Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #25 – June 13, 2014, 12:14:41 pm Thanks for the compliment Tom! Unfortunately sometimes these days the word professional just means that they work fast and that you pay for it. Always a pleasure when you run into an outfit like Xtreme that puts quality first...DonQuote from: Tom Lang – June 13, 2014, 11:27:38 amDon,When would you like to do mine? That looks betteer than professional.Tom Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #26 – June 13, 2014, 01:20:52 pm Avanti RA7316PST from Amazon. 4th one is on the way. Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #27 – June 13, 2014, 02:22:52 pm You bet Richard! Thanks for the offer... DonQuote from: rbark – June 11, 2014, 05:39:48 pmDon, looking good. Next time you need more hands, give me a call. Richard B Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #28 – June 13, 2014, 06:42:39 pm Don, When I installed our new stove with oven I removed the two lower drawers to make room for the stove. I still have one if you want it. Oak front is 22" x 8-1/2". Free!Al Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #29 – June 13, 2014, 11:07:09 pm Al,That is a mighty kind offer! I believe that I might like to take you up on that... I take it that you are in Livingston, TX? I could PaPal you the amount to ship to San Diego. My email is in my profile if you want to send me a message and I will reply with my shipping address. The Zip is 91977.Thanks, DonQuote from: Westwinds – June 13, 2014, 06:42:39 pmDon, When I installed our new stove with oven I removed the two lower drawers to make room for the stove. I still have one if you want it. Oak front is 22" x 8-1/2". Free!Al Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #30 – June 14, 2014, 01:03:22 pm We've all got to find another coach for Don so he can begin a new remodel-job. What are we going to do for entertainment when he's finally finished with the current one? Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #31 – June 14, 2014, 02:42:58 pm I think it will be a loooong time before Don is finished with his mods! Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #32 – June 14, 2014, 04:52:01 pm A few posts back I asked Don if he wants to do mine. He didn't answer. Does that mean NO? Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #33 – June 14, 2014, 08:25:20 pm Silence is golden Quote from: Tom Lang – June 14, 2014, 04:52:01 pmA few posts back I asked Don if he wants to do mine. He didn't answer. Does that mean NO? Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #34 – June 16, 2014, 07:44:47 am Don,As usual I am amazed and speechless. Propman printed what I was saying while reading the posts. Truly a work of art.Larry Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #35 – June 16, 2014, 03:13:55 pm Don you truly are a professional. I appreciate reading and viewing your work. Anyone can be a slammer; but true professional are rare. John Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #36 – June 20, 2014, 12:02:30 pm Just refused deliver of the 4th & final Avanti fridge from Amazon. Its freezer door was banged up. I am going to go ahead and buy something from Sears locally and have to ask our carpenter Cousin to do what he does best. We need to increase the height for 4' to get to 60'. With that we can fit most any 10cuft fridge in there. Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #37 – February 17, 2015, 12:05:58 am Old topic, but as we're planning on installing the same fridge I really appreciate all the details! Beautiful job. :-)Now that you've had the DP2600 installed for awhile, how do you feel about the choice? Any problems or things that you would have done differently? When we talked to Dave about installing it today he mentioned that normally they leave the vent in place both to provide ventilation for the coils as well as access to the back to clean them. Thoughts?James Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #38 – February 17, 2015, 12:39:06 am Thanks for the compliment James. We are happy with our choice... So much quieter than any residential unit I have ever been next to. As you can see from the pictures looking in from the outside, I kept the vent intact. For access, cleaning, running solar cabling (I am in the process of changing the plastic roof vent for a new metal one as I am prepping for my solar install), and it can't hurt to have a nice convection airflow past the compressor coils. I can't think of anything I would have done differently as I obsessed over the details before hand. The extra space below is a drawer boxe completely sealed from the elements. I can easily remove the fridge because it slides on the smooth aluminum sheetmetal which covers the ¾" Baltic birch plywood shelf the fridge sits on. The flange holds the fridge securely (love the way oak holds screws!) and silicone weatherstripping is applied to the flange all the way around, so the fridge completely seals off the outside elements without caulking. The fridge is a simple design and the build quality is good. The compressor is easily serviced from outside, even thoug the back of the drawer box lifts it about 8" or so above the bottom of the vent. The usable space makes the fridge seem twice as capacious as the nearly identically specced Domtetic it replaced... So, yes I am quite satisfied with our results.DonQuote from: Tigratrus – February 17, 2015, 12:05:58 amOld topic, but as we're planning on installing the same fridge I really appreciate all the details! Beautiful job. :-)Now that you've had the DP2600 installed for awhile, how do you feel about the choice? Any problems or things that you would have done differently? When we talked to Dave about installing it today he mentioned that normally they leave the vent in place both to provide ventilation for the coils as well as access to the back to clean them. Thoughts?James Quote Selected 1 Likes
