Refrigerator decision

[Treeview]

I'm at Costco looking at a Sanyo SR-3720M dorm fridge. It draws .9A and costs $140 with a one year warranty.

Since weight and space is not as critical in my ToyBox as in a tear this seems like a good option.

Is there any reason that a compressor/freon fridge wouldn't be a good choice? I fully understand the reasons for having a gas fridge too. There's no need to rehash that

Tom

[GPW]

Tree , we bought a small GE dorm fridge 7 years ago , and it’s still going strong ... But for trailer work we decided that a really good ice chest (5 day) and a big block of ice would be the best Thrifty alternative ... For what a 3 way gas fridge costs (in the long run) , we could buy an block of ice as big as the iceberg that sunk the Titanic ...

[Treeview]

GPW,

Did you ever trailer the dorm fridge? I wonder if they can tolerate road bumpage. The ToyBox won't be off-roading but is likely to see some dirt roads.

I agree...but convenience in some things is worth the cost.

I bought the fridge but it will stay packaged until I do more research. I want to figure out how long it would run on my battery. then, figure out how long it would take to recharge the battery if I'm not driving. if the numbers don't work out I'll return the fridge.

I do a daily search of http://www.searchtempest.com/ to see if any reasonable priced rv fridges or top loader type fridge/freezers pop up.

tom

[GPW]

Tree, actually No ... We bought it for my first TD , which was built exclusively for Hurricane EVAC , but luckily haven’t had need to use it , so the wife dragged it inside to cool Soda, wine and beer.. But others on RV forums have reported satisfactory results as they traded their problematic Nocolds for home units ...
For more informed info from actual users , check out IRV2.com.. Lots of Reefer info there...

[Treeview]

Thanks for the lead!

I hope that I NEVER have to consider a 'bugout'!

Tom

[pete42]

GPW,

Did you ever trailer the dorm fridge? I wonder if they can tolerate road bumpage. The ToyBox won't be off-roading but is likely to see some dirt roads.

I agree...but convenience in some things is worth the cost.

I bought the fridge but it will stay packaged until I do more research. I want to figure out how long it would run on my battery. then, figure out how long it would take to recharge the battery if I'm not driving. if the numbers don't work out I'll return the fridge.

I do a daily search of http://www.searchtempest.com/ to see if any reasonable priced rv fridges or top loader type fridge/freezers pop up.

tom

Tom rest assured the dorm fridges work very well and the road bumps don't seem to bother them.
how do I know? good question back in 1984 I bought a pop-up trailer traveled all over the east coast maine to florida and states in between
sold pop-up bought a Scamp used the fridge in the scamp coast to coast
sold the scamp bought another scamp with toilet, 3-way fridge worked great someone wanted it more than I did so I sold it
and bought another pop-up in 2004 20 years out came old dorm fridge still works and still going strong.
sold pop-up bought 26 travel trailer with all the goodies (big mistake) sold it
now I use the old dorm fridge in my back garage/workshop still going strong after 28 years.


pete

[Treeview]

That's a testimony to good construction.

I bought a dorm fridge when I lived in the dorm...ahhh...those days! It got beat up during some post-college moves so I scrapped it out.

Tom

[bdosborn]

Just remember that 0.9 amps at 120V is at least 10 amps through a 12V inverter. You wont be able to run the fridge from the trailer battery very long (if you were planning on that).

Bruce

[Treeview]

yes...understood

I'm going to find out how big my battery is and calculate how much life it has. And...how long it takes to recharge too.

What are the formulas for making the discharge/charge calculations?

Tom

[bdosborn]

A group 24 deep cycle battery is good for 85 amp-hrs. Lets figure your fridge has a 33% duty cycle (runs one third of the time) so 10amp/hr/3 = 3 amp-hr draw. You shouldn't use more than half your battery capacity at any time before recharging so:

85 amp-hrs/2=42.5 amp-hrs

42.5 amp-hrs/3 amp hr draw=14 hour run time.
YMMV.
Bruce