Residential Refrigerator

[fasanjager]

Looked at a New 3611 the other day and see where they have a Residential Refrigerator, really like the look and lots of room…Can anyone give me feedback on these. We are planning a trip to Alaska next year and will be doing some boon docking. The dealer told us the extra dedicated battery would power the refrigerator for 12 hours afraid would run out of power.
Thanks for any info you can give us.

[K0LCB]

We liked the 3711,

[DQDick]

The folks who installed my solar seemed to feel that a large residential refrigerator like they'd put in a new rig would be very difficult to manage the draw on even with our set up of solar and six golf cart batteries so we stayed with the AC/Propane model. They didn't sell refrigerators or rigs so I didn't feel they had any interest in misleading me, in fact they could have used the opportunity to sell me more panels.

[brenkco]

I have a residential refer, 4-6 volt batteries. The drain overnight was minimal when boondocking. Glad we opted for one as we sure like the size.

The fact that they are not a fire hazard is also comforting. After watching Mac, the fire guys demonstration at the Q, we left our Rv refer off at night for safety reasons. Now we leave the refer on, power our whole rig at night with the inverter and have plenty of battery power in the morning to brew coffee.

Ken

[1retired06]

Several in the park here, both fivers and MHs. Folks happy with the residentials. One, an HR Presidential fiver, came with a dedicated inverter for the frig and a four six volt battery setup for power.

[Ozz]

My single door only pulls 6 amps, I don't think the double door residentials pull much more. I looked up one, it was 615 watts,

Copied from the Internet: @ 500 kwh, demand per day is 1.3 kwh. divide by 24 and you have 54 watts per hour. divide by 12 and demand is 4.5 amp-hours. Multiply by 1.1 to allow for inverter inefficiency and that becomes about 5.4 amps per hour. Multiply by 48 to arrive at minimum battery bank size for one day equals 260 amp-hours (or about 2 group 29 batteries).

Solar system to break even would need to be about 312 watts. If a flat install is used then 446 watts would be a better size. Cost is about $2.00 per watt for DIY.

[DmaxDually]

The fact that they are not a fire hazard is also comforting. After watching Mac, the fire guys demonstration at the Q, we left our Rv refer off at night for safety reasons. Now we leave the refer on, power our whole rig at night with the inverter and have plenty of battery power in the morning to brew coffee.

Ken
[/quote]

Not trying to be sarcastic but what kind of demonstration did he show? I'm just curious,how about your furnance? Do you leave that off too? I would think that would be a bigger fire hazard than your refer.

[DQDick]

Ozz, that's all ok if you're not trying to also run your big screen tv, satellite antenna system, cook in the microwave/convection oven, make coffee in the morning, vacuum the rug etc. If your doing all the regular stuff and running an that frig then you're going to need a much bigger system.

[brenkco]

DmaxDullay,

Apparently, the leading cause of fatal rv fires are caused by rv refrigerators. From what I understand, an rv refer cools by heating ammonia. It creates ammonia gas that his highly flammable, a step that is not found in your furnace. Should the ammonia gas leak, you will have a major problem. What Mac, the fire guy demonstrated, was how to try to survive such a fire.

Sure, he sells fire extinguishers and halogen systems for safety, but the bottom line he stressed is that both occupants of an RV are unlikely to survive an RV fire.

We opted not to sleep with the RV refer on. And, yes, we also sleep with the furnace off....a matter of comfort for us rather than safety.

Ken

[Lenny K]

quote:Originally posted by Ozz

My single door only pulls 6 amps, I don't think the double door residentials pull much more. I looked up one, it was 615 watts,

Copied from the Internet: @ 500 kwh, demand per day is 1.3 kwh. divide by 24 and you have 54 watts per hour. divide by 12 and demand is 4.5 amp-hours. Multiply by 1.1 to allow for inverter inefficiency and that becomes about 5.4 amps per hour. Multiply by 48 to arrive at minimum battery bank size for one day equals 260 amp-hours (or about 2 group 29 batteries).

Solar system to break even would need to be about 312 watts. If a flat install is used then 446 watts would be a better size. Cost is about $2.00 per watt for DIY.

Is that 6 amps AC? If so, you would have to multiply by 10 to get DC amps which means you are drawing 60 amps per hour from your battery bank. Of course the fridge doesn't run constant so your hourly draw would be less.
My single fridge draw was 29 amps DC in my SOB. I haven't checked out what the double fridge in the Monty draws yet.

[brenkco]

Mike,
That is exactly the setup I have. A 1000 watt Magnum inverter dedicated to the refer. I added a 2000 watt Xantrex to power the whole rig.

