Residential refrigerators vs absorption

[erstanfo]

I have noticed all of the 2012 Winnebago units on various dealers web pages have residential refrigerators.
Is Winnebago phasing out the absorption due to recalls and fires?

I'm in the process of special ordering a 2012 Journey 36m

[TXiceman]

More than likely it is mostly based on cost.

ken

[Keith K]

I don't believe cost is a factor. Customers, disenchanted with the constant recalls and stories of RV refrigerator fires, are asking for the residential models. In addition, today's coaches with large inverters and battery banks are capable of supporting a residential refrigerator. I'm all for it - when my Norcold dies, I'm replacing it with a real refer.

[Perry White]

You price propane lately?

[smlranger]

Originally Posted by Keith K

I don't believe cost is a factor. Customers, disenchanted with the constant recalls and stories of RV refrigerator fires, are asking for the residential models. In addition, today's coaches with large inverters and battery banks are capable of supporting a residential refrigerator. I'm all for it - when my Norcold dies, I'm replacing it with a real refer.

Ditto. Residential units cool faster and better. Perhaps the most ardent boondocker will still need an absorption unit (maybe not with adequate solar power) but for many of us, a residential unit would work fine. 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.

[John Mo]

Most of the time we're on the road with the generator going or in a campground with shore power, but I still want the option to run my refrigerator on gas for those times when I'm parked somewhere in cooler weather and don't want to run the generator just to keep the refrigerator cold. I might feel differently if I had a huge battery pack, solar panels, and an big inverter, but that's not what I've got right now.

[DancinCampers]

I believe the house fridges are an option, the absorbtion is standard.

They add two extra batteries and increase the inverter size by 800 watts when you order the option.

It was mentioned by a Winnebago rep during an electrical seminar at GNR that the Maytag's they are installing use less power to run than an absorbtion type running on AC. The exception is when it goes thru a defrost cycle, which uses a lot of power.

It would be nice if you could manually schedule the defrost cycle for when you have the power available.

[speaky]

So far the residential I have in my new 2012 Journey runs well and very quietly. When traveling I have the inverter on and there is no problem. My wife loves the room of the two doors with the pull out lower freezer. I like the water and ice in the door feature. I am usually plugged in at home so we keep it running and somewhat stocked for that emergency if we are forced to move into it.

[Journey39n]

Cost, super efficent 18cf Samsung refer - $1200 plus two extra 6v batteries $200. Or a Norcold, at $3500 that has its cooling unit go out at 14 months, that is, two months after the warranty! I think cost is a very big factor.

And for me, only a 12 month warranty from Norcold, is a real disappointment. Next time, I don't repair, I replace with a residential unit! Just remember to measure carefully on getting a new unit into the coach!

[Izzyblueye]

This some of the best news I have read for awhile. I hate absorption fridges. I don't trust them, they blow out on the highway, (yes I use my fridge on the highway), always have. None of mine ever had a defrost cycle, which for long stays can be a real pain. So I am all for the residential type. Now if you can just get them in the door.

[GPW]

Finally , they’re “getting it right ” ... Norcold is Junk !!! JMHO

[Outbumn]

Our new 2011 Journey came with a residential refrigerator and so far I have mixed feelings. Granted it has more capacity and cools faster, but there are draw backs. You have to remember to turn the inverter on when unplugging from shore power, and turn it off when plugging in. We also run a test on how long the batteries would power the coach on thier own and found with only the refrigerator and lights on that time frame was about 1.5 hours. It then took the generator about the same amount of time to recharge the batteries (that was impressive). Wife is cold on the residential refrigerator, I am still on the sidelines.

[DancinCampers]

Unless you were going thru defrost mode, 1.5 hrs seems way low. I was told at GNR by a Winnebago consultant, who evaluated the Journey, that it would run about 12 hrs.

I am unfamiliar with the invertor installed now in the Journey, but I thought it was automatic, switching to shore power when available.

