Why do we stay with gas fridges

[mvg]

Really, why do we insist on having gas fridges?? If you are a long- timer or full-timer, why not have an electric fridge ?

[OntMont]

In our case, simply because we don't always camp where there is electricity.

[HughM]

If you ever dry camp you will know that gas is needed as your batteries won't have the capacity. Also it's nice for those in storage and without electricity to start the fridge the day before travel to get cooled down.
Hugh

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Since we do not dry camp, well, ok, maybe 1 time since we have owned Tana, we would switch to a household frig, electric only before we would replace this one. The new RV frigs run, wayyyyy over a grand, you can pick up an apartment sized electric one at Lowe's or other such stores for a third of that, give or take.

We did this on our prior TT, and I soooooooo miss that frig!

[ggranch]

Also, on long (timewise) pulls with the gas on, the food stays cold. Haven't lost anything since I started doing this. 6 hours on a 90+ day can turn the inside of the trailer into an oven. Nice not to have to worry about that "after-setup" beer being warm! Bob

[ols1932]

Ditto OntMont's post.

Orv

[mvg]

Ok, but if you are not full timing and travel, say, 200 miles per day,why cant you gel-pak your fridge and travel with your food. Or, get a 600 watts transformer and travel on the alternator.

Hate being a prisoner to conventional thinking.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

We traveled up to 8 hours a day, frig and freezer (on the electric one) packed, only opening the door for lunch, if I could NOT get hubby to spring for a Mickeydees, or truck stop for lunch.

We traveled in 70 to 90 degree days, and never had any spoilage.

It can be done, just like a deep freeze in a rig, pack it, cool it, don't open it, and it will still be cold hours later.

[stiles watson]

I want the combo gas/elec refrigerator. It covers all contingencies. Manufacturers build to the whole market, boon dockers, full timers, weekenders, vacationers and long timers. Individuals may not need certain aspects of a particular RV. But other individuals want the very item the first individual finds unnecessary.

If you don't want the combo, then as Carol indicated, apartment sized refrigerators are available for replacements should the OEM unit fail. However, when you get ready to sell, a boon docker won't buy it.

[Mudchief]

It depends on your life style and where you travel. When you pull into a camp ground on a hot day and only have a 30amp or even a 20 amp hook up in some of the older parks you can do the following. Switch the frig and hot water tank to gas so you can run the ac, microwave and other things at the same time. Otherwise you will be flipping that breaker.

[Driftwoodgal]

We have used our gas frig one time, that was about a month ago. We are working hurricane IKE and had to be on a generator. It really was nice to leave the generator off and be able to run the refrigerator during the day and still have cold and frozen food. Since the area lost power, there were lots of supermarkets without fresh or frozen food, as they lost power too. So it was my best friend for 6 days.

Now saying that, we never travel with the gas frig on. Hubby just doesn't like doing that, so Nuff said on the subject. I have found that I can freeze ice and put it in with my frozen meat in the freezer, put frozen things in the frig that I will use in the next few days, and we have traveled 3200 miles without food spoilage.

As Carol posted, if you don't open the frig/freezer a bunch things stay cold and frozen. In fact I think I need to thank Carol about her suggestions many posts ago on how to travel without it being on gas.

If we have a frig failure I am not sure we will replace it with a gas/electric frig. We would be trading in this rig, so what is the difference in a Dometic that may go out soon, or a new electric frig? JMHO.

Colleen

[garyka]

It's really nice when you get to your destination and ever thing is set up to open a nice cold one.

[simonsrf]

Like Mudchief said, it depends on your lifestyle.

We dry camp most of the time, and not having a gas refrigerator would be devastating to our lifestyle. There is no way that our solar panel power system could ever be as efficient on energy use as propane to cool our refrigerator. Our average use is about a full bottle per month which includes use for heat and cooking. Of course when in a park we use the electricity. Your lifestyle will determine your needs.

[bsmeaton]

And I was just thinking how nice it would be if the frig at home had gas backup like the Monty.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Fulltimer or longtimer or weekender, if your traveling 6 to 8 hours in 100 plus temperatures, with the sun beating down on you, you will be very very appreciative of the gas operation.
Last summer we traveled west to northern Calif. In northern Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho we saw temps of 105° and higher. When we arrived in a CG for the night temps inside the trailer matched the outside temp. If we had a electric ONLY fridg we would have been tossing most all our food.
If our Dometic ever quit I would not hesitate replacing it with another Dometic or even a Norcold but never an electric only stickhouse unit.

[H. John Kohl]

I know of one SOB that has put in the home refrigerator and uses an inverter and two six volt batteries I believe 1000 or 2000 watt (what ever works). I believe they claimed over 16 hours without power.

[Exnavydiver]

My parents had an island house in northern Wi. From the day we finished building it to the day it burned (electrical fire) a span of 30 years we had a Servel and a Dometic gas fridge. We loved them. Because they were absorption fridges they didn't have a fan sucking dust into the heat fins. We only vacuumed the fins to keep the cobwebs down. They were a spider haven. They would keep food cold very cheaply. A hundred lb bottle would keep both running from May to Nov. and still have a month left for the spring. They work great... Dave

[trukdoc]

If you have not figured it out it really comes down to your preferance. There will always be times that being able to run off gas is convienant. But there are ways around it. As mentioned a apt frige is cheaper but then you have to have the expensive inverter to be able to travel with it. Or no inverter and preplan trips carefully and shorter days. I prefer to have gas/ electric but many have sucessfully used electric only. as for what size inverter and that has a lot to with cost. A 600 watt might "RUN" a refrigerator but it takes a lot more to "START" the compressor.

[genecurp]

I enjoy having propane refrigerator and water heater to dry camp at a rally or wal-mark AND to free up amps for the air conditioner when in am in a 30 amp site. Having flexibility and options enhnces the traveling life style for me.
Gene