Educate me on the 3 way RV fridge.

[Joe917]

Edit: also consider system costs. Solar systems are getting cheaper and cheaper to buy. Solar capacity has gotten very affordable, but battery storage costs are still very high. A bank of durable and long lived batteries capable of running a fridge for a long time reliably will cost around $500...just for the batteries! They will not last forever and must be disposed of and replaced. On the other hand my current propane unit is from 1996 and still runs flawlessly.


We ran our propane fridge 3 years of full timing. At $250 a year for propane that more than covers the price of batteries.
We now have a Nova Kool fridge.

 

[LeftCoastKiteboarding]

Yep. If you are truly full-time and have access to sun almost every day (or dive every day) battery/electric probably makes sense for you as long as you get at least 2-3 years out of a set of batteries.


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[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thanks for all the input everyone. She is still temperamental, i just need to pull the propane parts out and give them a really good cleaning, maybe try again then. its been hot here ( 106) so have not been working on projects much.

I already have the Battery's, w/ 250amp/hr. That is however w/o taking away the dont get lower than this portion. Ill just keep playing it by ear,and probably eventually replace it.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

So far before a trip I just plug it in a day ahead of time to pre cool the fridge. as well. I have another Medic Contract coming up for a spartan race in Sept.

 

[LeftCoastKiteboarding]

I used to do medical standbys. Actually kind of a fun gig. You a medic?


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[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I just noticed on my phone it does now show the signatures. yes work on the side as a freelance firefighter/ ADvanced EMT, and risk manager. This will actually be for one of those spartain adventure races. Yeah, it's a blast for me it's a paid hobby, and my zen/ recharge time. 10+ yrs.

 

[LeftCoastKiteboarding]

Nice. Stay healthy mentally/physically. The job can take its toll! I loved it and miss it almost every day but at the same time don’t miss it at all. If that makes any sense.


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[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I totally understand!!! That's one of the reasons I left the career fire house, right now my desk job is risk manager for a large company. This system let's me be selfish and have the best of both worlds. I'm working on just doing freelance contracts and volunteer disaster relief work full time. As you can imagine, or know. Logistically that takes a lot of planning and networking.

 

[LeftCoastKiteboarding]

Well played! Looked that direction a few years back but made other choices. Not emergency services related but at least writing my own ticket and loving it.


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[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Well I hope to make it work, but also needed a few years w/ this title and experience with this company name to open doors. I'm young, 28- no family so trying to make everything work. Yeah, sounds like you did it well!!

 

[Steve_P]

I have a 2007 outfitter Apex 8, that currently has the standard 3 way RV fridge. So 120, propane and 12 volt. I'm used to the other two, but am wondering about the 12volt portion. And why people pull them out, is the 12volt just really inefficient? Etc, I was planning on eventually replacing it with a 12volt only. I currently have abou 250amp/hr capacity.

The two big drawbacks of the absorption fridge are recovery time and leveling. After the door is opened, and all the cold air inside spills out onto the camper floor, these fridges typically cannot adjust in order to recover quickly. If you open the door more than 3 or 4 times a day you are likely to be unhappy with it's performance. Keeping it as full as possible mitigates the problem somewhat. I personally don't like keeping drinks in the absorption fridge, because the door will be opened more often, but they do provide good thermal mass.

The fridge has to be leveled better than 3 degrees side to side or the ammonia will pool in the lines, eventually crystalizing, blocking the lines and decreasing performance. If you don't mind leveling your rig everytime you stop for more than a couple of hours it's not much of an issue.

IMO, the absorption fridge is good for use in a trailer, as it can be easily leveled, but if I were to go back to a slide in camper I would really prefer to go with a 12 volt compressor fridge, simply due to the leveling issue.

For the best of all possible worlds, right now I have an absorption fridge in the trailer, and both a 12 volt compressor fridge and a cooler in the bed of the truck.

 

[PJorgen]

I've got a FWC with a three-way fridge. It's serves my needs but is not great. I do like the fact that I don't have to worry about solar/dual batteries, etc as I run it on propane most of the time.

I think the leveling issue is overstated. I've always used the rule that if my camper is level enough to sleep in comfortably, it's level enough for the fridge. That's worked for me for 5+ years.

 

[dwh]

I've got a FWC with a three-way fridge. It's serves my needs but is not great. I do like the fact that I don't have to worry about solar/dual batteries, etc as I run it on propane most of the time.

I think the leveling issue is overstated. I've always used the rule that if my camper is level enough to sleep in comfortably, it's level enough for the fridge. That's worked for me for 5+ years.

Ditto. The 1.7cu' Norcold 323 that was in my camper van worked fine for decades. And usually not perfectly level either. Even parked on the street in front of the house wasn't level - the street is crowned for drainage.

DRAAAAINAAAAGE!

The only problem it ever really had, besides the door gasket eventually refusing to stay put - was a dodgy thermocouple.

6 weeks runtime on low on 5g propane, 3 weeks on high (only needed during summer). That included cooking as well.

But on 12v...11a draw. Non-stop. 100% duty cycle. Fine when driving, but on batteries... fuhgedaboudit.


The only reason I swapped it out was because I got a 300w solar panel and 400ah of AGM batteries for $300, and a 12v TruckFridge the same size for free. (Actually now have a second TruckFridge exactly the same for a spare - also free.)

Fortuitous. Otherwise I'd still be rockin the Norcold "like it's 1979".

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I have spent the last few years full timing in a fifth wheel, it only has the propane or 120volt options. This Apex had some troubles from never being taken care of, it'll probably work fine when i clean it. you can just about watch the voltage drop when its on 12volt.

 

[dwh]

If it won't stay lit, it's very likely the thermocouple. They get old and weak and dodgy and then won't produce enough voltage to keep the pilot valve open. They are cheap and easy to replace.

Can't find much info about which fridge came in those, and you didn't say which one you have. I see quite a few came with the optional 12v compressor fridge. I did see one that came with "3.8 cu ft Dometic 2 way refrigerator".

Dyers has a "Dometic Refrigerator Thermocouple" - for 50 bucks...

http://www.dyersonline.com/dometic-refrigerator-thermocouple.html

Outrageous. Normally thermocouples are like 10 bucks or less. They are damned near universal, so just take your old one out and head to the hardware store and find one with the same threads. 99% chance it'll work fine.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&k...vqmt=e&hvbmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5159d59com_e



Or, it could be the control board.

Dinosaur Electronics makes the best replacement boards - IF they have one for your particular fridge...

http://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/Dom_boards.htm