Travco refrigerator

[Steve Spencer]

Interested in hearing from anyone about their experience replacing the original refrigerator with a residential unit from the big box stores.  What are your suggestions???  Thanks

Steve Spencer

'77 Travco 270

[Lakota Wolf]

Type in Travco in the search box,, brings up lotsa good stuff and a couple members on here have Travco's.

If your wanting to take original out and put in *aftermarket, it can be done and alot of RV'ers have done such, including me. I got fed up with Dometic fridges, I tore mine out and put in Twin smaller Fridges with small freezers and it works great for me.  With your RV, it's your own personal touch is what makes it home away from home.

[Steve Spencer]

Thanks for your reply.  When you say you "put in Twin smaller fridges with small freezers" where you meaning you installed two units side by side?  Please explain.  How many alterations did you have to make, and are they 112 volt, 12 volt, or gas?  Thanks in advance for your comments.

Steve

[Lakota Wolf]

I have a lager apt sized fridge on bottom and a small apt.dorm style above it and they are low watt a/c 120 volt,so solar panels can keep them running. I just had to make a cross support for upper fridge and run a drain tube from top fridge down to T couple with lower fridge drain tube for condensation water down thru bottom of trailer where old drain tube used to go... I have a walk thru video showing both fridges in the RV on my page under video's called walk thru.

[Steve Spencer]

Thanks for the info.  Looked at your video and your installation looks great.  Again Thanks

[Richard W. Cobbs]

Check out the Sears Kenmore Chill ENERGY STAR® Model #95693 refrigerator used by Americans living off-grid. It only takes 30 watts an hour, the same as one light bulb, and can run off solar panels. More affordable at $160 than $3,000 for a Sun Frost DC refrigerator,

$160 was the original price, before they found out that it was so efficient.  You may have to shop around, One outfit in Texas wanted $440 for this unit!!!!!

[Steve Spencer]

Thanks Richard, I'll be checking it out tonight.

[Lakota Wolf]

Your right on the $440 for it.... They found a way to make a 2000% profit. They had something that worked and with cost and demand, they demanded more money for same product.

[John Demarrais]

I've been doing it for years in two of my RVs. Nice  thing about a "dorm" fridge is it's cheap and available anywhere if something goes wrong. Also no need to have the RV level for it to work well. In regard to running one with a solar panel?  I see that as very difficult.  All small refrigerators are inefficient as compared to bigger ones.  The most efficient on the market is a 12 volt DC 6 cubic foot chest refrigerator.  Any 2.5 to 3 cubic foot 120 VAC refrigerator is going to use at least and average of 3 to 4 amps @ 12 volts per hour, 24 hours a day.  Factoring in inverter loss you'd need a 40-50 watt solar panel that sees bright sun for 24 hours. Most places only get 4-5 hours of good power-producing sun, per day.  4 hours is 1/6 of a day so you'd need a panel 6 times larger then that 40-50 watts. I.e at least a 300 watt solar panel. That's pretty big for an RV and it's only going to do the job on bright sunny days. Note that a super efficient Sundanzer 6 cubic foot chest fridge with a DC compressor will run on a single 120 watt panels IF you get good sunny days. I have one and love it but it's kind of big for a small RV. Also costs over $1000.   A cheap 3-4 cubic inch fridge from Walmart can have  more insulation added to it and work pretty well. That Sundanzer has 6" of foam around it!.     I have and extra 2" of poly-foam around my cheap 3 cubic inch dorm fridge that I got at a yard sale for $20.  Hooked to a 110 amp-hour 12 volt deep cycle battery and a 1200 watt mod-wave inverter  - it will run for two days before the battery is dead at 70 degrees F. That never happens when I use the RV since we camp at night and drive during the day.  As soon as I start the engine the house battery charges back up.  I've had my $20 fridge for 6 years now and have off-roaded in my 4WD RV. No problems.  Some of the best small AC "dorm" refrigerators for the buck are Danby but there are others.  A frig that draws 30 watts on AC (as the Sears as mentioned) will use 35-40 watts when hooked to an inverter.   Just for reference - some of the small 2 cubic inch 12 volt DC marine and truck-cab refrigerators that don't require inverters run, on average, at 2 amps @ 12 volts per hour. 

[John "T" Nordhoff]

