Furrion 12volt refrigerator

[ps146364]

We picked up our 2024 Montana 3123RL in August of 23 it came with the Furrion 12 volt refrigerator, 200 watt solar package with 2 100 amp hour dragon fly lithium batteries.
We headed for our favorite snow bird place November 1, by November 15 the refrigerator had quit working. So we jumped through all the hoops to get a replacement. It was December 14 when the replacement one was installed.
here it is February 26 and now the new refrigerator is dead.
Anyone else having issues with their Furrion refrigerator?

 

[KingRanchFan]

Can you tell us what you mean it died again? Power? cooling? Seen several but no issues yet. They Might have a pesky fuse that others have complained about. They said wire size was not enough to support it.
Thanks,

 

[AZ Traveler]

Bill,

The 12 v compressor reefers are relatively new - only a few of our members have them. We are very interested in learning about your issues with it.

 

[ps146364]

The cavity lights would blink when the door was open, when the ice maker was turned off the lights would work fine. After a couple of days everything quit working. Apparently though there is a heat strip in the flap of the left door, it got hot and stayed hot until we pulled the fuse at the converter.
After the new replacement fridge was installed the 15amp fuse in the converter kept burning out. Went through a half dozen fuses until we installed a 20 amp fuse. The instruction manual says a 20 amp minimum circuit is required not to exceed 40 amps. Makes sense because there are 2 40 amp fuses on top of the fridge just prior to the control board. I think the wire gage is small but the representative at keystone assured me that the engineers have it all figured out and 8AWG is good enough. The instructions in the manual say otherwise.

 

[KingRanchFan]

This does seem to be similar to what others were finding on other brands. Furrion recommended an 8 if wire is 15 to 25 ft. I don’t know the path they took to pull the wire. A voltage drop of .4 vdc would tell us. But now you can’t tell if it is dead. I’ve been trying to get my head around this before I ordered the fridge in my trailer, but finally gave in because I hadn’t seen much negative and the GE freezer is too small to store much.
I wish we knew the drop in voltage as that will drive up the current. They make some suggestions to help if wire is lighter than needed. Please keep us posted, thanks Brad

 

[Route 66 Rambler]

When we replaced our LP/Electric fridge with a 12volt compressor fridge, the wiring had to upgraded to a larger size wire as detailed from the manufacturer-Norcold. You need to check the installation manual for the fridge and then check the wiring to make sure it is what is called for in the manual. If not this will have to be done as well as the fuse you have already identified. Also, the ventilation has be as stated in the manual. Ours needs an open space at the bottom and the top and of the fridge for airflow. If the ventilation is not adequate then the unit could be over heating.

 

[JeffBussman]

Yes, we have a 2024 Montana Legacy 3123 RL with a 12 V Furrion fridge that has not been working for 2+ months. Dealer has replaced a couple parts and it still doesn’t work.

 

[ps146364]

Keystone failed to follow the installation instructions provided in the refrigerator manual.
For the length of our wire run from the converter to the refrigerator approximately 30 feet the AWG should be 6 Keystone installed 8, the minimum circuit rating should be 20 amps keystone installed a 15 amp fuse.
After our original refrigerator was replaced the 15 amp fuse would blow multiple times a day until we installed a 20 amp fuse. When the refrigerator (original & new) were running the cooling fan for the converter would run way more than normal.
Because we will be heading home soon we have decided to wait until then to take it in for another replacement refrigerator, sometime around mid April. In the meantime we bought a dorm size fridge for the remainder of our time on the road.

 

[KingRanchFan]

Got to ask the question if anyone has a Furrion 12vdc fridge that is working? Sounds like everyone has no luck with it, I hope Montana engineering is monitoring this thread. It would be nice PR if they popped in, mine is 3 weeks out from being born, thinking I should have stayed with the GE. I would think if we’re replacing multiple times someone up there would call a timeout to ask what is going on, is it the fridge or the installation?

 

[ps146364]

I just talked with a technician at Lippert/Furrion concerning my “12 volt” refrigerator. Turns out that the refrigerator has a built in inverter so it is actually a 110 volt refrigerator. The inverter is part of the control board.

 

[KingRanchFan]

Thanks for the update, that helps in understanding why the wire size and battery voltage are sensitive to this system. It seems people love them if they don't have a power issue. It also gives me insight to the ventilation required to keep the inverter cool in a hot trailer. I think once we understand them we will be fine. I may pull a larger wire if I see the voltage drop at the fridge, you definitely want a higher voltage lithium to support it overnight. Thanks for the information, keep it coming.

 

[RBender855]

12 volt fürrion refrigerator

Mine worked great for 5 MONTHS THEN DIED
FUSES ARE HARD TO FIND COMPASS ROADSIDE TECHS DONT EVEN KNOW
SENDING ME ON WILD GOOSE CHASES AND WIRING ? Montana 2024 QUALITY ? with 15. No NOW 16 warranty issues and I’ll TELL YOU ICE CHESTS ARENT CUTTING IT!
Dealer BLUE COMPASS FOLSOM PASSING THE BUCK

 

[KingRanchFan]

We got our 3123RL at the end of April we ordered it with the 12vdc, we had a 2017 3160RL with a 18cf Norcold gas unit. Watching the posts come by at that time about power consumption I was a little nervous. But the trailer came with a 330 watt panel to my surprise. I added 2000 watts more since we boondock mainly. I have 1120 amps of LiPO4 that we moved to the new trailer. So far I'm super happy with the fridge, I run it ice cold like at home. I've had the bend the left door bracket up as milk and heavy stuff going down bumpy roads caused the door to sag and not shut the flapper correctly. I first used a washer to shim but was simple enough to tweek it back up. After 9 weeks at 10k feet, so far we are still very happy with the trailer. It's been an improvement to the last one.

