RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Topic: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel) (Read 1572 times) previous topic - next topic

RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

June 15, 2019, 11:56:18 am

RV Travel online newsletter has a discussion on residential refrigerators in an RV

They bring up factory warranty and service issues. Not sure they are correct on all points.

RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? - RV Travel[/url

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #1 – June 15, 2019, 12:02:13 pm

Not sure, but article seems to be biased.
On my '81 when the ice maker failed a Sears repairman came in the coach and repaired it under warrantee

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #2 – June 15, 2019, 01:16:24 pm

IMHO ... if you spnd a lot of time living in your RV, a residential fridge is a HUGE improvement for your quality of life. Better than a fancy TV .... it is something you have your hands on many, many times in a day. Like having a really good mattress or a great driver's seat. I didn't care about having a washer onboard ... made do with lots of other things ... but, the day we converted to a residential fridge, my life changed for the better in ways I cannot enumerate.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #3 – June 15, 2019, 01:24:04 pm

Now with the 12V compressor cooling unit replacements I wouldn't consider residential.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #4 – June 15, 2019, 01:42:54 pm

We just replaced our kitchen at our home and installed a new 4 door Samsung counter depth refer in it.

The reference in its and the rf18's owner manual to the separate compressors and humidity levels in the refrigerator and freezer sections and the maintenance of commercial level humidity in the refer was of interest. We notice the fresh foods keep much longer than our previous single compressor refer.

The newer design's ability to keep food much longer might sway a future refer swap out. Might. Future.

The reason for this post is that this factor needs to more considered in anyone's calculations who do not have current technology refers.

I was not aware of the different humidities in their twin compressor design.

As we normally run our chest refer under the coach in use the difference in the power consumption totals may only add a percentage of the 125 amp hours per day posted here that a RF18 consumes.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #5 – June 15, 2019, 02:11:56 pm

I think Bob is referring to the Samsung Twin Cooling PlusTM which "adds new levels of convenience and innovation with its two evaporators that manage the fridge and freezer space separately to minimize temperature fluctuation. This makes it possible to control optimal humidity and temperature because moisture in the fridge can remain separate from freezer. A higher humidity up to 70% preserves food for longer so this is a welcome addition that minimizes food wastage."

This article seems pretty biased. When I bought my Samsung for the coach the dealer knew exactly where it was going to be installed. I add the five year extended warranty which I never had to use. There was never any question that the warranty was valid in this use. Like many we are happy with our choice.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #6 – June 15, 2019, 02:33:17 pm

Quote from: Carol Savournin – June 15, 2019, 01:16:24 pm

IMHO ... if you spnd a lot of time living in your RV, a residential fridge is a HUGE improvement for your quality of life. Better than a fancy TV .... it is something you have your hands on many, many times in a day. Like having a really good mattress or a great driver's seat. I didn't care about having a washer onboard ... made do with lots of other things ... but, the day we converted to a residential fridge, my life changed for the better in ways I cannot enumerate.

Carol,
Curious as to "the Rest of the Story".

A residential would likely work for us, if we didn't boondock a lot. BUT, as Full Timers with a beautiful residence leased and on standby for that day "When we grow up", plus we have a beautiful Wintertime Resort Lot at RiverBend, which sort of artificially skews one's perception of "Camping" reality.

We love to get back to nature when we travel, so we boondock a lot in remote areas and enjoy the change; remoteness, peace and solitude. We also firmly seek out KISS in our lives and don't want the frailties, expenses and complications of a Solar System.

So, "the rest of the story" I'm seeking is: If you boondocked like us (60 to 120 days a year) (if it were 30 days a year or less, maybe a residential for us. Over 30, for us, at least - NO WAY), how many times a year did you boondock? How many hours a day did you need to run your generator and at how many days a year boondocking would you still make the unqualified recommendation (other than - "if you spend a lot of time living in your RV") to change to a residential refrigeration unit?
Just curious,
Neal

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #7 – June 15, 2019, 03:22:02 pm

