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Old 05-12-2016, 03:34 PM   #1
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To Residential Fridge, or Not To Residential Fridge?

Hello Everyone,

Getting very close to pulling the trigger on our very first 5th Wheel, and currently leaning toward two Chaparral models: the 371MBRB or the 372QBH. Any thoughts between these two?

Either way - we are going to have to choose between refrigerators and would would really appreciate some help from those who have been there.

I know that when you increase the size of the units, you lose some pantry space, so I've got that covered, but what about the rest of the story like propane vs. inverter, etc?

Let me know what you think when you have a minute.

Thanks,

Paul
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Old 05-12-2016, 03:55 PM   #2
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What type of camping do you typically do (ie, with or without hookups)?

Fulltime friends of mine (family of 6) switched to a residential fridge and no inverter. They generally move from RV park to RV park with hookups. They travel 6-8 hours per day and just minimize opening/closing of the fridge. They love it and have no interest going back to a 2-way fridge. He's even starting to look at extra battery + solar setup and still has no qualms about running a residential fridge.
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Old 05-12-2016, 04:02 PM   #3
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I have a 2012 Georgetown with a 4 door refrigerator that runs propane or AC when plugged into shore power and I'm glad I don't have a residential refrigerator.

1. When driving down the road its maintains temp while on propane.

2. When plugged in it works great on shore power.

3. I don't have to worry about my house batteries running down if I dry camp.

4. I don't have to worry if the invertor fails what do I do?

5. If you have a large family and plan on using your rig for long periods of time plugged in yes get the residential refrigerator. Yes the large residential is what you need.

5. If you dry camp or stay at National parks with no power you will run your batteries down quickly and will have to start your generator up for a long period of time to get them back up to handle the 1000 watt load.
This becomes a chore if you do a lot of dry camping.

If you are constantly rolling like me with 2 adults I love my propane refrigerator. Mine has many, many hours on both propane and electric and have not had any problems.


Now this is my opinion from 40 plus years of having many RVs but others may have other opinions.

Good luck
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Old 05-12-2016, 04:11 PM   #4
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Iggy makes sense.....

One small caveat. When pulling home new unit, hooked up halfway home at KOA. Took residential refrig about 25 minutes to get to 0 degrees in freezer and 40 in top unit. Pretty impressive.

Have not tried it going down road, obviously.
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Old 05-12-2016, 05:04 PM   #5
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The whole residential frig issue is a little complicated and the situation can be different for an RV vs a TT.

1. In an RV, as long as the engine is running you can run the fridge/inverter forever and will end up with as much charge as when you left since the alternator can charge the batteries and run the fridge at the same time. In a TT, the charge wire from the TV may not have enough capacity to overcome the inverter load of the fridge when on the road.

2. When on shore power there is no problem as the residential fridge will run just like it does in a house.

3. As others have said, a residential fridge will get down to temperature very rapidly, while an adsorption (LP/AC) unit takes a lot longer.

4. Big adsorption units can get flakey when the ambient temperature gets high and many have added supplemental fans and turn off their defrost cables to keep DC consumption low.

5. If you boondock, LP keeps the food cold while a residential fridge will need you to run a generator or have at least 400 watts of solar and sunshine to keep up. You can run a generator for a few hours per day to recharge your batteries.

6. If you spend most of your time in an RV park with shore power, you can drive for hours between RV parks and the fridge will stay fine as long as you don't constantly open the door. Remember that if you stop for lunch, if you run the genny for 45 minutes or an hour, the fridge will get back down to temperature in that time.

Bottom line, I have an RV and have a residential fridge where I use to have an adsorption unit. It does change my life a little, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
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Old 05-12-2016, 05:16 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ependydad View Post
What type of camping do you typically do (ie, with or without hookups)?

Fulltime friends of mine (family of 6) switched to a residential fridge and no inverter. They generally move from RV park to RV park with hookups. They travel 6-8 hours per day and just minimize opening/closing of the fridge. They love it and have no interest going back to a 2-way fridge. He's even starting to look at extra battery + solar setup and still has no qualms about running a residential fridge.

