Propane Refrigerator

[NMJEEP]

Rumor the propane/120AC refrigerator is coming to an end. One manufacture has already stopped manufacturing.
120 AC or 12 DC will be the only options. Will take lots of solar to run a 12VDC refrigerator. Bummer for us dispersed campers.

 

[Fluffywhitedogs]

Just got my new trailer and it took ages because I insisted on a 2 way. So glad I did now that I’ve started hearing this!

 

[Tulecreeper]

That sounds backwards. If they were going to drop any of them, I would think they would drop 12V and leave it 120V and/or propane. 12V to me would only be as a last resort when you run out of propane or don't have shore power.

 

[tlmgcamp]

I have 120/propane now. Previously had 12/120/propane. I preferred that as I didn't need to spend propane while towing, used the TV power to keep the 12v going to the refrigerator

 

[John From Detroit]

There is a move to ban Propane and Natural Gas for all but "Industrial" process (IE: Restaurant Kitchens) I think one state has already passed a ban on Gas Ranges.. Not sure.
It is a political issue and one I'm aware of but not following so that's ALL I can say about it.

 

[Tulecreeper]

There is a move to ban Propane and Natural Gas for all but "Industrial" process (IE: Restaurant Kitchens) I think one state has already passed a ban on Gas Ranges.. Not sure.
It is a political issue and one I'm aware of but not following so that's ALL I can say about it.

I've read that. Never gonna happen, not in this lifetime. Way too many 10's of millions of homes out here that use propane for heating, hot water, cooking, etc. and they aren't going away or going to swap to all-electric just because the govt wants them to. The United States' fly-over country is the propane capitol of the world.

 

[Henry J Fate]

if they discontinue propane for refrigeration, absorption fridges will be discontinued as well.

 

[NMJEEP]

That sounds backwards. If they were going to drop any of them, I would think they would drop 12V and leave it 120V and/or propane. 12V to me would only be as a last resort when you run out of propane or don't have shore power.

All about climate change and not what makes sense.

 

[NMJEEP]

if they discontinue propane for refrigeration, absorption fridges will be discontinued as well.

Yes that is exactly what is happening.

 

[NMJEEP]

I've read that. Never gonna happen, not in this lifetime. Way too many 10's of millions of homes out here that use propane for heating, hot water, cooking, etc. and they aren't going away or going to swap to all-electric just because the govt wants them to. The United States' fly-over country is the propane capitol of the world.

Don't think uncle sam gives two hoots about banning your propane powered RV refrigerator. Start small then go after the next item on the list.

 

[John From Detroit]

Well folks as I said it's political.
There is however an option. there are high effiency Refrigerators. what I call the "Danfoss" class (Danfoss is one of the companies that makes the compressors.. there are others) They work very well and suck a great gulping 3-4 amps running (Oh wait that's that "Great Gulping at all) This compares to a dual lamp fixture with regular light bulbs...

 

[Moho81]

A propane/120amp fridge was on the list of must have's when shopping for a trailer. Generally we only camp one time a year without electricity but it still felt like a necessity for that one time and who knows if maybe we do more of that style camping in the future.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

That sounds backwards. If they were going to drop any of them, I would think they would drop 12V and leave it 120V and/or propane. 12V to me would only be as a last resort when you run out of propane or don't have shore power.

The "12v" would be compressor-driven, not the energy-hog 12v heater of the absorption fridges.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Rumor the propane/120AC refrigerator is coming to an end. One manufacture has already stopped manufacturing.
120 AC or 12 DC will be the only options. Will take lots of solar to run a 12VDC refrigerator. Bummer for us dispersed campers.

Do you have a source for this rumor?

Compressor-driven (12v or 120v) fridges have become very popular and improvements like lithium batteries and solar power have helped make them eminently practical for most RVers.

Norcold looks to be moving heavily into compressor-driven fridges, both 12v and 120v. Only their smaller fridges use absorption tech - all the rest seem to be compressor types.

 

[Tulecreeper]

The "12v" would be compressor-driven, not the energy-hog 12v heater of the absorption fridges.

I understand, I still think propane is a better choice than 12V. Anything that depletes my battery bank is no good if I have another source of power to choose from. If my batteries get low, and it's dark or raining, I'm SOL. However, I can always run into town and top off my propane tanks no matter the weather. And if I have 120V shore power, so much the better.

 

[NMJEEP]

There is a move to ban Propane and Natural Gas for all but "Industrial" process (IE: Restaurant Kitchens) I think one state has already passed a ban on Gas Ranges.. Not sure.
It is a political issue and one I'm aware of but not following so that's ALL I can say about it.

New York has passed a law banning gas stoves and no gas in new construction. I do not know when it goes into effect. Can't imagine the electric bill for electric heat in the winter.

 

[tlmgcamp]

Putting all our "energy eggs" in one basket. What could possibly go wrong? It's not like our electric grid is not unquestionably uninterruptable

 

[Lou Schneider]

Compressor driven 12 volt refrigerators use 1/10 as much energy as a gas/electric absorption refrigerator, a few tens of watts vs. a few hundreds. The price of solar and especially of lithium battery storage has drastically decreased over the past couple of years making it very practical to replace propane refrigerators with the new electric ones, even for boondockers. If you get a string of cloudy days just run a small generator for an hour or two, lithium batteries can recharge very quickly and you're set for another couple of days.

 

[NMJEEP]

I am not sold on the thought that battery power is cleaner than propane. Running a generator to charge the clean battery seems self defeating. But good to know that 12vdc compressors are efficient.

 

[Tulecreeper]

New York has passed a law banning gas stoves and no gas in new construction. I do not know when it goes into effect. Can't imagine the electric bill for electric heat in the winter.

Of course, it is dependent on your energy prices, but here in W. AR, where we had a week of zero and below zero temps in Feb, our bill was about $175 that month. I could do $175 per month all year long.