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    Site Sponsor ReiMan1776's Avatar
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    Upgrade to 12V Refrigerator - Brand Reliability Question - Everchill / GE / Norcold

    I am done with my 2 way propane / AC refrigerator and want to replace it. I like the Evercool model almost 11 cubic feet but there are other brands to choose from as well such as Norcold, Furion and GE. There is also significant price difference with the GE an sale at Camping World for $800

    The Evercool has larger capacity than the others but of greater importance is reliability.

    Does anybody have any experience or opinions? Not much to go on with YouTube videos.

    The Everchill / RecPro? is definitely ALL Chinese, not thrilled about that.

    I will want to sell my 8 cubic foot Dometic, about 3 years old. Light use, don't know what it worth.

    Dan

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    Quote Originally Posted by ReiMan1776 View Post
    I am done with my 2 way propane / AC refrigerator and want to replace it. I like the Evercool model almost 11 cubic feet but there are other brands to choose from as well such as Norcold, Furion and GE. There is also significant price difference with the GE an sale at Camping World for $800

    The Evercool has larger capacity than the others but of greater importance is reliability.

    Does anybody have any experience or opinions? Not much to go on with YouTube videos.

    The Everchill / RecPro? is definitely ALL Chinese, not thrilled about that.

    I will want to sell my 8 cubic foot Dometic, about 3 years old. Light use, don't know what it worth.

    Dan
    I replaced our Norcold 8N11 this spring with a Furrion Arctic 10 Cu. Ft. model. The old one slid out and the new one Slid in. One thing to consider is make sure you run heavier guage wire to run the 12 volt compressor fridge. Follow the manufacture specs as per length of wire run. The Furrion cost 1400 (Canadian). I sold my 6year old Norcold for $500 on Facebook Market place. We love the extra capacity. Almost all makes are off shore manufactured.

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    Site Sponsor ReiMan1776's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brad Smith View Post
    I replaced our Norcold 8N11 this spring with a Furrion Arctic 10 Cu. Ft. model. The old one slid out and the new one Slid in. One thing to consider is make sure you run heavier guage wire to run the 12 volt compressor fridge. Follow the manufacture specs as per length of wire run. The Furrion cost 1400 (Canadian). I sold my 6year old Norcold for $500 on Facebook Market place. We love the extra capacity. Almost all makes are off shore manufactured.
    Thanks Brad,,,

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    Site Team Redapple63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brad Smith View Post
    I replaced our Norcold 8N11 this spring with a Furrion Arctic 10 Cu. Ft. model. The old one slid out and the new one Slid in. One thing to consider is make sure you run heavier guage wire to run the 12 volt compressor fridge. Follow the manufacture specs as per length of wire run. The Furrion cost 1400 (Canadian). I sold my 6year old Norcold for $500 on Facebook Market place. We love the extra capacity. Almost all makes are off shore manufactured.
    Hey Brad,

    How much battery does it take to run? We go boondocking at least once a year for about a week.
    2019 GMC 3500 SRW Sierra Denali Duramax
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    Quote Originally Posted by Redapple63 View Post
    Hey Brad,

    How much battery does it take to run? We go boondocking at least once a year for about a week.
    I am not exactly sure. We don't boondock. There is a couple of youtube videos that you can look up and get some info. One is from Hylatt RV on the new 12 volt fridges. I do know that the fridges will shut themselves off when the Voltage gets too low. I have driven 6 hours and with being plugged into the truck, I still had lots of Battery life left. I only run 1 31series deep Cycle battery since we used serviced sites and have a plug in at our home.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brad Smith View Post
    I replaced our Norcold 8N11 this spring with a Furrion Arctic 10 Cu. Ft. model. The old one slid out and the new one Slid in. One thing to consider is make sure you run heavier guage wire to run the 12 volt compressor fridge. Follow the manufacture specs as per length of wire run. The Furrion cost 1400 (Canadian). I sold my 6year old Norcold for $500 on Facebook Market place. We love the extra capacity. Almost all makes are off shore manufactured.
    We are looking at possibly replacing the 8 cu ft, 2-way with a 12v as you did. Not sure which brand yet, but the GE at $800 is a nice price. We have a 29rs fifth wheel with the refer in the slide. I am a bit worried about what may be involved in running a heavier gauge wire from the refer to the battery location in the front compartment. Did you run a new wire? What was involved? Can you attach the new wire to the old and just pull the new through as you pull out the old? I doubt it will be that easy since these wires are not in conduit as far as I know.
    2017 Reflection 29 RS
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    Quote Originally Posted by my12by60 View Post
    We are looking at possibly replacing the 8 cu ft, 2-way with a 12v as you did. Not sure which brand yet, but the GE at $800 is a nice price. We have a 29rs fifth wheel with the refer in the slide. I am a bit worried about what may be involved in running a heavier gauge wire from the refer to the battery location in the front compartment. Did you run a new wire? What was involved? Can you attach the new wire to the old and just pull the new through as you pull out the old? I doubt it will be that easy since these wires are not in conduit as far as I know.
    Sorry I took so long to reply. We have been enjoying our trailer this past week and did not have reliable internet. When I changed to the 12 volt fridge, I ran a completly new 8 guage weather proof wire to a dedicated bus bar and hooked to the battery on the other side of the bar. Without going thru the panel, I was able to run the wire much easier. I ran it along the frame and directly into the front compartment.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brad Smith View Post
    Sorry I took so long to reply. We have been enjoying our trailer this past week and did not have reliable internet. When I changed to the 12 volt fridge, I ran a completly new 8 guage weather proof wire to a dedicated bus bar and hooked to the battery on the other side of the bar. Without going thru the panel, I was able to run the wire much easier. I ran it along the frame and directly into the front compartment.
    Thanks for getting back. From the picture of your unit in the profile, it looks like your fridge is located in a slide.

