Another great video Duane. Another con of the absorption type frig is, that it seems the fuller you keep the frig, the harder it is to keep it cool. Also there are no fans inside the frig to circulate cold air to help keep the inside temp stable.. Like you said in the summer months @ 90* an absorption frig can struggle to stay below say 38-39*. That's the upper limit when food can spoil. Owners have tried lots of modifications to make the absorption frigs more efficient even adding more external fans to blow across the ammonia coils. Another pro of a 12VDC compressor style frig is that you can run the frig while traveling down the road towing and no need to have the propane tanks turned on. Some people do not like to travel with the propane tanks on. The residential style 120VAC frig with inverter same advantage. But again as you said the battery bank may need to be increased to handle the load off grid. Another way to go ,Some owners have taken their Absorption fridge and converted it to 12VDC compressor frig using a Dutch Air or JC Refrigeration conversion. Cost of about $1500-2000. The whole back of the absorption refrigerator is removed and replaced with a single or dual 12VDC compressor style guts. The propane is capped off and not used. By doing a conversion you keep your old refrigerator and it still fits within the same space as before, so no need to modify the space. Reviews are pretty good on the 12VDC conversion style frigs. But again as you mentioned the 12 VDC power bank capacity may need to be upsized if BoonDocking for extended periods. More batteries (Lithium) , increased solar or genny or mixture of all three.
Those are all good points. I'm glad you mentioned the options to convert gas absorption fridges as I have heard pretty good things about them as well. And you are so right about cooling getting more difficult when the fridge is full. We have experienced that too.
@@RVInspectionAndCare That is what we are going to do, convert our Dometic 18 cubic ft absorption to a 12VDC dual compressor style. We spend a lot of time in Texas and the Southwest and our absorption struggles to keep up in the summer. And again we can travel with the propane turned off or No need to turn off propane tanks when refueling either. We do not have an inverter so for us the simple change would be to a 12VDC, We have already addressed our battery bank capacity in anticipation of the switch to a 12VDC compressor frig. Also since the frig in our 5th wheel is on the heavy side (drivers side) in a slide, switching to a residential frig (heavier) i think would add more significant weight on that side and to the slide. Simply switching our absorption to 12VDC compressor would not add as much weight as a residential frig would.. On these leaf spring suspensions seems every pound counts!
@@tsrvadventures3219 It sounds like you made a good choice for your style of RV travel and camping. Thanks for sharing your thought process on the subject here!
Replaced my stock fridge with a 12v dometic. Its awesome From 90 degrees to 32 takes just over an hour my one renogy battery will run it for almost 48 hours
Yup. The norcold aka notcold 1210 models are no longer. 1200 series rather. Gas absorbtion models. Contacted Norcold and the replacement is now the 12v Norcold N15dc if any one is interested to knowing. Replacing mine and wanted same size no modifications this is the model.
One thing I hadn’t thought about, is with many of the newer RV’s having Residential Fridges, what happens when they crap out? You would have to take the trailer apart to get them replaced, if they Couldn’t be repaired 12 Volt sounds like the better option.
Just to be sure, it pays to measure the door and make sure that the refrigerator the manufacturer has installed is able to be removed that way. Otherwise, it can a difficult job ahead. Thanks for watching!
Duane, I've seen some videos where a double fan has been added to the vent cover on the outside of the RV to improve circulation behind the gas absorption fridge in order to help with keeping the fridge cold. What are your thoughts about that modification? Thanks for the great videos.
Yes, some kind of fan is often needed in order to keep air moving and heat being moved out of that area behind the fridge. And air movement is really critical when the fridge has been installed in a slide. We had an issue with that and since we installed a fan in the top vent, the refrigerator/freezer cools much better especially in hotter weather.
Actually during Covid, gas absorption fridges became scarce as the supply chain wound down. So the manufacturers started using 12 volt fridges instead to keep things going and it turned out that quite a few RV owners actually preferred the 12 volt fridge. They are not that much cheaper than a gas absorption fridge, but they resolve a lot of issues that many people have with RV refrigerators.
