Ammonia vs Compressor Refrigerators
- Thread starter allan.os
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Rene T
Site Team
First, welcome to the forum. The answer to your question is probably for the ease of dry camping/boondocking. You can run the fridge off from propane using 12 Volt DC for powering up the brains of the fridge. Some people use solar to recharge the battery and some use a generator. I swapped mine out for a residential fridge and installed a inverter so I can have the fridge running while traveling. The trucks alternator keeps the battery charged and the inverter runs the fridge.
I just reread your post again and realized you were talking about a DC fridge. I don't know the answer to that but I'm sure someone will chime in real soon with their opinion.
I just reread your post again and realized you were talking about a DC fridge. I don't know the answer to that but I'm sure someone will chime in real soon with their opinion.
Utclmjmpr
Well-known member
I think part of the problem years ago was the large electrical draw of the compressor on household refers of the day,, only recently has that problem been addressed by the the new refers.>>>Dan
I would imagine because a 12 volt compressor type fridge would take a lot of battery to run. I looked online and the first one I saw was a 1.7 cu. ft., and it took 6 amps to run it. I obviously don't know how much power it would actually consume in a 24 hour period, bit I bet it would eat a lot of battery power when boondocking, and that's only a 1.7 cu. ft.
captaindomon
Well-known member
You can look at this from the stored energy perspective. LP gas stores about 7000 watt hours/liter, so your 60 pounds of propane stores about 364 KW-Hours of energy, or about 30,000 amp-hours of 12V battery power. That's the same as two hundred 12V deep cycle batteries that are 150 Amp-hours each! That is why energy-intensive things in your rig, like the stove, oven, and furnace, run on LP gas. If you wanted the same heat from electrical power, for example, you would need to be carting around 200 batteries...
Check out the energy storage for LP gas vs. Lead-Acid batteries at the link below. I would love to switch to a Uranium-powered rig, though...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density
Check out the energy storage for LP gas vs. Lead-Acid batteries at the link below. I would love to switch to a Uranium-powered rig, though...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density
NY_Dutch
Well-known member
Have you compared the available sizes of 12VDC compressor fridges against the fridge sizes commonly used in larger RV's? They don't make the 12VCD models very big...
Thank you all very much for your answers. 
I'm new on Camping, but my feeling was that it is much more common for people to camp in campgrounds with a local structure (electricity, piped water and so on) than boondocking. Am I wrong?
If I just camp in this kind of places with this structure, the type of fridge should not be a concern for me, right?
And also from my feeling the cooling capacity of a DC Compressor fridge is superior (can reach lower temperatures and can cool faster). Have anyone here already tested both and can confirm this for me?
I'm new on Camping, but my feeling was that it is much more common for people to camp in campgrounds with a local structure (electricity, piped water and so on) than boondocking. Am I wrong?
If I just camp in this kind of places with this structure, the type of fridge should not be a concern for me, right?
And also from my feeling the cooling capacity of a DC Compressor fridge is superior (can reach lower temperatures and can cool faster). Have anyone here already tested both and can confirm this for me?
Great Horned Owl
Well-known member
captaindomon said:
I would be very surprised if uranium powered rigs show up within the next 25 years, if ever. However, fuel cells are starting to drop in price. They might actually be a reasonable option within thwe next 10 years.
allan.os said:Thank you all very much for your answers.
I'm new on Camping, but my feeling was that it is much more common for people to camp in campgrounds with a local structure (electricity, piped water and so on) than boondocking. Am I wrong?
If I just camp in this kind of places with this structure, the type of fridge should not be a concern for me, right?
And also from my feeling the cooling capacity of a DC Compressor fridge is superior (can reach lower temperatures and can cool faster). Have anyone here already tested both and can confirm this for me?
Yes more people probably camp with hook-ups than boondock, but may manufacturer's build units to be self contained. A 12 volt really wouldn't interest most people. If you want something different than a regular ol' RV fridge install a residential fridge. Many here have done that.
Great Horned Owl
Well-known member
The national parks, national forests, and similar places have many campgrounds that do not have electric hookups.
Joel
Joel
We almost exclusively camp in FS, COE etc CGs. Then in the winter we boon dock out on BLM land in AZ for 2 months or so. I guess that we pay at a commercial CG once every other year or so. For us a Propane refer is the only way to go!
We live on 1 1/2 A. My CLOSEST neighbor is probably 200 feet from our house, why do we want to camp in a commercial CG where RVs are packed in like cord wood?
We live on 1 1/2 A. My CLOSEST neighbor is probably 200 feet from our house, why do we want to camp in a commercial CG where RVs are packed in like cord wood?
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
It's largely a matter of personal choice whether one uses campsites with electric (etc) hook-ups or less equipped sites. One also travels in between home & campground, when hook-ups aren't available.
Right. You can pretty much travel a full day without power to the fridge if you leave the door closed.
