Rv fridge died😩

[Emily]

We have a 1995 cruise master and the fridge died! It's replacement  a norcold nxa841 is about $1100-$1500! We are looking at replacing it with a household fridge by Magic Chef 9.9 cf. has anyone replaced their rv fridge with a household fridge and if so how was the installation? Did you connect it to a converter during driving? We have only been live full timing for 6 years in our class A so we're kinda new at this issue! Any info would be appreciated. 

[Orvil Hazelton]

Welcome to the forum, Emily.  A residential refrigerator will certainly work in your RV.  You will very likely need increase your battery amp hours by adding an axillary battery or more two.  You also must have an INVERTER  rather than a converter. This INVERTER must be properly sized to your electrical demand.  This installation may be accomplished by a do-it-yourself  person, but you will probably need the counsel of a professional.  Also, consider the type of compressor is installed in your new refrigerator :  the older style reciprocating or "can" compressor will not hold up under the "rolling earthquake" conditions of RVing.  Look for a modern "screw" compressor unit.  Good luck!  As always, oRV

[Jimalberta]

Scroll compressor not screw. Screw compressors are used in large industrial applications.

both scroll and standard reciprocating compressors are in sealed housings thus the word "can".

[remoandiris]

If you drive less than 6 hrs between RV parks and if you always have shore power, you do NOT need an inverter.  A fridge will stay cool enough for 6 hrs or less, without power.  Boondocking is a different story.  Just letting you know.

[jc2]

A very good source for inverters if you do decide to have one installed is here.  http://www.donrowe.com/  A 1000w PSW would be more than enough and won't break the bank.  Call them with any questions as I found that they are very helpful.

[Kirk W]

Also, if your Cruise Master has an onboard generator set then you can always operate it to supply the 120v-ac power for the refrigerator when you are too long without shore power. With the improvement in batteries and inverters, the use of a household refrigerator in new RV's is becoming quite common. 

[Dance Chick]

I'll second what Remo & Kirk said. While we do have an inverter and travel with our residential fridge running off the inverter, we didn't have our old coach's resi fridge hooked to the inverter. So, we traveled anywhere from 3 to 6 hours with the fridge off. We would run the genny for about 30-45 minutes while stopped for lunch which would provide power, but there were times we didn't run the genny at all. Everything stayed cold. So, as they said, if you'll never be off shore power except for traveling a few hours, you'll be fine without either if you don't have them. 

I will caution you that not all manufacturers will honor their warranty once the fridge is installed in a RV. I'm sure this is in an aftermarket situation as lots of newer RVs are being manufactured with them. We installed a Frigidaire in our old coach and happened to get the one-in-a-million fridges that was defective. It didn't occur to us to plug it in before installing it to see if it was working. Guess what - Frigidaire will not honor their warranty once installed in a RV - heard it from the horse's mouth, so I'd caution you to check with Magic Chef. Or at the very least, plug the darned thing in before you put it in the RV.  LOL

[Devilishjim]

Situation is probably not to far down the road for me, Can someone give a weight difference in fridges ?

[Big Greg]

We replaced the stock 8cf Dometic with a 10.7cf Sears Kenmore (made by Whirlpool) almost 4 years ago when the Dometic died.  It has been working flawlessly and we really like it.  Besides considering the fridge size opening for the replacement it's very important where the new fridge vents.  Some vent in the bottom rear, some the bottom front, and some require several inches clearance on the top and sides.  Our fridge is not in a slide and vents in the bottom rear where there is a large open space extending to the roof.  I did not close off the rooftop vent or the RV side fridge access panel.  

We do not boondock and our normal travel day (no AC power) is 4 to 6 hours.  The longest travel day since we installed the Kenmore has been 9 hours.  I did not install an inverter and the fridge and freezer have remained very cold, only increasing about 3 or 4 degrees.  If you boondock you'll need to run a generator occasionally  or get an inverter.  

Another consideration is if the new fridge will fit through your RV door (ours did) or if you have to remove a window to get it inside.  Our new fridge was a tight fit in it's opening so I wasn't very concerned about it sliding around when we travel, I did add two screws in a bottom fridge plate into the floor to be sure it doesn't move.         Greg

[Dollytrolley]

On 8/19/2017 at 5:25 PM, Emily said:

We have a 1995 cruise master and the fridge died! It's replacement  a norcold nxa841 is about $1100-$1500! We are looking at replacing it with a household fridge by Magic Chef 9.9 cf. has anyone replaced their rv fridge with a household fridge and if so how was the installation? Did you connect it to a converter during driving? We have only been live full timing for 6 years in our class A so we're kinda new at this issue! Any info would be appreciated. 

We converted to a Garage/patio rated fridge 3 years ago in our boondocks toyhauler. 

Very few fridges are rated and configured to operate in non-habited spaces and most residential fridges actually have power kill switches to shut down below 40f and above 90f.

Our Garage / patio rated fridge has worked flawlessly at -5f (Lakeview OR) and +123f (Death Valley CA)....

Frigidaire makes a Garage / Patio rated unit with a VFD compressor that is insanely power saving and we have boondocks for several days on only two group 31 bats since the compressor soft starts and then only turns at the min speed needed to cool the fridge then turns off for hours at a time. 

Do your homework and stay cool.

Drive on......(Right fridge=no soft ice cream)

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