Lifestyle Connections
If you are considering full-time RV living, you should definitely read my blog “The Complete Handbook to RV Living” where I discuss in depth the various aspects of the RV lifestyle, possible problems that may arise, and how to overcome them.
One of the situations I addressed in the blog mentioned above is how we had to replace our refrigerator in our new 2022 Grand Design Reflection camper, less than a year after owning it! While it was incredibly frustrating, nothing is perfect and the likelihood of things needing to be replaced in an RV is incredibly high especially when you are living in them full-time or at least most of the time. Luckily, our refrigerator was covered under warranty.
Well, at least it was the first time…
Keep reading to learn more about this RV upgrade!
About a month ago, the end of February 2024, my husband and son had to leave our current location to go back home to get our house prepared to list with a real estate agent. They left early on a Tuesday morning, and I was left alone to fend for my self. (I know, woe is me). That week, I spent several hours deep cleaning our camper, washing all the clothes and bedding, and even rearranged the inside of our pantry and refrigerator.
I was so excited to have lots of space to fill with fresh groceries as I had been on a weight-loss journey since November and was doing extremely well. I went grocery shopping that week, and on Thursday I had meal prepped for the entire weekend. I work night shift, weekend option as a travel nurse and I could not be bothered to get up early, on what was the only alone time I had had in almost two years, just to prepare my food before going in to work.
Anyways, I had prepared meals that afternoon and just before midnight I had gotten all comfortable to stay up as I usually do the night before my first shift (this helps me sleep most of the day on Friday). I went to the fridge to get a drink only to discover that the can of Dr. Pepper Zero I held in my hand was WARM. When I looked at the analog thermometer inside the fridge that we had bought after the first fiasco, it read a crisp 60 degrees. All of our food was warm, so I knew it had been out for quite some time. Not thinking it through, I immediately opened up the freezer only to find water quickly escaping from the inside. Everything was ruined, including my mood.
I called my husband the next day who was probably more irritated than I was. It’s funny in a not-funny-at-all way how things only seem to mess up when he is gone. The refrigerator was only the beginning of the mess I found myself in during the two weeks we were apart. When I looked at the back of the refrigerator, there was yellow powder that seemed to have burst everywhere in the compartment. He verified that it was most likely the condenser as this was the exact thing that happened the first time it went out. I decided in that moment that I officially hated absorption refrigerators.
The refrigerators in most campers/RVs are absorption refrigerators. Absorption refrigerators are cooling systems that operate on the principle of absorption refrigeration, which uses a heat source to generate a cooling effect. Unlike traditional compressor-based refrigerators that use mechanical compression to circulate refrigerant, absorption refrigerators use a combination of heat, a refrigerant, and an absorbent material to produce cold temperatures.
In an absorption refrigerator, a solution of ammonia and water (the refrigerant) is heated, causing it to evaporate and separate from the water. The evaporated ammonia gas is then absorbed by a solution of water and a salt, typically lithium bromide, creating a new solution. This absorption process draws heat from the refrigerator's interior, cooling it down. The cooling cycle continues as the ammonia vapor is then condensed back into a liquid through the application of heat, usually from a propane flame or an electric heating element. The liquid ammonia is then circulated back to the evaporator, where the cycle repeats.
Absorption refrigerators are commonly used in RVs, campers, boats, and off-grid homes because they can operate using various heat sources, such as propane, electricity, or even solar power, making them suitable for remote locations where traditional compressor-based refrigerators may not be practical, or when your electric goes out during a storm. Additionally, absorption refrigerators operate quietly and have no moving parts, which can contribute to their durability and reliability when all of the parts are functioning properly.
Due to this fact, we wanted to keep the absorption refrigerator (regardless of my new found hate for them), but in order to get the condenser fixed we were looking at approximately $350 service charge plus $500-ish to replace the condenser. Although expensive, it was cheaper compared to the price of a new Dometic refrigerator that costs approximately $2500. We were afraid that since the condenser had went out for a second time, maybe the problem was coming from another part of the refrigerator causing the condenser to go out. We debated replacing the refrigerator with a small residential one to avoid costly fees and replacement parts.
During the following ten days, I was stuck having to either eat food items out of the pantry or go to town for every meal. This really put a damper on my weight-loss success. It was difficult to eat things we already had because I needed some type of refrigerated item in order to cook them. Some things called for eggs, butter, milk… the list goes on. And I had none of those things.
It took a short discussion, but we finally made the decision to buy the smaller residential fridge. We knew that eventually we will have to stop travel nursing and hopefully soon after we will be able to build our dream house. After that, we most likely will sell our home on wheels. Although our larger-sized rig is not usually thought of for camping purposes, there may be someone out there who wants a more boujee camping experience and they may be perfectly fine with the residential fridge. However, the buyer may love the space our rig offers, but want the convenience of not having to have electric hookups, or being able to go places that do not offer 50 AMP hookups in the summer. If that’s the case, the buyer would probably want the absorption refrigerator.
With this in mind, we decided we should keep the absorption refrigerator and include it with the RV later on when we decide to sell and the buyer can decide if they think it would be worth trying to fix. Regardless, I knew I was done with it. A more spacious refrigerator is better for full-time RV living, anyways, at least in my opinion.
I flew home at the end of February, as planned prior to this fiasco, to finish up the rest of the house and get things squared away with the realtor. I had already discussed with my husband about the plans to replace our current fridge with the small residential one. We planned on finding the new refrigerator after we got back to the camper the next week.
Due to my husband’s spur-of-the-moment nature, we found ourselves trying to look up the dimensions of our absorption refrigerator online by looking at the specs of our specific camper on our manufacturer’s website. We decided, based on our research, to go with the Vassani 10.1 cubic foot fridge. We were able to find this perfect refrigerator for around $400, and we were able to pick it up along the way! It was a long 11-hour drive with multiple stops along the way and a crazy amount of rain. By the time we got to the camper, it was still raining and well after 8:30 PM. We couldn’t leave our new fridge in the bed of my husband’s truck, so we stayed up late removing our old fridge and installing our new one.
Removing the old fridge wasn’t difficult. We verified everything was unhooked and we made sure to cap the propane line that ran to our previous Dometic fridge. It took some careful but quick planning to figure out the best way to get the fridge out of the camper due to the small walkways and the island that sits in the center of the living area. Once we had a plan, it took just a few minutes to get the fridge outside and get our new one in!
The fridge definitely isn’t a perfect fit. Not only does it stick out a little bit, but it also isn’t as wide as the cut-out in the wall. The height is perfect though! We used L-brackets and small wood blocks to secure the fridge in the cubby. Unfortunately, we did have to screw the L-brackets to the actual fridge itself, but it was better than allowing movement especially when towing. We left the insulation that lined the walls to help prevent the fridge from getting too cold. We also covered the refrigerator vent on the outside wall to prevent a draft.
In order to make the fridge more seamless, we bought some wall trim, cut it to fit the parameter of the fridge using 45-degree angles at the corners, nailed it to the wall using a brad nailer, filled any cracks with wood filler, and painted it black which made it look built-in. We couldn’t be more happy with how it turned out!
Hopefully this post will give some insight on the possibility of things messing up even when they are new, the patience you need to fix them, and the changes you can make to improve your situation. Upgrading our refrigerator not only decreased our chances of going without a fridge for weeks at a time again, but also increased our storage space for cold and frozen foods. This allows us to make less shopping trips which, in turn, saves us money.
Check out our other blog posts here!
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