Residential Fridges

[whutfles]

We have a gas/electric fridge in our old Montanna and like it. Our RV is stored a few miles away from our house. So when we get ready to go on an RV trip, we go out the day before and turn on the gas to let the fridge cool. The next day when we show up to load the RV the fridge is cold and the freezer is frozen. And yes we run the fridge on gas while traveling.

As we shop for new RV's we are turned away when we see a residential fridge. What is your experience if you have a residential fridge?

Can you go out the day before and turn on the inverter and will the fridge be cold the next day? And if so, will your batteries still be good or dead? And will you have enough battery left to open slides or run your hydraulic pump while hitching up?

Does your fridge and freezer stay cold while traveling?

Does your residential fridge take the bumpy roads without problems?

[jeffba]

During our PDI, the tech said with a single battery the Res. refer will run 10-18 hours on battery. We bring ours home before loading.

Residential will cool down much faster than RV style. Fridge and freezer stayed at set temp during a 13 hour day's worth of driving. Out side temps were 50's - 60s. Real test will be driving across Texas in summer.

Drove the US69 roller coaster in OK. Fridge handled it better that driver and passenger.

So far we are happier with res refer. Okay ice and water in the door may be nice to have.

[JohnandJoyce]

I always owned a RV frig. I think it's more versatile. That's the only one we know. What is the consensus out there? I'm afraid of draining the batteries with a residential unit. We campout for a night in walmart on the trip south. What do you think??

[Dave W]

We continue to be happy with our Norcold 1210. Others may not be but when the power goes out at our usual summer site, which it does fairly often, it just switches over to gas. A for instance, the power, for as yet unknown reasons, went out over a big section of our area last Saturday at about 11:00 AM and didn't come back until 7:30PM. We were not limited in any way opening or closing it nor were we battery poor for other needs. It was an unexpected boondock experience. We also travel with it on gas (except when refueling)



If we purchase another new 5er, it will be with a conventional RV gas/electric reefer.

[powerhaulic]

This is our first res unit, i was never comfortable running gas going down the road as it is technically illegal.
The fridg is much better at keeping temp, the freezer is fantastic, having an ice maker is great. We had no problem with overnights with single group 27 deep cycle, but have now switched to 2 6v 450 golf cart Interstates, essentially quadrupling reserve power. On the road in 90deg heat the ice cream even stays hard, truck charging going down the road is a nonissue.
We will not be going back to an RV fridg in the future.
Samsung in our 3811 and loving the capacity and function.

[JandC]

We had Norcold frigs in both of our Montana fivers. They worked okay but never were as good as a residential one IMHO.

In our last two RVs we have now had residential frigs. Depending on how big your house battery bank is you can still get by if you don't have power.

It is nice to have a larger capacity, ice maker, and water dispenser in a residential frig instead of just a basic RV style one.

[mhs4771]

Our Residential Fridge is 3 years old now and has just over 30K miles on it and hasn't given us any problems. It's on 24/7. We have four 12V batteries and can go several days before we would need to fire up the Genny. We also won't go back to an RV gas/electric fridge.

[DQDick]

I was curious about them, but two friends so far have advised me against it and wished they didn't have them. Mostly it's a boondocking problem. I know a lot of people like them, but we'll stay with what we have for now.

[JohnandJoyce]

Thank you for the honest comeback. We are happy with the RV frig in our Montana 3810. Looking in to installing an inverter to poweer my CPAC unit while boondocking. My have to add another ,12V battery to handle the load. What do you think. The unit comes with one ,12V deep cycle. Love this site!!!!

[DQDick]

We currently have two and in your circumstances I would add a second for sure. Better to have it and not really need it than find out you occasionally do need it.

[whutfles]

I have a 1hp air compressor in my garage so I installed a 1000W inverter to run it. It wouldn't start the compressor so had to exchange it for a 3500W inverter. Mounted it to the ceiling joists in my garage. I made a U-shaped bracket out of 1/8 inch thick metal that the inverter sits in and is slightly larger than my inverter to protect it when I'm poking around in the garage with other items. I drilled 2 holes in the front wall of my garage for the cables to access my battery. I lined these holes with 2 PVC 60 degree couplers to protect the wire. The wire is 0 guage which is like heavy battery cables. I borrowed a crimper from Napa to install the brass ends on the wires. They didn't recommend my inverter be more than 3 feet from my batteries or it would degrade the performance of the inverter. I changed out my batteries for 2 12V Interstate dry cell batteries. It takes twice as many watts to start the compressor with cold oil in it as it does to run it. A C-Pap will run on a lot smaller inverter. I installed 2 paddle switches near these holes which allows me to turn both legs of the electricity off to the inverter when it is not in use so that there is no electricity in my garage when it is not in use.

