Residential refrigerators vs absorption - Page 3

az bound · 12-14-2011, 05:01 AM

Ours must be a mobile home with wheels and an engine. All appliances are residential, and we boondock 90% of the time. After getting everything properly set up we are able to limit our genny run time to 1-1/2hrs. per day.
I dont know that there is any big advantage to a residential just our preference to have cold drinks, hard icecream and a continuous supply of icecubes.

MntDriver · 12-14-2011, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smlranger

When my Norcrap 1200 fails, a residential unit goes in its place. Until then, I keep my SS30 halon fire suppression unit in place behind the fridge.

What has happened to your Norcold 1200 to cause you to call it what you are calling it?

bachler · 12-15-2011, 01:19 PM

I done some checking , and was Suprised; To find the Refer current draw . Is only 3 to 5.5 amps.For a household compressor refer' That is running draw. Now startup would maybe double that. You all check If I;; posted correctly; ,?? RV2 police !!

wagonmaster2 · 12-15-2011, 10:35 PM

Has there been any studies done on the longivty life of the residential frigs in coaches with all the side-side rolling and bouncing going down the road since they originally weren't designed to be used like this?

I hope all this at least gets Norcold/Dometic's attention to the fact they are not the only game in town and had better get their acts together.

Wagonmaster2

sdennislee · 12-15-2011, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wagonmaster2

Has there been any studies done on the longivty life of the residential frigs in coaches with all the side-side rolling and bouncing going down the road since they originally weren't designed to be used like this?

I hope all this at least gets Norcold/Dometic's attention to the fact they are not the only game in town and had better get their acts together.

Wagonmaster2

Never considered this. Do you think its a real issue? I am seriously considering a residential fridge. My Dometic does a great job when sitting still but as soon as we are moving it warms up quickly, ice cream will melt in 6 hours of driving. Our fridge is in the slide so the vents are on the side. It appears the air moving by disturbs the normal flow of cold and hot air in the vents and blocks the process from carrying away the heat. I've tried everything that has been suggest by Dometic. Went as far as having the unit removed and reinstalled with tighter specs better insulation new fans, you name it, I am about to give up.

tigersharkjd · 12-17-2011, 04:25 AM

We replaced our Norcold 2 months ago with the Samsung. Even with fans and other suggested assist devices, it never seemed to cool conistently. It was colder in the Clinton bedroom. We were concerned about the number of recalls and the fire potential. The Samsung has considerably more space, is about 3 lbs lees in weight and fit perfectly in our 2008 Vectra.

az bound · 12-17-2011, 05:17 AM

We have friends that have had a residential refrigerator for eleven years now and its doing fine. Theirs is an Amana installed as original equipment in 1999.
They are full timers so it's used 24/7.

bachler · 12-17-2011, 10:11 AM

I must post One experiance we had..In one of our rentals The frig, quit I went to pick one up. Now I do not recall the exact reason. But we had to lay it down. In the truck . When we got there and pluged it in it would not get cold, It The compressor ran. I took it back to the store. asking For a better piece of junk.. Well when the Owner found out wehad layed it down. .. No warrenty . MY stupidity cost me; That was a few years ago.. I'm sure they have improved ;;BUT did they REALLY;; As stated in a prior post .. Can it take all that bouncing around ????

stepside454 · 12-17-2011, 10:23 AM

First off anything refrigerated with a compressor, refrig, soda machine, whatever, needs to be set upright for several hours if you lay it down, before plugging it in. This is nothing new, been this way always.
Secondly, we don't run our res. frig while on the road, so of its an issue , it's a non issue anyway . I really don't see it being an issue, your not laying the compressor over letting the oil run out of it, it's just jiggling around.

gbs2320 · 12-18-2011, 06:04 AM

The vibration issue with the residential refers may be a valid issue. I recently received a new refer made overseas for the house and when they lifted it up to carry from the packaging the bottom fell out. The compressor was connected to the bottom and kinked the freon line when it fell so refer went back to the store and it was a special order. It turns out the screws vibrated out and were in the packaging. I guess long trip by truck to ship, ship to shore, truck to rail and rail to truck and store was too much for the design. Probably a fluke. I would not let this experience stop me from a residential refer however. Yet my Norcold is doing fine so far and the amish fix might get my vote for my needs. I do like that Samsung everyone is installing however. Life is a box of chocolates for sure. Many choices and you never know what your getting.

Triker56 · 12-18-2011, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Can it take all that bouncing/vibration a round ????

Please tell me what chassis has all that bouncing/vibration.
I don't want to buy one of those.

I don't notice any bouncing/vibration with my air ride Freightliner.

I put a residential refrigerator in a P30 chassis MH once and had no problem with it Full Time. Had a couple of those Blue Ice things that I moved to the refig part during the days drive. Everything keep good that way all day.

docj · 12-18-2011, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bachler

I done some checking , and was Suprised; To find the Refer current draw . Is only 3 to 5.5 amps.For a household compressor refer' That is running draw. Now startup would maybe double that.

Samsung's FAQs about its refrigerators states that a current draw of up to ~11A needs to be allowed for even though the starting current should be less than that. I think that is a worst case if the compressor started and the heaters were on, also. We have a 2.5kW inverter and the refrigerator has a separate 15A circuit and we have not experienced any issues.

We installed our residential fridge several months ago and think it is the best improvement we have made to the MH. 1.5x as much storage space, frozen ice cream and no fire hazard--what more could we ask for?

sdennislee · 12-18-2011, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

Samsung's FAQs about its refrigerators states that a current draw of up to ~11A needs to be allowed for even though the starting current should be less than that. I think that is a worst case if the compressor started and the heaters were on, also. We have a 2.5kW inverter and the refrigerator has a separate 15A circuit and we have not experienced any issues.

We installed our residential fridge several months ago and think it is the best improvement we have made to the MH. 1.5x as much storage space, frozen ice cream and no fire hazard--what more could we ask for?

Do you keep it powered while running down the road or does it stay cold enough to wait until you are on shore power?

If you keep it powered while driving do you use the inverter or the generator?

Traps90 · 12-18-2011, 07:50 AM

If it's hot enough that you need to run the gennie to us the roof air, then I would definitely keep the fridge going, otherwise for a 6 hour trip I would say leave it off.

Trap

az bound · 12-18-2011, 12:39 PM

If the engine alternator charges the house batteries, and power is supplied to the refrigerator through the inverter, let the refrigerator run.