Refigerator?

[slager55]

Does Anyone use regular 110 volt refigerator? What are your comments about using a 110v instead of a regular RV refigerator?
Thank you for your advise and comments.
Rodney

[somewhereinusa]

I've been using them for years, had one in my semi. Never had any trouble, even on modifed sine wave inverters. Mostly depends on how you do things. In my opinion RV fridges are expensive, need maintenance and inefficient.

[2kool4skool]

Use one, love it. Run it off an invertor.

[CaptainInsaneo]

There are only 2 reasons I would think about an RV fridge over a compressor style one. 1 how often do you want to be off the grid, Rv fridges use propane to stay cold so you don't have to worry about using all your electricity just to keep your food cold. 2 If you are driving A LOT RV fridges have no moving parts except the doors so there is nothing to wear out from the constant earthquake known as driving. If you never plan to go off grid or drive it more than 2-4k miles a year than you can probably cheap out and get a residential fridge. I have some nomad friends they are on their second fridge in as many years.

You can use the 110 residential style fridge off grid but you will need to upsize your battery bank and inverter due the omnipresent electrical demands of that kind of fridge. By the time you do that you are at the same price as an RV fridge. But you will probably have more space in a residential style fridge.

Like with everything in life they all have their tradeoffs. What are your living goals and how do you want to achieve them? What do you want and what are you willing to give up to get it?
I have been buying the parts for my bus and will strike like a hungry rattle snake on deals the bus Is probably going to be one of the last parts I will buy. I got an 7 cu ft RV fridge that was 1 year old off CL for $500 long story. I wanted an rv fridge as yes with a little maintenance they will last decades, and If I have electricity OR propane my food will stay cold no matter where the weird out of they way place I find my self.

[family wagon]

My fridge will have to support a family of 7, plus any stragglers we might bring along. Based on the prices I've seen for what I considered "small" RV friges we'll be running a larger 120 volt residential unit instead.

CaptainInsaneo is right: this is going to require some up-sizing of the battery bank and, eventually, a larger solar panel array. In the near term we'll make do with generator or shore power time for running a charger.

somewhereinusa mentions inefficency, which alludes to the refrigeration cycle the RV style use: they burn gas or use electricity to produce heat, which drives the absorption refrigeration cycle. RV fridges require an air inlet at the bottom and exhaust at the top; I don't want to cut those holes into my bus. I'd rather deal with the interior heating that the residential style fridge will bring. Maybe I'll figure out a way to use a small fan to push that heat down into the basement storage bins..

[Tippyman]

I went with a 12v fridge from Edgestar.

[claydbal]

my 110 deep freeze and 110 fridge are doing just fine on solar. i dont want to go up in flames from a rv fridge , nor do i want to lose food because the rv fridge failed, again.

[pwalker]

I went with a small 1.7 cu ft 12 volt /110 volt KoolaTron but it only has to support my wife and me

[slaughridge85]

We have a 3 way fridge. propane, 110 or 12 volt. Been using it for two or three months non-stop so far. Works great on 110, will pull the temps down to below zero in the freezer portion. Its a Unique off grid 3 cu ft model. Supposed to run for over a month on a 20lb cylinder. Got it for a song because of a couple scratches on the outside. Otherwise they're a little pricey...

Unique Off Grid

[CaptSquid]

I had a 3 cu.ft. AC fridge behind the driver's seat on my Freightshaker, ran it off a 600 watt inverter with no problems. Of course, I put 700 miles a day on the tires, so the batteries weren't really affected. Even if I had to sit for a day, the batteries didn't suffer.

[Alan N]

We have a small (10 cubic ft?) household type fridge.
It has worked out well for summer time camping the last 8 years.
I have read on another forum about disconnecting the automatic defrost and the door gasket heat to save on your batteries. This seems like a good idea.

[browncrown]

I have two small regular fridges and they work fine. Can run one at a time off the inverter if needed, but I'm usually not off-grid much. I have found also that when I use those freezer ice pack things, I can travel almost all day without running the fridges until I get to where I am going. If I stay out of the freezer, things are good in there as well and don't thaw out.