Door and Fridge details

jaffee · 01-19-2023, 10:25 PM

Hi all, we're getting our new 17B in April and have been feverishly browsing this forum getting up to speed on Escape life.

I've decided a compressor fridge is the way, and so we'll be deleting the included fridge and installing something after market.

I've seen at least one person who's put a Nova Kool R4500 into the 17B, but looking at dimensions, I'm pretty sure the R5810 would fit in the cabinet and that would give a whopping 5.8cu ft of fridge space which sounds pretty amazing to me.

My question is... will it fit through the door?

ETI sales tells me via email that production told them the door opening is 24 5/8” wide x 63 5/8” high which would fit the Nova Kool comfortably, but I've read elsewhere that the door is 22" wide with the door on.

So... has anyone removed the door, or the door casing, how hard is this to do? How much width is there? Help, suggestions, measurements, and pictures are all appreciated—we're just figuring this out

.

Here's my table of dimensions (the dom's are the two stock fridge options):

H W D
dom 2354 30.16 21.88 22.72
dom 2454 37 5/16 24 7/8 24 5/8
nova 4500 28 3/8 20 1/4 21
nova 5810 31 7/8 23 1/4 23 1/2 to 22

Ron in BC · 01-20-2023, 11:12 AM

If you look at the photo that I posted yesterday in the Friction Hinge thread you can see the hinges. The shiny objects you see are the heads of rivets attaching the factory hinge to the door jamb. What you can't see are the 6 screws that attach the door to the hinge. The door could easily be removed, if necessary, by undoing those screws.

BTW, I had a Nova Kool in my boat years ago. It worked very well and without any problems.

Ron

Centex · 01-20-2023, 02:30 PM

Just FYI regarding complete door removal (that may be in my future to allow an 'intact' fridge R&R in my 5.0) ...

I've not yet had need to remove the entire doorframe but I have removed the inside trim and carefully peeled-back the surrounding vinyl/foam-backed wall covering which exposed the underlying wooden door framing to the shell. Based on that I judge R&R of the entire door assembly with restoration to 'as-new' condition both inside and out to be quite feasible.

I peeled-back the interior wall vinyl for another purpose (wire routing), there would be no need for that just to R&R the door assembly.

I think the most difficult / tedious (but do-able) part of that process would be carefully slicing the exterior perimeter sealant (Proflex) to release the frame from the shell and then cleaning the residual from both the doorframe and shell for fresh sealant application.

Just one opinion for your consideration, perhaps you can avoid that effort, Have Fun!

jaffee · 01-20-2023, 08:39 PM

Ron, great photo, that's very helpful and good to hear about Nova Kool.

Centex, thanks for your perspective... you're giving me confidence to pull the trigger on this and have a 5.8cu ft fridge in our little 17

I am hoping someone can confirm the available width with just the door on or off without actually going into removing the frame or casing. If I can fit this thing just by unscrewing the hinges, I'm definitely going for it.

SRS · 01-21-2023, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaffee

Ron, great photo, that's very helpful and good to hear about Nova Kool.

Centex, thanks for your perspective... you're giving me confidence to pull the trigger on this and have a 5.8cu ft fridge in our little 17

I am hoping someone can confirm the available width with just the door on or off without actually going into removing the frame or casing. If I can fit this thing just by unscrewing the hinges, I'm definitely going for it.

I have a 2022 17A. The width of the door when open is 22.5." The screen door and hinges block a little of that so, if you can remove just the door and not the frame, you might be good to go.

jaffee · 01-21-2023, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRS

I have a 2022 17A. The width of the door when open is 22.5." The screen door and hinges block a little of that so, if you can remove just the door and not the frame, you might be good to go.

I think I need to get to 23 1/4, so I need 3/4 of an inch. Sounds like it's going to be *very* tight.

SRS · 01-21-2023, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaffee

I think I need to get to 23 1/4, so I need 3/4 of an inch. Sounds like it's going to be *very* tight.

I have the RM2454 and looking at my production photos the door was one of the last things ETI installed and the frig was already in a day or two before that. If you remove the door and casing you should be able to get the larger frig in.

rubicon327 · 01-21-2023, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaffee

I think I need to get to 23 1/4, so I need 3/4 of an inch. Sounds like it's going to be *very* tight.

