replacing frig

[rp53]

thinking of replacing the frig in my 195rb, the factory frig's freezer is just to small found a small frig at Lowes close to the same size as the factory frig that has a much larger freezer, we only camp at CG that have full hookups so we never use the propane, thought of also buying an inverter so we could use the battery in an emergency, my question is how much power does the factory frig use and has anyone done this

 

[justman]

I know this is an older post, but I also noticed nobody had responded.

In my experience, most dual fridges draw about 4-6 amps when on electric.

One thing to consider is that you won't be able to keep your food cold when you're going down the road if you switch out the fridge to a residential one unless you plan on using an appropriately sized inverter and doing some fancy wiring.

A cooler might be a less expensive option.

 

[Kim Gass]

Why not just freeze a soda bottle. Frankly we use our freezer to freeze filled with water soda bottles.

Then going down the road with all power off the soda bottle popsicles keep the food cold

We've been using the same soda bottles in the freezer for almost five weeks straight now and some 7k miles.

We don't need the freezer otherwise but if you put a residential fridge in, you have an instant big cooler with that tactic. Why people transfer food to a cooler boggles my mind.
Cost? Zippo

 

[BigJohnD]

You can see my swap to residential here:

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f30/bigjohnds-mods-to-28bhbe-30052-2.html

 

[Bassdogs]

The gas elec frig in our 2014 W hawk works great so I'm fine with it but my experience with them in past rvs etc has been dismal. We had an older model in our houseboat and after spend hundreds to have it tweaked and finally overhauled only to have it die 2 years later, I replaced it with a residential fridge from Lowes. Cost was less than $400 compared to $1200 for a gas electric. The boat spends 95% of the time plugged into shore power at the dock and now when out on the lake shore, it is powered by a Honda 2000. With the fridge closed up it will hold temp for several hours even in 85 degree summer days so we shut off the generator at bed time and turn it back on at daybreak [time to make coffee]. I can run the generator from daybreak until bedtime for 1 gal of gas or less. We also keep frozen 12oz water bottles in the fridge freezer and can transfer 3 or 4 to the fridge if it is going to be off for more than a few hours.

If my rv was at a seasonal site all year, I would seriously consider making the swap. The OP ask about running it via an inverter and battery. A residential fridge will drain a single or dual 12v battery very very quickly and it will take an inverter approaching 2000watts. Like AC the residential fridge has a compressor that takes a big kick to start up. Don't plan on an inverter backup for your residential fridge unless you plan on spending just as much as for the fridge to build up a batterybank and significant inverter.

If you start up the fridge 24 hours early at home and load it with already cooled or frozen items it will easily hold temp for a 4 or 5 hour drive to your CG hookup.

 

[Grumpy]

A residential fridge will drain a single or dual 12v battery very very quickly and it will take an inverter approaching 2000watts. Like AC the residential fridge has a compressor that takes a big kick to start up. Don't plan on an inverter backup for your residential fridge unless you plan on spending just as much as for the fridge to build up a batterybank and significant inverter.

.

The Samsung 18 cu/ft residential that JAYCO uses only draws 3.9 amps and runs fine on a 1000 watt inverter, it has what is called an inverter compressor. JAYCO says 12 -14 hrs on a fully charged battery. There are plenty of new energy efficient units on the market today.