Dollytrolley Posted April 29, 2015 Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 David & Jack, We looked hard at the Danby fridge that you installed but was scared off at the owners manual statement that said the fridge was not intended to be in locations where ambient temps drop below 60f............IF temps drop below 60f you should set BOTH freezer AND Refigerator CONTROLS to the MAX settings...... we felt that setting the ref controls to Max would likely risk freezing the veggies and DR Pepper.........not a good thing....so we passed on using this fridge model. It seems that David has made the unit work in RV use so maybe the warnings in the owners manual is just hedging the bet that some RV'er might use the unit in a RV......hard to say...... Since the Danby seems to work well in a RV it may be a better choice for smaller RV openings and the price is really low to boot. Being "milk-addicted" we were amazed when we found that the middle door shelf in our fridge holds THREE one gal milk jugs (and we still have plenty of room for DR Pepper.........) I wonder how many of the fridge owner manuals "warnings" are false just to keep many RV'ers from trying converting over to the residential "COLD SIDE"?? Here is to hard ice cream...... Cheerz 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke-E Posted April 29, 2015 Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 By the time I read the instructions, my ice cream was frozen solid! The Magic Chef version specifically says in bold print not to install in an RV or use with an inverter. Obviously, there are inverters that shouldn't be used to drive a motor load, but a pure sine-wave inverter should be fine. Not to mention that there are no electronics on this at all, and the included wiring diagram doesn't show anything that would be cause for concern. Realistically, the temperatures around the refrigerator are closer to the inside temperatures everywhere except down by the compressor. You don't have to worry about the refrigerant freezing (-387.7F at 1 atm, over 200 degrees colder than R134a) in extreme cold. 45' 2004 Showhauler -- VNL300, ISX, FreedomLine -- RVnerds.com -- where I've started to write about what I'm up to Headlight and Fog Light Upgrades http://deepspacelighting.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted April 29, 2015 Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 David, Good call on the fridge, and it sure to beat a RV fridge any day. When we started shopping "residential fridges" we stopped by two appl. repair shops and both scared us with the "habitat-temp-shut-down-switch" and one guy went so far as to pull a switch off the shelf and showed it to us........bet he is still laughing at chasing the RV geezers away with the fear of the 'magic-shut-off-switch" melting their icecream and boiling Dr Pepper....... Now maybe some folks will step up and try for a larger workable RV / Residential fridge in the plus 13 cu ft range....... Cheerz 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Mayer Posted April 29, 2015 Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 Since we are fulltimers our residential refrigerator never sees other than household ambient temps. And running it on a pure sine wave inverter will work fine for any refrigerator. So I'm not at all concerned with using a residential, myself. Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member Living on the road since 2000PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail 2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it) 2022 New Horizons 43' 5er 2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units 2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck -------------------------------------------------------------------------See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar powerwww.jackdanmayer.com Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobsallyh Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 Big5er, hope you have plenty of Blue Bell stocked up, I was just at Safeway in Wickenburg, AZ. and all the Blue Bell was off the shelves do to the listeria outbreak. They just put a huge distribution center in Las Vegas last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tma Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 I installed the Magic Chef in my R.V. in January. If you look at the install manuel it will state that it needs 5" clearance around the fridge and is not meant to be in a cabinet. It did not cool as the weather got warm. Love the looks, the bottom freezer, and I will be pulling this out and replacing it in the next week. My cabinet space was tight and wouldn't let the fridge get rid of the heat buildup when the fridge was running. In cooler weather it was working OK. I used fans to help the cooling and they did work to a point, but didn't fix the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke-E Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 Tom, You must have had a much tighter fit than I do--even in 90-degree outside temperatures, the refrigerator was holding ~34F and running 60% of the time. Are you leaving the RV fridge vent open? Under the same circumstances, the Norcold would have been lucky to maintain 45F. 45' 2004 Showhauler -- VNL300, ISX, FreedomLine -- RVnerds.com -- where I've started to write about what I'm up to Headlight and Fog Light Upgrades http://deepspacelighting.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tma Posted May 1, 2015 Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 The vent was open and maintained about 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the outside temp. The vent space was tight and just wouldn't get rid of the heat. This time around I will be doing like Jack has done. I will open the cabinet like it would be in a house and close the back of the cabinet. That way I'm only dealing with inside temps. There are some fridges that only require only a 1/2" of side clearance and a 2" on the top. I didn't have any problems when it was cooler out like a lot of people had. Fans for warm weather, light bulbs for heat have worked for a lot of people. In my case they were not enough to do the job. Just like we all R V a little different, changes like this can produce different results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tma Posted May 1, 2015 Report Share Posted May 1, 2015 I made a little device to hold the door shut and you could hold it in your hand. I used 3/4" bar stock about 2" long, and drilled 3 holes in it, 2 that would line up with the holes for moving the door so it is hinged on the other side. The third held an insert that had I/4 thread in it. I cut a some 1/4" rod to the proper length and used another piece of flat stock with a hole in the center of it to hold the door shut. Add a 1/4" threaded knob and it will hold the door as tight as you want it too. I bought all off these parts at Home Depot and Lowe's for 7 or 8 dollars. The nut insert stayed on the fridge all the time and didn't cause any problems in daily use. Thread the 1/4" rod in the insert and slide the flat stock on the threaded rod. Tighten the threaded knob and you are ready to travel without any problems. It takes a few seconds to put on or take off. If anybody wants more detail I would be glad to help in any way I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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