Not really sure how much camping we'll do either way.

Thanks for the info!


Fat guy seeking a Ram 3500 Megacab and a 5th wheel to tow behind it.
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Old 05-12-2016, 05:16 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iggy View Post
I have a 2012 Georgetown with a 4 door refrigerator that runs propane or AC when plugged into shore power and I'm glad I don't have a residential refrigerator.

1. When driving down the road its maintains temp while on propane.

2. When plugged in it works great on shore power.

3. I don't have to worry about my house batteries running down if I dry camp.

4. I don't have to worry if the invertor fails what do I do?

5. If you have a large family and plan on using your rig for long periods of time plugged in yes get the residential refrigerator. Yes the large residential is what you need.

5. If you dry camp or stay at National parks with no power you will run your batteries down quickly and will have to start your generator up for a long period of time to get them back up to handle the 1000 watt load.
This becomes a chore if you do a lot of dry camping.

If you are constantly rolling like me with 2 adults I love my propane refrigerator. Mine has many, many hours on both propane and electric and have not had any problems.


Now this is my opinion from 40 plus years of having many RVs but others may have other opinions.

Good luck

Thank you for the insight!


Fat guy seeking a Ram 3500 Megacab and a 5th wheel to tow behind it.
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Old 05-12-2016, 05:20 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein View Post
The whole residential frig issue is a little complicated and the situation can be different for an RV vs a TT.



1. In an RV, as long as the engine is running you can run the fridge/inverter forever and will end up with as much charge as when you left since the alternator can charge the batteries and run the fridge at the same time. In a TT, the charge wire from the TV may not have enough capacity to overcome the inverter load of the fridge when on the road.



2. When on shore power there is no problem as the residential fridge will run just like it does in a house.



3. As others have said, a residential fridge will get down to temperature very rapidly, while an adsorption (LP/AC) unit takes a lot longer.



4. Big adsorption units can get flakey when the ambient temperature gets high and many have added supplemental fans and turn off their defrost cables to keep DC consumption low.



5. If you boondock, LP keeps the food cold while a residential fridge will need you to run a generator or have at least 400 watts of solar and sunshine to keep up. You can run a generator for a few hours per day to recharge your batteries.



6. If you spend most of your time in an RV park with shore power, you can drive for hours between RV parks and the fridge will stay fine as long as you don't constantly open the door. Remember that if you stop for lunch, if you run the genny for 45 minutes or an hour, the fridge will get back down to temperature in that time.



Bottom line, I have an RV and have a residential fridge where I use to have an adsorption unit. It does change my life a little, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Bottom line, you like your residential fridge. Thank You!


Fat guy seeking a Ram 3500 Megacab and a 5th wheel to tow behind it.
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Old 05-12-2016, 06:24 PM   #9
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I have had a 12v/gas unit in my earlier RV's and now a residential unit in my 33IK... My observations..

1) heavier than Dometic, probably but so are 5th wheels
2) can use on 120v or 12v (via a "good inverter")
3) have used one battery with no issues ( i do not typically dry camp)
4) always use while traveling, not sure why I would not? TV charging battery. Also no question about operating fridge with gas while traveling or going thru some tunnels with my fridge on.
5) more capacity than gas/120v unit
6) gets cold fast, do not have to worry about turning on way ahead of use and then making sure all the food I put in is already cold or frozen.
7) does not ice up or constantly drain water outside
8) I can stand in front of the open door and wonder what I want without worrying about letting all the cold out :
9) I can have my vanilla ice cream that is actually frozen

I think the biggest trade off is how you camp. If you do a lot of dry camping then a residential is probably not your best choice but if not, you will love the residential unit imho...
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Old 05-12-2016, 06:26 PM   #10
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I got a residential fridge in my 5er and love the space but kind of wish I wouldn't have. My camper sits at a seasonal campsite and we camp there every weekend. We have an inverter and two batteries that are dual purpose marine deep cell batteries (came with camper). If the campground looses power during the week I don't know how long the power is out for so I don't know if the food left there is good or bad.