Sean Murry · 01-21-2023, 04:36 PM

I have the Escape 19. and installed the Novakool RFU8220. The door opening of the trailer is 22.5" when you take into account the little flanges on the door. By putting the fridge in "depth wise" it fit through the door. You can also remove the Novakool door very easily giving you about another inch. I notice the dimensions you show are for the cut out, versus the actual fridge. Do you know the actual depth of the fridge? You might want to call Novakool, they are very helpful

Ron in BC · 01-21-2023, 05:50 PM

Good observations and an extra inch could be pure gold.

Ron

jaffee · 01-21-2023, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Murry

I have the Escape 19. and installed the Novakool RFU8220. The door opening of the trailer is 22.5" when you take into account the little flanges on the door. By putting the door in "depth wise" it fit through the door. You can also remove the Novakool door very easily giving you about another inch. I notice the dimensions you show are for the cut out, versus the actual fridge. Do you know the actual depth of the fridge? You might want to call Novakool, they are very helpful

Excellent ideas; I've sent Novakool an email and will call them Monday if I don't hear back. Starting to think this is looking pretty promising.

jaffee · 01-24-2023, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Murry

I have the Escape 19. and installed the Novakool RFU8220.

I wonder how much the cabinet dimensions differ between the 17 and the 19... the 8220 actually looks pretty good, it's just so tall I have no idea if it would fit in the 17B. Did you have to remove the drawer underneath or modify the cabinet aove to get that to work Sean?

Sean Murry · 01-24-2023, 10:41 AM

When I had my trailer built I asked Escape to modify the opening for the fridge to accommodate the 8220. They didn't have to modify it much, but they were willing to do so which was great. I also got them to delete the outside side vent for the fridge but I had them leave the rooftop vent for better venting of warm air. The nice thing about the 8220 in my opinion is the front venting. There is no need to add any additional venting. I suspect though if you left the side venting and roof venting for the standard absorption fridge, that would give you sufficient air flow for cooling the fridge

Sean Murry · 01-24-2023, 10:43 AM

Forgot to mention I had the cabinet that would normally be above the fridge deleted. That was where the microwave normally would go, but we didn't go with a microwave. Most of our camping is boondocking and microwaves use a fair bit of power. I also figured we are camping so no need for such luxuries as microwaves, hair dryers, TV's etc.

Donny A · 01-25-2023, 02:43 PM

We supplied a Nova Kool RFU8220DC compressor fridge to ETI and had them install it as the trailer went down the line this past November, for a price of course. We had both vents deleted.

We purchased the fridge from a local marine supply company. The fridge had to be made. As you know Nova Kool is in a Vancouver suburb, then we arranged for shipment from the distributor's warehouse in Vancouver to ETI.

Sean Murry · 01-25-2023, 02:53 PM

Back in 2019 when we had our trailer built Escape would not install any fridge but Dometic, even if we supplied it, but they did make the cut out for the cabinet to fit the NovaKool. I installed it myself and it was very easy. We eliminated the side vent on the trailer but kept the roof top vent as Novakool suggested it was a good idea to have a place for any hot air at the back of the fridge to escape. Very happy with the fridge. Keeps everything consistently cool and freezer works very well. One thing we did do was put a piece of 1/2" foam insulation under the vegetable crisper tray to insulate it a bit more from the freezer. We had a few frozen veggies once and that has helped stop this issue.

Donny A · 01-25-2023, 02:57 PM

Sean, based on your posts of your install we purchased the exact fridge you did, DC only...

Sean Murry · 01-25-2023, 03:01 PM

I spoke with Novakool and they suggested DC only. Waste of money to go with AC and DC. If you are on shore power the converter will simply convert your 120 to 12 V and away you go. The three things my wife likes most about our trailer is the fridge, toilet and furnace. Also very happy with the mattress, but that is a very personal thing.

Sean Murry · 01-25-2023, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donny A

Sean, based on your posts of your install we purchased the exact fridge you did, DC only...

I am glad my posts helped in your fridge decision. I hope you will be as happy with your decision as we have been.

jaffee · 01-27-2023, 09:02 PM

I'd emailed NovaKool to ask about the R5810 actual dimensions, but the response I got didn't make a lot of sense to me and didn't give me an actual dimension. So I called them today and the person I spoke to seemed pretty sure I could get the depth down to 22" by taking off the door... but not 100%, so they said they'd get back to me next week with a measurement.

I will let you all know when I know

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