We are at MOT this week. Keith and his team did an amazing job installing a residential fridge. We replaced a small Dometic with a 10 CF Magic Chef. The footprint was almost the same. We only lost 3 inches of the cabinet below but gain a lot more space inside.
The trim is going in tomorrow. I'll update later...
url=https://postimg.cc/LqY8xkYP](https://i.postimg.cc/d0nZt4J5/2-D371044-5-AE5-48-E2-B2-CA-A65084-B58-CCA.jpg)[/url]
(https://i.postimg.cc/3Rcy2N4p/58138913-1147-4-F88-B548-5-BC3-F3222606.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2bn8Dzx8)
(https://i.postimg.cc/9MMR4ZMC/B8-B96-F73-A5-B1-408-C-9344-312398-E0-D16-D.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/67k5g7nm)
(https://i.postimg.cc/hvs37cYk/8235-DA5-F-29-A5-4550-8-C4-F-A4-F9-A5-FCEB47.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/0K6CTRPn)
Looks good!
I have thought of going residential but really like the ice maker in my Dometic. Does anyone know of a small fridge that has an ice maker?
Rich
Nice- twice the volume.
The PO of our coach did the Amish refurbish. If Brenda doesn't like it- we will add a residential.
As many others on here, we installed the 18 cf Samsung with ice in the drawer. We do miss the fact that it does not have water/ice in the door, but love this fridge! So much more room and less stress than the Dometic and being full time, the extra room is priceless! Especially when you have to drive over 120 miles to a grocery store! One way!!! Gotta love Yellowstone, but buying here is pricey! Also installed the 100 lb Dometic fridge/freezer in the bay.
We had JC Refridgeration do ours a few years ago. It definitely extended the OEM Dometic's life but we are thrilled about this switch. We also added an ARP. New fridge...seemingly much more capacity, no more babying the Dometic, and no absorption fire worries.
We know our decision has trade offs. So far so good.
We are still totally pleased with our now discontinued 19.4 Samsung. They have replaced our 19.4 unit with a 19.5 fingerprint resistant model. Ours installed easily thru the driverside, side, front window, and the extra 2 inches let us have larger plates inside. Removing and reinstalling the refrig doors for installation was no problem. Today I noticed the model that replaced ours, also went up in price a few hundred $$.
Our install:
Residential fridge (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=36836.msg351607#msg351607)
Comparison of our model with its replacement:
Product Comparison Page (https://www.homedepot.com/p/compare?prodComp_0=205541436&prodComp_1=315868429&pipSku=205541436)
Looks great! I recently put a cheap residential fridge in my GV. Best upgrade ever! Did MOT remove and plug the propane line at the tank? I've heard of folks capping the line behind the fridge, but it was pretty easy to just disconnect/plug at the manifold.
Thanks. They capped the propane for the fridge at the manifold for that line in the fuel bay.
Do you have a plan how you are going to lock the doors from opening in transit? I've seen a few ideas online, individuals using a 3D printer to make a lock
Jeff.
I'm thinking you'll be at the GV reunion?
I'd like to check out the fridge upgrade. We replaced our Dometic with an ice maker Norcold this past summer and to say my DW is extremely unhappy with it is an understatement. No room is all I hear these days.
Keith suggested this:
(https://i.postimg.cc/KcLk1nrr/36-CA57-F4-292-C-4648-8801-A0-C850-AE9-D9-F.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/6TW5S4Py)
We want to attend but have to get back to work.
We put a Frigidaire in our Liberty and it has the ice/water in door. Cannot hear it running
We had done the bags of ice thing for over a year and that was getting old. Thought about a separate ice maker but the one we had at our sticks n bricks was too hard to clean. In hindsight I might have kept the old ( original ) 4800 dometic but that ship has sailed. I could go with wider but DW won't give up the bank of drawers left of the fridge. ( just like Jeff's coach) I am going to quiz MOT on the one Jeff has though.
We used a patio sliding door lock on the freezer and a short velcro strap on the upper doors. Nothing to store or get in the way. Latch part on the freezer soor is held on with VHB tape, no holes.
I made one like Keith suggested and it works great. It's so easy to use.
Those that have the smaller volume absorption, Magic Chef has a direct replacement. 10 cubic feet. I think it costs around 400 at Homey
That's the fridge we we got. It's very quiet. It's a few inches taller so no cabinet cutting was required. They removed one trim piece and lowered the floor a few inches.
