Residential fridge

Topic: Residential fridge (Read 12644 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #125 – December 21, 2012, 06:00:05 pm

Cost really does (and SHOULD) depend on difference in dimension between old and new as well as "how do I get the old one out/new one in".

I can tell you that replacing a Dometic 4804 with a newer 3962 took me two days of work. YES, done RIGHT. Complete rebuild of shelf (several inches lower), lining with fiberglass,trimming one vertical surface and running new vent through basement since the new refrigerator is installed below the level of the outside access door.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #126 – December 21, 2012, 06:27:26 pm

Quote from: wolfe10 – December 21, 2012, 06:00:05 pm

Cost really does (and SHOULD) depend on difference in dimension between old and new as well as "how do I get the old one out/new one in".

Brett's right on target with that one - (most of) the newer residential fridges that folks are considering, like the Samsung, the Bosch, etc., are on the order of 68"+ high and 36" wide and at least 24" deep, so there's all the structure/storage above/below and adjacent to deal with. These aren't the Whirlpool 9.7 cu ft. ones that folks have been able to install themselves.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #127 – December 22, 2012, 08:46:59 am

I have used Rudy's guy in Baytown for my Aquahot and can say that he is up to any task that is put before him. In fact I would put him in the same league and James at Xtreme or MOT for service and he is very reasonable. If I was going to do my fridge I would look very closely at having him install it and then let someone else do the trim work if it is needed.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #128 – December 22, 2012, 09:43:41 am

Quote from: Michelle – December 21, 2012, 06:27:26 pm

Brett's right on target with that one - (most of) the newer residential fridges that folks are considering, like the Samsung, the Bosch, etc., are on the order of 68"+ high and 36" wide and at least 24" deep, so there's all the structure/storage above/below and adjacent to deal with. These aren't the Whirlpool 9.7 cu ft. ones that folks have been able to install themselves.

Speaking of the Whirlpool 9.7 ET0MSRXTB it appears to be discontinued. Has anyone found a comparable replacement? Fridge replacement is on my long term mod list and that's the model/size that works for us.

What really frost's me is my son had someone give him a brand new Black Whirlpool 9.7 cu. ft. which sat in my garage for a couple months. Ended up giving it to a friend who has an apartment complex. 20/20 hindsight....

Dean

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #129 – December 22, 2012, 06:39:37 pm

I'm going to Lowes in the am and will check to see what replacement there is for that 9.7

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #130 – December 22, 2012, 10:05:59 pm

Quote from: erniee – December 22, 2012, 06:39:37 pm

I'm going to Lowes in the am and will check to see what replacement there is for that 9.7

Thanks Erniee, appreciate any info you might find and I am sure others would too. I have briefly looked to see what might be available in a similer size with the rear condensing coils but need to do some more digging. Our stock Dometic fridge is still working fine but like many folks I like the idea of eliminating the propane/fridge factor with it's potential issues.

Merry Christmas, D&D

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #131 – December 22, 2012, 10:19:06 pm

Quote from: Dean & Dee – December 22, 2012, 10:05:59 pm

Thanks Erniee, appreciate any info you might find and I am sure others would too. I have briefly looked to see what might be available in a similer size with the rear condensing coils but need to do some more digging. Our stock Dometic fridge is still working fine but like many folks I like the idea of eliminating the propane/fridge factor with it's potential issues.

Merry Christmas, D&D

What looks like a replacement is the Whirlpool WRT111SFAW altho it doesn't look like it has the rear coils.
See Whirlpool WRT111SFAW 11 cu. ft. Top-Freezer Refrigerator with 2 Removable Wire
and 10.7 cu. ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator in White-WRT111SFAW at The Home Depot

HTH
elliott bray

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #132 – December 23, 2012, 12:07:55 am

Lowe's still has a 2' x 5' electric refrigerator with coils on back. Brand is now Haier and model is HA10TG20SB for the black model. Haier looks a bit sturdier than our Whirlpool, but very similar in all respects with no surprises. Label: capacity 10.3 cu-ft, freezer 2.5 cu-ft, amps 2.6, defrost amps 3.5, R134a.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #133 – December 23, 2012, 01:01:29 am

Barry & Cindy,
I would love to know the installation using the refrig with the coils up the rear vs the models with the coils underneath.
Would enjoy your take on the best installation of the type you prefer.
This is my biggest concern for the refrigerator, and would love an ice maker but the water etc in door is not a concern.
Thanks
Dave M

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #134 – December 23, 2012, 09:19:39 am

Just a thought to avoid condensation drip and it's related issues. A slide out drip pan with a drain hose running down and out.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #135 – December 23, 2012, 10:09:44 am

Quote from: Barry & Cindy – December 23, 2012, 12:07:55 am

Lowe's still has a 2' x 5' electric refrigerator with coils on back. Brand is now Haier and model is HA10TG20SB for the black model. Haier looks a bit sturdier than our Whirlpool, but very similar in all respects with no surprises. Label: capacity 10.3 cu-ft, freezer 2.5 cu-ft, amps 2.6, defrost amps 3.5, R134a.

