, that might explain some of the absorption refrigerator complaints (plus rare fires from over-heating) from the owners of larger size RVs - thus driving them to switch to residential refrigerators.

It seems like the same size cooling unit would be cycled ON a lot more trying to keep a big box cool versus - say - a 7 cubit foot box ... thus maybe not doing so well, or worst case failing completely - due to higher temperatures from longer burner run-times.

I wonder if Norcold and/or Dometic absorption refrigerators just happen to use the same cooling size unit for their various different cubic footage size models? :h

If they do, that might explain some of the absorption refrigerator complaints (plus rare fires from over-heating) from the owners of larger size RVs - thus driving them to switch to residential refrigerators.

It seems like the same size cooling unit would be cycled ON a lot more trying to keep a big box cool versus - say - a 7 cubit foot box ... thus maybe not doing so well, or worst case failing completely - due to higher temperatures from longer burner run-times.

Hi,

Best to go to the ARP website. No your fridge doesn't have it.

It measures the flue temperature and if it exceeds the save value shuts the fridge down.

I've had it installed for 2 years. Lately the shut down is happening more frequently. I've used small vibrating sander (with no sand paper) to vibrate the tubes to try to dislodge the clog that happened prior to the ARP. It works for a while.

pnichols wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
It has the ARP over heat prevention device and that has saved my bacon several many times.

Don,

Thanks in advance ... please provide some details on what has happened in the past regarding the ARP preventing overheating.

Should have this safety device installed on our Norcold - or does it already have it?

We have a friend (well friend of a friend) that pulls his Nissan Leaf on a trailer (maybe a dolly) behind his moho. He has a Sinewave inverter somehow hooked up to his 12 volt accessory battery. It in turn is fed from the DC to DC converter which gets its power from the main 30 KWH traction battery. Not sure if he has to have it in accessory mode or what but he can go weeks off this setup. Don't think he powers everything in the coach though. I think it is just the fridge. Kinda cool. Not something we plan to do with either of our EV's but its kinda neat. I think the DC to DC converter has some pretty small limitations though. From what I have read on the leaf forum it is around 1400 watts. I can see future EV's with 70 to 100 KWH batteries like the Tesla being really handy for dry campers. Maybe an inverter connected directly to the traction battery thru the fast charge port. Who knows.

pianotuna wrote:
It has the ARP over heat prevention device and that has saved my bacon several many times.

Don,

Thanks in advance ... please provide some details on what has happened in the past regarding the ARP preventing overheating.

Should have this safety device installed on our Norcold - or does it already have it?