I am a little confused about 12V frigs. I have heard they use less power than a 110 residential frig, but its seems everyone suggest upgrading your battery and charging system if you go 12V and that seems a little backwards to me. Less power demands and no loss in the conversation seems like it would be better to go 12V. Any input much appreciated. Thank you!
The reason you should check into your battery capacity is that the propane/12V fridge you replaced could use either propane or 12V. Now, you don't have the propane option so you have a 12V drain all the time while you are dry camping/boondocking. Make sense?
Pierce
If you put in a residential fridge or a 12 volt fridge you need to check your battery
capacity. I never have seen a 12 volt fridge that I like, but if I had I would have serious
considered one.
Whatever refrigerator you choose it all boils down to extracting heat from one space and depositing in another space.
The amount of heat to extract to keep your food cool depends on size, seals of the refrigerated space, and insulation. 12 volt refrigerators may seem attractive but the comparative measure is perhaps watts/cu ft of food volume. And where those watts come from. How much energy does it take to cool the size of refrigerator you have? And where does the power come from? And what is the efficiency of the cooling system?
Our 19 cubic ft residential refrigerator uses about 65 watts per hour. Those watts come from a 93% efficient inverter that uses about 5 watts to be on drawing on out LiFePO4 12v batteries. So at 13.2v about 4.9 amps per hour. In 24 hrs that is 119 amps. If you have 3 8D AGM with 750 amp hr capacity this would represent 31% consumption from your total capacity at a 50% discharge. 65/19= 3.4 watts per cup ft per day.
To fully recharge those 8Ds you are going to need several hours of generator time.
Any refrigerator getting power from your batteries will use quite a bit more power than with a non-electric refrigerator. And the battery power comes from driving, being plugged in with a charger on or from solar.
Most who have switched to a residential refrigerator enjoy the efficiency, consistent cooling, and size capacity. Most realize they have added an appliance which is a major consumer of their eclectic supply.
For us, a residential choice was a great one.
I should have said in my above post that the refrigerator you replaced could use propane or 110V AC, not propane and 12V.
About 3 months ago, our LG home refrigerator went out and we went looking for a new one for our house. After comparing many different brands for build quality, the way the drawers open and close, shelve design plus a dozen or so other factors, we picked either a LG or Samsung for the house. In the end, we found a stainless Samsung and have been extremely pleased with it. If we had a large coach where we wanted to change to a residential fridge, it would be the exact same Samsung.
Having said that, we dry camp almost all the time but take the toad to dinner many nights. Partly because and the fact that there are only two of us, we do really well with our Norcold RV fridge with it's smaller size.
Pierce
Ya, a little more clarification on choices:
1. Absorption refrigerator. Could use propane, 120 VAC or 12 VDC for heat element (only older models used 12 VDC for heat element). All use 12 VDC for the PC board, gas valve and ignitor.
2. OE refrigerator with original absorption cooling unit replaced by a 12 VDC compressor for cooling.
3. Residential refrigerator-- 120 VAC only.
I'm used to interpreting American English.
A Marine or RV refrigerator with a 12V Danfoss style compressor uses less electricity than a household refrigerator designed to operator from the 120V mains. Your options here are purchasing a 12V cooling unit from JC Refrigeration or looking at the Dometic 12V compressor style refrigerator.
Compressors | Danfoss (https://www.danfoss.com/en-us/products/dcs/compressors/#tab-other)
In RV refrigeration the propane, 120VAC, or 12VDC uses less electricity than either of the above choices. Except for the 12VDC. That is for short term use and without the engine running will suck the life right out of your battery. Our Dometic automatically switches from 110VAC to Propane to 12VDC, 12 VDC being the last gasp before spoiled food.
The Danfoss compressor is a 12VDC variable speed compressor, designed to use only the electricity necessary to get the job done. So search for marine refrigeration or check the Dometic website.
Dometic DMC4101 - Compressor Refrigerator 10 cu. Ft, 12VDC, sleek styling |... (https://www.dometic.com/en-us/outdoor/food-and-beverage/refrigerators/rv-refrigerators/dometic-dmc4101-242459)
With a 400 dollar Magic chef from Homey, you get twice the storage capacity- and it's brand new
Don't forget to add in the inverter, batteries, and solar cells. Or skipping the solar electricity, the daily four hours of generator run time if you're living off grid.