Hmmm, I don't seem to find the Haier on Lowe's website. Maybe it's a store specific model. Looks good though.

Dean

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #136 – December 23, 2012, 10:37:18 am

Quote from: Dean & Dee – December 23, 2012, 10:09:44 am

Hmmm, I don't seem to find the Haier on Lowe's website. Maybe it's a store specific model. Looks good though.

Dean... you're right - this is a store-specific model. When I put the Lowes item number (150645 - from the last photo Barry & Cindy posted), the Lowes website couldn't find a match, but did have this disclaimer: "Not all products carried in Lowe's stores are carried on Lowes.com. Contact your local Lowe's to find out whether we carry the product you need."

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #137 – December 23, 2012, 11:41:20 am

Dave,

We are only familiar with installing our fridge that has outside rear coils, like the photos of the Lowe's Haier model. Which move the heat from the inside of the fridge to the outside space behind our fridge which is sealed from outside.

Most home fridge designs use a bottom condenser coil with an amp-drawing fan that blows warm air back into living space. And some of these bottom designs MAY use the side of the metal cabinet to dissipate some heat. I am not sure if the backside of the bottom condenser space is sealed or open. I think that a bottom condenser cannot be an RV deal breaker as all larger home refrigerators use this design and they work just fine in high-end all-electric motorhomes, including Prevost conversions and Foretravel.

Here is some more details on fridge installations.
Residential fridge

Does this answer your question?

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #138 – December 23, 2012, 04:16:05 pm

Barry, Yes & Thanks.
Have been looking at the Samsung counter depth, abt 24 cu ft size, way too large, but otherwise seems to fit the bill.
in the tall 68" area, so the storage below will disapear. The larger counter depth models run in the $2k area, was hoping for under $1k, seems when you say counter depth, price is out the window and going up & up.
Thanks for the info.
Merry Christmas
Dave M

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #139 – December 23, 2012, 10:39:50 pm

Last year I had to replace the fridge on the boat.. same space issues, I found the big box stores to be of little help. Their floor inventory is very limited and the sales help knew even less... I found AJ Madisons web site gave me the make model and size info I needed right on the front page without clicking back and forth web page after page: Refrigerators - Refrigerator I ended up going with the Samsung 197 from Abe's of Main due to the free shipping: http://www.abesofmaine.com/item.do?item=SSGRF197ACBP I was shocked when the frig showed up 2 days after ordering it.. seems it was shipped from a warehouse about 15 miles away from me. As for the Samsung fridge I love it.. Cut my power bill by a 1/3, When anchored out I can go 3 days without running the genny where I would only get by about a day with the old fridge before I had to fire up the genny.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #140 – December 23, 2012, 11:20:02 pm

I have used AJMadison in Sticks and Bricks multiple times - easy, fast, good prices - beat the local top reseller ABT most of the time, and the big box stores almost all the time - plus you save sales tax -

most big boxes will price match AJmadison if you print off the price and bring it in - My local Home depot will I know

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #141 – December 24, 2012, 10:14:54 am

I am curious if anyone has considered a bottom freezer fridge for their coach? Looks like there are some that may fit.
Danby DFF261 9.2 cu. ft. Bottom-Freezer Mid-Size Refrigerator with 2 Adjustable

Dean

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #142 – December 25, 2012, 05:34:25 pm

Electric frost-free refrigerators have an evaporator coil, located behind a panel inside the rear of the freezer.
A fan moves air over the cold coil into the freezer which then flows into the refrigerator.

The coils slowly frost up from moisture in the air.

All frost-free refrigerators have a timer that periodically turns off the compressor, and turns on an electric heater that is wrapped around the evaporator coil, to melt any accumulated frost and ice. Melted water drains out of the freezer into a pan that sits on top of the compressor. A running compressor is supposed to create enough heat to evaporate water in the pan.

Timers only run when thermostat calls for cold, and after a pre-set number of running hours, the timer starts the defrost heater cycle.

