Anyone Boondocking with a Residential Refregerator?

[Chippendale]

I have a 2014 3300ML Gateway with the basic 2 door residential refrigerator in it and am thinking about possibly doing some boondocking in Colorado this summer. Of course, I have never boondocked before and at this point, I have neither solar collectors or a generator and was wondering if someone with a set up similar to mine has ever boondocked and if so, what equipment (size, brand, etc) does one have to have in order to camp half way comfortably. I understand use of the AC is pretty much out of the question, but it would be nice to be able to keep my beer cold and heat the TV dinners in the microwave and maybe use the electric fan on hotter than normal days. Will appreciate any opinions and suggestions.

 

[2TrakR]

Our Cyclone has the regular AC/propane fridge and also a standard (residential) fridge in the garage. When we boondock, we have a set of Yamaha 2000 generators (the suitcase ones). Normally I run one in eco mode to keep all basic electrical going including the fridges. It runs about 1 tank of fuel for 12 hours.
It won't run AC nor the microwave (we have the big convection/micro job). But if we chain both gens together with the Yamaha cable, we can run one AC unit. Chained, they provide 30A. To do so, they both have to be off of the eco mode, so they are louder (not unbearable) and suck more fuel.

The 5000 Onan that should be in our 5th Wheel would be nicer and more convenient, however running one of the little gens is quiet and keeps enough juice for us.

 

[mlpeloquin]

You can do the calculations of amp hours you will be using for your fridge. You will soon find out the you will run out of battery way too soon to boondock with a residential fridge without recharging the batteries during the day. A small generator and a good battery charger should allow you to boondock.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

I would recommend you try it out at home, unplug it from shore power and see what happens. you'll see how fast that fridge will pull down your batteries. Hoping you have more then one.
I have 4-12V group 27 batteries, 320watts of Solar panels, and a Onan 5500 Gen. And it still pulled me down to almost nothing by about 4am in the morning. I would hear a beeping sound then out goes the fridge. Now I only tried this for 2 days last year and I was still learning how my entire system will operate. I also did watch TV at night on my big 2000W entire coach Invertor. So I could have done thing differently and charged up the batteries to full capacity and conserved more, and I probably would have had better results.
Bottom line is Residential Fridge are not ideal for boon-docking. But it can be done.

 

[Chippendale]

I would recommend you try it out at home, unplug it from shore power and see what happens. you'll see how fast that fridge will pull down your batteries. Hoping you have more then one.
I have 4-12V group 27 batteries, 320watts of Solar panels, and a Onan 5500 Gen. And it still pulled me down to almost nothing by about 4am in the morning. I would hear a beeping sound then out goes the fridge. Now I only tried this for 2 days last year and I was still learning how my entire system will operate. I also did watch TV at night on my big 2000W entire coach Invertor. So I could have done thing differently and charged up the batteries to full capacity and conserved more, and I probably would have had better results.
Bottom line is Residential Fridge are not ideal for boon-docking. But it can be done.

ThanksJerrod, doing a dry run at home is a good idea. I have two of the group 27 batteries, but no solar or generator and knownothing about them. I would at leasthave to purchase a generator to keep the batteries charged before I even triedthe “test”. Not sure how big theinverter is on my rig, probably just large enough for the refrigerator. Don’t think my Gateway is much good forboondocking since it is about 38’ long and I am sure too large for many publiccamping areas.

DW used toonly want to stay in full hook up parks, so we never tried boondocking or drycamping. I lost her a couple of yearsago and have joined a singles group that pretty much only does boondocking, soI guess I am going to have to go to “school” and get educated, or resign myselfto commercial full hook up parks.

Anotheroption would be to get a smaller 5[SUP]th[/SUP] wheel with a propane/elect refrigeratorand outfit it with solar and a generator. I kind of hate to spend the money on an RV that starts out being toolarge.

 

[carl.swoyer]

I have an Onan 5500 lp. It will run for 8 to 9 hours on one fourty lb lp tank. My Magnum ms2812 can bulk charge my four group 31 agm batteries in under an hour. I also have a 220 watt solar panel that can pull up to 14 amps. I use a morning star duo charge controller to charge both the agm dry camp batteries and the two wet cell batteries that came with our rig. The controller has one input and two outputs. By setting the dip switches I can split the charging to 90/10 %or 50/50 %. If while on either setting a battery bank become fully charged the morning star will automatically send the full solar to the other batteries. I can also designate batteries type on each battery bank so the controller charge is at the correct rate. When using the residential frig I turn it off at nite while we sleeping and back on in the am . Nothing thaws or gets spoiled. If I wake in the middle of the night I can check the interior temperature by using a remote thermometer and if needed cycle the frig back on. My night time process works well and allows meto conserve energy.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[carl.swoyer]

As far as the Rv frig the norcold four door is an energy hog. It doesn't maintain interior temperature as well as the residential. And while other people may like the Rv frig my opinion is residential frig is by far the most energy efficient.

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[Bohemian]

If you really want to boondocks with heavy electrical useage yoj will need a big bank of batteries and a large inverter/charger that can charge the batteries at a high amount rate.

Li-ion batteries are expensive to buy but cheaper to run, lat much longer, lighter, and smaller.

 

[Brazos]

Chippendale,
We boondock a lot with a residential frig without any difficulty and use everything except air. We use a toaster, big tv, frig, microwave, hairdryer, lights and plugs for two computers and anything else we need to do. Have used an auto satellite dish but have dropped the service in the past few months. Got fed up with them. It is not inexpensive for a good solar system to be able to do all this. You can cut the cost by installing the system yourself and shopping around for components. An Onan generator also is not inexpensive. Then you have to feed it. Roughly speaking 1 gal propane per hour I am told.
I like the solar option for us. You need to consider your needs and wants. A smaller system can work for boondocking also with conserving as needed.
You can take a look at the green link below to see my system. There are links in the blog where you can go to and learn about anything you would need to know about solar. If installed correctly the solar will keep your batteries up. There is no doubt with solar you do have to conserve in a sensible manner. There are meters to help keep you on track. With solar there are no generator hours to adhere to. A little 2000 watt generator/inverter like the Honda or Yamaha can do the job also or you can link a couple of them or get a larger wattage one to suite your needs.