"Normal" Fridge

[FernwehTramp]

I just bought my Sprinter van and starting to do the conversion. I was looking at what fridge I wanted and saw that most of the good ones, according to amazon and people on this forum recommend the ones that open and close from the top instead of the traditional ones that open from the side. Are there no good, energy efficient 12 volt, ones that open from the side? And a freezer is a must.

If not this is the one I'm currently looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/Dometic-CFX-...TF8&qid=1471991414&sr=1-1&keywords=CFX-95DZUS


Thoughts?

 

[AngryVanMan]

I was looking at the dometic normal 2-way rv fridges, the 6 cu ft and the 8 cu ft versions. They are so expensive, i decided on a 10cu ft energy star apartment fridge and put the extra money into my power system and batteries, it's less than 1/3 the cost and larger (almost 1/4 the price really).

 

[AngryVanMan]

I forgot about this, but originally i was looking at a sweet side-by-side stainless under cabinet marine version by isotherm, the cruise 200, it was 7 cu ft, but price/performance turned me away from that one too.

Using residential refrigeration is common on the larger rvs to replace the RV-specific models, but few seem to do it on the smaller scale van installs - a lot of the mini fridges are not very good, once you get to wanting a larger size it seems more feasible. The thread about a diy 12v fridge using an inverter and some relays was a pretty good read with some good data for comparison.

 

[wagoneer]

chest fridge is a much easier animal to control heat rises cold not so much.

 

[AngryVanMan]

chest fridge is a much easier animal to control heat rises cold not so much.

I use a chest fridge in my house, converted a chest freezer and it uses a bit less juice. in the van its going back to regular fridge for marital relations and convenience I also had a hard time finding a pair of chest fridges that was large enough (cu ft wise) and small enough (depth-wise) for what i wanted in the van. One company makes a decent sized split door chest freezer with two zones, but it only had temperature control on one zone, and the smaller of the two zones was the fridge zone, bummed me out.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

With side door fridges or freezers, whenever you open the door, all of the cold air falls out on the floor, to be replaced by hot room air.  When you close the door, the fridge has to cool that air down.  Side door fridges end up using a lot more energy than chest type fridges.  In a house, you don't care.  Running off house batteries, it's a different story.

 

[highdesertranger]

here's an Engel they have 4 different models as well as drop ins and build your own. all the major fridge makers have them. the thing about front loaders is they are not as efficient and you can not load as much into them for the same size. with a chest style you can fill it top to bottom, with an upright you can't or when you open the door stuff falls out. http://www.engelcoolers.com/fridge-freezers/shop-by-fridge-freezer/front-loading/sr70f-u1 . highdesertranger

 

[AngryVanMan]

With side door fridges or freezers, whenever you open the door, all of the cold air falls out on the floor, to be replaced by hot room air.  When you close the door, the fridge has to cool that air down.  Side door fridges end up using a lot more energy than chest type fridges.  In a house, you don't care.  Running off house batteries, it's a different story.

thats what i always based my assumptions on too, which i why i did the chest fridge for our house, turns out the new "regular" apartment fridge uses less energy than my chest fridge/freezer combo - but the new fridge is 2 cu-ft smaller than the combo i have in the house kitchen so its not apples to apples. The chest freezers are fairly new, but not energy star so that is a factor as well.

the main "problem" with the dc chest fridge coolers is the price, the only way they make sense is if you have no extra room for solar panels or batteries. The energy use bonus is unfortunately negligible, and for the cost-savings you can install a much larger solar system that more than makes up for the difference. dc fridges will never pay for themselves in energy savings alone, solar is just too cheap now and the fridges too expensive. The price difference for that 95 quart in the OP vs a same size mini fridge is enough to put about 800-1000+ extra watts of solar on the roof.

 

[highdesertranger]

I tried the dorm refers before I went with 12v. the dorm refers were energy hogs. they would barely keep my stuff cold in hot weather. they are supposed to be run level. not something that happens off road. highdesertranger

 

[AngryVanMan]

I was worried about that angle at first, the danfoss 12vdc compressors are supposed to work at up to a 30 degree angle, but i figured the amount of time I would spend on a 58% grade or hill would be negligible. A lot of dorm fridges are very poor quality too, something to watch out for. That Magic Chef being tested seems like it's doing pretty well in the other thread, maybe he will do angle/level testing.

 

[ZoNiE]

"Normal" would be either a Norcold DE0061 or the new Dometic RPD 190/218, both compressor fridges. 12/120V. They *should* have better efficiency than a cheap dorm fridge. Hell, I think the 3.5 Ton heat pumps on my house are more efficient than a dorm fridge. :dodgy:

The Norcold has been around for decades, the Dometic is new based on their most popular Gas model. I think the Norcold has nicer interior features, but, I am considering the Dometic myself so I can use the same inserts to match my cabinets. I also like that the condenser has a fan on it and it is oriented vertically so heat can rise through the fins AND it is on top of the unit. It's how I'd do it.

 

[Headache]

I bought an older version of one of these and I LOVE it. I wish I could find the picture but someone had put one in their high top van.

http://www.compactappliance.com/Ava...nt-Refrigerator-Black-Platinum/RA7316PST.html

I haven't used it in a van so I have no information myself(and I don't have a high top) but the person who used it had no issues with it cooling back down after being opened and they unplugged it at night. It never thawed out by morning according to their post. YMMV