Can I replace my dead RV refrigerator with a standard refrigerator?

[litespeed]

Well we went out tonight and bought the Magic Chef 10 cu ft at Home Depot. From what I have learned so far, the main thing is keeping proper ventilation. We are not going to install a battery bank/inverter. Once we get the Norcold out, we will have a better idea of the clearances we have to work with. Will get back to you on progress. Any suggestions would still be great appreciated.

You can get a new cooling unit for around $250 to $275 depending on the model. It is a PITA to replace and you are still stuck with cold plate cooling... .

Our Norcold crapped out this past week. Driving rain from Trop. Storm Fay got to the electronics and ruined the thing. We received over 23 inches of rain is less than 2 days!

I just purchased and installed this exact Magic Chef fridge (from Home Depot) in our RV. If you read the manual for the this particular fridge you will find that it is not designed for RV's nor is it designed for outdoor use or "built in installation". When you put the fridge in this hole. It will be "outside".

I think the reasoning for this, is that the fridge gets so hot on the sides. Especially when it is first starting up. I spent the better part of 3 days trying to figure out how to properly ventilate it. The first thing I did was remove the all the insulation out of the old opening. This gave me about 2 inches of space on the sides, 2 inches on the bottom, 2 inches to the rear and about 1 foot on top. After the fridge was done cooling and was up and running normally (this took 1. 5 days). I put it in the hole and bolted it down. No problems so far and the thing actually cools like a regular fridge should. Even with 90 degree temps. I would never go back to the old gas/electric fridge again unless we start doing long trips again.

For the first time... . Our ice cream is hard!!

Send me a PM and I will e-mail you some pics of the installation.

AJ

 

[WDixon27]

you could maybe install a switched fan to evac the heat for when it's really working like during cool down, just a simple fan in the space above drawing air from the sides and bottom keeping heat from building up

I think the reasoning for this, is that the fridge gets so hot on the sides. Especially when it is first starting up. I spent the better part of 3 days trying to figure out how to properly ventilate it. The first thing I did was remove the all the insulation out of the old opening. This gave me about 2 inches of space on the sides, 2 inches on the bottom, 2 inches to the rear and about 1 foot on top. After the fridge was done cooling and was up and running normally (this took 1. 5 days). I put it in the hole and bolted it down. No problems so far and the thing actually cools like a regular fridge should. Even with 90 degree temps. I would never go back to the old gas/electric fridge again unless we start doing long trips again.



For the first time... . Our ice cream is hard!!



Send me a PM and I will e-mail you some pics of the installation.



AJ

 

[Nigel]

"For the first time... . Our ice cream is hard!!"

Almost reason enough to swap out a perfectly good dometic.

Nigel

 

[Skydiver]

If you have decent batteries, get an Engel fridge/freezer. It runs on 12 volts, uses at most 2. 5A when used as a freezer but much less as a fridge, less than 1A. It will keep anything frozen in 100 degree heat. They are not cheap like anything of quality but work amazingly well. I have a 35QT that I use for camping and the 15QT for day trips and have run them for two days without killing the battery in my truck or my wife's van. Very efficient, no startup surge, one moving part. Don't confuse these with the cheap battery fridges you see at Target. They will kill a battery in a few hours. This is a real compressor-driven fridge. Check out this site for info. Very popular with the expedition-travel crowd and proven to last 25 years. Beer never tasted so good!



ENGEL-USA Home Page. * Portable AC/DC 12Volt compressor Freezers & Refrigerators - from the worlds leading manufacturer...

I've never thought of using a magnet for pumping refrigerant. I once used some Wallace & Ternian chemical feed pumps that worked off a magnetic solenoid. We just called them stroke pumps. How many strokes per second are these ENGEL's ??

 

[litespeed]

you could maybe install a switched fan to evac the heat for when it's really working like during cool down, just a simple fan in the space above drawing air from the sides and bottom keeping heat from building up

Funny you mention that. I had planned to use a computer case fan just for that purpose using the existing 12V wiring for the old fridge.



But once it was up and running... The heat really is not a problem.



Thanks for the input!



AJ

 

[Allnew2Me]

Are those units pretty quiet with that type of refrigerant compressor?

Gary, when running they are just humming, not loud at all. And the nice thing is that they only are running about 40% of the time on the fridge setting. My 15qt model is actually a bit louder than the 35qt but both are not at all annoying. In fact it may not be louder just a different lower sound that may have something to do with how much smaller the fridge is.



Skydiver, I have no idea how fast that piston is occillating but from the sound and smooth feeling I would say fairly quickly.

