Compressor Fridge Options for a Roadtrek 210P

[Johnnyfry]

I have a 08C210P with a dead fridge. The old fridge is a Dometic RM-2554 which was put in in 2015. The fridge is now 12 years old and started gining trouble on the last trip. It cooled fine but the unit would not shut off cooling so the box would go down to 25ºF. It finally completely died. I had a used control module that I swapped in with no change. At this point I want to switch to a compressor fridge. I have 280 AH Lithium house battery so I don't think I am deficient in the power capacity.

What make/models are people using? Where to purchase? I have already delayed a trip so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GallenH]

It seems that quite a few go with Isotherm. You might look at

Isotherm C085RNGIT Cruise 85 Clean Touch (3.0cf)​

Isotherm F115RSBAS7 Freeline 115 Silver Elegance (4.1cf)​

I can't testify to either but it appears these 2 are popular choices. Perhaps
someone with first hand experience can comment. You're already setup on the electric
end. Whether 280AH is enough will depend on your traveling (are you on the move constantly, do you stay at campgrounds with electric, etc) and your recharging capability.

 

[booster]

Norcold used to be the go to for the 210, but they are out of business now.

Both Isotherm Cruise 130 and Dometic RNX 130 are 130 liter (4.5cf) units that should fit you opening.

 

[rvsprinterguy]

I replaced my Norcold 3-way refrigerator with an Engel unit. I like its high efficiency and very good temperature control.

 

[MNBen]

The dealer put in a Norcold DC105 in our rig under warranty. I can say it was tough going from a 5 cu ft to a 3 cu ft. I was told it will be efficient, We did gain storage that we didn't really need.

 

[honeyboy]

I have a 08C210P with a dead fridge. The old fridge is a Dometic RM-2554 which was put in in 2015. The fridge is now 12 years old and started gining trouble on the last trip. It cooled fine but the unit would not shut off cooling so the box would go down to 25ºF. It finally completely died. I had a used control module that I swapped in with no change. At this point I want to switch to a compressor fridge. I have 280 AH Lithium house battery so I don't think I am deficient in the power capacity.

What make/models are people using? Where to purchase? I have already delayed a trip so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I insta
Led a NovaKool 5 years ago. Haven’t looked back! Best upgrade ever. No matter what the temp is outside, it stays perfectly steady. I have 200ah of lithium.

 

[engnrsrule]

I am changing over to a Bodega 110L compressor fridge. Like you I upgraded to 300ah of Lithium, plus added 290 watts of Solar. The Bodega is currently 20% off thru Home Depot. I also have a working Dometic RM8505 3-way available.

 

[booster]

It will be interesting to see how it performs and how accurate to the specs they give (not much only "average" amps.

This appears to be a Hong Kong based, China manufacturing, company where most of the other mobile frigs are Italian, European of U.S. I think.

Have you seen any real world testing on them anywhere?

 

[engnrsrule]

It will be interesting to see how it performs and how accurate to the specs they give (not much only "average" amps.

This appears to be a Hong Kong based, China manufacturing, company where most of the other mobile frigs are Italian, European of U.S. I think.

Have you seen any real world testing on them anywhere?

Hi Booster! Is your comment directed to my post on the Bodega or the original post? The Dometic was a good unit My change was prompted by regular venturing into summer zones where absorption just don't cut it. My lithium/solar upgrades were a game changer.

 

[booster]

Hi Booster! Is your comment directed to my post on the Bodega or the original post? The Dometic was a good unit My change was prompted by regular venturing into summer zones where absorption just don't cut it. My lithium/solar upgrades were a game changer.

I should have put the quote with it.

Yep, toward yours I did a quick look at Bodega and looks like normal compressor frig construction and couldn't see and compressor pics for what configuration of coils and cooling they use. The stuff influences how you would need to set up the ventilation in a Roadtrek.

It appears to be an Isotherm knockoff at least visually. They even copied the horrible idea because it takes two hands to open the door latch in the center of the door. I think it was Amazon where they are also on sale now, the listing touted it as having a "5 year" life compressor which I would hope would be running continuously for 5 years as it would bad for RV use.

Of course, Asian stuff is always a question mark until proven otherwise to me, not to say other places include U.S. products also do not great stuff also. Real world testing of performance and power use, plus reliability if they have been around for a while, is a great benefit when looking at non familiar products or brands.

I should measure to see if that one would also fit the 190s, but it is probably too tall like most larger that 85L are.

 

[booster]

When do you plan to get the Bodega and put it in the van? It will be interesting to see how it goes.

One thing that I would suggest everybody should do when they get a compressor frig to install would be set it up on the bench with free air around the entire unit so you can get a baseline for the capability of the unit in best conditions. That way once you put it in the van and do the same testing you will have a good idea of of how well your ventilation is working compared to best case.

