Why no more gas/electric refrigerators?

[traveldawg]

For years many, many folks complained about absorption refrigerators. Overall they performed poorly, needed too much maintenance and then the straw that broke the camels back came along - fires. Who in their right mind would want the worry of a potential fire right around the corner from a device that burns gas to make things cold?

So - a change was inevitable. Just precipitated by customer feedback primarily. I suppose new technology and availability thereof contributed to the change. We won't even get into what Covid did to supply chains.

I'll guess the RV companies in the Northwest aren't so quick to make the change - those folks seem to put more focus on dry camping capability.

As for solar - for me that is just the latest eye candy the marketing folks have seized upon for highlighting their product - whether it is a real benefit or not. So now they slap on some basic solar package and suddenly - poof - they have the latest, greatest 'must have' feature that is all the rage and the best thing since replacing steps for stair cases that empty dirt and water inside your living area. And it's working - folks who never have had a camper now have to have solar on the camper so they can boondock. Yet, few actually do boondock, let along do any amount of dry camping. And of/when they do they have to spend thousands to (re)build a solar system that actually is capable of supporting their 'off grid' lifestyle. Geesh - what a rabbit hole to go down......

Such is the state of things. it won't change. "Improvements" will continue ala the course of - WiFi or Bluetooth for operating everything in the RV from lighting to awnings to jacks; WiFi/Telecome systems that work - sometimes; solar (oh wait - I already mentioned that); staircases that feel nice; cameras to watch your dog when you are out; control systems that require multiple taps/screens/apps just to turn a light on or off; whole house vacuum cleaners (for a 400 sq foot area); stoves that look like belong in a high end kitchen (but can't simmer on low heat).

ok - I'll stop. I got carried away again ranting...... Just so ya know, after working my way up since the late 80's to a nice Class A diesel pusher i find myself working my way down to something simple that just works without technology getting in the way. I'm just an analog guy living in a digital world.....

[NB Canada]

If Furrion made or marketed an absorption fridge they would still use one but they don’t
Grand Design is deep in bed with Furrion imo is the only reason

[huntr70]

If Furrion made or marketed an absorption fridge they would still use one but they don’t
Grand Design is deep in bed with Furrion imo is the only reason

As is the entire RV industry....especially since Lippert now owns Furrion.

[IBEW Sparky]

@Stealth13777

You said "I used to have to carry a cooler for long drive days and swap everything in and out if we had any perishable food. And then wait 6 hours for the fridge to cool back down."

Why would you need to go through all of that? Just run it on propane while you travel and you'll be fine.... that's what it's designed for.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

I'm with the op on the gas/electric issue. They are the best for my type of RV'ing. I do about 50/50 boondocking/shore power. To me having a 30lb tank of propane to keep the fridge going while boondocking is far better than increasing the battery bank, perhaps more expensive batteries, solar panels and decent charge controller. Then make sure you park in a field so you get sun.
As Hoopy said, RV'ers have all sorts of differing requirements. My requirements works best with gas/electric. Hope they don't go away.

[Dale B]

Why did GD shift away from using gas/electric refrigerators? All of the new Imagine trailers that we looked at had Furion 12V compressor style refrigerators. I read that this will increase the demand on the batteries by about 90 Amp hours per day. We also were told by the salesman that to account for the extra DC drain that GD added a 165 watt solar panel on the roof with a 25 amp solar controller. I found this configuration very strange also, since the max wattage on the controller was 300 watts. So can a second 165 panel be added? Won't this exceed the solar controllers capacity (165 +165 = 330)? I also noticed that buying a second the Furion 165W panel could be insanely expensive ($566). I did a quick check on Amazon and found that a 12V 100W panel costs around $100. So rather than buy another Furion 165W panel, it would be a lot cheaper to buy three 100W panels. I'm not saying I'd do that because we camp mainly on the east coast and are almost always in the shade, so I seriously doubt that we'd get any serious use out of any solar panel. I agree that the new compressor style refrigerators are a bit larger (8 vs 10 Cu ft) but now I need to carry an additional 100 amp-hr battery and these aren't cheap. Once I corrected the poor installation mistakes made with my Dometic gas/electric refrigerator we haven't had an issue keeping our food cool. So did GD fix something that wasn't broken? We were thinking of upgrading our trailer, but now I'm not so sure. Am I missing something?

You are making some valid points. If the 90ah is accurate & I don't think it is in perfect conditions the solar might work....I doubt that as well.

The roof top panel should be 300w, to start with. It will never generate 300w because the flat roof angle is wrong. Check out your latitude, mine is 50*, best solar power is roughly 15* either way depending on winter or summer. I have a 300w flat roof panel & @ best I've seen 225w, right now it 130w @ best.

If the controller will accept & the existing panel is 36v you want to stay with that. I will add a portable panel to my system next season that is 300w & 36v. My understanding of my 30a Jaboni controller is that should I exceed the rating it will still produce the 30ah.

In your situation with the 8-10cuft fridge & what you are doing it's hard to beat prop/elect.

[Captcolour]

This change was announced at the 2021 national rally. Benefits claimed as I recall: no more electric/gas refrigerator problems, no using propane while towing, and the solar will keep the battery charged when the RV is stored outside. I don't believe the solar was intended for heavy boondocking. Just to keep the battery charged and perhaps run the refrigerator occasionally.

[Canyonlight]

I've seen a number of posts/threads "out there" where folks are unhappy with the manufacturer of the 12V fridges stating to not travel with food in the fridge but use a cooler and then load the fridge when at your destination. This would not be something that Carol and I would want to do either.

What can you all share about this ? Is this all RV 12V fridge/freezers or just some brands or ?

Dan

[Grandesigner]

Emissions?

[NB Canada]

Like I said ,I believe it has nothing to do with customer choice nor reliability and everything to do with the fact that all Furrion has is a 12v fridge in its lineup