What y'all think about...

Javi · 05-18-2018, 07:08 AM

The current trend to put residential refrigerators in the 5th wheels... I ain't real sure I would ever need one... Just told/asked a salesman "why in the world would I want to fool with an inverter and residential fridge in a trailer what will sit empty 10 months out of every 12???"

**chuckster57** · 05-18-2018, 07:13 AM

from a technicians point, I agree. I would walk away from a unit even with a floorplan the DW wanted if it had a residential refer in it. YMMV

CaptnJohn · 05-18-2018, 07:34 AM

Some marketing ideas turn into a fad that gets a grip on those that must have the latest, if not the greatest. Seeing the same with steps I'm staying away from. Once bought they must be defended .

ctbruce · 05-18-2018, 08:47 AM

Beginning stages of looking, still a couple of years away. Wint even consider a residential fridge. Too many bad stories and limitations.

MerlinB · 05-18-2018, 08:55 AM

Silly. I do have an inverter that runs my fridge while traveling so I don't have to have the propane turned on. However, I also love being able to run my fridge on propane when I don't have shore power and I need to conserve battery power. YMMV.

DOWva · 05-18-2018, 12:38 PM

Not sure i would want a large fridge like that I prefer running on propane when I need to. Seems like a waste to me.

MattHelm21 · 05-18-2018, 04:44 PM

I’m not defending residential fridges. This is mostly for those who already have one like me. There are certainly more negatives than positives depending on your camping style(my style makes it closer to workable). That said, the size, cooling power, and convenience of side by side doors and huge bottom freezer begin to make it worth the negatives. What I have done to make it workable is to add 50 amp service to the house so I can keep the inside cool enough(running air conditioner) that I don’t have to worry about the compressor over 100 degrees problem. The closest thing to boondocking we do is NASCAR races and we run the generator anyway for air conditioning so haven’t felt the loss of propane. While traveling, the inverter doesn’t drain the battery as the charge lead from the TV seems to be enough to keep things going. Finally, when we purchased the Fuzion knowing we could have potential issues, we had autostart added to the generator in case of low batteries. I arm it when traveling and when we have no hookups and so far it hasn’t started except for tests I run periodically. I like to think some new technology will become available to mitigate these issues.

One plus you may not have considered is pulling into gas stations. If you worry about that open flame when your fridge is running on propane, the fridge on inverter mitigates that situation.

CaptnJohn · 05-18-2018, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattHelm21

I’m not defending residential fridges. This is mostly for those who already have one like me. There are certainly more negatives than positives depending on your camping style(my style makes it closer to workable). That said, the size, cooling power, and convenience of side by side doors and huge bottom freezer begin to make it worth the negatives. What I have done to make it workable is to add 50 amp service to the house so I can keep the inside cool enough(running air conditioner) that I don’t have to worry about the compressor over 100 degrees problem. The closest thing to boondocking we do is NASCAR races and we run the generator anyway for air conditioning so haven’t felt the loss of propane. While traveling, the inverter doesn’t drain the battery as the charge lead from the TV seems to be enough to keep things going. Finally, when we purchased the Fuzion knowing we could have potential issues, we had autostart added to the generator in case of low batteries. I arm it when traveling and when we have no hookups and so far it hasn’t started except for tests I run periodically. I like to think some new technology will become available to mitigate these issues.

One plus you may not have considered is pulling into gas stations. If you worry about that open flame when your fridge is running on propane, the fridge on inverter mitigates that situation.

We have the Dometic 4 door. Big enough and don't think of it while fueling a at truck stop diesel pumps. Only on propane while traveling. Electric shore power or the generator 99% of the time. Once in a great while there is an overnight without utilities.

notanlines · 05-19-2018, 02:24 AM

Our Suites has the residential fridge. We like it, but also have the 7k generator for overnighting with no power. Powered by the TV when on the road.