I did that kind of testing when I replaced our 10 year old Isotherm with a new one and learned a bunch of stuff, most that I didn't like because the new one used almost 3X the power of the old one in stock form on the bench. A bunch of messing with it later, we got it to be about the same as the old one, but still hate that center handle door latch. I have a thread on the swap and testing on the forum from a couple of years back.

 

[engnrsrule]

My RT has two exterior vents for the behind the fridge space and I have four computer fans wired to top grill to drawer air through. I will have to fashion an air duct to connect the Bodegas lower left side opening to the rear, but this is quite doable in my unit. Width is really close, but will make it work.

Good idea to bench test it!

 

[engnrsrule]

It's in. I had to relocate a 110v outlet to get it into the space. Used dawn dish soap on the sides. Also had to swap the door to open left. Did not need to make side duct openings. They are only for when back is blocked. Although the depth dimension overall is about the same, the Bodega "box" extends to the area occupied by tubing and fins on the Dometic, so it ends up 7L larger on the inside. Still assessing operation. It was initially drawing 5 amps. Thinking it is probably best to start it up while on shore tie when there is DC to spare.

 

[booster]

It's in. I had to relocate a 110v outlet to get it into the space. Used dawn dish soap on the sides. Also had to swap the door to open left. Did not need to make side duct openings. They are only for when back is blocked. Although the depth dimension overall is about the same, the Bodega "box" extends to the area occupied by tubing and fins on the Dometic, so it ends up 7L larger on the inside. Still assessing operation. It was initially drawing 5 amps. Thinking it is probably best to start it up while on shore tie when there is DC to spare.

Sounds good, did it appear you will need to be doing any air ducting/baffling on it?

I think that model showed an electronic control so that may be part of the higher amps you are seeing, either because of power draw from the control itself (Isotherm used 1/2 amp for the control that I got with our new frig) or because of the possibility it is able to select compressor speeds based on deviation from setpoint. If amp draw goes down as it get to setpoint it probably is doing that to speed startup and recovery after adding warm stuff while in use. If the amps go up slightly it would be more like a simple on/off mechanical thermostat and the increase comes from a drop in evaporator temp on some setups. That unit won't be a Secop/Danfoss compressor setup so we have no idea how stuff actually works on it.

Did you get a chance to get a baseline of energy use over time on the bench before installing? That would tell you quite a bit about how it behaves in clear air good conditions and you could check for compressor noise to guess if it is speeding up or slowing down, or just staying the same speed all the time.

Time to put a gallon jug of room temp water in it and test how long it takes before it gets to cycling temp, and then check the 24 hr energy use, so you know approximately how much battery it will eat every day.

 

[engnrsrule]

I skipped the baseline test. Weather has been goofy lately and just wanted it done. Essentially testing it now in the RV parked in the shade and overnight. The install actually went quicker than I thought it would (4 hours). It has a very quiet hum running. It was getting cool last check.

The airspace behind has upper and lower vent and I left the aux exhaust fans on the top vent. They can be manually on or set to cycle on a thermostatic switch

 

[booster]

If the unit has a fan to cool anything, which it probably does based on the perfed screen it looked to have on the lower back side corner (like a Norcold or one of the others had), what kind of airflow/looping will it create? Are the condenser coils on the back of the frig in loops or some other style? They didn't have much for pix to see it all.

 

[engnrsrule]

The coils are internal. I thought the same about the round holes on the lower back sides. However the fan is located in the middle next to the compressor. The manual allows for venting either in one side and out the other or out the back which runs full width.

 

[booster]

Internal to the compressor?

On edit: It does appear the coils are wrapped around inside a larger than others compressor can. I had seen a not very clear pic in the past and thought that was ribbed finning to cool the compressor itself. That does not appear to be the case, I guess. It appears that a lot of the Asian brands are using similar compressor designs based on the pix I could find. This is not Bodega but looks like the unclear Bodega pic I did see so probably similar. More edit: User information seems to indicate the 5 amps running is normal for them.

Now I am really, really interested in how the efficiency pans out, especially across a wide range to temperatures.

 

[engnrsrule]

The condensor coil is next to the compressor in the back. Has its own large computer fan.visiblw in the picture. There is lots of air space for heat dissipation.

 

[booster]

That looks like the pic they had of the "commercial" compressor set they showed one place I found. I couldn't find a pic of a retail type frig setup but the literature also implied internal coils. AI said the same interpretation. You fooled me when you said the coils are internal so you meant internal like behind the rear open mesh panel.

Looks like a puller fan on the condenser. What keeps that outlet air from looping back around to the inlet?