Well I guess it was a matter of time..New Frig In! - Montana Owners Club

Bigboomer · 09-22-2015, 09:47 AM

Well folks for whatever reason the refrigerator gremlin has attacked! All worked well since we got the rig about a year and half ago but yesterday after we arrived at our Texas local for our Amazon gigs when it switched to electric it went kaput! I tried switching back to propane but to no avail.
Checked everything out and both electric and propane are heating the coils fine and the fans are working but temps will not come down past 50 in the frig and the freezer is not getting below 34 degrees.
Tried shutting it off and letting it sit but nothing works.
So now we are looking at replacing it and will probably go with a residential since our battery set up can handle it.
My question is to those who have the residentials what models are they?
I have only been able to find 3 models in a counter depth model at 33" wide. The one model which is affordable is the Samsung RF18HFENBBC (black) or RF18HFENBSR (stainless).
Any of you folks have any experience with these?

DarMar · 09-22-2015, 02:02 PM

Oh no Les, say it isn't so!!! The model that came with some Montanas is RF197acrs which they may have discontinued by now but always seemed to have horrible online reviews. As the model you mentioned has the same specs it looks like it might have better reviews and may be a replacement, not sure.
As you know we have had our share of problems with our fridge with finally a complete replacement in late July. We are not convinced of the reliability going forward and both of us agree if this one calves we will replace with the residential. It looks like all us 3610 owners have to do is take out the drawer below the fridge to open up the cabinet all the way to the floor.
By the way the inverter they were using was a WFCO model WF-5110h.

Good luck and keep us posted!

rohrmann · 09-22-2015, 02:24 PM

Just got our Escapees Sept/Oct magazine yesterday, and the fellow, who with his wife, designed and sell the ARP control device that keeps these absorption refrigerators from failing, wrote an article about how these units work. Heat makes them work, but, along with being off level, heat can kill them too.

I asked the techs that did our last cooling unit replacement about converting to a residential fridge, and they said they don't do those jobs, as their labor rate makes the jobs too expensive. I guess, if you can't do this on your own, there must be shops who will do a conversion. We just like the ability to run the fridge on propane and since I installed the ARP device, it seems to be doing it's job fine.

Bigboomer · 09-22-2015, 03:41 PM

Yes Darmar, it is so....ugh! I figured once I saw the measurements I would have to remove the lower drawer which is a bummer to Sue since now she has to find homes for those items stored there.

We have had sporadic occasions when the frig would act up but I guess this last trip did it in even though all worked fine during the trip on propane.

Bottomline, these frigs are junk regardless of manufacturers. To get a new Amish cooling unit your looking at $1000 for the rm1350 and a new Samsung frig is $1,150.

So the old unit will get torn out, vents sealed, propane capped and cabinets modified to fit the new one.

Another project which was not on list but will keep me busy.

Funny thing is Rohrman I had just got done reading the Escapees article as well. Sad thing is that these new units are not made to last 35 years like the articles author had. Most are lucky they do not crap out within months. I knew about the out of level issues and heat and always watched out for those things but it the units are made poorly it won't matter.

There is reason a lot of manufacturers are putting in residential units and it is not because they look good, they are less trouble and less warranty work for them.

I will take plenty of pics and will share our experience as it plays out.

dieselguy · 09-23-2015, 04:45 AM

Riddle me this ... how did we ever get along for years in older RV's with minimal fridge failures (at least that I'm aware of), then march up to the last few years and hope for a year or two of longevity on brand new units. Manufacturing needs to get back to quality, not quanity and pleasing the shareholders. Until the past few years, a residential fridge wasn't available to be considered as the "fix" for absorbtion fridge failure.

DarMar · 09-23-2015, 05:33 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dieselguy

Riddle me this ... how did we ever get along for years in older RV's with minimal fridge failures (at least that I'm aware of), then march up to the last few years and hope for a year or two of longevity on brand new units. Manufacturing needs to get back to quality, not quanity and pleasing the shareholders. Until the past few years, a residential fridge wasn't available to be considered as the "fix" for absorbtion fridge failure.

EXACTLY!!!
When we look at our 2015 purchase it really has been excellent EXCEPT for the Dometic fridge. Of course this is not a Keystone product but it has been real pain in the a** to say the least and we are still not convinced we are out of the woods yet with our new replacement.
Here we are, like Les and so many others, having to consider replacement with a residential fridge in order to enjoy more trouble free rving. Something is definitely wrong here!!!

Bigboomer · 09-23-2015, 04:05 PM

Unfortunately we are our own worst enemy, well at least some of us. The consumer is demanding lower prices and is willing to sacrifice anything for it, especially quality and as long as that cycle continues so will the decline of the product we buy.

Just look at how Montana markets their new line with the introduction of the "Legacy Line". This Legacy is what we all have as a standard Montana and the other models were the Mountaineer and Big Sky.

Now you have to order the Legacy to get what we have All to sell more RV's under the "Montana" name so they can keep up with the SOB's.

