Residential refrigerator

[Jay Bird]

We love ours. Only negative is the weight. I believe it puts extra stress on the swintek slide, and had to have the whole mechanism replaced under warranty. Of course it may have been installed incorrectly as it still causes us problems. I leave my inverter on all the time. We have three batteries. When towing your truck keeps the batteries charged.

[saarf]

My daughter has one with ice maker. It stays in the park so needed easy way to winterize. Dealer said to winterize trailer and wait for pink ice cubes. That would takes days!
Since there is no outside access to the back of the refrig., made a jumper that pigbacks the wires on the solenoid on the back of the fridge. Put an inline sw and plug it into an outlet. Careful!! you must observe correct polarity.
When I blow the lines out, I turn the sw on for 8 seconds (longer and it can overheat the solenoid) at a time till I get air in the ice maker. Then shut off the water valve if you can find it. Is hidden and tough to reach in her trailer. Jayco did not make this process easy.
I also, put a tee and valve in the small water line so I can get rid of the antifreeze. That way there is no pink stuff in the ice maker to get rid of next year.
Similar method used in motorhomes.

[Jay Bird]

Agree, did it last winter on my Eagle and the difference is night and day

[rcflyertim]

It's funny to read all the people that love their residential refrigerator. I did not and I am sure I am not the only one. Think about the name for a moment. Residential meaning no special care has been taken in the design to be bounced around going down the highway. And wait til you have to service one meaning take it out of the unit LOL WE went back to RV frig and love it!! will never put another residential appliance of any kind in a rocking, moving, shaking 5th wheel

[TDMZKTAGratton]

The larger size doesn’t offset the dual power option for us. We learned the hard way. If you travel with food in your unit don’t go with a residential. This was my biggest regret when we ordered our NorrhPoint. Went with the gas/electric on our Talon.

[easevado]

I have 2018 eagle 355 MBQS. Thank God I haven’t done this yet. If yours has icemaker built-in it like mine does don’t forget to empty the ice if you do turn the refrigerator off. It will melt and ruin your floor

[mrlarson59]

Originally Posted by Gizmopilot

I got one in my eagle and love it. Full size items shopping for best value not size, Ice, water filter are great.

Keep in mind as others have said you will ruin the “Free” lead acid battery they install at the dealership if you tow it for more than a couple of hours.

I planned up front for this and immediately installed a couple of BattleBorn Lithium batteries which can support the inverter and the refrigerator for more than 24 hours and won’t be damaged if run empty(they have a built in auto cutoff when low).

The inverter can be left on and I do as it provides backup power in the event of a power failure - mine came with a auto transfer switch so the refrigerator doesn’t even know the power went out.

Solar can be added for an additional backup to this, which I am in the process of.

How much did it cost to convert to the lithium batteries. And was it an easy change ? We have a res frig and our unit will be in storage most of the time initially until we can cut our work hours back within next couple years. So I’m concerned with frig sitting unused for extended periods

[jasum]

Originally Posted by rcflyertim

It's funny to read all the people that love their residential refrigerator. I did not and I am sure I am not the only one. Think about the name for a moment. Residential meaning no special care has been taken in the design to be bounced around going down the highway. And wait til you have to service one meaning take it out of the unit LOL WE went back to RV frig and love it!! will never put another residential appliance of any kind in a rocking, moving, shaking 5th wheel

There is NO problem removing a residential refrigerator..........

How do you think they got it in there??

[AKRUEBBE]

Originally Posted by easevado

I have 2018 eagle 355 MBQS. Thank God I haven’t done this yet. If yours has icemaker built-in it like mine does don’t forget to empty the ice if you do turn the refrigerator off. It will melt and ruin your floor

"don’t forget to empty the ice if you do turn the refrigerator off"
Don't want to sound like a smarty, but that's a no brainer!!

[trento]

Put aside some dollars for a solar set up.Multi 6 volt batteries.I run 4 of them with solar.Trying to keep up to electrical requirements even with an inverter will sooner or later set you back for new batteries.Dont try and rely solely on the factory set up.They just arent robust enough.especially when you do a long haul or dry camping.having a gen set is also a real good idea.

[redley]

Originally Posted by 73stroker

We just ordered our first Jayco, a 2019 Pinnacle 37 MDQS, we choose the residential frig over the optional gas/electric frig. We are wondering what type of experience others have had with the residential refrigerator in an RV?

Thank you,

Dave & Kathy

Hi Dbvano

I purchased the 2018 Jayco Northpoint w/the residential twin door Whirlpool refrigerator.

Right hand door opens 90% of the way, hitting cabinet door.
Can’t open plastic slide drawers enough to put food items into bins. Silly! Must remove right side door to clean food bins.
However, both freezer and refrigerator freezes and cools nicely.. Ice and water despensers are optimum!

