Avanti fridge-anyone have?

[tinstartrvlr]

Evening everyone,

Anyone familiar with the Avanti brand fridges?

They make one that is 7.4 cubic feet and is almost exactly the size of the typical gas/absorption fridge (and has more interior space) so it fits perfectly in the cutout. Under 400 dollars.

Read a ton of reviews about it on Amazon; very many good and many spoke of putting one in their RV, but there were also a ton of reviews mentioning dings/dents/and some pretty serious damage. Seems the seller or mfg has a problem packaging them, or they are scratch n dent models (although it's not stated anywhere)

Anyone here ever had one of these?

Thanks

Exact model if anyone needs it RA7316PST

[chuckbear]

We ordered ours online via Home Depot and had it delivered to their store. But keep in mind that if you do that and can't pick it up yourself, they will charge for delivery. They did bring it inside for me. Chuck

[tinstartrvlr]

Thanks all for the input; think I'll take a chance and get one.

I like the idea of ordering through a retailer and not online, if I can find one.
Many of the commenters on Amazon complaining about damage said the carton was intact yet there was damage on the inside. At least with a retailer it would be a whole lot easier to send back.

[MrWizard]

like i said
7years fulltime use, for ours
99% drycamp no hookups, powered from inverter

solar and generator to charge the batteries

[ctilsie242]

Avanti stuff seems to have held up over time. They are not the best, but their stuff is decent, just as good as anything else out there.

[John_Joey]

I would not worry about buying an Avanti. They make pint size appliances which all hold up fairly well. Last one we bought was an ice maker. Did just fine at the rig, and is probably still working after we sold it in a garage sale, which is where we bought it.

[MrWizard]

I found the Avanti fridge by looking on line
I went to a local appliance store, not big box store
And he carried the line, but did not have that one in stock
I bought it thru them, it arrived 3 days later
I drove the RV to the store, and they loaded it in the thru the entry door

[chuckbear]

Have had ours for almost two years and we love it. It runs off our inverter when under way or if no hookups. If you see reviews about damage, this has little to do with the manufacturing or quality of the unit and more about how it is handled by the company you buy it from. We replaced the original Dometic that died on us. Chuck

[Almot]

Gdetrailer wrote:

... understand that a home fridge CAN be easily used for boondocking?

Yes, if someone's boondocking doesn't extend beyond 1.1 day. Your calculations show 11Ah left in the bank after 24 hours, this won't last another 24 hours.

Gdetrailer wrote:

But in reality, many so called boondockers USE A GENERATOR

And many don't. OTH, with 120V fridge you're guaranteed to use a generator - unless you are on hookups or have a big solar. Like 700-800W big.

In winter in Mexico I found 490W solar and 300Ah bank to be adequate for boondocking without generator indefinitely. But 120V fridge would necessitate a generator, even with that much solar. I'm not thrilled with my propane fridge, and would switch to 120V unit immediately, if I had grid power.

[Gdetrailer]

Almot wrote:
76 watts is low in terms of grid power.

In terms of battery use it's a different picture. This translates into 7A post-inverter. On a hot day you would need +80 AH from battery, I don't think this could be called a low use, in terms of battery capacity.

But on grid it doesn't matter, you're not using battery.

Umm.. Your "forgetting" one small "detail" in your calculations..

Most RV fridges USE 12V from your battery to run the control board electronics and the gas valve..

That is about to the tune of 12 Ahr of battery per 24 hrs for most RV fridges.

So, 80 Ahr - 12 Ahr = 68 Ahr making a Home fridge conversion a bit easier to consider using your "figures"..

Now, to put this into real life, you are assuming the fridge compressor runs a lot longer in hot weather..

I have NOT seen my fridge run longer, pretty much from 60 F to 110F inside the trailer my home fridge seems to run 20-22 minute on and 38-40 minutes off..

Additionally if one was smart enough they do like I did, choose an inverter which is smart enough to power down when the compressor is off and power up when the compressor turns on..

Saves an additional 12 Ahr there so we can take the 68 Ahr - 12 Ahr =56 Ahr of capacity needed..

Making it even easier to justify a home fridge..

That is how I can get away with one pair of 6V GC2 batteries which have 210 Ahr capacity and half of that (50% DOD) is 105 Ahr..

105 Ahr - 56 Ahr = 49 Ahr left..

My furnace uses 8A, At 50F (the coldest I have needed the furnace) the cycle typically is about 15 minutes run time per hr..

That is about 2A per hr, for 24 hrs that is 48 Ahr..

In reality, since I am not "camping", I am "overnighting" my furnace is only running over night so say 8 hrs (usually 6-7 hrs) that is only 16 Ahr..

49 Ahr - 16 Ahr = 33 Ahr..

All of my lights are LED so with every single one turned on there might be a whopping 4 A draw, run those 2 hrs (which is a lot since in the summer it gets dark around 10 PM) that would be 8 Ahr..

33 Ahr - 9 Ahr = 24 Ahr left..

I don't typically use a water pump but that can be figured in also..

Say three 15 minute showers (three people) about 3/4hr of water pump at say 8A.. That would be 6Ahr of use..

24 Ahr - 6Ahr = 18 Ahr left..

Entertainment..

TV, 24" LED backlight TV is about 40W or about 3.3 Ahr per hr of use (I don't bother with since I am overnighting) ..

So say 2 hrs of use that is 6.6 Ahr.

18Ahr - 6.6Ahr = 11.4 Ahr left..

So WHY is so hard to get you RV fridge hugger folks to understand that a home fridge CAN be easily used for boondocking?

Two pairs of 6V GC batteries could be used and you would be able to go 48 hrs or two days without the need to recharge..

Add 300W-400W of solar and two pairs of 6V GC batteries most likely could extend that to nearly 4 days without much effort or running a gen..

But in reality, many so called boondockers USE A GENERATOR ANYWAYS so why make such a darn negative fuss about it..

[Almot]

76 watts is low in terms of grid power.

In terms of battery use it's a different picture. This translates into 7A post-inverter. On a hot day you would need +80 AH from battery, I don't think this could be called a low use, in terms of battery capacity.

But on grid it doesn't matter, you're not using battery.

[tinstartrvlr]

FWIW, it supposedly only uses about 72-76 watts to run which translates to low amp use, so that's a plus. One of the Amazon reviewers has one in his RV and went into great detail explaining the electrical use.

Just a little troubled by the damage thing. Wizard, sounds like you bought yours before the damage issues began, but very happy to hear it has worked well. All the Amazon reviews that mentioned damage seemed to be in the past 3 yrs or so.

Since I don't boondock a lot, and a cooler works fine for those times, I think I will give this a try. I could buy 5 of them for the price of one gas absorption fridge! 🙂

Thanks all.

[westend]

Go for it. I have a 120V dorm fridge and there's no way I'd go back to a gasser.

[Almot]

They are not top of the line, but what these days is? If it's time to replace propane fridge, and this Avanti fits, and you're tolerant to compressor cycling hum in the night, and you're on hookups most of the time - go for it.

Coolmom42 is right. I don't think any 120V compressor fridge of this size would make a good choice without hookups or very big solar, this is their nature.

[MrWizard]

we have been running one in the Safari (previous coach) for 7yrs, full time use
except for 'engine repair shop time'

it has been excellent, NO problems, not a single one
has been running on tripplite 1250w powerverter (inverter)

Yes the very same fridge