Residential fridges

[Dorn Hetzel]

There are refrigerator/freezer setups intended for sailboats that can hold their cold for *days* between power usage if you don't open the doors.

The prices will make you flinch and they're mostly custom built, but in the context of what a recent BB costs, maybe not that scary.


There are also AC units from some of the same vendors that can run for 8 to 12 hours on a battery bank (some of these are intended for the commercial
truck market to avoid the all-night idling with it's horrid fuel wastage at truck stops)


For myself, with the propane fridge and stove in our unit, I'm seriously considering replacing my barely working generator with another
600 lbs of batteries and a small portable generator for charging those...


Dorn Hetzel
77FC35
Hogansville, GA

On Feb 7, 2008 12:33 AM, Mike Hohnstein <"MHOHNSTEIN@wi.rr.com"> wrote:

I know a particularly 'thrifty' fellow who got by with a derelict RV reefer for years, used ice. Blocks when he could get them, other wise a 20# bag. His beer was pretty cold.

MH

----- Original Message -----

From: "jaxdon@cox.net"

To: "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com"

Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:12 PM

Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Residential fridges

The residential type sound good.. I dont have any experience with a
replacment, but several years ago, our Dometic crapped out in the
first week of a 2 month trip. Emergency time! We went to Home Depot
and bought a 2.5cuft Bar type. Strapped it to the dinette table with
a motorcycle tiedown, and economised on the cold items. It got us
through our trip, by 110v hookups in KOAs and running the gennie.
Worked OK till we got home, and were able to replace the Dometic.
Jack & Donna Smith
1973FC31
SoCal

--- In "WanderlodgeForum%40yahoogroups.com", "birdshill123"
wrote:
>
> House type fridges are becoming more prevelant all the time. Having
> owned a ton of RV's over the years with propane units I can certainly
> see why. The propane fridges have a short life span, are very
> expensive, lots of board problems, expensive to repair, cooling
> troubles when not level or in extreme heat and small interiors. Modern
> refrigerators are very energy efficient and do not need the starting
> current of yesteryear. I was told by an upper level mgr. at Fleetwood
> that they expect Dometic and Norcold will have house type fridges in
> the near future as they are loosing sales to domestic mfrs. When
> looking at some BB's advertised on the net I see some mid 90's units
> with house fridges. These are older fridges and not super efficient. I
> would like to hear from BB owners with this option? Are you pleased
> with the fridge? Do you have problesm when boondocking for a few days?
> What does BB supply for battery power and invereter size with this
> option? Any problems?
>
> Thanks
>
> Bruce
> 1988 FC35
>