    Did you just leave enough wire slack to allow for the movement range of the slide before beginning to make fixed connections to the frame?

    This was the part of running a new wire into the slide that I was having a hard time visioning.

    What led you to conclude that you needed to upgrade to an 8 gauge wire?

    Did you do anything extra to the fridge cabinet as you made the switch? Extra insulation?

    Did you do anything with the upper and lower fridge vents or just leave as is?

    We have decided to go with a residential fridge, inverter, and lithium battery upgrade set-up. We just took out the 2-way Dometic last night and I am deciding what, if anything, to do with the cabinet and vents before I slide in the residential Magic Chef 10.1 cu ft that we bought at Home Depot for $389.
    2017 Reflection 29 RS
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    Quote Originally Posted by my12by60 View Post
    Thanks for getting back. From the picture of your unit in the profile, it looks like your fridge is located in a slide.

    Did you just leave enough wire slack to allow for the movement range of the slide before beginning to make fixed connections to the frame?

    This was the part of running a new wire into the slide that I was having a hard time visioning.

    What led you to conclude that you needed to upgrade to an 8 gauge wire?

    Did you do anything extra to the fridge cabinet as you made the switch? Extra insulation?

    Did you do anything with the upper and lower fridge vents or just leave as is?

    We have decided to go with a residential fridge, inverter, and lithium battery upgrade set-up. We just took out the 2-way Dometic last night and I am deciding what, if anything, to do with the cabinet and vents before I slide in the residential Magic Chef 10.1 cu ft that we bought at Home Depot for $389.
    I ran the wire from the Fridge compartment along with the other wires and Propane lines that go out to the slide out. Once I got to the frame, I ran it behind the angle gussets that are all along the frame. Worked out quite well. When it got to the front, I came up thru the Propane compartment and drilled thru the wall to get to where the battery is stored.

    I decided on the 8 guage wire after reading the installation requirements on the installation guide that came on-line with the new fridge.

    There were no additions needed to the compartment. I left the vents, although I did close off the Upper with the metal that was up there. Leaving the bottom open has also allowed me access to the rear of the new fridge if needed. There is a small glass fuse that has given others issues that I can get to now if it ever blows. So far so good. I have used it without an issues since April

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brad Smith View Post
    I ran the wire from the Fridge compartment along with the other wires and Propane lines that go out to the slide out. Once I got to the frame, I ran it behind the angle gussets that are all along the frame. Worked out quite well. When it got to the front, I came up thru the Propane compartment and drilled thru the wall to get to where the battery is stored.

    I decided on the 8 guage wire after reading the installation requirements on the installation guide that came on-line with the new fridge.

    There were no additions needed to the compartment. I left the vents, although I did close off the Upper with the metal that was up there. Leaving the bottom open has also allowed me access to the rear of the new fridge if needed. There is a small glass fuse that has given others issues that I can get to now if it ever blows. So far so good. I have used it without an issues since April
    Thanks for the feedback on running the wire. That is good to know in case I ever need to do something similar.

    We got our residential Magic Chef installed today. I was impressed with how GD had made some design moves to help the two-way Norcold do its job. Ours had the metal flap you mentioned to direct air flow out of the upper vent. On the back of the Norcold was a 4 or 5 inch fan mounted horizontally to draw air upward, into the metal flap and out of the top vent. We bent the metal flap down, screwed it down, then sealed around it with special tape intended for AC duct work. We left the lower vent as is because the coil for the Magic Chef is on the bottom right by the lower vent.

    The only glitch we ran into was that the Magic Chef was deeper than the Norcold. Once we slid it in, we realized that we could not use the 120v plug because it was blocked by the body of the new fridge. Fortunately, on the 29RS the outside entertainment cabinet is right next door to the compartment that we slid the Magic Chef into. We wanted to take out the TV and small dorm fridge from the outside cabinet to convert that area to exterior storage anyway. So we just removed those items, hole sawed a small hole from the inside fridge compartment, and fed the plug into the outside kitchen and used the plug from the outgoing dorm fridge. This reduced the space required behind the Magic Chef to only the width of the electrical cord. This will also allow to turn off the fridge completely when needed just by opening the outside compartment and unplugging it. For some reason, many of these small fridges seem to have now way to shut off the fridge from the inside controls.
    2017 Reflection 29 RS
    2003 F350 Supercab V10 Longbed
    Pullrite Superlite (like Anderson)

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