residential refrigerator vs traditional lp model

[notanlines]

"They came back two weeks later to a bunch of spoiled food and rotted meat."
We would never, under ANY circumstances, leave any meat/fish in the RV if we were to be gone more than 2-3 days. A lesson they learned the hard way.

[notanlines]

We have 2 6 volt batteries in the Suites and have never had a dead battery after running the refrigerator from the inverter 14 hours during a stop at night.
But I will agree, a propane powered fridge will run a long, long time on 20-30-40 pounds of propane.

[rhagfo]

Well getting ready to install our JC refrigeration conversion unit. We don’t boondock, but do deal with occasional multi day power outages and figure we will be fine with our dual 12 volt batteries.

[bsmith0404]

Originally Posted by notanlines

"They came back two weeks later to a bunch of spoiled food and rotted meat."
We would never, under ANY circumstances, leave any meat/fish in the RV if we were to be gone more than 2-3 days. A lesson they learned the hard way.

Yep, best part is they did it twice before they figured out it was a problem with the rv site. They moved to a different site and didn’t have any more problems. The second time it was just melted ice cream and a few condiments that required refrigeration after opening.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by notanlines

We have 2 6 volt batteries in the Suites and have never had a dead battery after running the refrigerator from the inverter 14 hours during a stop at night.
But I will agree, a propane powered fridge will run a long, long time on 20-30-40 gallons of propane.

I think you meant 20, 30, 40 pounds of propane not gallons, 5, 7, 9 gallons respectively.

[chuckster57]

We decided to test a fridge. Dometic 8 cubic foot set at coldest. Kept the battery charged as we were more interested in LP usage. We did keep “stuff” in it and opened both sections during the day. After 30 days there was still propane in a 7 gal cylinder

[RickV]

Old 5ver had a the Dometic RM 1350 4 Door fridge. It was in one of the Slides, If the sun was hitting that side or is it was real hot outside it had problems keeping the temp below 40 degrees. I did this mod and it fixed the issue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wVTP89-Btg

. That being said the new 5ver has the Samsung Residential Fridge and it works great except for when you close the doors if you don't press on em the door open beeper goes off a minute or so later (I am sure there is an adjustment just don't know how to). We are almost never off the grid so power is not any issue and we prefer the Residential.

[Mikendebbie]

The Samsung RF18 in my unit has been running continually since the day I bought the rig January 27 2018. It runs on the inverter during travel and it is always plugged into 50 amp shore power at home or in a campground. I have never turned it off. I have had zero problems with it. Same is true of our old 1987 Sears dbl door that lives in the garage. Maybe I am one of the lucky few.

[dutchmensport]

Mikendebbie,

Ours is never shut off either since the day we took delivery of the camper. Our's is parked at home in the drive way when not on the road. We literally live in the camper in drive way, as our son and his little boy live in the house. The inverter is left on all the time in the event of electric grid power failure, the electric transfer switch will flip over and power off the battery this way. We keep the camper refrigerator stocked all the time. And for the 1 month a year we move out of the camper and back into the house because of extreme cold weather, the refrigerator is still left turned on. Of course, the water system is winterized and no water for the ice make, but the refrigerator seems to work well even in extreme cold.

To get back to the OP's original concern.... from my experience, the bouncing down the road had not affected my Samsung one bit. It continues to run flawless.

Now, the position of mine is located directly over the axles. Maybe that creates a softer ride there, opposed to one that may be in the very rear of the camper that has more violent up and down, bouncing, and side-to-side g-forces on it.

Edit: I stand corrected. There has been about 4 or 5 times we've turned the refrigerator completely off, emptied it out, and made sure it was unplugged and the inverter was turned off: That was when we took the camper to our dealership for repairs or fixes. For example, when we had wheel bearings repacked, slide cables fixed, and an awning repair. Not knowing exactly how long the camper would be in their shop, we wanted to make sure the refrigerator was completely empty so nothing would spoil, and turned the inverter off so the battery would not run down. These are the only times we've ever turned the refrigerator completely off.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by dutchmensport

Mikendebbie,


To get back to the OP's original concern.... from my experience, the bouncing down the road had not affected my Samsung one bit. It continues to run flawless.

Now, the position of mine is located directly over the axles. Maybe that creates a softer ride there, opposed to one that may be in the very rear of the camper that has more violent up and down, bouncing, and side-to-side g-forces on it.