@RVInspectionAndCare I have 2 friends that bought new RV pull trailers in last year and neither can boondock because of the 12v power requirement of the frig. Even with 2 batteries, just not enough. Neither of their dealers explained what having a 12v frig would mean for off grid camping. I'm hanging on to my gas frig. We camp in low humidity areas and don't camp in areas where temps get above 90F. My ice cream is hard! I know only about 50% of the gas frigs work worth beans, been there.
@@tonyf5642 Your friends can boondock without major issues if they just use a portable generator to power up the batteries when needed. There's more than one way to do something if you just think about it.
My 12 yr Norcold 1211 finally died. I spent last six months researching 12v fridges from the three main manufactures. I also spoke to RV techs. News wasnt good. Each RV tech recommended against purchasing a 12v fridge. They felt many died a year after warranty and they can't be repaired. Finally i decided on a standard top freezer Frigidaire residential fridge. It fit through my MH door and slid into the cabinet where the old fridge was, and then hooked up to the 110 outlet that was already there. As full timers, this fridge will work well, we also have lithium and some solar. I purchased a child safe door lock for the fridge doors. (I find it funny that the 12v fridges often didn't come with door locks nor braces for connecting to the RV) I really wanted to hear good things about the newer 12v fridges, but research said otherwise.
It sounds like you had good success finding the fridge that works well for you. I have seen some 12V fridges online that have good reviews, particularly those sold by etrailer.com. And sometimes I take the advice from RV techs with a small grain of salt in that all they ever see is problems and I find that they get biased about their opinions as many other RVers do. As with everything about RVs it pays to thoroughly research and listen to the right people.
Another great video Duane. Another con of the absorption type frig is, that it seems the fuller you keep the frig, the harder it is to keep it cool. Also there are no fans inside the frig to circulate cold air to help keep the inside temp stable.. Like you said in the summer months @ 90* an absorption frig can struggle to stay below say 38-39*. That's the upper limit when food can spoil. Owners have tried lots of modifications to make the absorption frigs more efficient even adding more external fans to blow across the ammonia coils.
Another pro of a 12VDC compressor style frig is that you can run the frig while traveling down the road towing and no need to have the propane tanks turned on. Some people do not like to travel with the propane tanks on. The residential style 120VAC frig with inverter same advantage. But again as you said the battery bank may need to be increased to handle the load off grid.
Another way to go ,Some owners have taken their Absorption fridge and converted it to 12VDC compressor frig using a Dutch Air or JC Refrigeration conversion. Cost of about $1500-2000. The whole back of the absorption refrigerator is removed and replaced with a single or dual 12VDC compressor style guts. The propane is capped off and not used.
By doing a conversion you keep your old refrigerator and it still fits within the same space as before, so no need to modify the space. Reviews are pretty good on the 12VDC conversion style frigs. But again as you mentioned the 12 VDC power bank capacity may need to be upsized if BoonDocking for extended periods. More batteries (Lithium) , increased solar or genny or mixture of all three.
Those are all good points. I'm glad you mentioned the options to convert gas absorption fridges as I have heard pretty good things about them as well. And you are so right about cooling getting more difficult when the fridge is full. We have experienced that too.
@@RVInspectionAndCare That is what we are going to do, convert our Dometic 18 cubic ft absorption to a 12VDC dual compressor style. We spend a lot of time in Texas and the Southwest and our absorption struggles to keep up in the summer. And again we can travel with the propane turned off or No need to turn off propane tanks when refueling either. We do not have an inverter so for us the simple change would be to a 12VDC, We have already addressed our battery bank capacity in anticipation of the switch to a 12VDC compressor frig.
Also since the frig in our 5th wheel is on the heavy side (drivers side) in a slide, switching to a residential frig (heavier) i think would add more significant weight on that side and to the slide. Simply switching our absorption to 12VDC compressor would not add as much weight as a residential frig would.. On these leaf spring suspensions seems every pound counts!