I installed one of the Magic Chef jobs in a friends Bluebird in October. They love it.
It's much bigger inside, especially the freezer....and no more defrosting. The first two fridges HD delivered were damaged. As an accommodation they issued a refund so the third fridge was $100 including delivery to MOT. ;D
Is it similar to ours?
Samsung residential refrigerator 21.8 instead of 17.5 (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=34949.msg324333#msg324333)
My Dometic 2820 crapped out on I-95 last week. The dreaded sulfur residue all over below heating tube. Today, its sitting out on the side of the road waiting for a junker to pick it up. I shopped the Magic Chef mentioned above and a Haier model of similar size at Lowe's. There's a lot more reviews on the Magic Chef so I think I will go that route too. My install plan is about like the OP's, with a small 3-4" lowering of floor in fridge space.
I do have a question for the forum though. IS it OK to power a small inverter using the old 12V wiring used by the Dometic. It looks like it comes off of a 30 amp breaker in the 12V aux power panel by my batteries. Thoughts?
jk
JK,
I'm no expert. For my install they added a new breaker for the fridge and ran new wiring as the old Dometic wires were not a large enough gauge. I'm also using a Victron 1200 inverter in the cabinet under the fridge.
What gauge is that 12 VDC wire-- concerned about voltage drop to (hopefully) a PSW inverter.
Were it me, I would locate a PSW inverter nearer the battery bank but in separate compartment and then either run new 120 VAC wire, of more likely, tie into/use the present wire from that back area to the outlet behind to refrigerator.
Thanks for the feed back. I'll be making a course correction on locating the inverter.
jk
Inverter Wiring
The Victron 1200VA Phoenix inverter Jeff is using can use up to 2 ga wire.
At max continuous output it can pull 68 amps from your batteries. Using 2 ga wire with batteries at 12.5 volts and a maximum voltage drop of 3% this inverter can be located so that the maximum length of the 2 ga cable (plus and minus) is 34 ft.
A 1% voltage loss (much better) the maximum length of 2 ga cable is 12 ft.
A 1% voltage drop using only 4 ft of cable lets you use much smaller 6 ga cable.
Bos'ns' Corner - Wire Size Calculator (https://baymarinesupply.com//bosns_corner_wire_sizes)
So putting the inverter close to the batteries as Brett suggests is a good plan. Put a switch and a fuse in the Plus wire or a circuit breaker that can be opened. Circuit breakers don't usually make a good switch but in this case when it would rarely be used as a switch it is a good choice. Then use Romex or a high quality round three wire 20 amp extension cord to plug in at the inverter and connect the other end to an outlet for the refrig.
While the inverter has built in short circuit and overload protection the 120v circuit should ideally be protected by a circuit breaker close to the inverter.
Good points. Thanks, Roger.
jk
Update, after a few days, we are thrilled and wonder why we didn't do this sooner. The fridge has been rock steady for 3 days between 39 and 40 degrees while parked, fridge side in both bright mid-day sun and while underway, at all times of day and night.
I'll move the probe to the freezer today.
Edited to add: Freezer rock solid at 0F
Coach buck creep.... Put in new backsplash.
(https://i.postimg.cc/hvs37cYk/8235-DA5-F-29-A5-4550-8-C4-F-A4-F9-A5-FCEB47.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/0K6CTRPn)
Finished product looks real sharp, Jeff.
jk
HOLY MOLY SCHMOLY!!!! That new backsplash matches P*E*R*F*E*C*T*L*Y*!!!! Absolutely beautiful!! Congratulations to you both on your newest upgrades! Thrilled that you are thrilled! ^.^d
Beautiful job, Jeff! It was fun hanging out and meeting you and Sandy. Love your coach. Safe travels and hope we can cross paths again soon.
Looks very nice Jeff and Sandy. Nothing better than making your coach just the way you want it.
Roger
Thanks Joe, great meeting you guys as well. Hope to see you on the road.
Hey Jeff new fridge and backsplash looks awesome, just wondering which line did they disconnect from the propane manifold?
Second from the top, on the manifold.
I replaced my old fridge with a Samsung residential. Not a moment's regret. Better cooling, freezing, storage. I tapped into the old fridge propane line & ran it into the bay below where my fuel tank resides. Installed a shutoff valve & propane quick disconnect. Now I just hook a propane hose into the line and run it to my grill, propane fire pit, or BBQ. No need for those portable propane bottles.