Getting off track but my new jacks don't pop from the stiction issues the last ones had, just wish I could get rid of the passcode or extend the timeout on the control panel.

 

[allenclme]

Furrion Fridge Warning

We picked up our 2024 Montana 3123RL in August of 23 it came with the Furrion 12 volt refrigerator, 200 watt solar package with 2 100 amp hour dragon fly lithium batteries.
We headed for our favorite snow bird place November 1, by November 15 the refrigerator had quit working. So we jumped through all the hoops to get a replacement. It was December 14 when the replacement one was installed.
here it is February 26 and now the new refrigerator is dead.
Anyone else having issues with their Furrion refrigerator?

I picked up my new 2024 3123RL in June of 2024. First trip out the fridge failed to cool. Took it to Camping World who said it was working perfectly. Took it out again in October, and the fridge section lights failed and the top section failed to cool. Back to Camping World who after letting it sit there for a month, finally got a warranty replacement authorized. It's now January 6th, 2025. The trailer is still at Camping World and I'm waiting for the 4th replacement refrigerator. My experience has been that this is the most unreliable fridge ever. The Norcolds in my previous 5ers were all excellent. If anyone is thinking about buying one of these, happy to share the shop and shipping notes as proof.

 

[allenclme]

Lippert technician

I just talked with a technician at Lippert/Furrion concerning my “12 volt” refrigerator. Turns out that the refrigerator has a built in inverter so it is actually a 110 volt refrigerator. The inverter is part of the control board.

We may not be talking about the same fridge. I have the furrion 12v and I can assure you that it isn't 110. The power is delivered through the 12v side of the power center. It's on the push/pull 12v fuses. Check your installation manual that comes with the fridge and it will show you that it has to be connected to a 12v power supply. (unless you and I have different 12v fridges which is certainly possible)

 

[Desert5er]

We bought ours in October '23 and just started encountering problems with ours. I have another post with a similar subject line in this forum. In the very last post I made (just now) I detailed what's happening right now and I wonder if what we found might apply to you too. Long story short, many of these have the wrong control board in them and need to be replaced. If you have a model with the fridge on top and freezer drawers on the bottom and they still are freezing, the issue isn't cooling but instead is circulation (freezer cools the fridge). That's all managed by the control board and may need to be replaced.

 

[allenclme]

Bad Fridge

We bought ours in October '23 and just started encountering problems with ours. I have another post with a similar subject line in this forum. In the very last post I made (just now) I detailed what's happening right now and I wonder if what we found might apply to you too. Long story short, many of these have the wrong control board in them and need to be replaced. If you have a model with the fridge on top and freezer drawers on the bottom and they still are freezing, the issue isn't cooling but instead is circulation (freezer cools the fridge). That's all managed by the control board and may need to be replaced.

You are 100% correct about the bad control board. Mine has that exact issue and was doing the same thing with the freezer working and the top fridge section not cooling or illuminating. The other issue I have is the compressor makes a grinding noise so they decided just to replace the entire fridge. I hope the new one, if and when they get one that works, has the updated board.

 

[432bartman]

Can you guys with the 12V fridge get under warranty, a regular residential fridge instead? I read on other forums of people having the same issues with the 12V fridges not being reliable.

 

[Desert5er]

Can you guys with the 12V fridge get under warranty, a regular residential fridge instead? I read on other forums of people having the same issues with the 12V fridges not being reliable.

From what I understand, I have enough Inverter and capacity on the circuit to accommodate this, but the fridge is in the slide and I would need 120v power run to it before I can consider that. The main issue with these 12v is you can't replace compressors if they go bad. Aside from that, they are just as serviceable as regular residential fridges. This fridge ran reliably and continuously for 14 months with the wrong control board before we had any issues. With some luck, I'll be able to get the replacement board at no cost, but I'm out of warranty (Lippert said they may comp us the board, I'll definitely have to cover labor). If they were willing to offer to replace the fridge with a 120v under warranty, I doubt they would cover the labor to run the electrical.

I don't think these 12v fridges are inherently unreliable. The forums mostly show problems people are dealing with rather than successes.

 

[Carle3]

We have a 2024 3941FO with the 12v fridge. The cooling and freezing part all worked but the ice maker didn’t work right out of the gate. Took the rig in for some warranty work and it turned out that the ice maker itself was good but the control board was bad. Sound ed like it was another issue of the board overheating. The dealership went back to Keystone to get permission to replace the fridge but ended up being required to replace the control board. I am hoping the new board is a imporved one. Just a note for info, on these units the kitchen slide has to be removed to get the fridge out. Can’t just haul this one out the door.