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Fridge Questions


RobertH

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What is the stock Fridge that comes in the Legacy Elite II?

 

 

 

I purchased mine used and went boon docking this past week.  The previous owner had a 12v Novakool installed.  My solar couldnt keep up with it.  Likely my fault considering how warm it has been lately I picked a nice shaded spot.  Anyway I think Im going to consider swapping out the Novakool for a 3 way and would like to know the stock model.

 

 

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Dometic RM2454

Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved Storm, Maggie, Lucy and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge)

2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4 

 

             801469912_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-I.jpg.26814499292ab76ee55b889b69ad3ef0.jpg1226003278_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-H.jpg.dc46129cb4967a7fd2531b16699e9e45.jpg

 

 

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Robert,

 

I've been looking at swapping out to a Novakool, do you know if Oliver had put it in originally? Which model is it? How much sun were you in that your solar couldn't keep up, vacation in Arizona or home in Oregon? When it couldn't keep up, how close was it to being able to, did it have trouble after a few hours or would it make it through the night and was just too iffy? Did you tend to keep it full of stuff or not much? Any info would be appreciated.

Randy


One Life Live It Enjoyably


2017 F350 6.7L SRW CC LB


2015 Oliver Elite II Hull #69

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Our Oliver came with a Dometic three way fridge, but running on battery is not practical.  Propane is a much more efficient source of heat when not connected to shore power.

Current 2007 Airstream Classic Limited 31


2015 Oliver Legacy Elite II (Sold)


2016 Ram 2500 HD 6.7i Cummins turbo diesel


 

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Hi Robert

 

We have the stock Dometic installed on our Legacy Elite II at the factory and have had really good luck with it. We also carry a moderate size Yeti in the back of the pickup. It is more of a convenience for us and not a necessity, but we like having it to carry more cold food and drink items. We have the large solar panel on the trailer with 4 AGM batteries and a 2000 watt inverter. We run the fridge on DC while traveling with no problems. We turn the gas off at the tanks when traveling - we learned that lesson because of  a very bad wreck that we had with another brand of RV. We do a lot of boon docking and after setting up our trailer, the first thing that we do is switch the fridge over to gas even when we are getting direct sun light.  The fridge just draws to much energy to leave it on solar.

 

We do have a 3000 watt generator and feel that a generator is a necessity for us because of the amount of boon docking that we do. We depend on our solar a lot and a great deal of the time we need the generator only rarely, but we feel that a generator and a gas fridge is absolutely necessary because of the amount of boon docking that we do in shady state and federal parks with no services, and of course at Walmart when we are on long trips pressing across country.  Don't forget solar is  limited on overcast and  rainy days.

 

Sorry that I can't answer the technical details for you. I'm the type of guy that just knows that you flip the switch and it works.  Thank goodness there are some others on this forum who love to dig deep into the details of why it works.

 

Hap

 

 

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Robert, your compressor fridge will consume much less electricity than the 3-way would when set to DC.  We had a similar discussion in another thread not too long ago and I was really surprised how poorly the 3-ways do on DC power.

 

On the other hand, they are apparently extremely efficient when running off propane.  I've read complaints elsewhere that the 3-ways don't cool as reliably in hot weather, but people here seem to be satisfied with them.

 

Your problem was likely the shade.  Even a small amount of shade on a panel can knock it down to just a trickle.  Some people carry a set of portable panels for this reason, so that they can have flexibility in finding some sun.

 

Here's a good video that shows the effect of even a small amount of shade on the panels - 

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Robert, I’ve been looking at swapping out to a Novakool, do you know if Oliver had put it in originally? Which model is it? How much sun were you in that your solar couldn’t keep up, vacation in Arizona or home in Oregon? When it couldn’t keep up, how close was it to being able to, did it have trouble after a few hours or would it make it through the night and was just too iffy? Did you tend to keep it full of stuff or not much? Any info would be appreciated.

 

I was about 5 miles out from Mt Adams in Washington State.  Bird Creak area.  Very primitive camp ground. If you are ever in the area I consider it one of the best boon docking camp grounds.  Over 5 days I think I ran into 3 other campers at other camp grounds in the area.  I love riding my TTR225 while camping.  So much to explore in that area and it was last year or year before that the massive forest fire rolled through the area so there was lots to look at.  Anyway I chose to back in between 4 large trees.  I think total I might have got 1 hour of direct sun light a day on my panels.

 

I charge my iPad / iPhone in the evenings and the fridge would drop my batteries down to around 80%.  I would then charge them back up next day while running the generator for about 5 hours.  The Fridge was installed by Oliver at time of purchase.

 

My Generator was a Champion with remote start.  I purchased it off Amazon.  View here

 

Side note on the generator everything I read screamed purchase a Honda or Yamaha.  The price of a 3000 watt Honda or Yamaha was literally double if not double & 1/2 the price of the champion.  I was a bit worried about the sound but when I purchased my champion and fired it up I was amazed at how quiet it actually is.  I was able to hear my sprinklers at my house running in the background.  I imagine the honda is even quieter but I was plenty happy with the champion at 850.00 with a remote start system already on it.  Very happy with this purchase.  I will say if you go with that gen you will want to buy 10/30 oil up front as it doesnt come with any.  I had it sitting at the tongue of my Ollie and when I was inside I could barely hear it.  Also the purpose of my purchase was to be able to run the AC and it did that without a issue at all.  Mind you I didnt start the microwave or anything of that nature because when camping I typically do all my cooking outside.

 

Anyway the Novakool worked my batteries and I think I will be purchasing a 3 way down the road.  Specially since I would only run it in DC mode when driving and we all know that while driving you get much more sun on your panels then while parked under trees.  :)  I can say on my drive home which was only 2 hours my batteries went up by I think 5% maybe 6%.  Also the NovaKool seemed like it was on a lot.  It makes a louder hum while running and would disturb my wifes sleep a bit.  I tossed a ear plug in and was good to go.

 

In the past we did exactly what Hap said on our other trailer which was LP off during driving but on while camping.  We didnt even have solar at the time but I did have a built in Gen.

 

Anyway I feel that the 3Way if it is anything like my past unit will be much quieter as well.  That Nova Kool just seemed to hum or vibrate a lot while the compressor was running.  My fridge wasnt packed full but it had a decent amount of stuff in it.

 

Buzzy the tankless hot water heater the previous owner put in was a Suburban on-demand tankless IW60.  I cant say I was impressed.  It does a ok job and maybe it needs some tweaking to get it working the best.

 

Right now with the fridge full on AC/DC the only thing I use the propane for is the tankless hot water heater.  I dont cook inside typically so it just makes sense to get a 3 way.  I mean I would have to use a lot of hot water to burn through 2 tanks of propane.

 

Thanks for the info on the fridge.

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