Newbie Fridge Question

[SlimPickins]

Our rig has a residential style fridge and a power inverter. I understand items will stay cold for hours and you can pack with ice packs to help stay cool once the fridge is to temp.

My question is...our maiden voyage is this weekend. Once I hook up to my truck can I turn on the fridge so it can start to cool while we drive for 2-3 hours while we keep our food in a cooler? Or is it just best to wait until we get hooked to shore power. Sorry if this is very basic, but we are complete newbs to RV's.

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by SlimPickins

Our rig has a residential style fridge and a power inverter. I understand items will stay cold for hours and you can pack with ice packs to help stay cool once the fridge is to temp.

My question is...our maiden voyage is this weekend. Once I hook up to my truck can I turn on the fridge so it can start to cool while we drive for 2-3 hours while we keep our food in a cooler? Or is it just best to wait until we get hooked to shore power. Sorry if this is very basic, but we are complete newbs to RV's.

We have a new 2021 Pinnacle, similar setup. We keep the damn thing running all the time, at home or on the road. Wife is funny about powering it on and off all the time. She owns a property management company and has dealt with appliances for over 35 years in her business, so I lost that fight and it stays on. We have 50A at home. How many/type batteries, and how long will you be on the road. You don't want them getting lower that 50% if lead acid, tends to shorten their life considerably. We have 2 deep cycle/ group 27 batteries and also the Jayco solar option with 2 panels. Our maiden voyage a few weeks ago we traveled almost 350 miles/6.5 hours or so, and fridge was nice and frosty when we got home and never turned it off. if you can run it a day or so before the trip to get it nice and cool, once you hit the road, you can turn off inverter and all will be fine. We lose power over hurricanes here, and the fridge/ freezers do fine for a day or two as long as the doors are kept shut. If you have a generator, you can also run it either full time or just part time, and you will have no issues.

[RogerR]

If you can plug your Rv into the house power than start the fridge up the day before and pack it with food before you leave. Full of cold stuff and maybe some frozen water bottles or similar to keep it cold on your trip. Experience will tell you how well it works on trips.

It is a good idea to keep the RV plugged in to keep the batteries charged up or put a battery cutoff switch on the battery to keep the CO/LP alarm and other stuff from running them down.

Lots of posts on fridges, battery maintenance, etc. here.
Have fun!

[SlimPickins]

Thanks, unfortunately we live in apartment and the rig is parked at a storage lot. That is why I was asking about using the inverter while hooked up to the truck.