 As an Electrical Engineer and RV owner and dealer over 40 years, I would say running a 120 VAC compressor (NOT a closed system ammonia absorption type like typical RV's use)  type of fridge strictly off solar panels power would be "challenging" to say the least. You would need considerable solar panel wattage and possibly a huge capacity battery energy storage bank (and/or AC Genset) to run for extended periods if you were dry camping like I do sometimes a week to 10 days at a time. That's why for week long + dry camping trips like we do in the Colorado or Utah in the mountains or deserts on BLM land, I suggest a combination LP Gas or Electric (can run on 120 VAC or 12 VDC)  closed system ammonia absorption type of fridge like most RV's use. Actually its NOT the fridge that limits us to a week to 10 days of dry camping, its that we run out of water and black holding capacity lol. With my onboard LP gas tank and/or an additional 30# spare tank, I can run my fridge for weeks (on LP Gas) and weeks even months with no shore power hook ups whatsoever, try and run a 120 VAC compressor fridge that long with no shore power !!! that would take a lot of solar panel capacity (and/or batteries and generators etc)!!!!!  Now, if you're often hooked to 120 VAC shore power and don't need to dry camp a week at a time, then sure a small 120 VAC compressor type of fridge would be fine, but I prefer more freedom and more choices which is why I prefer a fridge that can run on EITHER 120 VAC orrrrrrrrrrr maybe 12 VDC (some do) and especially LP Gas (so it can run for weeks n weeks if needed) versus a fridge that runs on ONLY ONE CHOICE 120 VAC

 To each their own however, but for extended dry camping I advise a combination (LP Gas or 120 VAC or even 12 VDC) versus a 120 VAC compressor ONLY motor type of fridge in an RV. YES the combination are more expensive grrrrrr lol but you have 3 versus ONLY ONE choice of power to operate them and dry camping (if needed or like we do) is severely limited.

 Happy Easter HE IS RISEN

 John T Retired Electrical Engineer

[John Demarrais]

Here's a list of some of the highest rated small refrigerators.  In reality - the AC compressors all draw around the same power. Efficiency varies by how much insulation is used. They are all pretty much 260-300 KWh per year, or 700 to 800 watt-hours per day, and 29 to 33 watts per hour at 70 degrees F.  Basically with inverter loss factored in - 3.3 to 4 amps of steady draw all the time at 70 degrees F. Add some polyiso insulation and you can cut that in half.  Also note that a 120 watt solar panel in the northeast makes around 1 amp per hour for a 24 hour day when it's sunny.  Much less when it's cloudy. 

Absocold  ARD252A*10R/L  2.5   308 KWh per year (no  freezer),  ARD298C*10R/L is 3.3 and 290 KWh per year (top freezer)

 

Avanti 2.4  AR2412B   277 KWh per year,  Avanti 3.1 BCA319***   259 KWh per year

Avanti 2.4 RM2411B   252 KWh per year, 17.8 x 18.5 x 25 inches38 lbs., 25” tall, 18.5” X 17.8”

 

C-Series HC24R  Refrigerator Only – Single  Door  5.3   281 KWh

 

Cuisinart 043-1894-4 Refrigerator Only – Single Door   4.2    218 KWh

 

Cuisinart 043-1893-6 Refrigerator-Freezer – Single  5.3   266 KWh

 

Danby 1.8  Model # DAR195BL  19.7” tall X 19.6” deep X 17.5” wide, $120 at Home Depot, 302 KWh

 

Danby DCR326BSL Top Freezer   3.1    337 KWh

 

Danby Designer DAR259BL Refrigerator Only – Single  Door  2.5   309 KWh

 

Danby Designer DAR340W Refrigerator Only – Single  3.3   316 KWh

 

Emerson CR519BE  Refrigerator Only – Single  4.2  218 KWh

 

Frigidaire CFPH25M4LB  Refrigerator Only – Single  2.4   253 KWh

 

Frigidaire FFPH25M4LB Refrigerator Only – Single  2.4  253 KWh  26.125” tall, 18.8” wide, 17.8” deep

 

The Igloo FR180  small freezer, 1.7  18.5” X 17.5” X 19.25” tall  $85 Walmart

 

Magic Chef HMBR265WE Refrigerator Only – Single  2.6,  256 KWh

 

MicroFridge MFR-3 Top Freezer  2.9   290 KWh

 

Midea 4135198 Top Freezer  3.2   270 KWh, also Midea MRD311S Top Freezer

 

PREMIUM PRF3150MW Top Freezer  3.2   270 KWh

 

Sanyo SR-369* Refrigerator Only – Single  3.3   310 KWh  33.3” high, 18.6” wide and 19.8” deep

 

SPT RF-314W Top Freezer  3.2   270 kwH

 

Sub-Zero, Inc. 249RP*  Refrigerator Only – Single  4.9  278 KWh

 

Sub-Zero, Inc. 700BR Refrigerator Only – Single  5.3  254 KWh  34.5” H X 27” W X  24” D

[John Demarrais]

Sundanzer makes a 5.8 cubic foot DC chest fridge that will run off a single 120 watt solar panel and a single 65 amp-hour battery at 70 degrees F. At 80 degrees average temp - it needs a 170 watt panel and a 130 amp-hour battery. I have one of these in the NY Adirondacks woods. Runs all summer from a single 120 watt panel.  Battery specs are calculated at 50% discharge.

They also make a 1.8 cubic foot fridge that runs from one 50 watt solar panel and a 30 amp-hour battery at 70 degrees F.

[Steve Spencer]

WOW!!!  Thanks much for the fantastic info.  Equiped with this much info I can move forward with a good realistic search.  Again, Thanks

Steve Spencer

'77 Travco 270