It is not just Montana, it is happening all over the SOB's.

Personally I want a company that is going to set the standard for others to follow not follow others.

Following others only sets a level of mediocrity!

**DQDick** · 09-24-2015, 02:07 AM

Amen!

1retired06 · 09-24-2015, 02:38 AM

Never had a refrigerator issue or concern until our 2015 model. Already had to have a replacement installed under warranty.

PackerFan · 09-24-2015, 04:09 AM

Bigboomer: X2 on what he said!!

DarMar · 09-24-2015, 05:03 AM

Les, we couldn't agree more with what you have said. One of the reason we got out of the furniture business is because it was becoming a race to the bottom price wise and quality wise. A growing number of us are more than willing to pay more if we really get more, especially when it comes to quality.

Unfortunately with these rv fridges it appears we only have two choices, Norcold and Dometic and each has a proven record of a high failure rate. That leaves us like you, forced to go the residential route whether we like it or not.

We still have extended warranty to fall back on and hope down the road we can negotiate a compromise with them in order to convert to residential. We may be dreaming!!!

Overlord · 09-24-2015, 11:26 AM

The single door fridge, single door freezer in my '09 has pretty much been running since the day I bought it new in October of '08. Rarely have I ever shut it down, and when doing so, I make sure it is very close to level so the ammonia vapor condenses into liquid solution and can drain back to the tank and not be trapped in low points in the tubing.

Perhaps my "technique" helps keep it healthy, working, and extending the life of the unit. ....or I might just be lucky with mine.

Either way, never had a lick of trouble out of it. ...knock wood!

Bigboomer · 10-01-2015, 05:55 PM

Well folks our new Samsung frig is installed and purring like a kitten, well actually you cannot here it at all!

Overall it took me about 4 hours to remove and prep the opening prior to the new frig being delivered.

Generally speaking it was not to bad to deal with and once the new frig was inside it took about 2 hours to finish the whole job.

It took about an hour for the frig and freezer compartments to get to 38 and -2 degrees respectively.

I have attached the link to the pictures I took of the process.

http://s962.photobucket.com/user/myb...Frig%20Install

DarMar · 10-02-2015, 04:25 AM

Thanks for the detailed pics and glad all went well. I am presuming you didn't bother with an inverter???

It must have been a struggle for you and someone as those rv fridges are extremely awkward and heavy. I helped the rv tech and his much older helper with ours when they did our replacement, there is not a lot of room to move in and out. We used an appliance cart so we had a strap to grab on to on the opposite to cart side, slow and steady even after fridge door removal.

Bigboomer · 10-02-2015, 05:32 AM

Darwin,

You are welcome. Since we already had our 2800W inverter there was no need to install another dedicated inverter. With the 450 usable amp hours in our battery bank we should not have any issues for boondocking, on the road, etc.

I took the original RV frig out myself after removing the doors and the new frig was carried in by 2 delivery men from the appliance store. Once inside they slid the new unit partially in the hole while I hooked up the electric cord from the vent access cover (I cut an access hole in the insulation and reinstalled the cutout with foil tape).

They reinstalled the doors and drawers and I took care of the final leveling and tie backs once they were gone.

I now an back to a happy life as I once again have a happy wife!

lawrenceb42106 · 10-02-2015, 05:50 AM

Good looking install. One question though why did you block off the outside vents? Seem to me that would let out a lot of heat. Just curious.

Bigboomer · 10-02-2015, 06:23 AM

Larry,

With the residential frigs there is no where near the heat created by the typical RV frig plus the vents would allow both hot and cold weather to enter the unit. With the typical RV frig install they insulate and seal the frig compartment so the exterior climate does not enter the rig. Part of my prep work in the compartment was to remove the batt insulation they adhered to the walls to prevent the exterior weather from entering the rig. They also applied spray foam (rather poorly) at all the seams of the cabinets on the inside of the compartment.
Residential frigs work best with am ambient inside temperature. The new frig has both space above and below and on both sides and rear for circulation.
Hope this helps.

PackerFan · 10-02-2015, 12:18 PM

Les, Very Nice Job!! I like the idea of the tie-backs you used, great idea!

Now, when can I expect you over here to do mine also?

Lenny K · 10-03-2015, 06:45 AM

Liked your install Les. Do you know how many amps DC your new fridge draws?

Bigboomer · 10-03-2015, 02:40 PM

Lenny,

The rating on the frig is 594 kwh per year or 1.63 kwh per day. But I highly doubt that to be accurate. If it were to be accurate that would equate out to 133 amp hours of draw a day which would be a little more than a quarter of my usable 457 AH. Once it cools down here in Texas a little so we can shut the A/C down I will switch the inverter on and run the rig only on batteries whereby I can get a good read off the Trimeric
meter of what the daily usage will be, especially at night.

The one thing good about these new residencial frigs are they are very efficient and have energy saver modes and digital compressers.

I am anxious myself to see how efficient it really is.

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