Neal,
I don't see any solar in your signature so to give yo some idea of use with no solar, we used the '81 that came from FT with a 19 cu. ft. Amana from the factory for 18 years and never were on a pedestal. It took 3 hours of generator time, one in the morning when the DW made toast and coffee and two at night. With the solar I have now I am running the generator 1/2 hour at night because of a tree blocking the sun after 2:00 PM. DW makes coffee and toast in the morning on inverter and afterwards still have 12.3 volts. If we didn't have satellite TV going most of the day no generator time would be needed. We stocked the refrigerator and freezer at home on may 16th. and still have enough to make it to Tue. when we leave where we are dry camped in the Sierra's. Fire was not any consideration for the residential refrigerator DW liked to stock at home and the '81 has her spoiled. I threw away a perfectly good Norcold in our '96 Monaco to install one of the Samsung's in order to keep Lynda camping with me.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #8 – June 15, 2019, 04:05:12 pm

Agree with Neal. For me it is the redundancy of having an absorption fridge. Got stuck in a hurricane where shore power was off for 2 weeks, and I could not move bus with residential fridge, to refill with diesel. Did not run out of diesel for genset, but if I had, would have been out of luck. My small propane tank I have now will probably run fridge for a month if I do not have power for the electric elements in fridge. But solar is important also, and have not tried it, but with good sun, might to be able to run the propane fridge electrically, off solar and battery only. Can't be too prepared.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #9 – June 15, 2019, 04:49:32 pm

In over 10 years with solar, there has not been a moment where it has given any kind of problem. It just sits there and gives super reliable power. More reliable that our generator that needed a feed line replacement. Unless air is needed, we never start the generator.

As the post above, redundancy is the key here for us. Our Norcold absorption fridge runs forever on almost no propane and with the Hardie Backerboard covering every square inch of the compartment, there is no risk of a fire consuming the coach or killing us. I looked at the tank gauge after we came home last night after using the stove, heater a little up at altitude and 24/7 for the fridge, the gauge had only moved about a needle width.

With LED conversion on almost everything, we watched two movies a night on a 50 inch 4K TV and had plenty of juice for the latte maker and microwave in the morning, all on the inefficient OEM inverter. The inverter is 26 years old, the contoller/panels/batteries about about 11 years old and it just keeps on ticking.

If you shop on Craigslist, Marketplace, and Ebay, installing excellent solar components and batteries is cheap. This is where a DIY person only pays a few pennies on the dollar compared to a shop and more than likely a better installation if researched properly.

Pierce

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #10 – June 15, 2019, 06:48:35 pm

If memory serves me our 97 has two 110 volt plugs in the refer compartment. One in shore power the other to inverter power.

Two 110 volt heating Elements in a our RM 7832 as far as I see but I think it's interesting that Foretravel thought of another way to run a system in the coach. Or run a power cord externally to the refer door and plug in directly bypassing the coaches systems entirely.

We are sort of preppers and bought a small li-ion 50amp hour internal 1500 watt inverter generator. 38 pound steel box. And two portable 100 watt solar panels that can daisy chain into it.

Weird issue but the idea that a dead coach could run a refer off the small back up unit.

Panels say normal output is around 70 watts. So 140 for both.

Wonder how long would run the refer? Unit puts out 13.42 volts no load also. And 122 volts AC no load. 20 amps of dc. Anderson cables. Could run the 12 volt side of the refer? As long as you had propane you could power the refers brain?

Looks like could charge coach batteries directly.

Cannot imagine needing the capacity. Maybe I can? Hope not. You never know....

We ARE in shaky town.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #11 – June 15, 2019, 07:34:41 pm

With 1200 watts of solar on the roof on almost any day between March and October we can generate at least 50% more power than we use. Batteries are easily recharged. Solar was relatively cheap and virtually maintenance free. It is a balancing act. How much power do you use? How do you generate power? How much power can you save for overnight? We have spent two weeks in the sun without any generator time or electrical hookups running our Samsung. Many days more than 6KWH.

There is no right or wrong way to use your coach. Figure out want you want it to do for you and make it happen. There are so many opportunities to do things today that weren't available when our coaches were built. Keep on making our great coaches better.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #12 – June 15, 2019, 07:38:08 pm

We normally boondock so it's an RV fridge for us. 3 days with cloudy sky's 840 watts of solar no problems. Generator has been down for 30 days. If I where going with electric l think I would go with a 12v cooling unit replacement, no inverter needed. But it's nice to have options, so one can find what works for them.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #13 – June 15, 2019, 08:19:00 pm

What was involved to fit the residential fridge loaded in the coach? Did it fit through the front door? if not what was the solution?

