I'd though I'd share my experience swapping out my refer. The camper is an AF 992 with a norcold N621 fridge. The fridge worked good while parked, with good fans and shrouds I could manage 36-38 in the fridge until about 101*. Going down the road though it was less than ideal, I never seen a flame blow out but on flat ground it was low 40s, hills into the 50s.
So after reviewing options the conversion kit seemed like the best choice, bang for the buck. At $770 it's a steal with a little labor compared to replacing the entire fridge.
I wanted to pull the fridge and put and do this in the garage, but I found out the fridge wasn't going to fit through the door. Had to be done in the camper...cramped for sure. So getting the fridge out was a challenge due to it's mid ship placement, it squeezed thought the dinette and bathroom door though with 0 clearance.
Refer is out, popped out pretty easy. Cleaned up of all the thermal mastic.
The two beside each other. This is actually the failed compressor unit, more on that later.
So following the you tube videos, (those are the instructions) I installed the compressor unit and let the unit sit for 24hours.
Upon starting the fridge the compressor shook pretty bad so I shut it down. I verified wiring and mounting and started it again, same thing. I tried calling the manufacturer but in several attempts all I got was a full voicemail box. So I emailed. I read nothing but good things about the customer service but emailing seems the only way they want to communicate. With a 12-24hr response time resolving this was a lot slower than I wanted. I suspected the compressor was damaged in shipment breaking the internal motor mounts. I tried several things to mitigate the vibration but it sounded like a helicopter landing on top of the camper while standing inside. So after getting them videos they agreed it wasn't normal and shipped another to me. No labor day camping trip for us ๐
So I got to do this again, and it's hot and sticky here...yeah!
The new unit arrived, fedex does a great job of testing packaging btw. I stood this unit upright over night and bench tested it before I went through all of trouble. Compressor fired up and was very smooth. The old new unit is spray foamed into a foam fridge and I had to cut it out. Once out and cleaned up the new one went in pretty fast and I loosely mounted it until I could start it up the next day.
So it's hot here, I started the fridge at about 7am 88* the entire fridge drawing 6.75A. I'll have to go back and test just the compressor. I concluded the cool down around 1:30p, it was 108 outside, coach was 106. The fridge made it down to 43 on the data logger placed on the second shelf down. My wireless thermometer was showing 42.6. The freezer with IR was 3.5*. Looks like it took about 3 hours to reach the temp.
Fridge fan setup:
I'll do more testing later, next week is supposed to be cooler..I hope.
*Moderator switched URL tags to IMG and set image width
So after reviewing options the conversion kit seemed like the best choice, bang for the buck. At $770 it's a steal with a little labor compared to replacing the entire fridge.
I wanted to pull the fridge and put and do this in the garage, but I found out the fridge wasn't going to fit through the door. Had to be done in the camper...cramped for sure. So getting the fridge out was a challenge due to it's mid ship placement, it squeezed thought the dinette and bathroom door though with 0 clearance.
Refer is out, popped out pretty easy. Cleaned up of all the thermal mastic.
The two beside each other. This is actually the failed compressor unit, more on that later.
So following the you tube videos, (those are the instructions) I installed the compressor unit and let the unit sit for 24hours.
Upon starting the fridge the compressor shook pretty bad so I shut it down. I verified wiring and mounting and started it again, same thing. I tried calling the manufacturer but in several attempts all I got was a full voicemail box. So I emailed. I read nothing but good things about the customer service but emailing seems the only way they want to communicate. With a 12-24hr response time resolving this was a lot slower than I wanted. I suspected the compressor was damaged in shipment breaking the internal motor mounts. I tried several things to mitigate the vibration but it sounded like a helicopter landing on top of the camper while standing inside. So after getting them videos they agreed it wasn't normal and shipped another to me. No labor day camping trip for us ๐
So I got to do this again, and it's hot and sticky here...yeah!
The new unit arrived, fedex does a great job of testing packaging btw. I stood this unit upright over night and bench tested it before I went through all of trouble. Compressor fired up and was very smooth. The old new unit is spray foamed into a foam fridge and I had to cut it out. Once out and cleaned up the new one went in pretty fast and I loosely mounted it until I could start it up the next day.
So it's hot here, I started the fridge at about 7am 88* the entire fridge drawing 6.75A. I'll have to go back and test just the compressor. I concluded the cool down around 1:30p, it was 108 outside, coach was 106. The fridge made it down to 43 on the data logger placed on the second shelf down. My wireless thermometer was showing 42.6. The freezer with IR was 3.5*. Looks like it took about 3 hours to reach the temp.
Fridge fan setup:
I'll do more testing later, next week is supposed to be cooler..I hope.
*Moderator switched URL tags to IMG and set image width
Fiberglass pushed hard to compact is loosing its R value.
You want good insulation, get polyurethane sheets, who come in different thickness at HD. Their R value is about 3 times the fiberglass.
Coolers are hard to judge.
We have 1 which we bought over 30 years ago. Very convenient with storage in the top for plates and utensils, but it looks old-fashion comparing to today's coolers. Still I was carrying frozen steaks in it, while having it in the cab and after 12hr trip the steaks were still frozen.
Newer coolers are nothing close.
When compressors by its own offer better efficiency, than absorption, there is much more to make efficient refrigerator.
I did test 2 years ago and my absorption fridge can come down to 0F (at night) in 100F temperatures (at day), so I am not looking for replacement.
You want good insulation, get polyurethane sheets, who come in different thickness at HD. Their R value is about 3 times the fiberglass.
Coolers are hard to judge.
We have 1 which we bought over 30 years ago. Very convenient with storage in the top for plates and utensils, but it looks old-fashion comparing to today's coolers. Still I was carrying frozen steaks in it, while having it in the cab and after 12hr trip the steaks were still frozen.
Newer coolers are nothing close.
When compressors by its own offer better efficiency, than absorption, there is much more to make efficient refrigerator.
I did test 2 years ago and my absorption fridge can come down to 0F (at night) in 100F temperatures (at day), so I am not looking for replacement.
SidecarFlip wrote:
technology has made the old compressor fridges way more efficient. A standard fridge compressor is a power hog. The Waeco / Danfoss compressors aren't. Plus the Waeco / Danfoss units run on a duty cycle which means the compressor adjusts itself for ambient conditions whereas a conventional compressor runs flat out (high amperage draw) until the set temp is reached..
I've been repairing refrigerators as hobby and I know that about 20 years ago inverters come to the designs.
I actually had one of those $6000 household fridges, that somebody sold for the value of stainless steel on it, becouse inverter blow.
I spend like $150 on new inverter board and fridge worked again.
But IMHO in refrigeration inverter only adds cost and complexity.
Food doesn't care if the temperature fluctuate 2 or even 3 degrees, while inverter board become weak point in the design.
Had to be my luck that last year inveter board on my household washer blow as well? The replacement retails at $450 and spending time for net search I bought it only slightly cheaper.
Than this spring I was restoring Jacuzzi that I bought with house in Las Vegas. Guess what was wrong with it???? Electronic board, that become obsolete.
When in washer soft motor start has it advantages, I am not big fun on that technology.
