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Out with the old, in with the new

November 22, 2013, 09:30:36 pm

Well, the old is on the way out anyway. Monday a young man (used to build RVs in Indiana) and his college-age son will come over to take out the rest of the old refrigerator. I've gotten the doors off, the table top off, grab handle off, in short, all the easy stuff. Jo Ann's going to make a pie for all of us. Once the old refrigerator is gone we will see what else needs to be done in that area while Jo Ann decides what refrigerator she wants in there. Once the new refrigerator is here in the garage the young man will come back to make the space fit the new refrigerator. We know that some storage space will be lost underneath, but we're hoping that maybe a pull-out pantry will fit beside the new refrigerator, and possibly even have a bit of space on the top. That, I think, depends on which refrigerator Jo Ann picks out.

Yes, the new unit will be a residential. We haven't decided on whether it ought to have a dedicated inverter or not. We don't do much boondocking, and if the generator is running while we're driving (which has been our normal practice) the refrigerator ought to be just fine.

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Re: Out with the old, in with the new

Reply #1 – November 23, 2013, 03:00:25 am

I  have a 22cuft Bosch residential installed.
I  turn on the inverter when I'm driving and the have not had any problems with the alternator supplying enough power to keep the refrigerator on. I turn the refrigerator part to 43 degrees and the freezer to 0 degrees. The refrigerator does not require the compressor to come on as long as you don't open and close the door frequently. When I stop and hook up the outside power I turn the freezer down below 0 and the refrigerator side down to 34 degrees. The more that's in the refrigerator the easier it is to maintain a temp. without having the compressor kick in.
I have never needed to use the generator for power when driving.

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Re: Out with the old, in with the new

Reply #2 – November 23, 2013, 07:56:50 am

The Dometic in our 03 failed early this year. Took the coach to FOT, bought a 24cf Samsung from Lowes online and had Lowes in Nacogdoches drop it at FOT. Install was $1500. They did a really nice install, well worth the cost. We were in the coach three months this summer and love the residential refrigerator. Tons of space, frost free and makes good ice. The only thing the Dometic did better was dry camping for days but not by much. Wish we had changed sooner.

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Reply #3 – November 23, 2013, 07:58:58 am

One of the best upgrades we have made.

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Reply #4 – November 25, 2013, 06:04:02 pm

The old unit is out and I've stuffed some insulation in front of the exterior opening and in the roof vent for now. Jo Ann and I have been looking for side-by-side refrigerators that will fit in the available space, but haven't found anything that really excites us yet. Most of what we've found are either too wide, too deep, too expensive, or all of the above. The ideal unit would be 24" deep, 33" wide, 75" tall and under $1000. We can match two of the four easily, and sometimes three of the four, but so far no all four. Oh well, the right one is out there somewhere. We just have to find it.

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Reply #5 – November 25, 2013, 10:07:31 pm

We put this side by side in about a year ago - Frigidaire counter depth unit measures 24 deep 70 high and 36 wide. No problems and the water/ice in the door are great. I think we paid $1200 at Lowes on sale for this 22.6 c.f. model.

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Reply #6 – December 02, 2013, 05:51:56 pm

We found an LG refrigerator that Jo Ann just loved. It was a top freezer, rather than a side-by-side, but it not only would fit, it was quite a bit cheaper than the side-by-sides that we were looking at. The only problem is that it is hinged on the right - only! Back to the searching.

Now we've found a pair of Haier refrigerators. One is 10.3 cubic feet and the other is 11.9. Both will go through the door easily. The smaller one won't stick out quite as far as the larger one, but it won't have as much room in it, either. There is quite a bit of difference in price. Either way, she gets the slide-out pantry she wants.

Cooks, what do you think? Either one is smaller than what we have here at home, but with just the two of us we can probably get by with less stuff in the refrigerator. I've seen recommendations of 5-6 cubic feet per person, so the small one is at the low end of the scale and the large one is at the high end.

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Reply #7 – December 02, 2013, 06:24:37 pm

I have a Haier Counter depth French door from HH Gregg. Really awful reviews. $1300. Took a chance. So far, so good!

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Re: Out with the old, in with the new

Reply #8 – December 03, 2013, 01:43:00 am

The whirlpool we put in (same as Barry and Cindy's) is ~10 cu ft, and is just big enough for the two of us (much bigger than the 6.5 cu ft Dometic that it replaced, though!)  Since we are often boondocking and away from our favorite stores, we end up packing it to the gills.  Bigger would be better, so I would pick the 11.9 if you can swing it.

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Reply #9 – January 14, 2014, 04:23:42 pm

Our new Whirlpool was delivered 31 December, and damaged during delivery! The replacement will be here Saturday. Dave, I think ours might be like yours. It is 10.7 cubic feet. Perry said he could get at it fairly quickly, so maybe by the end of next week we'll be ready to go somewhere.

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Reply #10 – January 18, 2014, 12:14:59 am

Hi David,

Any update?  watching your progress as the same project is in the 2014 budget for mine.

Thanks,

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Reply #11 – January 18, 2014, 11:44:59 am

Just got a call from Lowe's, and the new new refrigerator is on the way as I type. I intend to be VERY picky about how they treat it this time. I'll call Perry right away and schedule the time for him to come out and do the work. We're not going to do the finish work right now, just get the new refrigerator nailed down so we can use the coach. We were going to put a pull-out pantry next to the refrigerator, but Jo Ann is having some second thoughts on that now, so we'll see what we decide. I'm thinking that maybe this winter we will go down to Nac and have them finish things.

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Re: Out with the old, in with the new

Reply #12 – January 18, 2014, 11:51:46 am

 If you do decide to do a pull out I can send photos and measurements to you (design one) if you give me the rough opening sizes you are left with??
John H

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Reply #13 – January 18, 2014, 12:18:24 pm

Thanks, John. Sounds like you have done this before. Lowe's just left, and the new refrigerator is in perfect shape.

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Reply #14 – January 23, 2014, 05:59:00 pm

Perry just left, and the new new refrigerator is in. We ended up putting in at the bottom of the compartment, rather than at the top, but that could be changed at FOT later if we so desire. At least we now have a working refrigerator in the coach. I still have a bit to do to clean up and put stuff back together that we took out to move the old refrigerator out and the new one in, but we're getting excited about going somewhere and using the coach.

Pictures will be coming soon.

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Reply #15 – January 24, 2014, 09:45:32 pm

This is David's wife, Jo Ann. Here are some pics of our new frig.

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Reply #16 – January 24, 2014, 09:47:08 pm

Sorry the first pic is sideways. After three tries I gave up.

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Reply #17 – January 24, 2014, 09:48:05 pm

David, looks good. Most important - it Works!

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