RV Blogger
An RV refrigerator is a big investment. RV refrigerators have improved by quite a lot over the past few years and for the better. Nowadays, they’ve come away from the traditional look of your home’s refrigerator and have turned into compact cooling machines. Although they’re a bit expensive, RV refrigerators come with a small form factor and are efficient. This helps you save on important living space within your RV and reduce the amount of weight you end up adding to your RV. Additionally, they are efficient, so you’re not spending as much energy to keep it running during an RV trip.
Today, we’re going to take a brief look at everything you need to remember when you’re out to buy a refrigerator for your RV.
How Does an RV Refrigerator Function?
RV refrigerators differ greatly from the ones you have at home. Here, the RV refrigerator works without complicated moving parts or even a compressor – therefore, it’s also known as an absorption refrigerator. That is, they use either propane or electricity to heat a refrigerant. Once the refrigerant cools, the condensation forces the refrigerant to cool down. In most modern RV refrigerators, the refrigerant used is ammonia. Therefore, RV refrigerators are portable and easier to manage.
What to Look For in an RV Refrigerator – Choosing an RV Refrigerator
We’ve put together all the features you need to look out for when buying an RV refrigerator.
The Size and Capacity
The size and capacity of your RV refrigerant depend on how much food you need to keep inside it at any given time. Therefore, if you plan trips with plenty of people living out of your RV, you need to be able to pack a lot of food. And in turn, you need a larger RV refrigerator than you would have if you were traveling alone or with fewer people. Hence, it’s important that, before you go out and purchase an RV refrigerator, you think carefully about how much food you’ll need to store during your trips and find an appropriate refrigerator that meets your needs.
In addition to your food requirements, ensure that your refrigerator fits inside your RV. Using a tape measure or otherwise, measure the location you want to place the refrigerator and note those dimensions down. From there, you can find an RV refrigerator that will fit snugly inside your RV.
Once you’ve got a handle on both of these aspects, it’s time to take the next step towards choosing an RV refrigerator – setting the budget.
Pricing of the RV Refrigerator
Set a budget before heading to the market with appropriate requirements and dimensions in mind. RV refrigerator prices range anywhere between $1000 and $3000, and so, keep that price range in mind before splurging on the latest model. If you want to buy a cheap RV refrigerator that gets the job done, you can opt for an old used one. However, if you’re thinking long-term, it’s always best to find a newer model with all the latest innovations – this will allow you to run an efficient RV refrigerator for a very long time.
Regardless, don’t be afraid to invest in your RV refrigerator, as it’s an integral part of RV-ing. In addition to helping you keep your food fresh, in the long run, it will save you a lot of money as you won’t always have to dine-out.
Type of Refrigerator
RV refrigerators come in two variations –two-way power and three-way power. The difference between them is quite straightforward – one type uses two sources of power, A/C, and propane. The other uses three sources of power, A/C, D/C, and propane. The latter is useful if you need to keep your refrigerator alive through a backup battery or power source. In terms of performance, both types are nearly identical. Therefore, depending on your energy requirements choose your refrigerator type.
If one power source fails, the RV refrigerator will seamlessly switch to one of the other power sources.
Special Feature and Add-ons
To further narrow your choices, consider going through a list of special features you would like with your RV refrigerator. The most useful feature your RV refrigerator can have is an ice-box. If it comes with a freezer or ice-maker, you can save on the money you would have to spend buying bags of ice for different needs.
Apart from an ice-maker, RV refrigerators often come with removable bin doors for better accessibility.
Conclusion
If you’re in the market for an RV replacement, you need to ensure the new model will be compatible with your RV. If your current RV refrigerator is damaged, you can easily repair it with the help of an experienced technician. In most cases though, the refrigerant is the problem and you can pay a visit to a technician to replace it.