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Old 05-12-2016, 06:28 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Dinostop View Post
I got a residential fridge in my 5er and love the space but kind of wish I wouldn't have. My camper sits at a seasonal campsite and we camp there every weekend. We have an inverter and two batteries that are dual purpose marine deep cell batteries (came with camper). If the campground looses power during the week I don't know how long the power is out for so I don't know if the food left there is good or bad.


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You can solve that problem by putting some cubed ice in a 'red solo cup' and putting it in the freezer. When you come back, check it. If it is a solid block of ice, the power went out and melted the ice and it froze back. If it is still cubed like you started with, the power never went out.
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Old 05-12-2016, 06:43 PM   #12
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You can solve that problem by putting some cubed ice in a 'red solo cup' and putting it in the freezer. When you come back, check it. If it is a solid block of ice, the power went out and melted the ice and it froze back. If it is still cubed like you started with, the power never went out.
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Old 05-12-2016, 09:02 PM   #13
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Quote:
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You can solve that problem by putting some cubed ice in a 'red solo cup' and putting it in the freezer. When you come back, check it. If it is a solid block of ice, the power went out and melted the ice and it froze back. If it is still cubed like you started with, the power never went out.
Great tip....
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Old 05-13-2016, 07:02 AM   #14
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I think the important factor is to determine what type of camping you will do. I mostly camp at state parks with full hook-up. I pick up my 5er and drive 30 minutes to my frequent favorite, and the fridge is cold and my beer is just about ready to drink by the time arrive. The inverter through the tv works great.

At least once per year I dry camp for about 1 week. I have a single 12v and a 3000 generator. I run the genny for a few hours every day and the fridge works fine.

I really enjoy the residential fridge.
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Old 05-13-2016, 11:45 AM   #15
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I have a residential reefer and just love it. I tried just running the frig on inverter and it stayed cold (0'. freezer, 37' frig) for two days without losing a beat. I thought that was enough for me.
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Old 05-13-2016, 02:32 PM   #16
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I've had both and prefer to leave the residential at my residence. Even when snowbirding for months we do not need the space. Never need the extra weight. No matter what comes in any future RVs if an ice maker is involved it will be capped to never see water.
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Old 05-13-2016, 02:35 PM   #17
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I have a residential refrigerator and back in the winter I tested it and the refrigerator would work for four days before the batteries got to 60%. I have four six volt batteries, not Trojans but still pretty good. It's 20 cubic feet and it stays cold and I have a ice maker. DW loves it, DW hates to dry camp, I like to dry camp. We compromise, we don't dry camp much.


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Old 05-13-2016, 03:08 PM   #18
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FYI to ponder on larger refrigerators

Congrats on the new home choice.

I realize this isn't exactly what your were asking, but I thought it might be worthy to share something that has recently come up about the residential frigs.

One thing that our repair department mentioned to us last time we were getting slide repairs done was that some of the trailer companies were finding more slide issues due to the larger refrigerators going in to the RVs weighing too much. We have had multiple slide issues on our 2015 5th wheel not wanting to slide in straight.

Another issue we just learned about is another Sanibel owner had their large refrigerator quit and they couldn't get it out the door to fix it! They ended up laying it on the floor of the RV and fixing it there. I don't know what the issue was, but I do know it was a new trailer and an issue that could be covered by warranty replacement now became a different problem!

Just FYI I thought might come in handy.
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Old 05-13-2016, 06:05 PM   #19
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That could be a problem if you have to replace a residential refrigerator is getting a new one put in, you would probably have to take the slide off, no way refrigerator would fit through the door. But a residential refrigerator cost less than a RV refrigerator and a lot of people like them. Besides campers are getting bigger not smaller.


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Old 05-13-2016, 06:30 PM   #20
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Ive had three bad norco reefers. I now have a frigidaire and am real happy.
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