Rv vs. Residential Refrigerator

[Wampuscat]

Would like everyone's opinion about the best choice for refrigerator for full timing with some boondocking. The pro and cons of each and why. All help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Heady]

Residential fridge will not run on propane, will require an inverter and a good size battery bank to boondock. The RV will most likely run on propane saving precious battery power.

[Grumpy]

As Heady said not really good for boondocking unless you have extra batteries or solar. JAYCO says you will get about 16 hours on a fully charged battery.

We don't boondock and love the residential reefer.

[mtdawg]

I am beginning my first year with a residential refrigerator. I boondock quite a bit and have quickly learned that even with 4 12v batteries, there just isn't enough to run the refrigerator very long. The obvious plus side of a residential refrigerator is the capacity. At this point, it's too late for me to do anything about the type of refrigeratory. The cost to switch over would be prohibitive. What I have decided to do is to add solar to the mix. I'm in the process of having 480 watts of solar panels added which I hope will provide enough charging power to keep up with the electrical consumption. Additionally, at some point in the future I will probably switch to heavier duty 6v batteries. Time will tell.

Jim

[SloPoke]

Since you will be Full Timing… you will really need to make a decision on how you plan your future adventures. If you are the type that likes to go off and say “We should go and camp along that river” vs the type that says “Lets go check in to the Campground” – that will help you decide.

What most call “boondocking” for even 2-3 nights in a row with a residential fridge will learn to hate that residential fridge decision. They were made for those that are plugged into utility power. Or those who run the generator during the daytime / travel to have the AC power available – but once the generator shuts down – you are running a significant AC appliance on your inverter – and that sucks the life out of batteries.

We are the 80% Boondocking type! We have a 4-door Norcold that runs on AC or Propane. It is plenty large enough for two weeks of food (Canned and Bottled Beverages go in our cooler in an outside compartment) and switches over to Propane when the Generator is shut down for the night – or for an all day adventure away from the Motorhome. When we are boondocking – we will run out of water, long before we run out of propane from running the fridge and water heater.

[Wampuscat]

Thanks for all the quick replies. I think we will go with the RV frige to be on the safe side. Also will go with the Honda generators for extended days if we need a boost of power. This will give us time to decide if we need the added option of solar. We are looking to purshase our rig by the end of the year or the first of next year. Decided on the Pinnacle 36FBTS. Again thanks for the help. Hope to see all of you someday somwhere.

[edatlanta]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

As Heady said not really good for boondocking unless you have extra batteries or solar. JAYCO says you will get about 16 hours on a fully charged battery.

We don't boondock and love the residential reefer.

I wonder if that 16 hours is to a dead battery? We all know how long batteries last that are run down "dead" frequently.

I'll stick with my Norcold.

[edatlanta]

Originally Posted by SloPoke

Since you will be Full Timing… you will really need to make a decision on how you plan your future adventures. If you are the type that likes to go off and say “We should go and camp along that river” vs the type that says “Lets go check in to the Campground” – that will help you decide.

What most call “boondocking” for even 2-3 nights in a row with a residential fridge will learn to hate that residential fridge decision. They were made for those that are plugged into utility power. Or those who run the generator during the daytime / travel to have the AC power available – but once the generator shuts down – you are running a significant AC appliance on your inverter – and that sucks the life out of batteries.

We are the 80% Boondocking type! We have a 4-door Norcold that runs on AC or Propane. It is plenty large enough for two weeks of food (Canned and Bottled Beverages go in our cooler in an outside compartment) and switches over to Propane when the Generator is shut down for the night – or for an all day adventure away from the Motorhome. When we are boondocking – we will run out of water, long before we run out of propane from running the fridge and water heater.

X2

[tortue71]

An another advantage to the Rv fridge ( at least for me ) is that when in electric mode , the fridge doesn't make any noise.

[SloPoke]

Have to add some comments to our latest trip... we spent 6 days in Colorado last week where the daytime high temperature was 104. Our Seneca has the double door Norcold RV fridge and it was absolutely amazing.

We put an indoor/outdoor thermometer (the outdoor remote module) in the fridge to try to keep track of our food temperatures... I was amazed that it was rock solid and kept our food between 31 and 36 degrees with moderate door activity. We traveled on Propane and when the Generator was on - it switched over and back to Propane as it should.

It holds LOTS in that thing... (we keep the canned beverages in a cooler in a side compartment) and held over a weeks full of food for 5 adults with lots of room to spare.

SO GLAD we went this direction...

[mtdawg]

We have the residential refrigerator. Had I to do it over again, I would choose the rv option. We had 480 watts of solar panels installed and were able to run the refrigerator for 6 days on the batteries before we lost sunshine. Probably the best I will be able to do, but I'm still not entirely happy with the situation.

Jim