@@tsrvadventures3219 It sounds like you made a good choice for your style of RV travel and camping. Thanks for sharing your thought process on the subject here!
Good video on the subject. Thank you for putting out these videos. 🎉
I'm glad that you enjoyed the video Marty. And thanks for the positive feedback too!
Replaced my stock fridge with a 12v dometic. Its awesome From 90 degrees to 32 takes just over an hour my one renogy battery will run it for almost 48 hours
That's great Darryl. It sounds like you made a good choice. Thanks for watching and sharing your own RV refrigerator experience!
Yup. The norcold aka notcold 1210 models are no longer. 1200 series rather. Gas absorbtion models. Contacted Norcold and the replacement is now the 12v Norcold N15dc if any one is interested to knowing. Replacing mine and wanted same size no modifications this is the model.
Thanks for the tip Steve!
One thing I hadn’t thought about, is with many of the newer RV’s having Residential Fridges, what happens when they crap out? You would have to take the trailer apart to get them replaced, if they Couldn’t be repaired
12 Volt sounds like the better option.
Just to be sure, it pays to measure the door and make sure that the refrigerator the manufacturer has installed is able to be removed that way. Otherwise, it can a difficult job ahead. Thanks for watching!
Duane, I've seen some videos where a double fan has been added to the vent cover on the outside of the RV to improve circulation behind the gas absorption fridge in order to help with keeping the fridge cold. What are your thoughts about that modification?
Thanks for the great videos.
Yes, some kind of fan is often needed in order to keep air moving and heat being moved out of that area behind the fridge. And air movement is really critical when the fridge has been installed in a slide. We had an issue with that and since we installed a fan in the top vent, the refrigerator/freezer cools much better especially in hotter weather.
What About Electric stoves & Ovens
I'll see what I can do about making a video on them too. Thanks for the suggestion!
If you have a residential fridge, does it have to stay plugged in to power when stored?
I don't think so. Residential fridges don't require any power when they are stored.
At least on the West coast, new RV'S are only available with 12v frigs, no more gasous frigs available. Mfg are going the cheap route.
Actually during Covid, gas absorption fridges became scarce as the supply chain wound down. So the manufacturers started using 12 volt fridges instead to keep things going and it turned out that quite a few RV owners actually preferred the 12 volt fridge. They are not that much cheaper than a gas absorption fridge, but they resolve a lot of issues that many people have with RV refrigerators.
@RVInspectionAndCare I have 2 friends that bought new RV pull trailers in last year and neither can boondock because of the 12v power requirement of the frig. Even with 2 batteries, just not enough. Neither of their dealers explained what having a 12v frig would mean for off grid camping. I'm hanging on to my gas frig. We camp in low humidity areas and don't camp in areas where temps get above 90F. My ice cream is hard! I know only about 50% of the gas frigs work worth beans, been there.
@@tonyf5642 Your friends can boondock without major issues if they just use a portable generator to power up the batteries when needed. There's more than one way to do something if you just think about it.
My 12 yr Norcold 1211 finally died. I spent last six months researching 12v fridges from the three main manufactures. I also spoke to RV techs. News wasnt good. Each RV tech recommended against purchasing a 12v fridge. They felt many died a year after warranty and they can't be repaired. Finally i decided on a standard top freezer Frigidaire residential fridge. It fit through my MH door and slid into the cabinet where the old fridge was, and then hooked up to the 110 outlet that was already there. As full timers, this fridge will work well, we also have lithium and some solar. I purchased a child safe door lock for the fridge doors. (I find it funny that the 12v fridges often didn't come with door locks nor braces for connecting to the RV)
I really wanted to hear good things about the newer 12v fridges, but research said otherwise.
It sounds like you had good success finding the fridge that works well for you. I have seen some 12V fridges online that have good reviews, particularly those sold by etrailer.com. And sometimes I take the advice from RV techs with a small grain of salt in that all they ever see is problems and I find that they get biased about their opinions as many other RVers do. As with everything about RVs it pays to thoroughly research and listen to the right people.