Different refrigerator?????

[howco]

Has anyone successfully installed a house/apartment refrigerator in your A/S????
I am seriously thinking about it, as we always use full service camp spots....

[garry]

Home Depot or Lowe's sells one that just fits and has a silver front.

Our son installed one in his AS it works and looks good he has no regrets.

[lewster]

I've done it many times for folks that DON'T MOVE OR TRAVEL WITH THEIR RV. If you intend to use yours for the purpose intended, you will need some way to provide 120VAC to the refer to keep it cold.

That usually entails a large battery bank, fair sized power inverter and probably solar to keep those house batteries charged. Add up the dollars and you're still better off with a gas absorption (RV) fridge.

You also might look at some of the dual electric marine fridges. 120VAC or 12VDC, which ever is present and uses the highly efficient Danfoss compressor. They work really well and can be used in off level situations up to 30*.

[HiHoAgRV]

Several years ago we used a $150 medium sized apartment fridge in conjunction with an inverter...
Like Lew says...worked great in a stationary mode...
1 week of on-the-road and the compressor went 'open circuit'...

didn't seem to like moving around while it was running...

The exact same model fridge is working fine in year 5 of our SOB trailer...that hasn't moved in 5 years....

[gwchitty]

We have an old dorm size fridge thats probably 10 years old in our A/S. Since we want A/C when we camp, its never a problem being only 120 VAC. We just have to wait a few hours after we get to our campsite for it to get good and cold. No worries, we use a cooler with ice during travel. Use steel brackets and steel pop rivets into the fridge and screws into the floor to keep it stable. It'll survive the trips to the campground. It also runs good on our tiny 1200W generator along with the lights.

[mouth012006]

Originally Posted by howco

Has anyone successfully installed a house/apartment refrigerator in your A/S????
I am seriously thinking about it, as we always use full service camp spots....

We took out the old 3 way and added in this store bought from Lowe's

We are able to run it at the same time as the portable a/c that we have
this is the enclosure that goes around it:

[NashBuff]

Listen to Lew

[canadaxp]

Originally Posted by howco

as we always use full service camp spots....

I think since they are always full service...why would it matter? I am doing the same thing in my trailer right now. We have no plans on camping without full service either.

[funkill]

Originally Posted by canadaxp

I think since they are always full service...why would it matter? I am doing the same thing in my trailer right now. We have no plans on camping without full service either.

Ahhh - now that's the point. Not all are full service: i.e. boondocking sites (or maybe they're not sites at all).

I have a reguar 120v fridge in mine - though I WISH I had the 3-way - just to give me more options. I'd rather use the fridge than a cooler for those times when there is no shore power available!

Laura

[howco]

Thanks people, mucho help

[Grand Master]

Something that you should consider is the travel time going to the campsite / RV Park. A gas / elect. refrig can stay cold while you travel using propane. We have been traveling for 4 months and stayed where there was electricity 99% of the time. We always switch the Dometic frig to electricity when we are at our site.
But, it is very nice to be able to switch to propane while we travel during the day. On those days when the outside temp is in the 90"s the frig would not stay cold for the several hours traveling, and it would take a long time to recover at summer temps.

I think you will regret not having the gas option unless you are going to park your Airstream at a park for the season.

[Mike S]

It is questionable whether you should run gas while towing. Sane thing to do is close the valves. If you have a three way, you can probably maintain a chill in 12V mode, but the Dometic three way (actually all three way fridges) do a poor job on 12V and suck up a lot of amps - more than double what a 12V fridge with a Danfoss compressor will take.

A 12V DC or AC/DC fridge is more efficient and even the 12V DC only fridge will work perfectly in your trailer if your converter is in good shape.

I have upgraded my converter to a newer more effiicient model, rerun all the cabling, added two banks of 6V AGM golf cart batteries, and ordered a new Novacool 6.8 CF DC fridge for my old Argosy. It will be installed bfore the end of the month.

Nothing is worse than having stuff go wrong when traveling.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Mike S

It is questionable whether you should run gas while towing. Sane thing to do is close the valves. If you have a three way, you can probably maintain a chill in 12V mode, but the Dometic three way (actually all three way fridges) do a poor job on 12V and suck up a lot of amps - more than double what a 12V fridge with a Danfoss compressor will take.

A 12V DC or AC/DC fridge is more efficient and even the 12V DC only fridge will work perfectly in your trailer if your converter is in good shape.

I have upgraded my converter to a newer more effiicient model, rerun all the cabling, added two banks of 6V AGM golf cart batteries, and ordered a new Novacool 6.8 CF DC fridge for my old Argosy. It will be installed bfore the end of the month.

Nothing is worse than having stuff go wrong when traveling.

Cool setup BUT not what the OP was asking...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f37/...nks-46833.html

Originally Posted by Mike S

A 12V DC or AC/DC fridge is more efficient and even the 12V DC only fridge will work perfectly in your trailer if your converter is in good shape. ...

The 12V option is not used in most trailers for the exact reason you point out...

Originally Posted by Mike S

It is questionable whether you should run gas while towing. Sane thing to do is close the valves. ...

This is covered in sooo many threads and most folks agree to disagree

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f368...ing-35706.html

[Mike S]

I take my lessons from the days when I worked on boats at sea. In boats you minimize points of potential problems - especially with flammable products like propane... that why so many boaters choose diesel.

Propane just never worked well in my trailer, with the Dometic. Never maintained proper temps, and would sometimes go out.

I know that there are a lot of people using propane while they are towing. I used to, also. Apparently, as one grows older they get smarter. I hope so, anyway. ;-)

[SafariGeorge]

The OEM absorption fridge is silent, and puts any coil and boiler heat outside. I think I would find a residential unit hot and noisy in the confines of a trailer! JMO
George

[Jammer]

Everyone makes their own choices and lives with them, I guess. I would not be without a propane fridge.

Leaving aside the questions of the appropriateness of running propane while under way, there have been many occasions where I have been parked temporarily with no shore power available and needed refrigeration. Grocery store parking lot. Stopped for lunch at a "day use facility" as the state calls them here. Coffee with friends who live halfway between points A and B. In the driveway by my house for 4 hours while getting ready to leave, sure I could plug in, but extra hassle.

I am presently parked long-term (8 weeks) at an ersatz campground and spending 3 days there, 4 days in my stick house. The shore power is 20a and is over 100 feet from the trailer. There are over 100 other rigs. I know that if someone trips over my shore power cord or whatever that the propane will kick on and run on battery until I get there and I won't have a stinky mess.

And, I've done some boondocking, which I didn't really anticipate.

So, all in all, I'm glad I have the propane fridge, and wouldn't be without it.

[wasagachris]

One thing that nobody has thought of is that these household fridges are not designed to travel down the road. Subjecting them to constant bumps, rattles and vibrations etc will only lead to premature failure of these cheap fridges IMHO.