Residential Refrigerator

[Leah13]

Hey everyone. I tried to find something in the forums about this and may have missed the mark. My son bought a 10 Cu. ft. fridge/freezer, hoping to use this in his skoolie. It is a smaller residential fridge. He plans to travel all summer and sometimes off the grid. He bought this BEFORE he did his research...argh.

What do we need to know to install this refrigerator? Proper Ventilation? Generator? Solar? Here are details I thought were important:

R 600A Compressor
ENERGY STAR
292kwh
120V/60Hz

Can anyone advise please?

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i used a similar one dorm style fridge in my first bus and even brand new it only lasted about 3 years.
at the time we only camped about one week out of the year and i would run the fridge off of house shore power to cool everything before hitting the road and unplug it to hit the road to get to where we going.
i dont know if it was the heat in the bus when not in use or the bouncing around when going down the road even though not running.
proper ventilation and all.
i still second guess buying another one but that is what my space is built for under the kitchen counter so at this point i could only go smaller or remodel.
my second bus is a shorty for my wife.
she bought an ice chest/cooler style 12v fridge that is designed for moving vehicles and i have had it plugged in and working just havent had road time with it.
thats my experience with a residential/dorm fridge in a mobile environment.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by Leah13

Hey everyone. I tried to find something in the forums about this and may have missed the mark. My son bought a 10 Cu. ft. fridge/freezer, hoping to use this in his skoolie. It is a smaller residential fridge. He plans to travel all summer and sometimes off the grid. He bought this BEFORE he did his research...argh.
What do we need to know to install this refrigerator? Proper Ventilation? Generator? Solar? Here are details I thought were important:
R 600A Compressor
ENERGY STAR
292kwh
120V/60Hz
Can anyone advise please?

So it looks like the "ENERGY STAR" rating is saying 292kWh which would be in a year. That equates to about 800W/day.

Assuming:
1) 24 hour charge/discharge cycle with 1 charge period and 0 other input

2) 10% loss (90% efficiency) in the inverter
3) 1000W inverter and no other loads

You would need 890W/day to supply the fridge, we'll round up to 900W.
A 100Ah lithium battery would be discharged to a depth of 75% under the assumptions. 80% discharge depth is generally acceptable to get full life from a lithium battery.
150Ah of lead acid batteries would give a discharge depth of 50% which is the generally accepted best practice for longevity.

You would then need to recharge via solar, grid, generator, etc. 200W of solar might replace 800W assuming good sun, no shading, etc. but wouldn't provide any buffer for clouds, shade, rain, etc.

All theoretical numbers and highly dependent upon the assumptions. More efficient inverter, lower actual power consumption, more solar, etc. are all variable factors.
Best bet is to buy a "kill-a-watt", plug in the fridge, with some stuff inside, and see what the actual power requirement over a week is.