My inverter is not pure sine wave which is a measure of how clean the electricity is that it produces. Some newer electronics will not run on inverters that is not pure sine wave. A pure sine wave inverter is a lot more expensive than one that is not. I purchased my inverter from Napa. I'm going to test run my C-Pap on my inverter and if it works, I'm going to install an outlet in my bedroom wall and run a wire from it to my inverter. Then when the power goes out, all I have to do is turn on the switches in my garage and I should be able to sleep for days.

[jeffba]

I have a 1hp air compressor in my garage so I installed a 1000W inverter to run it. It wouldn't start the compressor so had to exchange it for a 3500W inverter. Mounted it to the ceiling joists in my garage. I made a U-shaped bracket out of 1/8 inch thick metal that the inverter sits in and is slightly larger than my inverter to protect it when I'm poking around in the garage with other items. I drilled 2 holes in the front wall of my garage for the cables to access my battery. I lined these holes with 2 PVC 60 degree couplers to protect the wire. The wire is 0 guage which is like heavy battery cables. I borrowed a crimper from Napa to install the brass ends on the wires. They didn't recommend my inverter be more than 3 feet from my batteries or it would degrade the performance of the inverter. I changed out my batteries for 2 12V Interstate dry cell batteries. It takes twice as many watts to start the compressor with cold oil in it as it does to run it. A C-Pap will run on a lot smaller inverter. I installed 2 paddle switches near these holes which allows me to turn both legs of the electricity off to the inverter when it is not in use so that there is no electricity in my garage when it is not in use.

My inverter is not pure sine wave which is a measure of how clean the electricity is that it produces. Some newer electronics will not run on inverters that is not pure sine wave. A pure sine wave inverter is a lot more expensive than one that is not. I purchased my inverter from Napa. I'm going to test run my C-Pap on my inverter and if it works, I'm going to install an outlet in my bedroom wall and run a wire from it to my inverter. Then when the power goes out, all I have to do is turn on the switches in my garage and I should be able to sleep for days.


When you say 2 12VDC Interstate dry cells, are you referring to AGM style batteries?

[whutfles]

I believe that is what they are. I just looked up on Interstate Batteries site and it looks like their MTZ series but mine were the long ones. They cost $350 each. Their site says free replacement for 48 months but I think the salesman said they would last about 10 years. They are really heavy.

[CaptnJohn]

We are on FHU 99% of the time but often travel 12 hours daily. The 18 cu ft Dometic 4 door serves us well. In nearly 50 years we only had a problem with one RV fridge and that was in the early 70s. BUT ~~ we have only owned 12 or 15 units.... pulled all over the US. We also live in an area that on rare occasions is prone to lose power for 1 - 8 days so the 5er can be get away place if needed.

[jeffba]

I believe that is what they are. I just looked up on Interstate Batteries site and it looks like their MTZ series but mine were the long ones. They cost $350 each. Their site says free replacement for 48 months but I think the salesman said they would last about 10 years. They are really heavy.

At $350 a piece they should be AGM. Will look them up thanks.

I am thinking of adding batteries and Inverter to power compressor. Plus would like to have the ability to asphalt boondock.

[jeffba]

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/products/31m-agm?productLine=rv&subcategoryKey=&ignorecategoryid=true

[phillyg]

One 12v battery wont run the fridge very long. I have two and overnite will leave you wanting more juice when you try to hookup the next morning. If the two batteries are going on two years old and haven't been well-maintained, even worse.

[JohnandJoyce]

Thank you for your honest response. I love this site!!!!!. I will add another 12V battery to the mix. This will give me more freedom on bondocking!!!. We spend a couple of days in Walmart on our way down fron NJ to FL. Should I parrallel connect or series wire the battery cable connections and why?. Thanks John

[jeffba]

if both are 12 volt, connect them in Parallel. if you get 2 6vdc batteries tehn you connect them in series.

