Having worked for Both Norcold and Dometic, I truthfully have never heard of an absorption refrigerator causing a RV fire.

I had a 86 Winnie prior to Nose, it had a Dometic 3-way 8 cubic foot unit that went bad, cooling unit quit working. I bought a Sears apartment fridge the same size as the Dometic, for $120, ran it before I went on a trip and off the generator every few hours while on the road, I also just put ice in it on occasion, a bit of pain but it was ok, had to watch the melt water.

I was going to do the same thing when the unit in Nose quit, but SteveVW came to my rescue with a better alternative for my use, absorption unit.

Most of the real high end RV's today use a standard 120 volt house unit I think just because of the size, the side by side being popular.

The maximum BTU's I ever tested was only 200 from an absorption unit. One that gets a lot of use "door open" has a bit of trouble keeping ice cream hard and of course does not make much ice. The test they must pass is 40F degrees inside in a 90F exterior environment and they just barely will pass that. I don't remember what the freezer spec was, but not much below 32F.

So a person really has to determine if they have adequate power or desire to run a 120 volt unit. Then that may be the best option.

How long are you really off the grid? Just 24 hrs, an overnight or maybe 3-4 days? Somewhere where you cannot run the generator an hour or 2 to recharge during daytime? If you use A/C you run genny anyway.
As for deer camp or off grid living propane makes sense, for the RV it is your choice.
Ours seems to be colder on 110 than the propane.

Always check for dirt daubers, they block anything up. Ladybugs fill up everything here too to hibernate. Mice and rats - do not get me started on them (they chewed a fuel line in the toyhauler last year).

BTW Dometic had a big recall a few years back, causing fires on propane they said.

Good points. As you said, bugs, dirt, acorns, leaves will cause problems. Must be cleaned regularly!

Yep, the newer Dometics have problems.
Do the research, buy a good one.

If I am all day on the road, pull over to dry camp, then drive all the next day, I would need to run the genny. The silent LP frig works great... My dash AC works so I don't run the genny much.

Cooling capacity is less with LP. Longer recovery times, slow to make ice. I have a separate small ice maker...

If the second hand Fisher & Paykel doesn't work out, there is a HAIER Model # HRQ16N3BGS looks like a good value $1100 "Special Buy" at Home Depot.
It is counter depth and does not have ice/water feature.
I DO NOT want to deal with ice/water in the frig. In fact, the reviews of the Samsung units report MANY problems with the cooling fins inside getting iced up, along with associate flooding (irrespective of any water line and intentional ice maker).

I replaced the cooling unit on our '92 Dometic a number of years ago. Easy Job. Take off the doors and lay it on its face. Need to get some wires out of the way. The just unscrew and replace.

In our Newell we had an Amana household refrigerator. Loved it when plugged in. Hated it unplugged and we do a lot of unplugged time. Had 12 T105s that would go dead in a 1.5 days.

I will not even consider a RV with a household refer. Only the new class A MHs has household refer. The bulk of the industry still uses Norcold or Dometic dual units. We have a 3 way which is working.

Thanks for your input, Gary.
I was under the impression that most new high end motor coaches are all-electric. Tony (the shop) and I agreed that it would be foolish to spend about $500 plus labor to put an "amish" cooling unit on the twenty year old box. I've watched YT videos of it being done. The control board, seals etc. are all vintage. The new cooling unit doesn't change that reality.
The old box must be pulled out to do it, at which point it makes more sense to replace it.

A new RV 2 way side by side, about the same capacity, is more than $2,500. It won't fit the existing opening. So, cabinet mods are necessary the go that route, the same as the residential 110V route. The Fisher & Paykel bottom freezer model (w/o ice or water) Is about $1,900+tax new. I paid 23% of that for a second hand one in very good condition.

So far, I have completely disconnected and dislodged the Dometic. Only friction and gravity are holding it place. Before my appt at Tony's Y-Not, I will remove the screen door and six bolts holding the copilot seat onto its power base. I'll also remove the free-standing recliner on the curb side. Then there should be just enough room to extract the 24" deep Dometic and lift in the 24" deep Fisher & Paykel.

According to the specs the Fisher & Paykel draws 10 amp AC when running. That is over 100 amp DC, probably 110 amp.

It is a large load but my experience on the boat is judicious use of the fridge (under counter so it is much smaller) results in about a 30% duty cycle. My battery banks (4 deep cycle) have not been challenged and the inverter quits outputting around 11.5 VDC. Back-up is the genny and if the fridge is being opened frequently cooking is happening and the genny is running. FWIW.
Tim

quote:

draws 10 amp AC when running

I suspect that is during defrost.
The one I bought is like the model RF170B, which is Energy Star Certified. I intend to run it from shore power, almost exclusively.

quote:

Originally posted by Mogan David:

quote:

draws 10 amp AC when running

I suspect that is during defrost.
The one I bought is like the model RF170B, which is Energy Star Certified. I intend to run it from shore power, almost exclusively.

Most hi-end refrigerators, these days are like a heat pump, evaporator and condenser are switched by an internal valve, both defrost and cool use about the same power. Unlike an electric heater of old. 10 amps does not seem excessive to me, depends on the compressor, fans and lights. Also shore power can be 108 to 120 volts.

Shore power can be all sorts of variables. So, I use a Progressive Dynamics filter (locked to the box ;^}