Refrigerator Operation

[Greg A]

I have enjoyed watching the path Santiago took with the fridge and agree that it is a better fridge than the absorption. His cost and mod time spent getting to the point he's at to install and operate that fridge is not going to be for the rank and file, but it is a good solution that he wanted to invest in for his trailer. Can't wait to see it someday.
In defense of the quirky Dometic fridges, in 10+ years and lots of trailers with these fridges, we've never had food spoiled or gotten sick from eating bad food. Can't say the same for eating out in restaurants.
So while I'm in awe of the mods some add to their trailers, I will for now get along with my Dometic absorption fridge which so far is doing the job it was intended to.

[rbryan4]

It indeed works far better than an absorption fridge, but it's not a solution by itself for folks like us who want to use their fridge while boondocking. I do like Steve's (hotfishtacos) solution however with the NovaKool, because he has 4 solar panels - plenty of juice for a compressor fridge and no hookups.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[cpaharley2008]

Interesting Santiago does not have solar? How does one provide that much battery without solar recharging every day? Plugging in is one solution, but I got away from all electric trailers when I sold my Eggcamper, so maybe he can enlighten some of us how he handles camping on the road or not having electric?

[Cslcs25]

Originally Posted by casejh

Thanks for the ideas. I also talked to Tammy on the phone today and she suggested turning off the extra auxillary (Texas) fan while driving as that may be causing too much air flow. I had been leaving it on all the time so I will try that first. We won't be back on the road for a couple more days so I won't be able to try anything until driving again. As I mentioned, it all works great when stationary, but we did have to bypass that fusible link that shut it off just 48 hours after our orientation. I will report findings after we drive again, and I am open to any other suggestions.

Thanks for passing along that tip from Tammy. We will be on the road again tomorrow. Will try turning off the Texas fan and report back.

[Santiago]

Originally Posted by Greg A

His cost and mod time spent getting to the point he's at to install and operate that fridge is not going to be for the rank and file, but it is a good solution that he wanted to invest in for his trailer.

Correct, a retro fit like this is not for everyone. I certainly did not want to do it. I asked ETI to do it, no go.

My argument was that the Nova Kools are manufactured and sold down the road in British Columbia, that the labor to install at manufacturing time was LESS than running propane tubing, cutting and installing ventilation on the side wall and roof, etc. Still ETI would not do it. We compromised on selling me the trailer without the propane refrigerator. No I have enough to do as it is and do not need to add a mod like this to my list.

The answer is for ETI to offer this as an option. The Nova Kool will likely cost ETI a little more to purchase, labor savings will make it up. Still even with an additional optional cost I would have ordered it.

Years ago pre solar and pre Dan Flos compressor technology, you could have made the argument against 12vdc RV refrigerators. Agreed. Now most everyone tacks on a solar panel or two on their roofs AND they power their 3 way propane refrigerator on the road using the tow vehicle's alternator while running it as an inefficient 15 amp dc electric refrigerator. The Nova Kool on average uses 2.5 amps per hour, leaving 12.5 amps to charge the house batteries while driving.

I wish ETI would offer all solar buyers a 12 vdc refrigerator as an option. I don't have solar, I use propane for hot water heating, space heating and cooking and I have and will continue to boondock 90% of the time based on previous 20 years.

[Jim Bennett]

While I too would love to see more options offered, or more custom work done, Escape has had to curb the amount they do to keep up in production. Just getting enough staff trained to effectively do the options they already offer is a challenge, let alone offering something found in less that 1% of all RV's out there. Reace told me of a few things that went bad for them when trying to meet customer desires, including one seemingly simple request of mine that took 3 tries to get it right.

There were a lot of upgraded features and fixtures I wanted, but happily resigned myself to doing them myself. I needed none of these things to enjoy the camping experience, I just wanted to do some upgrades "because I can".

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Santiago

I don't have solar, I use propane for hot water heating, space heating and cooking and I have and will continue to boondock 90% of the time based on previous 20 years.

Santiago, help me out here. I'm a little dense. How do you boondock and not run out of juice using a 12V DC fridge and no solar? Generator? You mentioned that you isolate electrical use to mainly the fridge? How long does that last?


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[thoer]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Santiago, help me out here. I'm a little dense. How do you boondock and not run out of juice using a 12V DC fridge and no solar? Generator? I'm assuming you isolate electrical use to mainly the fridge? How long does that last?


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

The question we were all about to ask!

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by thoer

The question we were all about to ask!

.........I'm.........wait..........ing.........

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Santiago

Correct, a retro fit like this is not for everyone. I certainly did not want to do it. I asked ETI to do it, no go.

My argument was that the Nova Kools are manufactured and sold down the road in British Columbia, that the labor to install at manufacturing time was LESS than running propane tubing, cutting and installing ventilation on the side wall and roof, etc. Still ETI would not do it. We compromised on selling me the trailer without the propane refrigerator. No I have enough to do as it is and do not need to add a mod like this to my list.

The answer is for ETI to offer this as an option. The Nova Kool will likely cost ETI a little more to purchase, labor savings will make it up. Still even with an additional optional cost I would have ordered it.

