This is just for anyone thinking of installing one of their units in a existing RV refrigerator. A little over 5 years ago in installed one in my Dometic refrigerator and it worked great but the first trip out it started leaking in a bad weld joint. They sent a replacement and I have been very happy the way it out preformed the original but after only 5 years it leaked all the ammonia out of the system somewhere down by the heat exchanger and of coarse we were 850 miles from home and we were well stocked with food. We loaded up with ice and ran for our homebase and will be replacing it with a residential unit, it's already out of the trailer smelling up my shop.

Denny

 

Denny, is a DC fridge something you have considered? I don't have one, but have been hearing good things about them.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

EDIT: If energy consumption is a factor, below is a decent video on the three choices.

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I've looked at them but they are still a AC compressor with a inverter built into the control box attached compressor. It's cheaper and you get more pick from if you go with a regular refrigerator and run it off a pass though inverter. I've been running our chest freezer off a inverter for years when going down the road and the truck keeps the batteries up. I haven't decided if I'm going to run a dedicated inverter for the frig or replace my modified inverter with a true sine wave or have two inverters one for the chest and one for the whole slide where the frig is, whatever I do I will be changing some wiring. I retired from my electrical/refrigeration business so it's right up my alley. I'm limited to a 10 cu ft unit so not a lot to pick from.

Denny

 

I know some of the DC compressor fridges have inverters. But the ones I've looked at recently I thought they were straight DC, no inverter.

 

Same here, but I am far from an expert on the details or design.

 

​​​​​​If you look at a unit that has a compressor that had a box like this attached to it that's the inverter, normal 120v compressors have a small terminal box there instead. I'm very surprised just how efficient they have gotten small compressors over the years, the 10.1 cu ft unit I'm picking up today is rated to draw 1.5 amps total so it can run on a very small inverter. I would think the 12v wires supplying the the RV frig now would run one. They do make brushless DC compressors but from what I've seen they are high speed to make up for they low starting torque and kind of pricey. I can see nothing wrong with the inverter style compressors and I'm sure they are very dependable but in my case I have other plans for the external inverter plus the new frig is only $329 at Home Depot and with my veterans discount $296. The 2000 watt pure sine wave pass through inverter I'm looking at is only $249, pass through inverters have 120v ac running to them and transfer to it when present so it's not using power from the batteries. Our entertainment center is in the same slide so I plan on running it off the same inverter along with a small dorm style frig when needed, this little frig saved us when the RV frig died. We normally only use it when sitting in one place for long periods of time think beer frig .

Denny

 

The EverChill is a DC refrigerator that I've had my eye on. I can't figure out from their specs or the manual if it is straight DC or if it has an internal inverter. The reviews I've read on it say that it is very efficient. If there is an internal inverter there would have to be some efficiency loss in the conversion.

 

Hmmmmmm……………..I just repaired my Norcold fridge with an Amish cooling unit last fall I think. This is not a good review; hope I have better luck than you did. Only time will tell I guess.
Best of luck finding a solution.

 

Denny, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind posting a link to the fridge you plan to install into your RV?

Thanks for taking the time to share your plans with us and your knowledge on the subject.

 

Could someone explain the Amish cooling unit? Sorry to sound stupid.....

 

It is an aftermarket replacement cooling unit for an absorption refrigerator made by the Amish. The advertizing makes it sound like a great replacement when the original goes bad.

 

Thanks Don. From the photo above, I kind of thought that's what it was, but, didn't know if you guys were talking about a certain brand or not. I have seen these on EBay and Amazon.

 

My new camper has the Norcold NC15DC. 15 cubic foot 12 volt DC twin compressor fridge. The fridge is amazing. I will never have another adsorption fridge in my life. The are true DC compressors. 1 for the fridge which only draws 4 amps when it runs and a separate one for the freezer that draws 2.5 amps when it runs.
Will bring everything down to temp in just over an hour. Freezer runs at -1 and the fridge at 36 no matter the outside temp. The fridge has run for 4 weeks straight at my storage lot with just two deep cycle batteries and a single solar panel. They stay fully charged.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Ch...0WE/302245066?

The one we got is black, I can see black in the app but not the web site but they are the same. When I get it into the trailer I'm going to run it on my inverter and see the amp draw.

Denny

 

For comparison, my Dometic RM2852 has the following dimensions:
59-15/16″ (H) x 23-11/16″ (W) x 24″ (D)
Weight: 250 lbs
Interior: 8 Cu Ft

The AC refrigerator that Denny posted above is only 117 lbs and has 10.1 cubic feet of interior space. The only issue I have is the depth dimension, which is 26.2". Without removing my absorption fridge, I just don't know if I have that much depth space.