Residential Refrigerator

[Richard Miller]

Has anyone done any serious checking on putting a residential frig in place of the Dometic 4 door? I just read where Cedar Creek will put a 18 cu ft Whirlpool residential in their units from the factory.

[chevman]

Once Alpenlite offered the big amana all electric refrigerator in their MH's and some fifthwheels. An inverter was installed and solar on the roof for boondocking. My friend had this and it wasn't great for boodocking but it probably worked ok while traveling.
chevman

[BobW]

I wonder about venting and fitting into the opening. You must not be traveling much. We leave our fridge on gas while moving.

[Richard Miller]

I do travel a little bit. Have been full timing for over 5 years now and last year we logged over 25k miles including a swing through Alaska. As far as while on the road it works off the inverter. They draw very little power. All I am concerned about is getting it to fit. I can't believe no one has tried it yet considering the piece of crap that Dometic makes.

[Motor31]

There are lots of motorhomes with residential fridges in them. They will require shore power, or a gen set if dry camping for any time. They ARE far better for cooling and freezing not to mention cheaper to buy. They do pull a fair amount of power running on an inverter so I'd be careful about checking the draw of amps from the battery. The main draw is on start up so you want to have enough amps available both in the inverter and battery bank or it will trip the breaker. Having to run both fridge and furnace will really draw down the batteries if dry camping. You'll want to not only check dimensions but power usage before sticking it in the rig.

[The View 5046]

I have read were people who have 5th wheels that have residential type firdges in them. We also leave our Fridge on 2/47. However if you leave the fridge off if will maintain for 8 or so hours, and as long as your hooked to the Truck the 5th wheel battery will stay charged. I for sure wouldn't mind having a residential type in the 5er. We never boondock or Wally Dock so thats not a issue. We are always hooked to a 50 amp system when not on the road. Replacing a 4 door RV fridge is expensive. GBY.................

[GlennWest]

Don't know about your freightliner but standard pickups won't keep a battery in the rv charged if it is drawing very much power. The wire size is not going to carry much current to battery. A solar panel would work though.

[Gemstone]

Here is a site where others are discussing successful use of residential units in RV's: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24032871.cfm

Regards
Gemstone

[The View 5046]

We never have had but one 12 volt battery and never had any issues. We do no boondocking or Wally Docking. Except when traveling we are hooked to 50 amp service. But I do believe that a better Fridge could be made. But being able to run of Propane and electric is a little more prob lems to begin with. GBY....

[dshind]

Has anyone tried to replace a 4 door fridge?We have a '08 presidential suite and after owning it only 6 months had to have the cooling unit in fridge replaced.The next time this happens it will be replaced .But haven't heard or seen anything to replace the 4 door with.Any suggestions?
Thanks Dave

[Richard Miller]

I tried all sorts of combinations to replace the 4 door frig. DRV worked with me because they would like to offer something. The additional depth of the residential frig makes it hit the island when the slides are in. DRV was willing to install it while building but would not move the island because it would require re-engineering the electrical and plumbing. I'm not saying it cannot be done but it will be very inconvenient. DRV did work with me on this very well but I finally decided it wouldn't be worth it. We also looked at the NORCOLD 4 door but it a lot more money. We were looking at WHIRLPOOL #ED2KHAXVS. It is 34 3/4 deep and the DOMETIC is 26 deep that makes about 9 inches difference and it is tough to get that much extra clearance.

[dshind]

I currently have the norcold in my presidential .I have not had alot of luck with absorbtion type refers.Had to replace the cooling unit in our 2004 MS. 3 times(it was Dometic), and in our 2 yr. old presidential our 4 door norcold cooling unit was replaced 6 months after we bought the rv new.I would just as soon go with the residential type.

[Richard Miller]

I agree 100% that is why I worked so hard to find one that would work but it just did not work out but believe me it can be done. If I have much trouble with my new one I will put a residential in even if I have to cut part of the island off.