[phillyg]

if both are 12 volt, connect them in Parallel. if you get 2 6vdc batteries tehn you connect them in series.

Yes, be careful. Two 12v in series = 24v; not good. I recall there are some youtube videos showing how to set up and use RV batteries.

[jcurtis934]

As stated, batteries in series adds the voltage and keeps the amp hr rating of the batteries the same. Batteries in parallel, keep the voltage the same but add the amp hr ratings of the batteries.

[H. John Kohl]

I have a Residential Refrigerator and am total depressed. I chose the residential because i thought it was more efficient and it is on 120 volt.
I found the refrigerator and inverter draw about 20 amp per hour from your battery. There for letting it run for 24 hours is about 480 amps. My two 12 volt batteries are rated at 110 amps each so 220 amps. The rule I have used is only drawing liquid batteries down by 50% to prevent damage to their life. Therefor 5 hours is max with no other items drawing amperage. That is not the case because there are other draws.

So I say NO you can not run it overnight to cool it down on battery.

I do have a battery monitor so my numbers are not guesses.

Best of luck and safe travels.

[routemaster]

Hey John.
I have Samsung RF197 since 2013 and run it on 4 6v D/C golf cart batteries I have sat in a Casino parking over night and had power in the am,but do have solar to em topped up on the road.
Den.

[Wayner197]

We have a Samsung residential fridge on our 3721RL. I’m currently waiting on CW to replace the 1000w inverter because it won’t run the fridge for some reason. In the mean time I installed a 2000w Inverter and it runs the fridge just fine. A recent trip to Savannah (5 hours on the road) and when we got there the fridge was a chili 38 and the freezer was -2.
I will add that it cools down faster than the RV fridge in our old camper and we enjoy the built in ice maker to boot. So yes, we recommend a residential fridge, but we don’t dry camp at all.

[topjustice]

On our way home from picking up our new 3791RD in Elkhart we overnighted at Walmart on two occasions. We had two golf cart batteries installed instead of the normal 12V as part of the deal. Our stays at Walmart were about 12hours each time. After running the residential refer at regular temperatures, using the LED lights as usual, water pump, etc. the batteries were at 3/4 charge in the morning.

[speedster100]

Try boon docking for a week with your residential fridge........ not going to happen without running a generator for hours to charge the battery's and pissing off your neighbors. That is why we ensured we had a standard gas/electric fridge. BTW touch wood it works awesome....

[whutfles]

Thank you everybody for your honest and candid responses. We would have had to do a lot of camping to experience those results.

It sounds like 6V in series will run a lot longer than 12V in parallell. And that the convenience of residential for filtered cold drinking water is nice. And that electric is safer than gas when traveling down the road.

We've had very good luck with our 12 cu ft gas/electric so it's going to be a hard sell to make us change.

[mtlakejim]

Our new unit has the residential fridge. We are very happy with it. It has a lot more room, an icemaker and just seems to outperform an RV fridge in just about every way. We park our RV at our home and it is always plugged in so that isn't an issue for us and I cannot address the inverter power questions. I will however say that the residential fridge does stay cold much longer than an RV fridge proably due to better insulation and build quality.


One of the biggest advantages of residential fridge would be inexpensive replacement costs and ease of installation. It would also be much easier to find someone to work on it as any home appliance tech can work on them.


The one downside I see is if your the true boondocking type of camper. If you frequently park for extended periods of time in areas that do not have electricity then that will be an issue particularly if you don't have a generator.Folks that are serious about off the grid camping are going to want the RV dual fuel fridges...

[summer home]

Our 375Fl has the residential refer.. we love it...more capacity, quicker cool down, Ice Cream is HARD..........
2 12v batteries, charge line from the truck.... arrive at campsite with fridge cold and batteries topped off...
Have not done any dry camping with this rig yet.....

[CaptnJohn]

Love it ~ some had soft ice cream? Why as every RV fridge I've had certainly kept it hard. That is what the freezer does. Pushing paranoia of the world exploding driving with the fridge on. I've missed that pulling these things for 50 years. Manufactures tell you how great they are ~ because they are cheaper. Have not found a need for bigger than our 4 door 18 cu ft RV fridge yet. A little longer to get cooled down, not much if you add a little frozen water 1st. It is choice, but paranoia should not be a factor.