 

[DLineberrys]

Sorry to be getting back so late - just had to take a break this morning and afternoon. Back at it! I think the pictures litespeed posted of his conversion are absolutely beautiful. I can't WAIT to see those pictures!

We fired our's up last night. We were AMAZED! It cooled to working temps in ONE HOUR! This morning when we woke up the freezer was at 3* on medium setting. We were both so excited we could hardly stand it. I have to agree about the ice cream. We have been full-timing for 9 years and HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO KEEP ICE CREAM IN OUR NORCOLD. Our first trailer was a 22' Dutchman. It had a Norcold. And when we got the TT we now have, a Chateau 27J with slide, this Norcold came with it. We never had maintenance issues till now with them in 9 years.

The real problem with the RV refrigerators is that they just can't keep up when it is hot outside. We work while we full-time. We never know where we might end up. Two years ago, we worked a summer in VEGAS. Talk about hot. Daniel put additional insulation on the OUTSIDE of our TT to try to reflect the heat off of the refrigerator area. It was unsightly! LOL. I am sure that helped its death along sooner than perhaps it would have. We are just tired of having to "hurry" to get something out of the refrigerator. When you can't find what you need immediately, and fumble around, it is cause of cursing. LOL. This is why we decided to just go for it and go residential. I know that this is poo-pooed by purists. For us, if we can pull this off - hopefully with the help of litespeed's knowledge - it will be worth it. Trading off having to use a little dry ice when boondocking is worth having Ice Cream, and a cold refrigerator in the summer all the rest of the year.

So far our first problem is capping off the gas line to the Norcold. The line is not standard - just like all RV parts. It is 3/8" instead of the standard 1/4" or 1/2". So we will have to wait till tomorrow to try to find a real hardware or gas co. which may have a fitting.

Like litespeed said, the side of the Magic Chef are what radiate the heat. The top and back are actually cold to the touch. Not much heat comes out of the compressor area where there is the only opening. Right now we are guessing that we have about 3" clearance on the roof, plus the roof vent. We have about 3" clearance from the wallboard on the side of the trailer, plus the opening of the service compartment. We are figuring that we have at least 1/2" on either side of the refrigerator, since that is the minimum clearance required by Norcold and the Magic Chef and our Norcold have the same dimensions.

That is as far as we are now. Any help is great!

 

[litespeed]

There are a lot of ways to look at this. From a financial standpoint... If you can make the "cheaper fridge" work. You may be better off in the long run. How long do you think you will have the current camper is one question?



Whenever we have any kind of energy crisis. Things change dramatically and quickly. We are there now. So expect new and improved appliances of every type very soon. Some have been mentioned in this thread. Even though they are small and being used on a small scale.



Even if the fridge you are buying works well and only works for a year... You could buy a new one every year for 4 years for the replacement cost of a new gas/elec model (that wont cool beer or ice cream). In our case $1800 with ice maker.



I personally would never buy one with an ice maker again unless I did the plumbing. Ours leaked one time and caused quite a bit of damage.



I think what you are doing is great if it works for you. Just do the research and do it right. You will be fine!



AJ

 

[DLineberrys]

Well we got it installed! We really appreciate the input and comments. You were so helpful! This is a link to some of the pictures of our installation. We feel it was a great success and will serve our own purposes well.

Replacing an RV refrigerator with standard refrigerator - a set on Flickr

 

[Allnew2Me]

Nice conversion and I love the trailers your Grandparents used to build.

 

[DLineberrys]

Thanks! I bet grandpa would have loved to know that! I did want to let everyone know that I posted a few extra pictures on that set. We are trying out a experimental latch for traveling. We took a black bungee cord and removed the s-hook from one end. The rubber square which held the s-hook wedges nicely between the doors without over-stressing them. We then hooked the other end to our exhaust fan. The exhaust hood is very sturdy and can handle it. I will get back to you and let you know if our goodies all fell out or not. LOL.

 

[litespeed]

Update on the fridge swap.



I did this fridge swap back in September. I have had "0" problems with it. I have had no problems with over heating and the thing works flawlessly. Even after about 7 power outages lasting up to 4 hours over the past 3 months, due to bridge construction down the street.



There is one thing that people should know about this particular fridge if you are down in the humid SouthEast. The condensation drain pan will partially fill with water over the course of a couple months. I just pulled it and dumped it yesterday. It had about 1 inch of water in it.



My plan is to make a drain hose for the pan and run it out the "fridge access panel" on the outside of the camper.



AJ

 

[DLineberrys]

Thanks for the heads up. Our new refrigerator is going great. In fact we have eaten way too much ice cream since we installed it. We plan to be in a very dry environment this winter due to a new work opportunity. If we stay through the summer, this thing will really be put to the heat issue test.

