We have a 1994 Bigfoot 5th wheel. It has a 6.0 cuft refrigerator in it and there is a cupboard over it. Pat and I were in Camping World today getting a new water pump and we looked at the new Dometic refrigerators with a separate freezer compartment on the top.

We are wondering if it is easy to convert to a new one, and we noticed the new ones do not have DC capability... we usually put ours on DC when movin' on down the line...will we want to put the LP on?

Paul

Paul, you're going to open up a can of worms......you know we have some members who think anyone who runs down the road with the propane on is getting set to blow themselves up...and another group that does it all the time and feels it's safe. Consequently we WON'T discuss that issue...right folks?

However, if anyone has an opinion about whether or not the new refrigerator will fit in the available space...we will discuss that.

So, I'll throw out the first bit of info....Check this link on the Dometic site for a chart Refrigerators Available For Replacement. As a hint...I can't get the chart to display properly using Firefox...but it renders just fine using Internet Explorer.

This is a slightly different response.

There is a class of refrigerators that use very efficient 12 volt compressors. One nice feature is that the refrigerator doesn't have to be level hence its popular in the marine environment.

The drawback is they can't run on propane.

One manufacturer is Nove Kool:

http://www.novakool.com/

Just another option.

Ted

New, larger, absorption-type RV refrigerators don't have a DC power option because they take too much power for that to be practical for battery option, and enough to be a potential problem to supply from the tug. I don't know whether the manufacturers assume everyone takes only short drives from campsite to campsite (no cooling during the drive), or they assume the unit is in a motorhome with either propane turned on or AC power available, but they seem to think that DC operation is unnecessary.

There is the propane option... enough said.

There is also the AC option: in a motorhome, an inverter can be mounted under the hood (with nice short input power cables for the high DC current flow), with AC wiring to the refrigerator (ten times the voltage means one tenth the current and thus reasonable wiring). Unless you want to rig a AC power cord from tug to trailer (an interesting idea, but not a common one...) then this means an inverter in the trailer, and lots of DC power from tug to trailer... which is back to the original situation that someone decided not to provide for in the refrigerator design.

I wonder what Dometic says to do?


I think the ideal in some ways is a high efficiency unit, as Ted described.

I just came in from 3 days on the road.My 12 volt only fridge was a blessing as far as i am concerned.It works in a matter of mins.I do run 2 - 12 volt batteries and was more than pleased with results.
I know of some folks who have stated they only turn theres on for a short period each day.I turned mine off at night when we went to bed.Fridge was still cold when we got up.Turned it back on for the day.Was great.

Brian is right: Running the frig on AC from an inverter may work, as it does for us. The heating element is 175w on AC and 125w on 12v for ours, and the 12v did not do the job. 6 gauge wiring from the tow vehicle battery all the way through the trailer has made a big difference also.

We are looking at replacing our fridge as well. Scary prices! We got to an RV store on the weekend, saw the size of solar panels that people talk about for $300-400. Converter/invertor, (? same thing) were in the same price range. We'd need both wouldn't we, ie. a convertor from the solar panel to the battery. Looks like a person is about $600-700 in the hole before you buy the fridge! So, not decided yet, and have a big plastic cooler in the way....

That's great to hear, Ches.