[mhs4771]

John, I would say there is something wrong with either your Fridge or the setup.
Ours draws 11 amps from the batteries when the compressor is running, but it's a very low duty cycle and only runs for a short period per hour as required. I did a test on ours when were first got it with the OEM two cheap 12V Batteries and without using power for anything else it ran for 36 Hours and Batteries we still at 12.6V

[mtlakejim]

Love it ~ some had soft ice cream? Why as every RV fridge I've had certainly kept it hard. That is what the freezer does. Pushing paranoia of the world exploding driving with the fridge on. I've missed that pulling these things for 50 years. Manufactures tell you how great they are ~ because they are cheaper. Have not found a need for bigger than our 4 door 18 cu ft RV fridge yet. A little longer to get cooled down, not much if you add a little frozen water 1st. It is choice, but paranoia should not be a factor.

I would say less expensive not cheaper. Like a lot of other things just personal preference. We don’t boondock and prefer the residential feels just like home

[footz1941]

Yes but the frig does not run full time If the doors are kept closed probably will not run over 20% of the time. My opinion only probably worth what you paid for it

[Debgrind85]

We have two weeks until our Norcold rv fridge is removed and a residential fridge installed and I can not wait! We specifically traded the residential for the rv fridge when we ordered our Montana for all the reasons folks list on this site and we had never had and issue with them in the past. I have regretted that choice since we brought the rv home. Our first year of owning the rv that fridge was the irritation on every outing and Keystone and Norcold the irritation afterwards. The Montana spent more time at the dealership then with me over the fridge. I gave them virtually a blank check to fix it as I was beyond caring about the warranty by the end of the season and still couldn’t solve the issue as it failed again immediately. Even if I have to replace the he residential every few years it will be worth it to have a unit that works and can be quickly fixed or replaced when it breaks.

[Dmcgrew]

We no have our first residential fridge after 40 years of owning an RV. I had very few problems with any of the gas/electric style but now that we are fulltiming I really enjoy the residential fridge. Boondocking is not typical although a night off grid now and then does occur while traveling long distance. With my background in fire service and conducting fire investigations for years I saw many fires resulting from failed RV fridges. This is just one more thing I now don't worry about.

[Justme44]

Yep .. works just fine in my 2000.

[GreG L.]

For me a residential is the way I will go with a 2019. We have to store ours on a downhill and cant cool down an RV refrig. until we pull it up on the street (not everyone's issue) and we don't boon-dock, not our life style so for us it makes since.

[Snowbirder]

Just purchased a 2021 3121RL in November with residential refrigerator. It is a GE, they finally figured out the samsung brand was junk. I will never go back to a gas/electric. They seem to be more expensive and prone to problems. I don't do much boon docking but when I do, I have a generator. The ice maker is great.

[CaptnJohn]

Just purchased a 2021 3121RL in November with residential refrigerator. It is a GE, they finally figured out the samsung brand was junk. I will never go back to a gas/electric. They seem to be more expensive and prone to problems. I don't do much boon docking but when I do, I have a generator. The ice maker is great.

What is the model of your GE? Any problem with my Samsung and it's gone.

[Snowbirder]

The model is GWE19J.

[CaptnJohn]

The model is GWE19J.

Thank you

[Eagleback]

Frigidaire #FFBN1721TV, is the model we changed to after getting rid of that NORJUNK. Our neighbor now has that exact same model in his motorhome. 4 door French refer. fits perfect in the hole width. a little taller of course so out went our drawer under the old fridge. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT.

[Delaine and Lindy]

I agree, we have had the residential fridge, will not get another one. We just purchased a new 2021 3762 BP, because we wanted a gas/electric fridge. Because if failure of electric power shut down, during storms, etc. But, it is everyone's choice. If you do go with the residential, I highly recommend you also have an inboard generator. Happy Trails.

[GreG L.]

It's a matter of need. If you do boon docking and don't want to spend all kinds of money on solar then gas/electric is the way to go, I am sure there are other reasons also.
For us, we turn on the inverter the night before we leave and pack out everything except refrigerator food, in the morning we transfer our home frig contents to the RV and were off. We don't boon dock except rarely over night and the batteries have never failed to keep it running. Have a onboard generator just in case.