What have you been hearing at the RV shows

[Artemus]

I noticed many manufactures using Samsung double door models last weekend. I have read some articles about many of these refrigerators, tending to run all the time. I know both our side by sides at home run hot. Again I think venting that heat might be an issue. Also I have used this website below for calculating usage with my generator. It's been fairly accurate. I have an amp meter you can plug into each appliance, to see its real time useage! It's just common sense that these fridges are big energy vampires. Most diesel pushers run air ext on their generators, while going down the road. I guess you could run one in the fifthwheel?

http://www.donrowe.com/usage-chart-a/259.htm

 

[1retired06]

quote:Originally posted by 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?

For the unit I looked at the added cost included the frig, a high capacity inverter, and an impressive multiple 6-volt battery system.

 

[Jolu-MOC]

For those of us that boondock from time to time and some more than others, the residential frig may be more of problem to deal with that what it is worth. You might count on about 100Ah DC use in a 24 hour period. Perhaps even 120Ah. So one would need enough charging capacity to to keep up probably 6 6V golf cart batteries.
If you go from one rv park to another rv park, there probably will not be a problem. I would not worry about the inverter as a fire hazard anymore than anything else in the rv that might start a fire.
The folks that have the residential frigs here in the park that I have spoke with, tell me they go from park to park with out any problem.
For me, the regular old electric/gas frig will be our choice. Because we do like to go places off the grid and I don't want to have to run a generator to make up for Ah loss, especially if I have a few days of clouds. The residential frig will work just fine for most of the folks going from park to park.
Joe

 

[dieselguy]

Went to the KC RV show today ... Boy Howdy were there alot of RV's with residential fridges in them. 1000 - 2000 watt inverters to temporarliy run them depending on the unit. One rep claimed @18 hours of battery life on his setup. I noticed there is no way of venting off the heat on any of them ... just blows it back out in the kitchen area. I also asked what if it craps out ... reply was to remove one of the large windows and cart it out. 2 separate reps stated they install the residential fridge before all the walls and slides are assembled. As I previously stated ... I'll stick with my gas / electric. I only saw 2 helium charged fridges.

 

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

Dieselguy I see the same problems. Another thing I see a problem with is the water condensation pan under the frig while moving. It will slosh water out.

 

[dieselguy]

Darn ... wish I'd thought of that as well. I like talking to reps and watching them squirm a bit about technical questions. These guys were ready to answer questions all about how you could re-arrange the shelves in the fridge and how the bottom freezer was the "cats meow" ... not about how obvious design issues were addressed.

 

[bobcat92]

I wouldn't want the residential refrigerator in our rig since we boon dock but maybe the competition will get dometic and norcold to improve the quality of their products. Just a thought.

 

[scott-pati]

Not sure how the residential refrigerator would hold up in time bouncing around.

 

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

In a prior life, err, unit, a TT with no slides, our RV frig leaked the yellow death. We replaced it with a residential frig off the floor at the local Lowes. We used it for several years, maybe 3 or 4, until we sold the unit. We drove it around a bit, at least to Florida one time. We never lost any food. We never noted any significant temperature drop in the frig or the freezer during travel days. We did nothing special, hooked up in the morning, disconnected from the power and went down the hard road for 6 to 8 hours a day. It was still working just fine when we sold it to purchase Tana.

Your mileage may vary, that was ours.

 

[mhs4771]

They've been in MHs for some time. The additional freezer space sure would be nice.

 

[richfaa]

We have had a residential upright freezer in both of our Montana's for the last 7 years. Never a problem. It might loose 4 or 5 degrees on a 10 hour travel day in hot weather.

 

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

Rich, is it a 6 cubic ft? I was planning on taking one of my small (6ft) freezers with me and installing it in the washer closet or the generator storage compartment. Rich, where do you keep yours? I thought if it was in the Generator area it would be easy to hook it to an inverter to run off 12 volts while going down highway.

 

[richfaa]

It is 8CF upright and we keep it in the rear right hand corner of the 3402. We took one recliner chair out. We keep it at about 5 degrees and it has never gone any higher than 8 or 10 degrees in a 10 hour travel day in hot weather. Since we are on the road a lot it is very handy in holding a lot of frozen food.