You may have hit upon an explanation for some of the discrepancies in how the res fridges work. Mine is almost right over the front axle as well in a slide and never had a moments trouble with it. I figure a front or rear kitchen model would experience quite a bit more "banging" than the mid mounted units.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by dutchmensport

Mikendebbie,

Ours is never shut off either since the day we took delivery of the camper. Our's is parked at home in the drive way when not on the road. We literally live in the camper in drive way, as our son and his little boy live in the house. The inverter is left on all the time in the event of electric grid power failure, the electric transfer switch will flip over and power off the battery this way. We keep the camper refrigerator stocked all the time. And for the 1 month a year we move out of the camper and back into the house because of extreme cold weather, the refrigerator is still left turned on. Of course, the water system is winterized and no water for the ice make, but the refrigerator seems to work well even in extreme cold.

To get back to the OP's original concern.... from my experience, the bouncing down the road had not affected my Samsung one bit. It continues to run flawless.

Now, the position of mine is located directly over the axles. Maybe that creates a softer ride there, opposed to one that may be in the very rear of the camper that has more violent up and down, bouncing, and side-to-side g-forces on it.

Edit: I stand corrected. There has been about 4 or 5 times we've turned the refrigerator completely off, emptied it out, and made sure it was unplugged and the inverter was turned off: That was when we took the camper to our dealership for repairs or fixes. For example, when we had wheel bearings repacked, slide cables fixed, and an awning repair. Not knowing exactly how long the camper would be in their shop, we wanted to make sure the refrigerator was completely empty so nothing would spoil, and turned the inverter off so the battery would not run down. These are the only times we've ever turned the refrigerator completely off.

Originally Posted by sourdough

You may have hit upon an explanation for some of the discrepancies in how the res fridges work. Mine is almost right over the front axle as well in a slide and never had a moments trouble with it. I figure a front or rear kitchen model would experience quite a bit more "banging" than the mid mounted units.

i think you have a good point on being directly or close to the axles….with my background in refrigeration it’s hard to not look closely at what could go wrong if you install something against industry standards ( not rv standards because the bar is set pretty low lol)

[chuckster57]

FWIW tiffin motorhomes have used residential fridges for years, the only line that I remember using the RV fridge was the gas powered Allegro open road. In my 5.5 years at that dealership we only had 1 residential fridge need repair and we had to remove the Drivers seat and side window to get it out.

[JRTJH]

There is a warning on page 43 of the 2023 Keystone Owner's Manual:

REFRIGERATOR - RESIDENTIAL STYLE
By design, these refrigerators will not operate
properly when indoor air temperatures exceed
approximately 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition,
operating the refrigerator in these conditions
could cause compressor failure which may not be
considered warrantable. Leave the air conditioner set
at a temperature below this if the refrigerator is left
running in a vehicle that is not being used or shut it
off.

It only makes sense that if the refrigerator evaporator coils can't release the heat then the compressor is going to be working overtime. How much "overtime does it take to destory or burn up a compressor" ???

When a "closed up trailer" is sitting in the Texas sun in July, I'd suspect that the interior temperature goes well above that 110F upper limit. Heck, even here in Michigan, with the trailer in the shade most of the day, it's not a stretch to see inside temps well above 110 degrees.

https://keystone-rv-dealer-app.cdn.p...l_2023_web.pdf

A similar warning has been included in every owner's manual from around 2014 till now.

[jxnbbl]

With our trailer we have a GE 12v fridge that we have been using for a year. Specific model is GPV10FSNSB. It runs on 12v and draws 11 amps when running. Ignoring inefficiencies that is 11x12=132 W of solar is needed to maintain it running constantly. We have 3 170W panels and 2 AGM 12v batteries that we have found more than enough to never run out of power.

I can't comment on the impact of driving with it on, but have not had any problems with about 6000 miles under its belt. We turn it on the afternoon before leaving, fill the fridge that evening and take off in the morning. It sits "on" (thermostat is at lowest position/off) when not traveling from the time it is taken out of storage until it returns in the fall.

The best testimony to this is the fridge is having it sit parked in a field for 10 days with no hookups, loading it with (packing it) with most of the 300 bottles of home-brew for a wedding 2 days ahead of the reception and transferring to coolers on the way to the reception. (we only installed 2 of the 3 panels on this inaugural trip).