Replacing a Dometic 3-Way Fridge in a Roadtrek

[Nick-ClassB]

We have a 2005 Roadtrek 210 Versatile with the original Dometic fridge. It still works, but only on gas and it's got some door problems. I want to get a new one to replace it, and want the 3 way function (gas, DC and AC). I see the thread about compressor fridges, but don't understand why that's specified - don't all refrigerators have compressors? I'd really appreciate some recommendations.... Thanks one and all, Nick

 

[booster]

We have a 2005 Roadtrek 210 Versatile with the original Dometic fridge. It still works, but only on gas and it's got some door problems. I want to get a new one to replace it, and want the 3 way function (gas, DC and AC). I see the thread about compressor fridges, but don't understand why that's specified - don't all refrigerators have compressors? I'd really appreciate some recommendations.... Thanks one and all, Nick

No, all refrigerators don't have compressors, those are the now not so new design. The Dometic original is a heat powered unit the uses the burner or heating element to boil ammonia which is is then expanded into gas in the frig to absorb heat. Some non grid houses still use them, but the last one I saw in a home was my grandmother's and I am 77 years old. She died when I was in my 20s and the frig was old then.

The gas frigs need to be level and don't have a very good handling of high temps above 90*F, but the compressor style frigs do those things well. The only thing the gas frigs do well is not using much, if any electrical energy, which isn't as important anymore with the bigger battery banks getting more popular and affordable.

 

[jjrbus]

My Roadtrek had a new fridge in it when I bought it. If I were replacing it I would replace it with a house type fridge if I could find something to fit. If you do not have an inverter one of those would also need to be installed. A solar panel or 2nd battery could be added if desired or needed. I had a house type fridge in my bus conversion and lived in it for 10 years with no issues.

 

[Nick-ClassB]

No, all refrigerators don't have compressors, those are the now not so new design. The Dometic original is a heat powered unit the uses the burner or heating element to boil ammonia which is is then expanded into gas in the frig to absorb heat. Some non grid houses still use them, but the last one I saw in a home was my grandmother's and I am 77 years old. She died when I was in my 20s and the frig was old then.

The gas frigs need to be level and don't have a very good handling of high temps above 90*F, but the compressor style frigs do those things well. The only thing the gas frigs do well is not using much, if any electrical energy, which isn't as important anymore with the bigger battery banks getting more popular and affordable.

Thanks Booster. So it sounds as though compressor fridges are not 3-way, that is they do not have the gas option. Is that right? I like having that versatility and worry our house batteries would drain quickly when we boondock, which is most of the time.

 

[booster]

Yep, no gas with compressor frig so you need power to run them. They use way, way, less power than a 3 way frig on DC, but you need to have enough battery capacity to run them and also enough charging capacity to recharge them depending on how you camp. If you like to sit offgrid for a week at a time with driving, running a generator, or having solar you need quite a lot of battery capacity.

A compressor frig will us between about 30ah and 80+ah per day depending on the weather and how much you go into it so opening the door.

 

[the artful dodger]

Hi all, we are driving a 1990 roadtrek. That’s right ‘90. Everything works but the fridge. So I got a small fridge/freezer that fit in the same space. It only runs on electric. Here’s my question. Can I power it off a 3000 watt inverter while driving without running down the two batteries?

 

[Richard Cranium]

What size / condition is your alternator? Also more on the fridge. 3k watt is borderline for some fridges.
As long as your engine charging system OK that shouldn't be a problem. 3k watts is 25 amps AC but 250 amps 12VDC. Given your fridge hits the most on compressor startup of around 13 amps (based on my small beer fridge at home.) with rough calculation of a good quality invertor, the Alternator would need to be 130 amp or larger.

 

[Luv2Go-ClassB]

Sorry for the late reply to the OP, we've been busy traveling for the 4th.

We searched long and hard for a replacement for our 3 way and found one that works relatively well. It's a Vitrifrigo CX130, exact model in the picture. It fits the space in the 2006 Versatile well, there's a small filler strip on the right and a new 4" drawer fills the extra space at the top.

Note we have about 280AH of lithium (degraded 320AH bank installed in 2016) and about 350W or so usable of solar on the roof and we have no issues keeping the batteries charged with the fridge running where this RV is based in California in the summer. Solar won't keep up in winter as it's too cloudy and days are too short. It's a remote compressor-type unit, the compressor and evaporator live behind the microwave, there's just enough ventilation and it just fits back there with the original toaster/microwave, though we've replaced that as it died a few years ago and obviously we made sure the new one would fit with the compressor back there.

Positives are the fridge cavity is about the same size as the old one, RV no longer has to be dead level all the time and it keeps food cold no matter what the outside temperature is (all absorption fridges we've dealt with in RV's have failed at the extreme temperatures we routinely camp in , especially when skiing in winter). And we have that new 4" drawer for our junk! Negative is the freezer is smaller than the old one and not too tall, 1.5qt ice cream containers barely fit and if you have one of those in there you can't fit a frozen pizza in there also (you can fit either in by itself, it's a little over 12" deep and plenty wide for the pizza).

Overall we are very happy with it, so much so that we bought a much larger version for the Sprinter RV we're building now.