Refrigerator Replacement

[1Chillyharley]

Has anyone replaced their RV refrigerator with a residential one? Appreciate any input i.e. difficulty, best models, etc. TYIA and wishing everyone a great Memorial Weekend!

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by 1Chillyharley

Has anyone replaced their RV refrigerator with a residential one? Appreciate any input i.e. difficulty, best models, etc. TYIA and wishing everyone a great Memorial Weekend!

The residential fridge in my Accolade is a Whirlpool and it works very well.

I see 3 challenges ahead of you.

First, the size of the cavity into which the residential refrigerator will go. The size of that cavity will limit your selection of refrigerators.

Second, 120 VAC circuit wired into an inverter so the refrigerator can run when not connected to shore power or generator.

Third, getting a residential refrigerator into the coach. Some refrigerators are too big to fit through the door and have to go through windows or a slide removed for installation.

A tape measure is your best friend before you do anything.

Good luck.

[1Chillyharley]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

The residential fridge in my Accolade is a Whirlpool and it works very well.

I see 3 challenges ahead of you.

First, the size of the cavity into which the residential refrigerator will go. The size of that cavity will limit your selection of refrigerators.

Second, 120 VAC circuit wired into an inverter so the refrigerator can run when not connected to shore power or generator.

Third, getting a residential refrigerator into the coach. Some refrigerators are too big to fit through the door and have to go through windows or a slide removed for installation.

A tape measure is your best friend before you do anything.

Good luck.

Thank you Dave. We are new to full-timing with our Seneca so any and all help/advice is appreciated!

We are mostly in the Southwest due to family proximity and summer is here!
Our Norcold was great in the winter but with summer temps I am finding that it doesn't seem to be cold enough.

I have taken outside measurements of our current Norcold and looked at some of the smaller refrigerators I have seen at at Home Depot and Lowe's and their measurements look to allow them to fit into the current cavity our Norcold is in. They are about 10 +/- cubic feet so not looking at a full size residential but even at 10 cu ft it is more room and will keep colder.

We are mostly stationary due to family so have shore power and when we travel we are only driving a max of 6 hours a day (usually less) so not to worried about the ability to keep food cold during that time. Our camping usually includes shore power as well and if not, we do have our generator.

My thought was if the smaller residential won't fit through door, dining room window is an option


Appreciate any further input you may have!

[RVermont]

I think that rustynuts replaced his norcold refrigerator panel with an aftermarket unit and if I remember correctly this significantly improved the efficiency of his unit. This might be a simpler process then retrofitting a new unit into existing space. You might try to search for that thread and see if that is an option for you to look at.

[1Chillyharley]

RVermont, thank you, I'll look up Rustynuts! Any advice, guidance, etc. is so much appreciated

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by 1Chillyharley

We are mostly in the Southwest due to family proximity and summer is here!
Our Norcold was great in the winter but with summer temps I am finding that it doesn't seem to be cold enough.

There are a couple mods that can be done to help improve the cooling efficiency of the Norcold frig.

#1, Install a few 12V 4 inch PC fans in the upper area of the access area behind the frig up high. You can add a temp sensor to turn them on/off automatically,. I would also add a simple switch to turn them off completely when not needed. There are a number of posts discussing this mod.

#2, add a frig fan, It is incredible what a difference it made inside our frig.
Here is an example; https://www.amazon.com/RV-Cooling-Un...255104&sr=8-36 Ours just has two small fans. A very small wire goes through the condensate drain tube to supply the power. When connected to the cooling cool via the alligator clip it completes the circuit and works.

I watched a YouTube video of your model. Couple things I noticed that will need to address or considered. Looks like your water heater on the floor directly under the Frig. You do have a pantry to the right, do you want to loose it??

A buddy of mine who has a seasonal unit, got frustrated (broke down twice in one season) with his Norcold about 2 years ago. His frig looked a lot like the size of the one in the video. He found a small apartment frig at Walmart that was an almost perfectly fit. Maybe a 1/4" narrower than the opening and about 2" shorter. He modified the framing just a little, and slipped it in. It almost looks factory.

If you want a true residential frig, you will have to address your water heater, and you may have to sacrifice your pantry :O.

As others said, take a lot of measurements. Confirm how much room have to work with. make sure to consider how to get it inside the MH. Remember the door(s) can be removed to give you some extra room to maneuver it in. Also expect to have to do some custom cabinet work to make it all fit nicely.

Good Luck let us know how it all works out for you.

[Rustynuts]

Yes I put the JC Refrigeration HVAC unit in our Norcold 1210 and its works awesome. W were just in 98° temps and the fridge stayed at 38 and freezer 0 the whole trip. I opted for the 120v unit as I had a bank of six 6 volt AGMS, 600 watts of solar and the conversion unit hardly made any difference in usage. They also make a 12V unit too. James AO just did the 12v unit and installed himself and and I believe Robbbyr just having his installed soon.


Here is a thread on my install...


https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...old-77850.html

[mjc29]

I replaced mine with a Norcold N10DC which is 12v dc compressor and am very happy with it. It has more internal space in the exact same cabinet hole.