Few RVs have DC-compressor fridges. Instead, standard residential AC-compressor fridges are used, giving access to a wide variety of sizes and styles (whatever you have room for) at mass-production prices. DC-->AC converters are used to provide 120v power when hook-ups are not available.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
I think that in general a compressor Fridge is a bit more energy efficient. (Uses less electricty than an Absorption (Ammonia) unit on ELectric) and you may be able to fit a bit more 'Capacity" (interior space) in the same hole.
But I too like the ability to use GAS to keep my food chilly instead of relyi9ng on an inverter which, in my case. is currently acting up something fierce.
(I don't have time to dig into it this week, but soon as I get to a "2 weekis" campground I'm planing on bypassi8ngk Removing, Openi8ng up.. CLEAN EVERYTHING, and see if that makes it happy)
I mean it has not had a bath in 11 years.
But I too like the ability to use GAS to keep my food chilly instead of relyi9ng on an inverter which, in my case. is currently acting up something fierce.
(I don't have time to dig into it this week, but soon as I get to a "2 weekis" campground I'm planing on bypassi8ngk Removing, Openi8ng up.. CLEAN EVERYTHING, and see if that makes it happy)
I mean it has not had a bath in 11 years.
Rene T
Site Team
John From Detroit said:
I changed mine over to a residential and went from a 7.5 cu/ft fridge to almost a 11 cu/ft fridge in almost the same size hole. Had to do a slight modification.
I own both a DC compressor fridge/freezer and an ammonia fridge/freezer. I have a DC compressor fridge and 2 freezers on my boat and the ammonia fridge/freezer in my RV. They both seem to work fine. I haven't checked the draw of my DC compressor units, but my 420 watts of solar have no problem keeping up with 1 fridge and 2 freezers kept at 0F (as well as running everything else on the boat at anchor (read: boondocking)).
So which do I think is better... it depends. Sometimes it is nice to be able to run the fridge on propane. But it is a pain to have to make sure everything is level - not required on the DC compressor (fortunately, because I have a sailing vessel - rarely level). Honestly, if I could choose, I would switch out the ammonia unit for DC. But that is just me. They both seem to work just fine.
So which do I think is better... it depends. Sometimes it is nice to be able to run the fridge on propane. But it is a pain to have to make sure everything is level - not required on the DC compressor (fortunately, because I have a sailing vessel - rarely level). Honestly, if I could choose, I would switch out the ammonia unit for DC. But that is just me. They both seem to work just fine.
NY_Dutch
Well-known member
Almost as big a size jump as Rene's, we went from a 7.5 cu ft ammonia fridge to a 10.1 cu ft residential compressor fridge that fit directly in the same space. The only mods needed were adding some minor trim and installing a set of modified window latches as travel locks. When we're underway, it's powered from an inverter. When you consider that the 2.6 cu ft storage gain is bigger than many compact/dormitory fridges, it's a nice upgrade. And our ice cream stays rock hard now... ;D
Rene T
Site Team
NY_Dutch said:
And frost free.
) ) ) ) )
NY_Dutch
Well-known member
Rene T said:And frost free.
Yep! That too! ;D
grashley
Well-known member
First, welcome to the Forum!
Back in the mid 70's we had a 12VDC / 120VAC fridge in our pop up. It was a small, maybe 1.5 cu ft unit, replacing the stock ice box. The 12VDC was meant to run while traveling, using a 12Ga wire run directly from the car battery. There was no camper battery - or brakes at 2200# GVWR. I doubt that fridge would have run very long on battery power alone.
In many ways, the RV industry moves slowly, and appliance upgrades is one of them. The absorption fridge is a one size fits all unit. It works self contained. It works on shore power. It works traveling. Old DC units would not work self contained without a huge battery bank.
Only recently have residential fridges become efficient enough to run off batteries, and only recently became available from the factory. Since electric only fridges are now available in RV's, and large 120VAC units are mass produced, therefore cheaper than comparable DC units, there is no driving force to offer the DC option.
Back in the mid 70's we had a 12VDC / 120VAC fridge in our pop up. It was a small, maybe 1.5 cu ft unit, replacing the stock ice box. The 12VDC was meant to run while traveling, using a 12Ga wire run directly from the car battery. There was no camper battery - or brakes at 2200# GVWR. I doubt that fridge would have run very long on battery power alone.
In many ways, the RV industry moves slowly, and appliance upgrades is one of them. The absorption fridge is a one size fits all unit. It works self contained. It works on shore power. It works traveling. Old DC units would not work self contained without a huge battery bank.
Only recently have residential fridges become efficient enough to run off batteries, and only recently became available from the factory. Since electric only fridges are now available in RV's, and large 120VAC units are mass produced, therefore cheaper than comparable DC units, there is no driving force to offer the DC option.
I had a DC powered fridge on my boat and it was a power hog. It averaged 7 amps per hour which required me to recharge the batts 2 times a day for 2 hours each time using the generator and a 100 amp batt charger. Current DC fridges are much more efficient and I'm surprised they haven't made there way into the RV world. A DC fridge does require the owner to monitor the charge condition of their batteries. I had a battery monitor to help with this, something rarely found on an RV.
