Question about Travel Trailer refrigerator

[SoulRaven]

What I would do from experience with a small frig is buy one of the AC/DC coolers to use. The coolers come in handy as extra space if you need it, can be in the vehicle to keep beverages in while on the road or cold snacks. You can use the electric fridge in the camper when you have hookups. That is what I would do. Also, some of the entry level travel trailers may have the optional gas/electric fridge, so you might see if you can price one of those and compare that upgrade to other setups.

 

[tripper]

Seems many peeps are down on RV propane refrigerators , I have not had any problems with the ones I have owned. The amount of propane they use is (to me) almost nothing. I can average from 30 to 90 days on a 20lb propane tank depending on weather. Leveling is not a problem, as most people like their rigs level when parked. I usually freeze water bottles when I am about to travel long distance and throw them into the refrigerator when traveling, I always shut off the propane due to danger if involved in a traffic accident. The freezer/refrigerator stays nice and cool. RV propane refrigerators are extremely reliable with no mechanical moving parts to wear out. That works out to about 16 cents to 50 cents a day for propane. It would take several years to break even on the solar investment and 12v compressor refrigerator combo to replace a working propane refrigerator (if full timing).

 

[Sabatical]

We are working on a fridge swap in our camper right now. The 2 way fridge run on gas worked ok and we could've stuck with it as long as it kept cooling, but always the one to experiment, i picked up an apartment size fridge that is rated at 110watts on ac power. When i finish the install i'll start a thread on the project whether results are good or bad.
One factor that was important for me was finding an inverter that would work consistently at the higher end of solar input voltage. Also important was not having to babysit the inverter. Most of the inverters i looked at would shut off at 15-15.5 volts and not self reset. With temperature compensation it's not uncommon to see 15.3v when in absorb and equalize voltage, for my batteries, is 15.5. The manufacturers i questioned about hitting the high voltage shutoff said don't do it often because the unit is not built to handle frequent over voltage. This is off topic i know but an important part of the equation when adding an electric fridge.

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[highdesertranger]

ok I will go into more detail as far as propane refrigeration. don't get me wrong it works BUT, I like to go places that are a long way from resupply sometimes it would take a day to get to a store. this posed a problem with ice chests unless there was snow nearby. so by late summer keeping food and drinks cold was a real expense not to mention a pain in the *ss.

so I started experimenting with other options I tried them all because 12v refers were so expensive. when I got around to a RV propane refer I found the performance of the refer lacking sure it kept things cold, barely. if you put something warm in them it takes forever to cool it down. plus it warms up everything in the refer. to start a propane refer from being warm and off to running and cold takes days. in hot weather they struggle to maintain a cold temp. opening the door several times a day makes it struggle to stay cold. propane consumption in hot weather when I need it to work best is a lot of propane.

for years I got by on 2 five gallon propane tanks. that would last about a month with some left over. but when I added 2 propane refers I wasn't even making it 2 weeks, so I to start carrying another bottle for back up. if I messed up and didn't change the bottle in time the refers would heat up in short time ruining everything in them, it would then take days to get back down in temp. a note, if you have access to 120v you can plug them in and then you can cool them down much faster, 6-8 hours.

so to recap, the propane refers were a step up from ice. I could make ice last 1 week. but I could only go 2 weeks before needing more propane plus I had to carry more propane. I had to keep the propane running 24/7 so if I made a supply run I had to leave a propane tank in camp running the refers so I could only fill 2 tanks. you can see were this is going now I need another tank. this was getting old, instead of making ice runs I was making propane runs. albeit less frequent.

those that say that's to much propane, keep in mind this is during burn bans so 100% of cooking is on propane. also this is in the summer so the refers are basically running 24/7 struggling to keep the inside temps safe for food. I needed to find a better way. I did. highdesertranger

 

[Cammalu]

HDR. I think they may be performing better now. Mine cools in less than an hour and the freezer part has never let anything unthaw. It sips propane. I can't say how much but whenever I think I need to refill it's about five bucks. I've never been below half a tank. The propane place is nearby so I've never even bothered to check the levels. I just go over once in a blue moon.

It seems very efficient and keeps everything very cold.


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