Residential vs RV Refridgerator

[WILDEBILL308]

On 11/8/2019 at 4:50 PM, Imoski said:

So, our Norcold N811 is dead

Whole we wait for a service tech to tell us how much to replace it I wondered what people's views are on replacing an RV refrigerator with residential one?

What sort of additional batteries / inverter would we need to power it for, say, 6 hours whilst travelling?

Be interesting to hear!!

Best move I ever made. My absorption worked ok but gave up the ghost. I replaced it with a Sears that was about the same size. Wanted to use the popular SamSon but lacked 3" of height in the slide. 

Here is a little secret. If you had a ice maker in your absorption fridge you already are weird to your inverter. The receptacle that the icemaker was plugged into will give you 120V power from your battery bank. All the ice makers run on 120V So for them to work when on propane they have to have 120V power. 

That is where I am plugged in and never worried about it when traveling (eaven makes ice cubes on the road). I haven't turned it off in about 3 years now. I have gone a  couple days without shore or gen power.

Bill

Edited December 1, 2019 by WILDEBILL308

[Dutch_12078]

Reference posts removed, please delete...

Edited December 3, 2019 by Dutch_12078

[Ray,IN]

If you have an extended service contract, it will not replace/repair anything that is not OEM from the factory.

[packnrat]

i like the ice cube trick, the price is right. and no batteries to fail.

if the power goes out it goes out as i would not be home to know about it or able to anything anyhow.

[filthy-beast]

Wife has a shot glass with frozen water, there is a penny sitting on top. Depending on how far the penny is inside the ice lets us know if we need to throw out stuff or not.

 

[Bill Joyce]

18 hours ago, filthy-beast said:

Wife has a shot glass with frozen water, there is a penny sitting on top. Depending on how far the penny is inside the ice lets us know if we need to throw out stuff or not.

 

X2 

[rls7201]

There are some of us that have had great results with an absorption unit. My ice cream is always hard. (don't go there GRIN) But my 25 year old Dometic was built before lesser materials were used in the boiler unit. It hasn't burned us down yet. And my refrig was installed properly, so that all the air flows through the tubing and coils. We spend a lot of time off line and don't need the extra electrical drain of a home unit. While home units are cheaper to purchase, there is still the  expense of extra batteries on a rotating time frame and inverters.

Richard

Edited December 10, 2019 by rls7201

[GlennWest]

I had bad results out of the one in our DRV. That is the only one we ever owned and promised ourselves never again. 

[Bobbyb]

Those with smaller absorption fridges rarely have serious problems. It is the large Norcold 1200 series that is bad. AS for extended warranties on a residential fridge: Some retailers will sell you an extended warranty that will be  valid. We have had a factory installed Jenn Air side by side in our Dynasty for 10 years. I would never go back to a propane fridge. But one must be made aware that today's residential fridges are not like your mother's fridge. They usually do not last 10 years. repairmen will tell you that the average life span is maybe 7 years. They also will tell you that most of the time it will cost more to repair than buying a new replacement.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Bobbyb

[GlennWest]

Ours was the smaller unit. The residential fridge in our Teton is factory installed and it's an 2003 model. Not ever an issue.

Edited December 12, 2019 by GlennWest

[richfaa]

We do not have a problem with out Norcold double door RV fridg. We did have a cooling unit fail and replaced it with the Quality Amish unit. We had to pay the difference  between the OEM unit and the Amish unit our ESP paid the OEM replacement price.

We are long timers and have never had a issue with thawing while in travel. The fridge is on all the time except for defrosting and cleaning.

[Randyretired]

36 minutes ago, richfaa said:

We do not have a problem with out Norcold double door RV fridg. We did have a cooling unit fail and replaced it with the Quality Amish unit. We had to pay the difference  between the OEM unit and the Amish unit our ESP paid the OEM replacement price.

We are long timers and have never had a issue with thawing while in travel. The fridge is on all the time except for defrosting and cleaning.

Our 2 door Dometic is working okay AFTER we replaced the cooling unit.  The original quit a few months after the warranty and Dometic wouldn't help.  We also went with an Amish unit.  If or when it fails again we will buy a residential fridge.

[Lou Schneider]

When the RV refrigerator went out in Arctic Fox trailer 19 years ago I replaced it with an apartment size residential refrigerator, a 1500 watt MSW inverter (all that was available back then) and (4) 6 volt golf cart batteries.  These were enough to let me go 48 hours before needing to recharge the batteries.

There was enough difference in cost thst I could have also purchased enough solar to cover my usage without exceeding the  cost of a replacement RV fridge.  Instead, I just ran my Honda EU1000i generator in the evening while I watched TV.

[WileyOhio]

My trouble is not with the residential fridge, but with the inverter.  All is well when on AC, but it shuts down when we’re unplugged.  I show 13.8 VDC to the inverter, but no AC out.  The existing inverter is a WF - 600 TH - 112 with AC pass through.  Any recommendations on a replacement?

[Bill Joyce]

23 hours ago, WileyOhio said:

My trouble is not with the residential fridge, but with the inverter.  All is well when on AC, but it shuts down when we’re unplugged.  I show 13.8 VDC to the inverter, but no AC out.  The existing inverter is a WF - 600 TH - 112 with AC pass through.  Any recommendations on a replacement?

https://www.donrowe.com/Default.asp has great inverter products and knowledgeable people to talk to.