2 way refrigerator?

[joelh]

I currently have an icebox and would like to upgrade to a refrigerator. There is one on my local craigslist for a pretty good price. It is 2 way rather than 3 way. How well will it perform running as 12 v through a converter? I will be using it both with 110 and boondocking.

[Jim Bennett]

Joel, it would drain your battery quite fast if used on 12V with a converter. You can go a long time on a bottle of propane.

[joelh]

Joel, it would drain your battery quite fast if used on 12V with a converter. You can go a long time on a bottle of propane.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The 2 ways are 12 v and propane. I guess my question is, how well will it work in 12 v mode when I am plugged in to shore power and the 110 is converted?

[Chester Taje]

Forget 12 volt, just use propane. You will just kill your batteries.

What kind of fridge is it. That may make a difference in its use.

[Bill K]

My two way frig is 110v AC & propane.

Bill K

[Chester Taje]

I have never heard of a 2 way fridge with 12volt or propane.

[RussL]

Hi Joel,

I think it will depend on your converter. I'm not sure how many amps most converters will put out continuously but if yours happens to be on the low end of what's required to run the fridge it's possible that it could slowly drain your battery. I tested this on mine recently (I actually have a 3 way fridge so this was just for curiosity) and my converter kept up fine but it's fan was running the entire time.

Russ

[Jim Bennett]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The 2 ways are 12 v and propane. I guess my question is, how well will it work in 12 v mode when I am plugged in to shore power and the 110 is converted?

I hadn't heard of a 2way with 12V and propane before either, but should have clued in when you said converter instead of inverter. If you are plugged in to 110V there should be no issue, other than the converter will run quite a bit more, with the fan likely kicking on more often. Still, I might be tempted to just stick with propane.

[Joe Z]

I have a three way and the only thing i ever use is propane......... very economical and very cold. Once in a while i use 110 ac to pre-cool it then switch over..........a two way 110 ac/ propane would be to my liking. 12v dc will draw faster than a converter can keep it charged in my opinion.
Joe

[Raya]

Another thing to note (if it matters to you), is that all absorption refrigerators (which is all of them that run on propane) are very inefficient in electrical mode as compared to an electric refrigerator with a compressor. Not saying you shouldn't get one, but if you plan to run mostly on electricity, and you care about how much you use, you might want a purpose-made electric unit.

On propane, as people have mentioned, they are very efficient. Also (a huge benefit to me), super quiet, unlike a compressor refrigerator.

Raya

Note: I should edit to say that a 3-way is not necessarily "efficient" on propane, in an absolute sense. Yet, because we can easily store energy on our trailers in the form of propane, they work well that way.

What I should have limited myself to saying was that a 3-way unit is MUCH less efficient running on electricity (like three times the draw) than a dedicated electric unit would be. Michel, in the next post, got right to the point

[Michel, Bouchard]

True, usually the 3 way are pulling near 10 amps on 12Vdc, I have a 2 way (12Vdc/120Vac), with a compressor, it draws only 3 amps. So a 2 way 12vdc/propane must be absortion and must draw near 10 amps as well.

[Per Walthinsen]

Just ditched the D. 3-way for a 12v compressor unit (NovaKool). The old one was probably damaged, because it behaved badly. The new one has been tested only once, so it is too early to draw too many conclusions. I can offer two: 1) the temperature control is vastly better, so it keeps the vegetables from freezing at night and keeps it cool when it is 90 degrees plus outside, and 2) noise is definitely NOT an issue. We can't hear it run at all. We also gained .8 cubic feet of interior space for the food. Running the old one off the inverter when traveling consumed approx. 190 watts compared to something like <40 watts intermittently for the compressor.

In order to allow for boondocking I'm installing, finally, a 100w solar panel. Without it the batteries are down to 50% in 48 hours. For those who are interested I'll report on this setup after it has been tested.

[Mary F]

I currently have an icebox and would like to upgrade to a refrigerator. There is one on my local craigslist for a pretty good price. It is 2 way rather than 3 way. How well will it perform running as 12 v through a converter? I will be using it both with 110 and boondocking.

Hi, Joel. I had a 2 way (12 v/propane) fridge on my first Casita (ca. 1989). It worked fine on 110v, but the converter ran all the time. As others have said, the propane is really more efficient (cold!). If this 2 way fridge is a good deal, I advise you to go for it. Run it on propane whenever you can, and think of the 110 access as a backup setting.

I hope this helps!

[Matt in SV]

I have a 2-way in the U-haul that pulls about 8 amps off the converter. That's about 100 watts on the load side, maybe 120 watts on the 110V inlet side, or about 3KWh each day plugged in running 24/7. National average is about $.09 per kilowatt*hour, so it would cost a quarter a day to run on electricity.

If propane is a couple bucks a gallon you'd need to be able to run for a week or more on a gallon to be competitive. I don't have that info.

But, if you are staying at the campground, you might want to take advantage of the "free" AC you paid for, unless your converter can't handle the combined load (lights+charge+fridge, etc.)

Regards,

Matt

[Robert Johans]

This thread is a few months old, but I thought some of you may find this of interest...

I've recently completed restoring a 1969 Trailswest Campster. The new owners requested that I install an "Avanti AC/DC Superconductor" refrigerator. About $150.00 at Amazon.com. I guess they intend on staying at campgrounds that provide hook-ups.

The AC (120V) simply plugs into a standard receptacle; DC uses a 20amp torpedo-plug that's inserted into a CLA (cigarette lighter adapter). I customized the installation to accommodate the frig, and "re-engineered" and hard-wired the connections so that I could control the energy source with a couple simple switches. A simple gate hook keeps the door from opening during transit.