We are seriously considering the Maytag when we order our Journey, this thread is very useful.

[sdennislee]

Originally Posted by smlranger

Ditto. Residential units cool faster and better. Perhaps the most ardent boondocker will still need an absorption unit (maybe not with adequate solar power) but for many of us, a residential unit would work fine. 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.

Did you do the install on the halon system? I am thinking of one for the refer area as well as the engine compartment. If you did the install how difficult was it?

[sdennislee]

Originally Posted by smlranger

Ditto. Residential units cool faster and better. Perhaps the most ardent boondocker will still need an absorption unit (maybe not with adequate solar power) but for many of us, a residential unit would work fine. 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.

Did you do the install on the halon system? I am thinking of one for the refer area as well as the engine compartment. If you did the install how difficult was it?

I too will replace my absorption with a residential when it fails.

[dandandan]

Originally Posted by sdennislee

Did you do the install on the halon system? I am thinking of one for the refer area as well as the engine compartment. If you did the install how difficult was it?

I too will replace my absorption with a residential when it fails.

I watched someone install my halon (same price with free install)

Piece of cake. just a few screws on the floor behind the refer and point the exhaust towards center of the space. The guy said it is used in tanks by the army to put out fires which is a much larger space and it would fill the area behind the refer.

[sdennislee]

Originally Posted by dandandan

I watched someone install my halon (same price with free install)

Piece of cake. just a few screws on the floor behind the refer and point the exhaust towards center of the space. The guy said it is used in tanks by the army to put out fires which is a much larger space and it would fill the area behind the refer.

Thanks

[FIRE UP]

Gents,
We've been in the RV world for years, almost 30 to be exact and, while I've not had ANY RV fridge quit, some friends and relatives have. And, in terms of how many, only a couple. I'm certainly no expert here but, it seems the absorption fridge has been around for decades and for the most part, it seems to have fared fairly well. Apparently it appears that some of the later ones have had some issues, fires etc. But, just how many in the total big picture of RVs in general.

And I mean, motorhomes, travel trailers, truck campers, pop up trailers and many more, out of all those that have had Absorption fridges over the decades of camping, how many TOTAL, have had issues. Again, I'm not trying to defend them, just wondering on the total and, is the hype of going to a residential fridge and what it takes to run one, worth it?

Don't get me wrong here, they certainly have their limits. But, when they're working correctly, and zillions of them do, do they not work well? Now, I'm probably a bit bias here, we do about 99.999999% remote camping. And, we've just done a complete change over from three 12V Interstate Deep Cycle Marine/RV batts to, four 6V, Deep cycle Golf Cart, Costco batteries. So, we've got plenty of staying power.

So, just wondering what the true advantage is.
Scott

[wagonmaster2]

With so many new RVs coming out with residential frigs wonder if any of this is sinking in to Norcold? Maybe there's a very remote far out chance Norcold and Dometic will start improving their products, and especially their Customer Service which is almost as crappy as their frigs.

Wagonmaster2

[docj]

Residential refrigerators installed as replacements for absorption units have ~1.5x the amount of storage space in the same physical space. We replaced a Norcold 1200LRIM with a counter-depth Samsung RF197 unit which has 18 cu ft of storage and doesn't stick out any further into the room than did the Norcold. In addition, residential refrigerators actually operate like real refrigerators and keep food cold or frozen at consistent temperatures. No more soft ice cream!

I agree that absorption refrigerators have been around for years, but I think the companies that sell them always assumed they had a captive market and never sought to make significant improvements. Otherwise there would be no explanation, for example, for the extremely high electricity usage these units demonstrate when operating on propane.

Most people don't realize that a Norcold 1200 series will use 50-60 amp-hours per day of DC current to keep its circuit boards running when the fridge itself is running on propane. My Samsung fridge draws about 100 amp-hours per day of DC to operate, period. So the extra burden on my batteries is really not all that much more than existed before. When we travel, between the engine alternator and a small solar panel my batteries essentially do not discharge at all.