5 days in, parked and traveling, temps have stayed constant. 42 fridge, zero freezer.
I finished my Magic Chef 10.2 install today. (Except for finish trim.) Called my biggest, strongest friend and we put it up in the reworked space. I lowered the floor in fridge space approximately 6", capped both the LP Gas supply line and 12V electric for the old Dometic. All in all, not a bad project. Most time was spent figuring out the support for the base. Not al lot of thing to fasten too. I reworked the rolling door in lower compartment by a commensurate amount. This was done on a work table by rolling it out straight and then cutting to size with a sharp utility knife with the aid of a framing square. Also did some minor trimming with a zip saw. Fridge projects out from the wall about 2" more than the flush mounted Dometic. Seems to be a non factor.
I'm looking at a couple of Pure Sign Wave inverters to finish off power requirements. It is working fine on gen/shore power,
We gained about 25 - 30% more space for cold/frozen foods.
The refrigerator was around $380 at Homedepot before military discount was applied. I have a piece of cable to run from inverter for $22.00 or so and then an inverter which should run up to $350.00.
Here are some pix.
jk
Looks really nice
Windy Nation has really nice inverters, with remote switch. Half what you are thinking for price.
Do you have solar?
They are the best:
Inverters (https://www.windynation.com/Inverters)
I installed this one for a friends FT with same fridge as yours works perfect.
VertaMax PURE SINE WAVE 1000 Watt (2000W Surge) 12V 12 Volt Power Inverter... (https://www.windynation.com/Inverters/Windy-Nation-Inc/VertaMax-PURE-SINE-WAVE-1000-Watt-2000W-Surge-12V-12-Volt-Power-Inverter-DC-to-AC-Power-Cables-Remote-Control-Switch-ANL-F/-/4217?p=YzE9NDg=)
Chris
Another nice refrigerator conversion. Be sure you get a pure sine wave inverter fro your refrigerator. Make sure you size your inverter to at least twice the power it uses while it is running and enough for startup power. Most residential refrigerators use somewhere around 70 watts per hour on average. Normal running power is twice that or 140 watts. If you look at the specs it will show maximum power used. Maybe around 6 amps or 720 watts. This is the power it uses when you do a warm start.
Use a Kill-a-Watt meter to measure what your refrigerator really uses in actual use. Measure over a week or more and get the average daily use. I have one of these.
P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor - - Amazon.com (https://amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2YRLMRE1G8OZ6&dchild=1&keywords=killawatt+meter+power+analyzer&qid=1621817022&sprefix=Killawatt%2Caps%2C241&sr=8-8)
There are other choices for more or less $$. Warranty, how close to true pure sine wave?, power to be on? You get what you pay for.
This is a good small inverter choice for a refrigerator.
Victron Phoenix 500 VA Pure Sine Inverter (https://baymarinesupply.com/chargers-inverters/victron/victron-phoenix-inverter-500va.html)
Not much more $ to go to an 800VA model. You can add a TV with a bigger inverter.
Put the inverter close to the battery. Use a switch in the positive wire so you can isolate the inverter if needed.
What did you do with the old dometic vent out the roof and the vent on the side of the coach? I know the dometic had a trim piece that pretty much seals the unit from the inside of the coach. Just curious if the conversion is pretty much sealed up or you have air gaps that would allow outside air into the coach.
All sealed up. They fabricated a frame with removable center portion on the side wall... in case access is needed in the future.
I know this is a three year old thread, but Jeff and Sandy, if you still have pictures of what they did to lower the fridge floor, I'd be grateful. For some reason the thread doesn't show them anymore. I bought a 10 cubic foot Norcold yesterday and will need to do the same to make it fit. Thank you for any advice you all have. Michael
Hi Michael,
Here you go. They removed the existing 'shelf' that the old fridge was sitting on as it was 1/2 too high. They build a new one at the proper height. I went this route to avoid losing as much original walnut trim as I could
The cabinet doors below the fridge were untouched.
(https://i.postimg.cc/L6HHKx1s/temp-Imagew-LNe6e.avif) (https://postimg.cc/XXzM9cxM)
(https://i.postimg.cc/fRWWQB1K/temp-Imagex8-Zy76.avif) (https://postimg.cc/6ySxdLW2)
Thank you Jeff. That looks great.