We have had our Whirlpool fridge for 18 months and have not had any battery problems on the few times we dry camped 1 or 2 nights during the 18 months. We will be going back to Quartzsite again in January where we dry camp for 10 days in a row with the Lemon Rally, but this is our first time since we changed from a propane to electric refrigerator.
We normally run our generator daily during our stay, but we always want to be sure we can get through about 10 hours of quiet time without deep discharging our batteries.

Since we seem to have no control when the defrost heater cycle will start, I decided to see if we can prevent heater running during quiet hours.

I looked at the fridge's wiring diagram, made a few assumptions on how things work and put a switch on some wires to prevent the heater from turning on.

We plan to turn on our new manual bypass switch before we turn off our generator at about 10pm and then turn the bypass switch back to normal when we start our generator in the morning.

We run our generator when we are hunkered down inside during the evening to charge batteries and also keep them from discharging while we watch TV, run computer and have lights / heaters on.
And then run the generator for about an hour in the morning to help recover any overnight battery use, while we do our morning stuff.

In bypass mode, fridge timer still runs as normal, but the electricity to the heater switch is bypassed, so if timer decides to close the heater switch, no electricity will flow to the heater.
We don't know if too much ice will build up if we bypass too many defrost cycles. Time will tell. The electric refrigerator saga continues.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #143 – December 25, 2012, 06:52:31 pm

Barry, as we have the same unit I would be interested in knowing which wire/s you put the dissconnect on. With us using solar and I do not put gen on it may help us more.
John H

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #144 – December 26, 2012, 10:43:49 pm

John,

Timer has 4 wires. Black wire is wall-plug hot which the timer normally connects to the orange thermostat wire and then the compressor. During the defrost cycle, the timer disconnects from the orange thermostat wire and connects to the pink heater wire. I only have the wiring diagram to make assumptions on how things probably work.

I unplugged the black wire from the timer and ran it to the center pole of a new manual double-throw switch. I ran a new wire from the switch's normal pole to the timer where I removed the black wire. I ran a new wire from the switch's bypass pole to the orange wire.

Manual switch in normal position, nothing is changed. Changing manual switch bypass position, disconnects power to timer, so if timer starts heater cycle, there is no electricity to heater, and compressor will continue to run if thermostat calls for cold. In bypass position, when timer is not in defrost mode, there will be no change.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #145 – December 28, 2012, 01:10:46 pm

Quote from: erniee – December 22, 2012, 06:39:37 pm

I'm going to Lowes in the am and will check to see what replacement there is for that 9.7

Quote from: erniee – December 22, 2012, 06:39:37 pm

I'm going to Lowes in the am and will check to see what replacement there is for that 9.7

Erniee, check out the Frigidaire web sight, they have several 10 and 12 cu. ft. units that may work.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #146 – December 31, 2012, 12:15:25 pm

Electric usage on our Whirlpool refrigerator

I checked out our manual defrost heater bypass and here are the results:

1) Zero watts with compressor & defrost heater off
2) About 125 watts with normal compressor running
3) About 335 watts when defrost heater is on (compressor is off)

4) When defrost heater is on, moving my manual switch to bypass turns off heater & turns on compressor, and moving switch back to normal position, compressor turns off and heater turns back on.

We are ready for Quartzsite. . .
Barry & Cindy

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #147 – December 31, 2012, 10:53:27 pm

Availability of Whirlpool Ref.:

I checked yesterday with Lowes in Austin re: the Whirlpool they used to carry. (the 9.7 cuft Barry has).
There were two in Bryan/College Station. Don't know how wide an are he searched but sounds like the supply is just about gone.

Whirlpool has come out with a 10.7 just aboul the same size.
HTH

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #148 – December 31, 2012, 11:14:36 pm

ABT.com has 7 bottom freezer and 2 top freezer models that are 24 inches wide or less. Not sure if any of these would work. AJmadison has a white 10.7 cubic foot Whirlpool in stock, not sure if it is the correct refrigerator. AJ madison also has a Danby that is 24 inches wide, I personally had not so good luck with one of their refrigeration products.

Re: Residential fridge

Reply #149 – January 01, 2013, 10:10:59 pm

Slap the forehead!! Say "Duh-aa!!!"

I have just been freed from the tyranny of the 24" door, albeit at some cost!!
All it took was for me to realize that that crack which I watched creep across the bottom of my driver's windshield ment that sometime in the not too distant future I would could get a larger referigator.
Isn't life grand!!

Happy New Year!!

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