Tinner12002 · 05-19-2018, 03:11 AM

My dealer told me that they are shying away from the residential frig and not advising people get them, to many issues he said. I've also read where people have to take them out of the RV by removing a slide and take them to a frig shop to get them repaired because repair techs won't work on them in an RV, not sure why but just what I've read.

gearhead · 05-19-2018, 03:16 AM

I have zero faith in our Dometic gas/elect refrigerator. The first summer of ownership it went back to the dealer 3 times. Finally had the entire cooling system replaced by my Mom & Pop RV repair center. We just spent all of April on the road. The refrigerator temps were all over the place. From 33 to 45. If it worked I would be OK. I hate spending a trip wondering if the fridge will be hot and ruin a trip.
So yeah I can see an electric fridge in my future. I'm not crossing Arizona in the 110F summertime. Wherever the 5th goes we have at least elect hook ups or 2 Honda gens.
Now, the cabover...gas and elect only. No telling where I'll be with it.
Javi...where you been? Yeah I got a dually. Shoulda listened to you 2 years ago.

bill-e · 05-19-2018, 01:57 PM

From a marketing perspective there is probably a good size segment who are retiring, spending some of their 401K on a big truck and a big 5ver with the hopes of retirement RV life. Those people buy big because they want all the comforts of home, including a large frig. Most will always have shore power and if they want to do some boondocking, the dealer can upsell them on more battery and solar.

As long as they still offer dual fuel friges in those models I see it as a win-win for the dealer/OEM

Javi · 05-19-2018, 02:19 PM

Looked at several brands / models today... admittedly all were upper end but shorter in length than our current Cougar... All had the residential fridge... All are available with RV model 18cuft... Alpine, Cardinal Luxury, Brookstone, Grand Designs Solitude...

Liked some things about all of them... disliked some things about all of them..

Looked at them pretty much back to back and took photos of the things we liked and the things we didn't like..

Right now.... leaning towards the Cardinal or Solitude

Spent a good deal of time with the Cardinal rep... nice fellow, pretty knowledgeable too..

We'll see... need to sell the Cougar first I reckon...

Oh... as luck would have it.. The one the DW like the most is 2ft longer than the Cougar

I was trying to down size..

**chuckster57** · 05-19-2018, 02:37 PM

We sell Grand design so if you have any questions feel free to PM.

divern54 · 05-27-2018, 07:35 AM

Did you know 1 bag of ice takes up almost all the room in a Dometic frig/freezer? I love having an icemaker in the large freezer section of our Samsung Residential Refrigerator! Yes, we have an inverter that is powered by batteries that are charged by solar panels or the generator, when we are not connected to electricity. It's nice to have room in the frig for the groceries I just purchased, without being a jigsaw puzzle expert.

larryflew · 05-27-2018, 08:58 AM

We are snowbirds for winter and typically do not do a lot of traveling other than 5 days to the south and 5 days home so a res fridge would work fine.

A lot of those that stay in the AZ park we go to have switched to res for more room in the fridge. Considering we never do any dry camping it would work fine for us but won't happen unless our current fridge dies.

Technically (according to most manuals) you should be turning your fridge off while traveling so that would not matter for either type. We do not turn ours off but I think it would be fine for the 7 or 8 hours we travel in a day.

Irv gates · 05-27-2018, 09:05 AM

I had one dealer that said ,the residential frig will only do a decent job of cooling for 8 Hours on Inverter. That is not workable for dry camping if I didnt have Generator. I will stick with the Electric/propane model from dometic. Ig

divern54 · 05-27-2018, 10:06 AM

We dry camp often. We have a generator, but dont need it for the refrigerator due to the solar panels.

Frank G · 05-27-2018, 10:35 AM

Our unit came with the Norcold 18 cf dual fuel refrigerator. In the last year it saw 150+ days of use, no issues whatsoever, perfect size for 2 people. We absolutely would do it again. We shied from the residential refrigerator when looking at units. There have been some posts questioning the reliability of the Norcold, like anything else we own, if it's not fixable, it will get replaced.

Old soldier · 05-28-2018, 04:15 PM

Wouldn't have a residential fridge. May be OK if you never camp where there isn't reliable power. We lost power every day for an hour or more at Big Bend. An inverter sounds OK, but then you need a huge battery bank and/or generator. Solar might work but doubt it without a really big panel(s). A DSI is best overall despite being slower to cool. Our 2018 Montana 310re came to live with us because of its size (smaller than the Titanics in that line) and still hsd a DSI fridge. Generators are too loud and obnoxious just to keep milk cold! Boondockers might be fine, but gens can destroy campground tranquility

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