RV vs residential refrigerator?

[RVcrazy]

We are on the fence about trading out our 10yr old Dometic for a Whirlpool residential refrigerator. Because of space in our floor plan, it looks like the only choice still made that small... It looks like it will consume our small kitchen, but could fit. I am concerned about fridge fires. We do have the recall fix done.

Is the fire hazard all because of the propane, or is it regardless of your power source in use? A repair person is talking about installing a fire suppression device that fits in the back of the refrigerator as a safety check if there should be a fire. Have any of you seen or used such a device? Our other option is to have the gas capped & jut use it on electricity.

If you have changed to a residential refrigerator, would you do it again? I am concerned about needing to keep the residential fridge within such tight temperature limits (55-90 or so). We RV, not really camp, and have had electricity every night except 1 in 3 years on the road.

We would appreciate your input. Thanks!

Will it make a difference when we are ready to sell, a + or a -?

[RVcrazy]

We do not currently have an inverted, generator or solar panels. Would that change your opinion. We currently move fridge stuff to an ice chest for travel days over about 2 hours to keep food at a safe temperature. How long does the residential fridge keep under 40 if you are on the road without the solar etc? Thanks!

[Dutch_12078]

We've lived in our motorhome at sub-zero to over 100℉ outdoor temps, and our 10 cu ft residential fridge has maintained the same temps regardless. It's much more stable than the Norcold 7.5 cu ft fridge it replaced.

[MrWizard]

Why are you worried about temp range
Do you stay In the RV with inside temps lower or greater than that

Do yo plan on using the RV fridge for food storage while the RV is stored and not in use

It's no different than living in a house or apartment
I don't imagine you use the current RV fridge any differently

[jeepbluetj]

The rare RV fridge fire isn't dependent on the fuel the fridge is using (Propane vs 110v) - it's because on either fuel the method to make cold is to generate quite a bit of heat. A propane/electric fridge on 110v is just a 110v heater.

You'll have more fires with heaters than with compressors.

[Ivylog]

Fires are on both elect and propane. Yes, I installed a auto fire system as refer fires are not a isolated problem...especially NoCold 1200s. Knowing what I know now I should have gone residential 5 years ago which would have saved me thousands. We boondock often and power usage is not a problem as out 21 cuft draws 96 Watts when running less than half the time. Two batteries will run it 24+ hours before needing to recharge which is longer than the rest of the house batteries.

[jeepbluetj]

I swapped out a 10cu ft Magic Chef when the old Dometic died.

Added 400w of solar to the roof, a Midnight Kid solar controller, and a 1000w PSW inverter. 220ah worth of battery storage.

I camp in SoCal. I could camp forever and the fridge would be fine. Never run the generator, never plug in. Would like another 220ah of battery to better cover a run of very cloudy days, but have never had a single day camping where the battery wasn't fully charged by the end of the day.

[TechWriter]

RVcrazy wrote:

If you have changed to a residential refrigerator, would you do it again? I am concerned about needing to keep the residential fridge within such tight temperature limits (55-90 or so).

We switched to a residential fridge about 4 years ago and are still glad we did.

For temp control, I installed fans to pull air in from our RV, behind our residential fridge, and then up through the roof -- see this thread.

[wa8yxm]

The fire hazard is because of Ammonia more than Propane. and in truth it is very very low.. Question: How many times a year do we hear of RV fires?
How many of those are ENGINE or other v/s Fridge?

How many RV's out there?

We are talking fraction (And a small one at that) of a percent, and there are ways to make it even smaller with after market safety devices and automatic fire bottles.

So.. Do you have full time 120vac.. I did, but alas it failed

I still have full time 12vdc and half a tank of Propane though.

[azrving]

Halmfamily wrote:
Changed our Dometic out to a residential fridge over the winter and love it. Like you always stay where we have power. It's nice to have frozen ice cream and to be able to hold the fridge door open more than five seconds. We sold our 2 year Dometic for $450 so we broke even on ours

Lol. I also sold my old Dometic for $400 and the crazy thing was that the buyer was telling me about his catching fire and getting it extinguished in time. He also said his friends MH caught on fire at a Walmart and burned to the ground. The police helped him with clothes from Walmart as he was outside in his underwear. I used to stack my phone, keys and clothes right where I could grab them. I told my DW there is something wrong with this picture.

[azrving]

I just asked my wife if she would want a propane frig again. She scrunched her nose and said NOOOOO, maybe if we stayed in it for a weekend now and then. My son recently bought an older FW ad we calculated the risks involved such as frig replacement. As a weekended and vacationer it would be easy for him to run a resi without an inverter. Cool down overnight at home, drive 2 hours to Gulf campground and plug back in, drive home and put the stuff back in his house frig. When he does travel far, during his rest stops or lunch break he often runs his genny for ac so run the frig too.

[Halmfamily]

Changed our Dometic out to a residential fridge over the winter and love it. Like you always stay where we have power. It's nice to have frozen ice cream and to be able to hold the fridge door open more than five seconds. We sold our 2 year Dometic for $450 so we broke even on ours

[NMDriver]

If you have had the recall fix done and the refrig is working fine, I would wait until it dies.

If on the other hand you are not happy with the cooling or performance of the propane then switch it out for a similar size, energy efficient 120V refrig. We have both in the RV.

My wife likes to keep her 120V refrig set for 40 degrees because she keeps mostly veggies in there. I like my propane refrig set at 34 degrees because I like cold milk. Mine generally goes down to 29 at night and will freeze her veggies, which she hates. I am not a veggy person so I am happy with the propane.

ANYway, if you cannot get past the propane refrig issues then by all means get rid of it.

I suspect your tech guy would be happy to sell you all kinds of fire suppression equipment whether it is a good idea or not.

[MrWizard]

what is the size of your domedtic ? 7+ c.f.? Two door over under freezer on top

I replaced the norcold, that size with a 7.5 cu ft, Avanti residential fridge

And had room to spare slipped right in with it modifying the cabinet space
It was actually a little bit shorter and I had room to put a 5/8" plywood underneath, on top of the old cabinet floor, for extra support

I capped off the propane line, will be 7 yrs this August

[azrving]

2oldman
ya know, I started to type out a bunch of stuff but I'm with you

[2oldman]

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