Link available? They have a bunch of different products. Never could locate what your talking about
Scott
Unless you have 1500 watts up top, it's hard to beat having a fridge that runs on propane with only a very small 12V draw and yet, can instantly switch to 110V shore power as soon as it's connected. The coach's propane tank will run it for many weeks.
Pierce
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-11-5-cu-ft-bottom-mount-refrigerator-white/6461500.p?skuId=6461500
I thought that mine is 9.8 CF , but looks like this one and draws very little juice. Average watts is about 38
Edit; Mine is 58 in tall . not this 67in tall unit.
GE 9.8 Cu. Ft. 12V DC Power Top-Freezer Refrigerator, Stainless Steel |... (https://www.campingworld.com/ge-9.8-cu.-ft.-12v-dc-power-top-freezer-refrigerator-stainless-steel-125267.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=%7bCampaign%7d&gclid=Cj0KCQiAraSPBhDuARIsAM3Js4o2YBKJxVxmp_1oeRtV_7ErJVb6pGPjy7gCztEG3zilrca5VXitNT0aApsgEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Negative. You don't have to run the generator that long.
Magic Chef 10.1 cubic feet- price drop- 339.00
If your looking at residential units you might want to consider the depth of the unit or it could be sticking into your walk way or path past the refrigerator. Choosing a Counter Depth unit will aid you in keeping that clearance space down, It will also add to the cost of the refrigerator.
I have a residential unit (Bosch side by side) and have been extremely happy with it and its performance.
We bought a Everchill 12 volt fridge 2 years ago and it stays on 24 7 it 8 cubic foot and it has been better than anything we have had before. We do have 500 watts of solar on the roof and are boondocking at the Q in AZ right now and it works great.
Look them up you might be surprised.
Have had all types of RV since 1990 and love the Propane/ 12 volt refrigerators, they don't depend on shore power, don't draw much battery power and keep my beer cold. Guess if you plug into 120 volt all the time a household refrigerator would be fine.
Big household refrigerator means solar panels and modification to your cabinets, our furnace (U270) is below the refrigerator.
Pro's and Con's to everything
I put in a 13 cubic foot Frigidaire and gained an 8 inch slide out pantry. So I gained in
fridge space and got more storage. The biggest thing I like about a compressor fridge
is they don't need to be level. I boondock all the time and in the winter and don't
have any battery problem.
Link available? They have a bunch of different products. Never could locate what your talking about
Scott
Probably this one. I put one in last summer. Works great and sips power. It requires an adjustment to the space (lower the base platform) and I added a 1200W inverter to get Pure Sine Wave.
I can replace it three more times at less cost than a comparable dometic.
Fire away.
jk
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Chef-10-1-cu-ft-Top-Freezer-Refrigerator-in-Black-HMDR1000BE/302245062
After getting a getting a whiff of the dreaded ammonia odor from my original Norcold, I too installed one of these Magic Chef units last year. I run it off a dedicated Victron Phoenix 1200VA Pure Sine Inverter...couldn't be happier. No modifications were needed for installation in my coach, it fit like a glove in the opening of the old Norcold. One needs to fabricate a door lock device similar to the several options previously discussed in prior threads.
Right now the black units are on sale at a very good price.
I like having options so my old fridge runs AC, DC and propane, we boondock and camp in some knarly places without a problem. We rarely run the fridge when we're. moving rather use it like a big cooler then run it once we park.
With a 65 gallon propane tank it make sense for us, maybe the next one will get a solar array but for now.
I love these threads, Ford vs. Chevy the posts will not change the opinion of other posters, same as slide opinions. To put my $.02 worth in the '81 FTX I have came from the factory with a 20 cu. ft. residential fridge 41 years ago and it spoiled the DW and I can't have a coach without one now.
What's an FTX?
A 1981 Foretravel model here is mine being built.
I chose mine bottom freezer model for size ,price, and flush doors. No handles sticking out into the walking path.
Erniee,
Those were the FT 10th year anniversary coach builds
Mike.
I replaced my old Dometic with a Samsung which I run off a 600 watt pure sine wave invertor. I could not be happier. It keeps my food constantly cold and has so much more room. The old fridge struggled in hot weather. I resisted forever but finally bit the bullet. I think I only waited because getting the old unit out was a pain.