What Frig. should we get

[No more shoveling]

Getting ready to order our Cardinal 3250RL and really not sure if we want the Residential Frig with the 2000w inverter or the 18 cubic ft gas electric. We currently have the gas electric and never had any issues but what about the residential frig with the inverter.

[dalford]

If you dry camp, get gas/electric. If no I would get residential. We have a residential and we love it but we don't dry camp...

[bikendan]

Agreed, if you dry camp or boondock, get the propane/electric fridge.
If not, go residential.

since we primarily dry camp, we would never get a residential fridge.

[bikendan]

Generally on RV forums:

dry camping-camping in a developed campground that has no hookups.
boondocking-camping in undeveloped areas with no hookups. such as deserts and national forests.

[djousma]

We have the 3850rl. We don't dry camp, and have the residential. Around here, the places to dry camp, you can't get a 40' RV into. If we did, we'd bring generator to run a couple hours a day to recharge batteries. I run a pair of 6v golf cart batteries, and running the fridge on the inverter works well. Had trailer unplugged all day with fridge on, battery gauge was down 1 light . No idea how accurate that is. I came from a bumper pull trailer with electric/propane fridge and would never go back.

[Jim34RL]

I have a Cedar Creek that has a residential refrigerator as standard in this unit. We were not sure if we wanted this style of refrigerator over an RV style refrigerator gas/electric. Being that our first two 5er's have had the RV style refrigerator in them and we where use to this style of fridge. Will after two years of use I would never ever go back to an RV refrigerator. Why? First off ease of maintenance! There is no gas system maintenance such as cleaning the tube of spider webs and cleaning the pilot light burner every season. Two; no cut out in side wall for the refrigerator to be sealed every year to prevent moister from entering the side wall. Three, having to replace the cheap plastic drip tube as this cracks and breaks off after one season. Four; improve performance in cooling and features over the RV style refrigerator. Five, more storage of food items in the cooling area and freezer compartment.

You can boon dock with a residential refrigerator also you just need more batteries and solar charging system in order to boon dock. For the increase cost of the RV fridge over the residential unit these components can be procured for about the same cost as the RV fridge.

In 2016 when I purchased my Cedar Creek the RV fridge cost was $2,023 increase over the standard residential fridge. This will pay for the Solar charging system and batteries.

Just my humble opinion.

[Claude002]

No More Shoveling---JUST MAKE SURE THEY PUT IN 6 VOLT BATTERIES---ITS A MUCH BETTER SYSTEM IF YOU WANT TO CAMP WITHOUT POWER.

[Havasu Bill]

We have the Cardinal 3250 with the residential fridge. I would have preferred to get the combination fridge but this was on the lot and I got a great deal on it. So, residential fridge it is.
We boonrock in the Glamis dudes and in the Williams, AZ area a bunch. I put 4 6V golf cart batteries in plus the Go Power solar system with 160W. I also have the twinned Honda 2000 generators with the extended fuel tank added. We are pretty self sufficient, even with the residential fridge that is an energy hog.
In any event, I'm still happy with our decision to go with the residential fridge.

Good luck,

Bill

[twoclaws]

All valid points. Years ago a seasoned RV re said to put 3 Bay leaves and 1/2 of a dog flea collar in a piece of nylon or mesh and put this in the compartment to prevent spider webs getting into jets/tubes. It works!
I have residential fridge but prefer gas/electric so we could dry camp and cool fridge down before trip. Just my 2 cents

Originally Posted by Jim34RL

I have a Cedar Creek that has a residential refrigerator as standard in this unit. We were not sure if we wanted this style of refrigerator over an RV style refrigerator gas/electric. Being that our first two 5er's have had the RV style refrigerator in them and we where use to this style of fridge. Will after two years of use I would never ever go back to an RV refrigerator. Why? First off ease of maintenance! There is no gas system maintenance such as cleaning the tube of spider webs and cleaning the pilot light burner every season. Two; no cut out in side wall for the refrigerator to be sealed every year to prevent moister from entering the side wall. Three, having to replace the cheap plastic drip tube as this cracks and breaks off after one season. Four; improve performance in cooling and features over the RV style refrigerator. Five, more storage of food items in the cooling area and freezer compartment.

You can boon dock with a residential refrigerator also you just need more batteries and solar charging system in order to boon dock. For the increase cost of the RV fridge over the residential unit these components can be procured for about the same cost as the RV fridge.

In 2016 when I purchased my Cedar Creek the RV fridge cost was $2,023 increase over the standard residential fridge. This will pay for the Solar charging system and batteries.

Just my humble opinion.

[djousma]

Originally Posted by twoclaws

All valid points. Years ago a seasoned RV re said to put 3 Bay leaves and 1/2 of a dog flea collar in a piece of nylon or mesh and put this in the compartment to prevent spider webs getting into jets/tubes. It works!
I have residential fridge but prefer gas/electric so we could dry camp and cool fridge down before trip. Just my 2 cents

The residential fridges all are connected with inverter. Fridge is cold before we leave, and continues to run while on the road.

[Jakieboy]

We have a 2016 Cardinal 3250RL with the propane/electric fridge and love it. Always work well no matter where we camp. No worries about needing hookups wherever we decide to go. We always bring a small, Honda generator just to make sure we have fresh batteries. Go with dual 6-volt batteries in series rather than 12-volt batteries in parallel. Gives you more amp-hours. Only drawback I can see is the need to empty and defrost about once per year, since it is not a "frost-free" fridge. Since we park it in our backyard driveway when we are not on the road, we are always hooked up to power. Serves as our "guest house" whenever relatives come to visit.

[Barry11405]

We have a Coachman Encounter 37 TZ with a Domestic gas, electric frig and really love it. Gives us the option of boon docking or camp ground hookup. We leave the LP on when traveling and have never had a cooling problem.

[HESN22]

Propane electric all that way ... If the residential breaks down and cannot be fixed, it cannot be removed thru the door ... Can keep the propane electric on while driving ...