Question for those with residential refrigerators

[Second Chance]

We had to have the cooling unit in our Norcold 1210 (4-door 12 cu. ft.) frig replaced this past January. Today we arrived home from the grandkids to find a frig that wasn't running and the panel was showing the l1-oP error (high temp switch stuck open). This happened last week, too, and the cooling unit has not been overheated. It appears to be a fairly common problem since the "recall fix." I'll hit Tractor Supply in the morning for a cattle magnet to see if the reset will work and then call Norcold.

That said... if this turns out being strike two, I'm considering a residential refrigerator. Since we don't boondock nor travel more than four hours a day, I'm not particularly concerned about running the frig while under way (although that is a nice thing about evaporative refrigerators). My main concern would be noise. What brands of residential refrigerators do you have in your rigs and how noisy are they? Can you hear them from the bedroom at night? Are they distracting while reading or watching TV in the living area?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

[Rich T]

We had to have the cooling unit in our Norcold 1210 (4-door 12 cu. ft.) frig replaced this past January. Today we arrived home from the grandkids to find a frig that wasn't running and the panel was showing the l1-oP error (high temp switch stuck open). This happened last week, too, and the cooling unit has not been overheated. It appears to be a fairly common problem since the "recall fix." I'll hit Tractor Supply in the morning for a cattle magnet to see if the reset will work and then call Norcold.

That said... if this turns out being strike two, I'm considering a residential refrigerator. Since we don't boondock nor travel more than four hours a day, I'm not particularly concerned about running the frig while under way (although that is a nice thing about evaporative refrigerators). My main concern would be noise. What brands of residential refrigerators do you have in your rigs and how noisy are they? Can you hear them from the bedroom at night? Are they distracting while reading or watching TV in the living area?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

Rob ours is a Samsung 18 cf. it is very quiet. If you set it up with an inverter it would run while you are on the road off your batteries.
Rich

[JKellerJr]

We also have the samsung , I would say its quiet for the most part though occasionally during start up it will make some noise. I don't think it would be distracting watching tv but not sure about reading. I guess it would be subjective. I've never heard it in the bedroom but that may also depend on how close you are to it.

For some non scientific research, our friends that own a Jayco dealership have basically stopped selling residential's due to the service aspect, they need to be pulled out for service. Some can't be serviced without removing the island. That creates a problem for service in the field. The problems they have had are with the Whirlpool models not Samsung. Take it for what its worth, a very small sample.

[Rich T]

We also have the samsung , I would say its quiet for the most part though occasionally during start up it will make some noise. I don't think it would be distracting watching tv but not sure about reading. I guess it would be subjective. I've never heard it in the bedroom but that may also depend on how close you are to it.

For some non scientific research, our friends that own a Jayco dealership have basically stopped selling residential's due to the service aspect, they need to be pulled out for service. Some can't be serviced without removing the island. That creates a problem for service in the field. The problems they have had are with the Whirlpool models not Samsung. Take it for what its worth, a very small sample.

I have also heard some people say that the island or slide needs to come out to remove the frig. I did some careful measuring and I believe that if the doors were removed from the frig it would fit around the island and out the door. I have not done it but it looks possible to me.
Rich

[JKellerJr]

I'm sure its very model/brand of RV specific if there is a problem. Their issue has been the appliance service people always want to walk away so they get the angry call. Hence why they heavily discourage them. If we ever have an issue then I'll just get it out prior to service getting there.

[bertschb]

I don't think I've ever heard of a residential refrigerator made in the last 20 years that failed. I'm sure they do. I've just never experienced that or heard of it happening. RV refrigerators on the other hand...

[JKellerJr]

I think its more about running down the road which they weren't necessarily designed for. But I don't think they fail anymore than RV units do. Just harder to service if they do.

[Second Chance]

Rob ours is a Samsung 18 cf. it is very quiet. If you set it up with an inverter it would run while you are on the road off your batteries.
Rich

We also have the samsung , I would say its quiet for the most part though occasionally during start up it will make some noise. I don't think it would be distracting watching tv but not sure about reading. I guess it would be subjective. I've never heard it in the bedroom but that may also depend on how close you are to it.

For some non scientific research, our friends that own a Jayco dealership have basically stopped selling residential's due to the service aspect, they need to be pulled out for service. Some can't be serviced without removing the island. That creates a problem for service in the field. The problems they have had are with the Whirlpool models not Samsung. Take it for what its worth, a very small sample.

Thanks, everyone.

Rich - I only have the one OEM house battery and I'm not sure how long that would last running a frig on an inverter. We're old retired folks, though, and keep our travel days under four hours.

JKellerJR - we had the Norcold out in January to replace the cooling unit. It cleared the island and we didn't have to take the doors off. A piano dolly the same height as the slide ledge really helped! (Smart technician who has done this many times before).

I've spent the day so far trying to find someone with the "recall kit" (high temp switch unit) in stock that can work within our time frame. I think we've found someone in Richmond where we'll arrive tomorrow. He's mobile and has a kit on had. We'll wait until strike three before we replace the Norcold...

Rob

[Aridon]

No doubt about it go residential.

You can look up the sound ratings on consumer reports. Even the nosiest isn't likely to be heard in the bedroom though that would be quite the clunker.

I just changed out my Norcold in my unit this week. Easy job. The Norcold was pulling about $46 a month in electric costs down here. The new one is just over $5.

Hardest part is getting the old one out. Few screws and bolts in the back, disconnect the wires and cap the gas. We used a furniture dolly to roll it. took off the doors.
Brought it to the door and dumped it out on its head. I salvaged a few components off it first to dump on ebay.

Once it was out a i sealed up the back of the slats on the access door. Temporarily covered with foil to retain air as it was hot that day and the wind was blowing from that direction. I used some good foil tape to block those holes and put a bit of insulation in the hole. I still have access on the bottom but it is sealed up. Took off the insulation on the sides since this fridge isn't going to be running a furnace to cool itself. I cut the cabinet to allow the new unit to fit leaving some room for it to breathe. I had more space than I thought in there those cabinets are pretty wide and deep. You should have no issues with virtually any counter depth unit if it is the same as mine.





The new one was tough for us because our counter is pretty close to the opening. Raised it on the furniture dolly and leaned it forward enough to get the back on and it pushed back. Had to do a little wood work on the bottom where it gouged a bit but easy to fix.




Your truck charges the house batteries when connected so you should be fine with an inverter. I'd throw another 12v on there for insurance on an over night stop but I think you'd probably be fine with one and connected to a running truck and not boondocking.

[JKellerJr]

For reference, I have 2 100AH lithium batteries. Depending on ambient temps I'll use 40% to 50% (80-100AH) in 8 hours with some other minor draws (lights, etc). We were at a race a few weeks ago with no hookups. Someone in our group had a cpap and with lights, water pump, fans we would have about 50% left every morning before kicking on the generator.

I just have the stock inverter which is only 80% efficient. If you go aftermarket you should be able to get better than that.

Residential's use a lot of battery power but with no boondocking you wouldn't have an issue. I would probably add a second battery just for insurance