12v or 240v FRIDGE?

[Camper1]

Good evening friends.
Looking ahead to when we finally purchase a motorhome, what are peoples thoughts on powering a fridge? Pretty certain whatever we buy will have a 3 way fridge, and from what I've read they are not very good/ efficient. In our current self build we have a small 240v compressor fridge which we run very successfully with our solar panels, battery bank and inverter. Without a doubt we will replace the 3 way fridge with a compressor unit, the question is should we go with a 12 volt unit or a 240 (domestic) unit run via our leisure battery/ inverter set up? Obviously we will need a fridge unit that is roughly the same size as the unit we remove, so maybe will need a bit more power either way? I also expect a purpose made motorhome fridge will be much more expensive than a domestic one. Your thoughts and ideas are most welcome. Thanks. Colin.

My MH is a space oddity - 2001. Purchased in 2009 it came with a 3 way fridge. I switched my gas system to LPG in 2010. I don't have a problem with my fridge although I did fit 2 cooling fans, just in case. I spend 95% of my MH time across the channel but tend to use Aires rather than camp sites. Moral? If it ain't broke don't fix it! IMHO
Enjoy your travels

 

[gabby82]

Most inverters take about 1A on standby so it doesn't make much sense to have it running all the time. That equates to 24Ah on its own. If you buy a 12v fridge some of them (Alpicool for example) also come with a separate 240v psu in case you wish to power it from 240v directly. Mine is wired so that the fridge is powered directly from an EHU connection when available but uses the 12v system at other times. Using a pair of relays my fridge will automatically choose between EHU, alternator or habitation battery. I can supply a wiring diagram for that if required.
Having run my Alpicool on a 13 day trip with no need for ehu I noticed that, although the quoted current demand is 8A, in practice it is drawing only about 4A most of the time when it is demanding power. The amount of time it is using power is less than half of my previous absorption fridge which took 15A. Reliability is also better. Failure of absorption fridges during gas operation is quite common due to corrosion blocking the jet.
Alpicool also provide an app so that you can monitor/control the fridge from your phone via Bluetooth.

Thanks for the info. A wiring diagram would I’m my opinion be quite useful.