[Mad5581]

My 2018 377rlbh dose fine with the res fridge. I love it. The wife wanted it I wanted the rv setup. I've got a 2017 dmax with the 2 alternators and batteries. I also just to be safe on the long haul trips have 4 6volt batteries with 500 watts of solar. It was not cheap but I feel well worth the investment. I do agree that the lithium batteries are the way to go. 2 of them would be equal to about 6 6 volts. And weighing way less. Your system is only as good as the weakest link and that's normally the batteries. 8 hours with my setup on the road and I'm still at 13.1 to 13.4 volts. But mostly depends on the weather. We camped last summer for a week dry camping and the lowest I saw the batteries get was 12.8 volts. Without a genny. I would at minimum upgrade from the OE batteries right away. I opted to do solar because it can be useful for more then just the fridge. And I made the dealer put it in the deal at a huge discount. Plus it's all covered by my warranty. If it messes up it's on the dealer to make it right. I had my fears but I can say it's a good set up and will likely do it on my next RV. Good luck

[norty1]

I have never had one but know those who have been to Alaska with one and do not have problems.

Hope to not have to make the decision but I don't think I would pay extra for one or a on-demand water heater either. To old school.

[DamonBecky]

Originally Posted by oh355mbqs

We have a residential in our 2017 Eagle 355MBQS. I have seen the posts about 4-5 hours and dead batteries. I have seen the posts about not charging while driving. I understand wire size, I have a degree in electrical engineering, granted I haven't used it in almost 30 years . Here's my experience. We have done 2 big trips, I have been unplugged (traveled) as much as 18 hours in a day, batteries never dropped below 13 volts. I have 2 Interstate deep cycle 12 volt batteries. I tow with a 2016 Duramax, 1 alternator, 2 batteries. Last year on a trip we got to the campground early, couldn't get our spot. We had plans for the day so I dropped the camper in the parking lot, came back about 7 hours later, batteries were still at 13 volt, according to the Lippert One Control, I didn't check with a meter. I know it is a Xantrex 1000 inverter, I can't remember the brand of refrigerator. This is our first residential, my experience so far, I will never go back. The winterization is a little more involved, but not bad.

Same experience here oh355mbqs. My Duramax does well on maintaining my two Interstate deep cycles. I have learned to stay plugged in when disconnected to level up during setup. Our residential fridge is great.
We have made lots of 10 to 12 hr trips without problems.

[Puddle Pirate]

Originally Posted by klassic

My fridge defrosts at 45a for 20 mins.
I built (Mustang65 designed) a defrost defeat so the defrost can be turned off while driving and boondocking. I catch it trying to defrost quite often

How did you wire it up to bypass the defrost

[klassic]

Here’s the thread Pirate.
I don’t think anyone has done this but me.
Fridge goes into defrost mode more than you think. I see it all the time.
To be clear this was done to the Fridgidaire model.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...mod-47511.html

[Cc0951]

I’ve been an Rver for approx 25 years. We got a reisidential fridge in our Eagle. I will never be without it again. Food keeps so much better. Having ice is a nice plus. The first winter we had a valve pop due to some residual water in the water line at its low point on the fridge. We were able to replace it ourselves. The latch on the doors was installed poorly and didn’t work very long. Hubby repaired it but it’s still not good so I use a tight bungee cord to keep it closed.

[Puddle Pirate]

Originally Posted by klassic

Here’s the thread Pirate.
I don’t think anyone has done this but me.
Fridge goes into defrost mode more than you think. I see it all the time.
To be clear this was done to the Fridgidaire model.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...mod-47511.html

O I get it, but were on that frig do u wire it in, I have the same frig in my Jayco 321 RST, and would like to install that option myself----thks

[patty5347]

We absolutely love our residential refrigerator!!!! We travel mostly 12 hours at a time. Our refrigerator holds the right temperature every time for us!!! Only problem we have occurred is everything in the refrigerator will shift during travel and double check and double check that the doors are locked!!! Made that mistake one time and had eggs all over my floor after a 12 hour drive 🤦*♀️🤦*♀️🤦*♀️. Oh one more thing invest in a meat sealer. The cold in the freezer will frost over your meat unless it's vacuum sealed.

[Puddle Pirate]

Originally Posted by patty5347

We absolutely love our residential refrigerator!!!! We travel mostly 12 hours at a time. Our refrigerator holds the right temperature every time for us!!! Only problem we have occurred is everything in the refrigerator will shift during travel and double check and double check that the doors are locked!!! Made that mistake one time and had eggs all over my floor after a 12 hour drive 🤦*♀️🤦*♀️🤦*♀️. Oh one more thing invest in a meat sealer. The cold in the freezer will frost over your meat unless it's vacuum sealed.

I had a factory install that was ****ty at best, look at ground level with a high powered flash light there is normal wheels on the bottom, if not screwed down in place it will cause the bottom of the frig to swing out, because the top is secured and the bottom 2 screw loosen up