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #39 – February 17, 2015, 12:56:12 am Great to hear, thanks! I'm still kind of in shock that Susan and Elizabeth both panned the Samsung and much preferred the smaller Vitifrigo. We've been using the Dometic for a couple months now and they are both happy with the size, just hate the layout, side-by-side etc. I mentioned to Dave the desire to run a conduit up to the vent for the same reason, shouldn't be a problem. Might be a bit until we can get the solar installed, but laying the ground work as we go should make the actual installation a lot less painful. Can't wait. :-)James Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #40 – January 19, 2016, 02:09:27 pm I've got a question for you, Don. My absorption fridge has been freezing up quite a bit due to the sub-zero temps here ( and is annoying me quite a bit) so I'm wondering how the Vitrifrigo unit works regarding this. Are you able to completely seal up the top and bottom vents that were required for the absorption fridge? Did I read that the Vitrifrigo vents out the front of the unit? Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #41 – January 19, 2016, 02:38:13 pm Robert, we haven't been in sub-zero temps since I installed the Vitrifrigo fridge, so I can't speak from experience as to freezing coils. However, I would find it pretty easy to seal up the rear vent (or the top one for that matter), using some polyurethane foam board insulation. The Vitrifrigo vents out the back, so I think that while it might be desirable to cover the back vent in extremely cold temperatures (like say a new ice age, because otherwise I can't see us being anywhere that cold!), it would probably be good to leave a small opening at the top vent. I wouldn't want to permanently seal either opening because the rear vent gives me good access to the fridge mechanism and wiring, and the removable top vent lets me access the solar cable run.DonQuote from: rsihnhold – January 19, 2016, 02:09:27 pmI've got a question for you, Don. My absorption fridge has been freezing up quite a bit due to the sub-zero temps here ( and is annoying me quite a bit) so I'm wondering how the Vitrifrigo unit works regarding this. Are you able to completely seal up the top and bottom vents that were required for the absorption fridge? Did I read that the Vitrifrigo vents out the front of the unit? Quote Selected 1 Likes
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #42 – January 20, 2016, 12:24:14 am @Robert Have you tried running on propane instead of 120? We had a seminar from Paul Unmack the maker of the ARPrv Control here at Q. ARPrv | RV Refrigerator | Dometic Install | Norcold Install | RV Fire He said the absorption refrigerators are the most efficient when run on propane. Propane burns hotter than electric. You might want to give it a try.see yaken Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #43 – January 20, 2016, 08:35:58 am Quote from: rsihnhold – January 19, 2016, 02:09:27 pmI've got a question for you, Don. My absorption fridge has been freezing up quite a bit due to the sub-zero temps here ( and is annoying me quite a bit) so I'm wondering how the Vitrifrigo unit works regarding this. Are you able to completely seal up the top and bottom vents that were required for the absorption fridge? Did I read that the Vitrifrigo vents out the front of the unit?First, if frost in the fridge portion is your main concern, just get a little fan to circulate the air. I bought mine from RVcoolingunit.com. , http://rvcoolingunit.com/Dometic-Evaporator-Fan-Greater-inside-Cooling-Deluxe-Model-P2428153.aspx. It has completely eliminated frost in the fridge. Also, if you are also having cooling problems, I recently installed an Amish cooling unit in our Domectic 7030 fridge. While doing so I also installed two fans on the coils in the back compartment. I wired them two ways, always-on or to turn on only when the included thermostat called for cooling. I initially had them set for always-on but when we got in cooler weather, I noticed that the fridge was not getting as cold as it was in hot weather. I called the factory and was told that the unit needed some heat back in the coils to cool properly so I should use the thermostat for the fans in all but the hottest weather. When we hit really cool weather I turned the fans off completely and the fridge got even colder. Based on this experience I am wondering if in very cold temperatures it would help to add heat to the back of the fridge or even seal off the bottom door until temps become more moderate. For safety, I would also turn off the gas to the fridge and run it only on electric if I sealed off the vent door. Right now the freezer is at -6 degrees with no coil fans on and the fridge is set on the median #3 temperature setting. Exterior temps have been ranging from 34 degrees up to 75 degrees. With the old factory set up I never saw freezer temps below -2 degrees so the Amish cooling unit is working better than the original OEM Dometic cooling unit. Of course the Dometic fridge was 12 years old when we bought the coach. Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #44 – January 20, 2016, 09:32:50 am I have read many posts from alot of members who have repaired or replaced with a residential unit. My present fridge is still working fine however being 20 years old I think I'm on borrowed time. My plan is to go residential. Why did some of you add batteries and another inverter. I seldom dry camp and I have a 2000 watt inverter and with the residential unit using less electricity why not just plug it into the eisting 110v plug. Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #45 – January 20, 2016, 10:02:39 am Well to give you my reason for adding an extra battery/better ones, it was because of the solar and using it instead of shore power. The reason for the smaller extra inverter-1000watt- was again because of living off my batteries and trying to cut down any losses of wasted amps etc therefore giving us a longer time and less chance of running down said batteries before sun (and charging ) comes up. The 1000 w one uses less standby power (loss) than the big 2500 w one and it only controls the fridge/tv etc/ and 2 plugs.This was copied from Beamalarm/ Modifications article and by far a sensible thing in my case.JohnH Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #46 – January 20, 2016, 10:07:33 am Ken, the propane section of my fridge isn't working right now. I suspect I need a new circuit board but I've been leaning more towards not wanting to sink any money into a near 20 year old fridge. Maybe I'll try it though.Kent, I had a 200 watt Lasko heater in behind the fridge, which is also sealed up, but it didn't do anything. The fridge did start working yesterday when the temperature got up into the high 20s which I guess is warm enough for the ammonia and water solution to not freeze. It was actually quite a bit colder last year but for some reason the fridge seems to be far more picky about the temperature this winter. Maybe it is possible that there is damage or degradation that builds up over time from freezing up? Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #47 – January 20, 2016, 10:26:24 am John did you locate the inverter by the existing one an run separate feeds to the tv and fridge. Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #48 – January 20, 2016, 06:40:50 pm Joe, see Additional Inverter for an article about adding a second inverter.Great idea. Quote Selected
Re: Marine Style Refrigerator Installation 36' U270 Reply #49 – January 20, 2016, 06:46:50 pm Roger and John thank you for your suggestions its starting to make sense to me. Quote Selected
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