Ken

[DmaxDually]

Brenkco,

Thanks for the info. I was just considering the propane side of the system. I wasn't thinking about the ammonia and what would happen if you had a leak.

[DQDick]

Please remember RV frig fires are not an everyday event. Witness this story: Fire in an RV is a terrifying thought. Perhaps that is why people tend to consider it one of those things that will only happen to the "other people". "Mac" McCoy should know. Before his retirement in 1999, he had been a paramedic, deputy sheriff and, most recently, the Oregon State Fire Service Training Coordinator. His class begins with a blaze -- he shows pictures of the complete devastation that the some 20,000 reported RV fires a year can cause. Last year, 80% of these fires were in motorhomes, with most of those being gas powered motorhomes. Often these were transmission fires. Mac stresses the need for a transmission heat indicator installed in your rig. 35% of RV fires are caused by 12 volt shorts. Check your extinguishers. Just because the needle shows in the green does not mean the fire extinguisher will work. To check a category BC dry powder type extinguisher, (the sort used for flammable or combustible liquids and energized electrical fires), turn the extinguisher upside down and tap on the bottom. It should sound drum-like. If not, the powder has settled. Tap it until it sounds hollow and then gently drop it from a height of a few inches. It should bounce slightly.

[Ozz]

With Solar you would not be depleting your battery bank at the rate of total DC draw. Obviously it depends on the solar and weather.
I have a residential reefer 10 cu ft, also a beer.. or juice small dorm size reefer and a small chest freezer, so I will let you know how it goes. I have 6- 240 AH Batteries and 945 watts of solar. If I need to I can always add panels, but the two Hondas are in reserve.

[jlb27537]

The single battery would probably be fine for a trip from one RV park to the next if the trip was a normal 6 hour drive and you were plugged in every night.

I had a large solar system on my previous pusher and think I understand how to figure solar loads. The info from Ozz, I do not understand his numbers. You never want to use more than 50% of the bank amp hour capacity. Also note he has 6x6vdc 240VAH batteries, giving him 720VAH@12vdc total with 360VAH usable in a single day. About 400lbs of batteries, another 100lbs of inverters, another 100lbs of solar pannels, wiring and mounting stuff. Probably close to 600lbs for a decent solar system.

A frig using 600watts is about 5 amps@ 120vac. Figure a 50% duty cycle that is 5x12 or 60 amp hours. 60x1.1=66amp hours. Add a zero to 66 and you would need about 660 amp hours a day to run a 600W frig on a 50% duty cycle. Now you have to factor in the recharge ability of any solar system figuring you will have 5 hours of good sunlight so size accordingly.

I have no fear of a frig running on LP. Look in the back of the frig every month or so, look for yellow power or a smell. Going to Alaska with a residential frig with a single battery to power it, there is no way..

Jim

[Ozz]

Jim, you are the man with the figures, I haven't figured all that out, got those figures on another Forum.
I had Northern Arizona Wind and Solar set up my system, I think they know what they are doing. I may find out that I need more Solar, if I do, I will add it. I am happy with my battery weight and the Solar set up, everyone makes their own choices, that is mine. To each his own. I can always use my Hondas if needed.

[lunalonestar]

I gotta jump here. Our OEM propane/AC fridge bit the dust two years ago. We replaced it with a resi fridge for several reasons: Cost was less than 1/3 than the propane fridge, more cubic storage even though the outside dimensions were the same; lighter weight; it fit perfectly in the cavity and we don't have to worry about propane hazards. We boondock over 65% of the time with 3 ea. 140w solar panels, 4 ea. 6V Trojan batteries and a 1000W inverter. We've NEVER had a problem. During the night, the fridge draws down the batteries about 10%, then during the day, we're usually back up to 100% The frost free feature has not been an issue. BTW - It is the same fridge Ozz installed. We even boondocked in Alaska for 87 days without nary a problem. Sometimes on cloudy days I put it on a timer during the night to turn off at 10PM and back on at 6AM. Since we're in bed the door never opens and the food stays cold. One of the best things we ever did. No regrets whatsoever.

We're able to make coffee, watch TV, charge computers and cell phones. We have been totally satisfied.

[Ozz]

Yeah what Dave said

[DQDick]

Good to know. We may be trying it someday.

[Mudchief]

We have been looking to upgrade to a unit that has the large residential refrigerator. The unit in our house draws the same amount of current that is in the new units. Being we mostly boondock with solar I have to make sure the system would support the new system. Therefore I put a Kill A Watt meter on our refrigerator and ran it for 24 hours and found the average draw was .47 amps per hour which would be 4.7 dc amps out of your battery. That would be 112.8 dc amps in a 24 hour day.