What have you been hearing at the RV shows

[dieselguy]

I've been to a couple of RV shows here lately and have noticed SOB's are sporting 120V residential refrigerators along with a factory installed inverter to run it for short periods of time. The reps say the larger 2 door fridges in recent years are reporting higher failure rates and somewhat less than satisfactory cooling for the size of unit. They also state the obvious as in a residential fridge costs way less than a gas/electric RV style whether as standard equipment or if your current RV style needs repair. Do I need to break out the hip waders and an adequate flotation device or have some of you been hearing similar?

 

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Some rigs are being set up that way. CountryGuy and I have seen this sneaking into the market for over a year. And, yes, I mean, we have seen some in person.

There was a discussion about this at the Fall Rally, so, it is at least being thought over by Montana.

 

[DQDick]

I would bet this will at least be an option if not standard on2015 Montana's .

 

[mhs4771]

We didn't go into all the fifth wheels at the Tampa show, but the mid to higher end units we saw, probably half had the residential fridge option. So yep, we're following on the heels of the MHs. The biggest problem I see in a fifth wheel is the space required for a good size battery bank if you have an on-board genny. If no genny, then you have the whole compartment for batteries.

 

[mlh]

What I have noticed about Montana and High Country is the new designs are 100 inches wide.
Lynwood

 

[Jay Bird]

At the Hershey show a dealer said if you plan to go off the grid do not buy a commercial refrigerator. Most of the systems we saw had 4 12v batteries.

 

[The Oldguard]

Before the big crash a lot of the high end units had residential refrigerators because of the failure rate with the gas/electric RV style. If you don't open the door everything will fine just like the S&B when you have a power failure.

 

[richfaa]

They did talk about the residential fridge at the fall rally but did not seem to excited about the idea. If the others do I am sure Montana will.

 

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

One of the concerns of residential units is replacing them if the fail. Hard to get through the doors. They may be cheaper ---- but you pay more.

 

[Artemus]

Several RVs had them in the show I attended in Pleasenton. Most of people I talked to expressed concern about running them on the road. That's alot of battery reserve to replenish during a long day on the road without a generator running? The other issue is heat being produced by the residential unit. We run our fridge 24/7 during trips. Perhaps one of our more technically trained members can comment.

 

[harpoon-KEY]

The Boston show is Saturday. I'll definitely ask about them if I see them in any units.

 

[Overlord]

....and is there any weight penalty to be had by switching from the RV type to a residential reefer??? Just curious.

 

[FL-Joe]

Didn't hear anything about the frig issue, but on the new Lifestyle (by Evergreen) they have some bigger models with a slide that runs almost the entire length of the left side. And the biggest bonus of all.....G-614 tires are standard according to the salesman.

 

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

JandC, The Lifestyle that has an entire side that slides was an old Carriage design. Lifestyle is having some issues with that setup. They are having tire and axle as well as slide problems. I guess that is a lot of weight and makes for a weak wall system.

 

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

Rich is right. They did talk about the residential frig's at the Fall Ralley and it was considered for the new Big Sky. Keystone feels there are more problems than solutions putting in the residential frig. They did not share what that might be. Would a inverter possibly be a fire hazzard?

 

[1retired06]

We were at the Tampa RV show Wed. A significant number of units we looked at had the commercial refrigerators. We are very interested in and spent a couple of hours with the HR Presidential fifthwheels, and they came standard with the Norcold, or for $2100 a Samsung house refrigerator. Unit was set up with the Samsung, an inverter and very nice dual 6 Volt battery system. I recently helped a neighbor replace a Norcold 4 door unit with a house refrigerator from sears. By taking the doors off both units and grinding a small bit off the fiver door edges, we easily got the old unit out and the new unit in. I can tell you the house refrigerator was lighter than the Norcold. We are leaning on going the house refrigerator route. We generally only travel 4-5 hours a day, and I think a house unit would stay cold, particularly if you crank up the temp the night before even without the inverter. Certainly the case at home, when we have power outages.

 

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

I see no reason why the residential refrig should cost more. The frig's should be about the same cost. The only difference would be a drain of some sort for the water pans under the frig and a $100. fir a inverter. Am I missing something?

 

[timandsusan]

It will be interesting to see how "house refrigs" take to the road--lots of bumps and stuff. Also--how does the load in the refrig ride--I think someone mentioned--watch out when you open the door--if it will stay closed while you drive. Anyway--I am sticking with my single door -- no plans for a new rig. Let us know your experience with these new additions.

 

[dieselguy]

The reps eluded to a cost savings with residential fridges instead of a cost burden. I dunno ... as there is the added cost of an inverter and probably another battery or two. I don't think there would be a fire hazzard with an inverter anymore than with the standard converter we all now have. The units I browsed by didn't intend on long term inverter use ... just enough capacity to get you down the road to a campground with electrical hookups. I was also told the resdential fridges were marketed for full timers that stay in one place for extended periods of time as many (not all) seldom have a need for the gas side of cooling. There has been alot of issues I'd not thought of talked about here ... good responses. My RV use doesn't work well with a 120V only fridge, but I just wanted to hear what you all have been hearing about this topic.

 

[WaltBennett]

I'd prefer a gas/electric for any boondocking, but I wouldn't say a residential would take all that much battery power to run - as long as it's a really high efficiency one. The gas/electric ones don't have that yellow sticker that residential ones are required to, so that would be the first place to look to figure out what you could do. The real problem is how much the manufacturers would spend on putting good ones in vs. el cheapos (just like most of the TVs).