Years ago pre solar and pre Dan Flos compressor technology, you could have made the argument against 12vdc RV refrigerators. Agreed. Now most everyone tacks on a solar panel or two on their roofs AND they power their 3 way propane refrigerator on the road using the tow vehicle's alternator while running it as an inefficient 15 amp dc electric refrigerator. The Nova Kool on average uses 2.5 amps per hour, leaving 12.5 amps to charge the house batteries while driving.

I wish ETI would offer all solar buyers a 12 vdc refrigerator as an option. I don't have solar, I use propane for hot water heating, space heating and cooking and I have and will continue to boondock 90% of the time based on previous 20 years.

You posted earlier 3-5 a/h while operating so over 24 hours maybe 75-96 amps. This is higher than the 2.5 you are saying now. How do you replenish this amount?

[Santiago]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Santiago, help me out here. I'm a little dense. How do you boondock and not run out of juice using a 12V DC fridge and no solar? Generator? You mentioned that you isolate electrical use to mainly the fridge? How long does that last?


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Hi Bryan, hope this reply is not a duplicate as original went no where from wife's mobile device.

As I mentioned sometime ago, to make up for not having roof solar, I added 2 sets of Lifeline 6v batteries, over axles on left and right sides. Should I decide to add solar it would be a'la Ron in BC, telescopic post on tongue. Thank you Ron for showing us that.

Our trailer usage is to travel all over the country, we rarely go to a commercial campground with power. Often on shorter trips of two weeks or so, we don't see 120vAC until we get home. We love national and state parks with no services and tend to spend as much time as we want there, cheap per night. Normally while on the road to a desirable stop we use truck stops, commercial stores/restaurants lots, BLM, etc where others like us stop for the night. The state and national parks are the biggies for us.

When at a desirable location, with judicious use of lights, etc, we can easily go four days before the Trimetric tells us we are nearing the 265 amp-hour mark, that 's the 50% usage point. It's normally 12.1 to 12.2 volts dc with battery at rest.

If we are staying beyond that, then the EU2000i is used to partially fill the batteries since once on the road, the Ram's alternator will charge the batteries at the rate of 40 amps using 3 stage charger. So we can easily boondock four days but push it to a week with the generator. If we find ourselves doing this a lot, we can get a portable folding panel but prefer Ron's telescoping design.

We like not worrying about leveling as we are always travelling, no worries at gas stations, ferries or tunnels.

[Santiago]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

You posted earlier 3-5 a/h while operating so over 24 hours maybe 75-96 amps. This is higher than the 2.5 you are saying now. How do you replenish this amount?

Jim, when you first power the refrigerator, it runs at 5 to 5.5 amps until the thermostat stops the compressor. After that it cycles on/off over a period of an hour as a point of reference.
Depending on outside temperatures, it cycles on and I see the readings anywhere from 3 to 5 amps before it goes to 0 amps for the rest of the hour. So on average I say it uses 2.5 amps per hour. In actual use I have noticed that consistently over a 24 hour period it uses 45 to 63 amp-hours PER DAY. Maybe if I take trailer to where its 110 deg F ( Phoenix ) it will likely use over 75 amp-hours PER DAY. I hope I never go to a place like that while "camping".

[War Eagle]

Originally Posted by Santiago

... Should I decide to add solar it would be a'la Ron in BC, telescopic post on tongue...

I did a quick search and didn't find Ron's trailer tongue telescoping post for his solar. Is that on this forum somewhere, and if so, does anyone have a quick link I can go to to see it and read the accompanying discussion? Ron?

[gbaglo]

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...ount-4951.html

[Santiago]

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...ount-4951.html

[rbryan4]

Thank you for the explanation Santiago. I figured there had to be a battery array and/or generator in the equation.

If you ever add solar, with your high amount of battery capacity, you'd be able to extend indefinitely. Nice.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[War Eagle]

Thanks for the link, Glenn & Santiago. Not sure why my search didn't pull that up. Clever idea and nice craftsmanship by Ron!

[gbaglo]

Did you use the Google Site Search at the bottom?

[casejh]

Originally Posted by casejh

Thanks for the ideas. I also talked to Tammy on the phone today and she suggested turning off the extra auxillary (Texas) fan while driving as that may be causing too much air flow. I had been leaving it on all the time so I will try that first. We won't be back on the road for a couple more days so I won't be able to try anything until driving again. As I mentioned, it all works great when stationary, but we did have to bypass that fusible link that shut it off just 48 hours after our orientation. I will report findings after we drive again, and I am open to any other suggestions.

So we spent yesterday afternoon and today driving from Chicago to Texas, running the refrigerator on propane on setting 4 with the Texas fan turned off. I was pleased to find that it made all the difference, as temps all day yesterday and today, including boon docking last night, were single digits in the freezer and 38-41 degrees in the refrigerator. And that with the outside temperature in Texas in the upper 90s. (I do still have the balloon with the end cut off on the end of the drain hose.)
I spoke with Tammy on the phone to report this and thanked her. So at this point I will say that the new refrigerator should not have the Texas fan on while driving, and at least most of the time will not need it while stopped. I have yet to see what the refrigerator may do when the trailer is parked in the sun with the temp in the 90s to 100. The Texas fan may be an asset on those occasions.
But do be ready to bypass the fusible link, as that will likely be necessary at some point (just after 48 hours for us).

[cpaharley2008]

Good news, mine bounced back on the trip home.