 

[steved]

We have heard all kinds of things such as the frequent unplugging of a standard unit damages it... . and that they cannot endure travel and thus break down too. Do any of you use a standard refrigerator in your RV? Any feedback on this would be great. We are on ICE right now and have to make a decision ASAP.

I have a regular "college" fridge in my 5th wheel... its date 2005 and was there when we bought the camper a year ago... I have since put about 5k on the camper and the fridge still works fine.

 

[CharlesHoward]

I installed a very similar Whiirlpool brand (I think they're all the same) Fridge in Dec 07 from Lowes for about $325. I have to turn my thermostats down or the Ice Cream gets too HARD! .
Its survived full time use from Apr 08 through today in Slidell LA and a southern exposure via the existing / former Dometic Fridge vents. I recycled the 12 V muffin fan the Dometic had - on many occasions I went out to listen for it on hot days and its never run to my knowledge (I know it works as I tested it with a heat gun on its thermister before installing). I love it - of course it wouldn't work well for boondocking sans a generator. Its so much bigger inside, cools so well, and doesn't have to be defrosted.

Merry Xmas

 

[litespeed]

Agreed...



I would never go back and would recommend the swap for anyone unless they are doing remote camping or leaving the unit unattended for long periods set up (like a vacation get away).

 

[DLineberrys]

Hey. Just wanted everyone to know about our first dry camping experience with the new refrigerator. We stopped to see friends in Laughlin, Nevada and camped out behind the Tropicana Express. We forgot to make our gallon ice jugs as we had planned. However the refrigerator still did very well. Granted the temps were mild. On travel day, the refrigerator had very little generator time at all. We arrived, set up and went out with friends. Basically it was off all day. We got back home in time to run our generator for about an hour before we had to cut it off for quiet hours. The following day we got to run the generator for a few hours and were back out with our friends for most of the day. In the evening we fired it up again for an hour or two and went back out for dinner. We ran it for a bit right before cut off time again. By the morning we were still doing great. Believe it or not our ice cream was still intact and firm. All that without our planned ice blocks. Litespeed is right however that it does need to be attended - you can't just up and leave the thing alone and think your food will be fine. You do need to have some sort of generator time even if it is just for an hour each day - and leave the doors closed when not running the generator. We are happy with it so far. I hope this helps.

 

[SHobbs]

Now you have me wanting to do this, my current fridge is on the recall list. Only problem is the white door. My current unit has the wood panel insert, looks like a 4 panel door and a single panel for the freezer which matches the rest of the slide out. May just bite the bullet and do the swap anyway. I could use a little more room.

 

[kenny61]

Depending how handy you are you could make a wood overlay to match and glue it to the door with construction adhesive.

 

[litespeed]

Now you have me wanting to do this, my current fridge is on the recall list. Only problem is the white door. My current unit has the wood panel insert, looks like a 4 panel door and a single panel for the freezer which matches the rest of the slide out. May just bite the bullet and do the swap anyway. I could use a little more room.

Depending on which model you can get either Black, White, or Stainless. By Magic Chef or Whirlpool. There may be some others but I did not see them locally here. It will all come down to the size of your openings and keeping it cool. The Whirlpool is better from a cooling standpoint in an RV because the coil is on the rear of the fridge and will cool by convection like the stock RV fridge. The Magic Chef cools from the sides and no coil is visible. We have a large high line 5th wheel and lots of room everywhere. So, this was not really a concern for us. For smaller units you need to consider this (especially in the Southeast or Southwest).



If you go back to Post #21 on Page 2 of this thread you can see the Stainless in the Magic Chef. I wanted the Black but was not available at that moment and I wanted it "right now"! Our stock fridge had solid maple panels in the doors and had the "hidden' look. There was no way to transfer the stock panels because of the "curved" nature of the Magic Chef panels.



If I had it to do over... I would go with the Whirlpool even though the Magic Chef "looks better" over all. It just was not available in the style or color that I wanted locally. However... . They are so inexpensive that if I find one that I really like, I can just sell mine and get another. I can literally buy 4 of these fridge's for the price of one of the POS that was in here originally.



I used swim noodles for insulation and aluminum bar stock for trim. It looks great has 2 times the room of the other one and actually keeps everything cool. You see lots of posts here about the ice cream. This gives you a good idea of the cooling ability and efficiency.



If you want to see more pics with the fridge open, closed, trim or any others. Let me know. I'll take them and post them on Photobucket for you. I remember the frustration.



AJ