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Old 05-22-2022, 12:07 AM   #1
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Residential fridge

Thinking about converting to a residential fridge since our 2020 voltage 3651 has a never cold unit that has been problematic since the day we got the RV and I've heard good things about the residential units the main question is when running off of a sine wave inverter off the batteries during travel (we never boondock) will the tow vehicle charge the batteries while driving?
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Old 05-22-2022, 10:33 AM   #2
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Yes, but ever so slowly. With two batteries you should be okay for a day's travel. Remember, no one will be opening the fridge except for lunch, during they day, so the compressor won't be firing up and drawing down the batteries. Just my personal experience.
Rusty
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Old 05-22-2022, 12:39 PM   #3
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My fridge drains the two batteries overnight. Your TV won’t charge the batteries that much since the “running” items on your RV will put a drain on the batteries also (brakes, running lights, turn signals, etc). You also need to remember that the gauge on the RV connections for your truck are maybe 18AWG so there is not a lot of current available there.

IMO it’s best to cool the fridge down as much as you can and add some ice blocks (gallon or quart jugs filled with water and frozen) to try to offset the need for the fridge to run.
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Old 05-22-2022, 03:44 PM   #4
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@hognuts, I had several issues with my Norcold fridge in my 2018 3305 that prevented it from working well. It always cooled down perfectly the evening before use but would get hot during the next day and never cool effectively again.

It turns out there were two major issues:

1. The slide out compartment that the fridge is installed in is has several inches of open space above the fridge. According to the mobile RV mechanic who looked at it there should only be a couple of inches. He said hit air gets trapped up above and heats everything up because hot air wants to rise and will not magically exit the side vents. He added some insulation in the top of the cabinet directly over the fridge in minutes. Now I only have about two inches above the fridge.

2. One of the exhaust fans at the top of the cabinet had metal insulation tape inside that was the result of a lousy and lazy install, not unlike many things done at the factory. After he removed this tape and all three fans worked as they should my fridge has been great.

Personally, I think #2 was the big culprit and was compounded by #1. So if your fridge gets chilled down overnight but hot during the day this could be why. If your fridge was not in a slide out they could vent it out the top where it would perform better but our design require the heat to be pulled out the side by fans aimed up. You can pull off the top vent cover on the outside and get a look by holding a phone camera and taking video looking down at the fans to confirm they are working.

I think the residential fridge really should only be a last resort and probably with a proper inverter set up with more than two batteries although if you never boon dock then you might be safe.

Lastly, they claim our fridges tolerate the bouncing and jostling of flying down the road at 60 mph just fine but residential fridges are not designed for this and can have issues.

Some food for thought.
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Old 05-22-2022, 06:02 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lcv800 View Post
Yes, but ever so slowly. With two batteries you should be okay for a day's travel. Remember, no one will be opening the fridge except for lunch, during they day, so the compressor won't be firing up and drawing down the batteries. Just my personal experience.
Rusty



Thanks for the reply 😊
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Old 05-22-2022, 06:05 PM   #6
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Thanks for your insight ☺️
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Old 05-26-2022, 11:55 AM   #7
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Residential style refrigerator.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hognuts1960 View Post
Thinking about converting to a residential fridge since our 2020 voltage 3651 has a never cold unit that has been problematic since the day we got the RV and I've heard good things about the residential units the main question is when running off of a sine wave inverter off the batteries during travel (we never boondock) will the tow vehicle charge the batteries while driving?
I have a residential style in my 2021 unit, I won't tell the make of the TT, it runs on 12 volt DC not 110 volt AC. There are no convertors involved other than the one in the electrical distribution center. Here's the link to the manual for it, GE 10 cubic foot, residential style refrigerator. The newer ones now run on 12 volt DC.https://forestriverinc.help/#/coachm...ultiple-709544
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Old 05-26-2022, 01:49 PM   #8
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Norcold

Our Norcold Refer cooling unit went out 1 month out of warranty, so we bought a cooling unit out of https://www.rvcoolingunit.com/ installed it ourselves and it has been working perfectly for 3.5 years, great folks to work with, and fantastic reviews...
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