Residential Fridge

[peterscannell]

I'm redoing my MH and I'm not crazy about the $1200, three-way fridges. How much power do the residential fridges use when boon docking? How often do you have to run the genny and for how long?

Thanks Peter

[03heritagerider]

An RV fridge works on 12 volt or propane (when plugged into shore power, the system converts the power to 12v). A residential model is 110 volt and you would need to have it wired properly so that it receives 110 instead of 12 volt. Then it would require your inverter or generator to be running at all times, including when driving.

I've never been able to fully grasp this concept, but you then have to figure amp hours to determine how long and how often you would need to run the generator to recharge the batteries to maintain power to the fridge.

I'm guessing you would be using a lot of fuel to keep the beer cold.

[Arthur Hayes]

I run the generator twice a day, once in thie morning when we get up and then again around dinner time. I run it until the batteries are charged which may take close to 2 hours.

[peterscannell]

Thanks. Don't most of the big busses have 110 fridges? And when you run your Genny to recharge your batteries, does it recharge at 2amps, 6amps or 10amps? I've found mine is hardwired to recharge at 2amps, but if I hook up a regular charger it puts out 10amps. I'll probably go with a 3-way fridge, it's only a $700 difference. But I will be ticked off if it breaks!

[03heritagerider]

The one winter we boondocked for three months in Arizona (Wife says that it was the FIRST AND LAST time we boondocked for three months anywhere), on average, we had to run the genny three times a day.

We were on BLM property and no gens from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. How cold it got overnight (often below freezing), determined how often the furnaces came on. Most mornings the batteries were dead by 6:00. I had to start the engine in order to start the generator in order to charge the batteries.

If we were out most of the day and temps were mild, the batteries would last into the evening and I would recharge before the 10:00 p.m. curfew.

If we stayed in or it was cold during the day, we would have to recharge around dinner time to operate the lights, cook, listen to music or watch TV.

It became a real challenge to "manage" all the systems in order to keep everything going.

Again, that whole amp hour thing eludes me, but as Arthur says, and I concur, the gen must be run for about 2 hours to recharge. For him that was 4 hours...for me, it was more often 6 hours a day. At $4.00 a gallon, that's a lot of diesel fuel. I would suspect that if I had a 110 fridge, I would have needed to recharge more often.

I think a 110 fridge is a great idea for a remodel. I just don't think it lends itself to any long term boondocking. If our 8 year old fridge dies, I may consider a residential unit. However, I doubt we would be doing any long term boondocking. Our dry camping days now consist of an overnight in a Wally World on the way to the RV park. Wife says that if we spent all that money on a "luxury" coach, she doesn't want to have to read by candle-light to prevent us from freezing overnight.

BTW Peter, I spent a lot of time in NJ growing up. Not familiar with "No-where". Which exit is that? :wink:

[peterscannell]

Very good, What exit! The original NJ joke. Exit 100, down the shore (Neptune, Shark River). In my neighborhood RV's are not allowed in the street and they are trying to ban them from driveways and yards (this includes boats). We're fighting that, every time they announce a change, our group shows up. My bus is the barometer because it's so visible. Even though it's legally parked (10.6 ft from the curb), it looks illegal.

I'm trying to design a more efficient 12v system for my bus and a larger battery capacity. I've found a source for led's in Hong Kong that's really cheap, so the fridge is a big issue. The Chinese and Japanese both have super-high efficiency fridges, probably cost a fortune. I have yet to do my amp hours total. I plan to full-time so I'll have lots of time to tinker with solar and wind generation and a bigger alternator.

After last winter, I'm not going any place cold. We had four feet of snow, drifting to eight and were stuck in our houses for four days. Our version of Katrina. I was looking at chains and a snow plow, seven tons should push some snow!

What did you do in the woods for three months?

[03heritagerider]

Split my time between Belleville (exit 148) and Seaside Heights (exit 82). My mother's family was from Belleville and my Grandparents had a bungalow in Seaside Heights. Lots of fond memories of a beautiful state. It truly is a "Garden" State. Unfortunately, most folks think of Newark when they think of New Jersey. Like here, people think of the long gone, smokey steel mills when they think of Pittsburgh.

There was a bit of an issue about two years ago with our coach in the driveway as well. I got a letter from the building inspector stating I was in violation of a 2008 ordinance prohibiting vehicles more than 25' unless garaged. My rig is 41' and has been in the driveway, about 70' from the street in the back yard, since 2003. I argued the "Grandfathering" rule. He agreed, and I moved the coach to the other side of the driveway, to make it less visible from the street. The inspector claimed he was forced by a member of the council to send the letter. He told me to ignore it for now and hopefully it will be forgotten. So far, so good.

Anyway, about five years ago, we spent 3 months in the Arizona desert, not the woods. During the day we got on the bikes and rode around exploring the area. We rode down into Mexico a few times. Rode into several National Park/Forests (Organ Pipe, Sonoran, Joshua Tree, and rode up to Las Vegas to visit family and into Death Valley).

We usually spend December through April someplace warm. Last year it was California with a stop in Yuma, Arizona. This time in an RV resort. Just as much fun as last time without the stress of "System Management". That was too much like work for a retired guy.

My Dad (86 years old) got hung up in Jersey last year during that storm. He went to visit the family and the Amtrack trains out of Newark back to Pittsburgh were cancelled for two days.

[peterscannell]

My brother is in McMurray, PA. I'll be spending part of my summer plugged into his lake house on Deep Creek. Last time I drove out there I counted 37 big MH's with toads on the highway!

[03heritagerider]

Wow! McMurray is only about 10 miles from my home and Deep Creek Lake is less than 100 miles, if you take the direct route. But on the bikes, we usually take the back roads. Been to the lake several times. It's really pretty there. We usually stop at the Honi Honi bar for lunch. He'll know where that is.

Perhaps we'll see you down there next summer.

[bobpowell]

IMO a residential fridge might seem at first to be a bargain in comparison to the three-way model but would eventually cost more than it was worth.

Any refrigerator will require feeding with power. A large-ish residential model might use 80 or 100 watts of power that must be supplied by electricity. Watts is the calculation of power based on Amps X Volts so 12 volt batteries will require 8.3 amps. to deliver the power required. 24 volt batteries need 4.15 amps and a 110 volt supply just 0.1 amps for the same power. If your leisure battery is 100 AH then it can run the fridge for ten hours before being exhausted. With other power needs, this is probably a lot less in real time.

Inverters are less than perfect so a 100 watt power requirement may need 120 watts of power to be drawn from the batteries. This all leads to problems of battery life. Even though the three way fridge might seem expensive, because the thing works on whatever power is cheapest to provide in any one of the three power supply scenarios, it becomes cheaper in the long run.

When plugged in, who cares? You probably pay for a ten amp hookup so thats already a thousand watts. Use em up!

[RayChez1]

My understanding in order to have a residential fridge in a coach you need at least eight six volt batteries and a second sine wave inverter. If not you are going to be starting the generator quit often especially in hot weather part of the country. Lot of the new coaches are coming out with residential, but they will tell you the down side of things if boon docking. Most of these high end coaches are in places with full hook ups. Several friends have installed fridges made by Samsung and they seam to like them, but they only stay where they have shore power.