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #14 – June 15, 2019, 08:23:03 pm

Fiddler, ours went through the side window. We added a narrow full height, full depth pantry cabinet that has been very useful.
Another Samsung installed

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #15 – June 15, 2019, 08:41:41 pm

We switched to a Samsung RF18 last year after the second cooling unit failure in our Dometic in just over 5 years. In every way our Samsung is superior to any absorption refrigerator we have ever had. We would never want to go back to an absorption refrigerator, and we would never put some newer-style cooling system in an old box.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #16 – June 15, 2019, 09:21:05 pm

Actually had some Lowe's associates help load our new Samsung refrig in our coach and yes, I purchased an extended warranty to boot! No issues. I get that newsletter every week and after having read the article on the residential fridge's, yes, I thought it was a little bias as well!

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #17 – June 15, 2019, 09:56:49 pm

Quote from: Fiddler – June 15, 2019, 08:19:00 pm

What was involved to fit the residential fridge loaded in the coach? Did it fit through the front door? if not what was the solution?

What Roger said. Photos of the "through the side window" Samsung insertion:

Our Days Spent in Remodel Shop (Reply #23)

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #18 – June 15, 2019, 10:05:43 pm

Quote from: Chuck & Jeannie – June 15, 2019, 09:56:49 pm

What Roger said. Photos of the "through the side window" Samsung insertion:

Our Days Spent in Remodel Shop (Reply #23)

Like the sliding door, close it in the winter to help heat up the coach, open in summer to get rid of heat.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #19 – June 15, 2019, 10:10:24 pm

The hard part was getting the old one out. Weighs twice what the Samsung did. Get some help. Rented a manual fork lift. Susan made lunch

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #20 – June 16, 2019, 07:54:04 pm

Quote from: Roger & Susan in Home2 – June 15, 2019, 10:10:24 pm

The hard part was getting the old one out. Weighs twice what the Samsung did.

Getting the old refrigerator out doesn't need to be "the hard part." It's actually fairly easy to take apart the major components and then take it out the front door--ever with a narrow front door such as has our 1995 U320. The new Samsung easily came in a side-window opening after the windiw was removed. A pickup truck backed into place and a few good friends made the transition from outside to inside quiet easy.

Overall this is our favorite upgrade. It's quite nice to have more-than-enough refrigerator and freezer space!

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #21 – June 16, 2019, 08:37:26 pm

Quote from: juicesqueezer – June 15, 2019, 09:21:05 pm

Actually had some Lowe's associates help load our new Samsung refrig in our coach and yes, I purchased an extended warranty to boot! No issues. I get that newsletter every week and after having read the article on the residential fridge's, yes, I thought it was a little bias as well!

Joe is being modest and isn't telling the whole story!!! after much contortion and a little persuasion the guy who is over the pro(building material) Dept came out and helped get the refrigerator in the coach--even if the yard guy wasn't happy!!! and yes I did thank the pro fellow.
Spiced up my day lol !!!
Chris

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #22 – June 18, 2019, 08:08:44 am

Quote from: bbeane – June 15, 2019, 07:38:08 pm

We normally boondock so it's an RV fridge for us. 3 days with cloudy sky's 840 watts of solar no problems. Generator has been down for 30 days. If I where going with electric l think I would go with a 12v cooling unit replacement, no inverter needed. But it's nice to have options, so one can find what works for them.

Bruce How many days per year do you think you boondock?

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #23 – June 18, 2019, 09:08:17 am

Rick, 300+ days in the last year and a half or two years. We don't visit camp grounds unless absolutely necessary. Just don't care for the sardine can feeling.

Re: RV refrigerators – Go for a residential unit? (RV Travel)

Reply #24 – June 18, 2019, 01:49:48 pm

Neal ... "Curious as to "the Rest of the Story".

We only had 450 watts of solar. When we did boondock, it was for perhaps a week at a time ... maybe 10 days while in Q. We used the generator to top off our batteries and it would kick on at night if I watched a lot of TV. We had not yet converted our lighting to LED, so that was a draw. Our "camping" style was not what many would call "camping". I lived in the coach full time ... it was my
ONLY home ... and I wanted ALL my comforts! If I were a dedicated boondocker, I would have added solar panels and gone for a smaller residential fridge, not the full sized Samsung that we chose. It is a matter of preference, to be sure. But I was NEVER sorry to have seen the last of that Dometic beast that needed defrosting every 2 weeks and had such inconvenient storage options.

Affiliate Notice