Interior How can I fit in a bigger fridge

[jazzeddie1234]

It's that time of year where I start dreaming of next years mods - and fixing the mods from this year... So I started thinking about a bigger (2 way) fridge. We spend plenty of time in areas with limited food outlets and the fridge(s) get jammed packed with supplies. Yes I might have to revert to a bigger fridge in the tug but humor me for a minute.



We have a thetford N3185 3 way which needs a fridge cavity of 1245(h)x530(w)x585(d). The thetford 2 way version T2175 fits in there but I loose 15l of usable fridge space. A dometic ruc8408 / 188 litre is ok width wise, I can remove the small cupboard above to get the necessary height, but it needs 611mm depth meaning I would need a 30mm spacer on the front of the existing cabinet.

So a few questions.
When people select a fridge upgrade option - does jayco fit deeper cabinets?
Am I crazy to think this is a good idea?
Has anyone replaced their fridge with a different physical size and what did you do?

 

[Drover]

I looked at the prices they wanted and decided to buy another van, more bang for buck......... Honestly I think an Engel or whatever brand takes your fancy would be a more economical option and more than likely end up with more space.... PLus using an Engel for drinks etc means the main unit keeps the temp better as door stays shut, drinks take up a lot of room and suck the crap out of the cold.

 

[mfexpanda]

I looked at the prices they wanted and decided to buy another van, more bang for buck......... Honestly I think an Engel or whatever brand takes your fancy would be a more economical option and more than likely end up with more space.... PLus using an Engel for drinks etc means the main unit keeps the temp better as door stays shut, drinks take up a lot of room and suck the crap out of the cold.

we only use the van fridge for food , mostly, we have a waeco 75ltr dual zone that we run half freezer and half drinks

 

[Drover]

We don't have any kids, only me getting a beer out, Big Mals fridge is huge so the Engel stays at home now......

 

[jazzeddie1234]

A bigger fridge in the tug (currently 40l) means 'another' major reshuffle in the tray because there is not a mm2 of unused space and I'm limited in height due to the hard lid.

A different van....yeah thought about that as plan A. We paid 51k for our jayco and now the equivalent is 70k not including add-ons, with a 12 month wait if it's a new one. And mine has a ton of add-ons.

 

[mfexpanda]

i

We don't have any kids, only me getting a beer out, Big Mals fridge is huge so the Engel stays at home now......

i think the fridge in our van is 192 ltrs

 

[jazzeddie1234]

I'm still fretting about replacing the fridge given the amount of gas we go through and the cost of fills in remote towns.

My options are a straight swap 175 absorption to 175 compressor thetford plus a larger car fridge in the ute or a 188l dometic.

Costs are $2750 for the 175 plus $500 for a car fridge or $2500 for the 188l so it's a no brainer on price and the dometic vents outside exactly like an absorption whereas the Thetford vents inside.

But there is more cabinet work involved... I have to remove the upper cupboard base (somewhat easy) and possibly drop the fridge cavity floor 20mm. This is to meet the install requirement of the top external vent being no lower than the fridge compressor shelf - for efficient air circulation through the radiator I assume. They don't publish the actual top vent height so I would have to wait and see if I can work around it by blanking off any gap - or use a second fan like I do on the absorption. And I have to install a 40mm spacer on the front of the cavity because the dometic is deeper (611mm vs 572mm). All doable I guess.

Of course a third option is another $30,000 to replace the van

 

[Boots in Action]

I'm still fretting about replacing the fridge given the amount of gas we go through and the cost of fills in remote towns.

My options are a straight swap 175 absorption to 175 compressor thetford plus a larger car fridge in the ute or a 188l dometic.

Costs are $2750 for the 175 plus $500 for a car fridge or $2500 for the 188l so it's a no brainer on price and the dometic vents outside exactly like an absorption whereas the Thetford vents inside.

But there is more cabinet work involved... I have to remove the upper cupboard base (somewhat easy) and possibly drop the fridge cavity floor 20mm. This is to meet the install requirement of the top external vent being no lower than the fridge compressor shelf - for efficient air circulation through the radiator I assume. They don't publish the actual top vent height so I would have to wait and see if I can work around it by blanking off any gap - or use a second fan like I do on the absorption. And I have to install a 40mm spacer on the front of the cavity because the dometic is deeper (611mm vs 572mm). All doable I guess.

Of course a third option is another $30,000 to replace the van

@jazzeddie1234 , always compare what you might gain by what you may lose. It's cheaper to buy gas for fridge, than to try to "buy sunshine" for charging, and lighter to carry than extra storage batteries/fridges. @Drover seems to know where the cheapest refills are. In fact, I do believe there is a web site listing locations and prices.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

I do believe there is a web site listing locations and prices

Thanks Boots. I use a couple of apps to find the best gas price and I have labored over the cost benefit! I guess it's a toss up between rationing gas use vs rationing battery when we are away from towns for more than a few weeks. I have plenty of solar but will check my calcs though

 

[Drover]

If you already have a N3185 which is 177lts its an expensive exchange, the specs I found show that model will consume an 8.5 gas bottle in 11 days so with cooking and HWS give it 8 days, I have found I rarely hang around the same spot isolated from town for 2 weeks but have carried an empty which i filled at a major town before heading into $50 bottle country, out west Gas appps only good for location as not always any choice, I do like places that weigh the bottle especially when I want one topped up, places like Thargomindah have one, the top up was $42 compared to a $52 swap.... Years ago I carried a 4kg bottle as a back up, it would give about 4 days or so.... Now I don't even carry the engel.

Unless the fridge is stuffed throwing all that money at a new one because of the price of gas, well even if the odd bottle is twice the price its going to be a decade or so before you start to break even, then if I was going to hang around out in the desert regularly for weeks and weeks a few times a year, I would go for the compressor like a shot.................. My fridge sits flat on the floor so the cabinet underneath could be removed along with anything on top, making things wider is where the problem is. Vents on the outside is just a cosmetic job really, I have even thought about cutting the side out, leaving the frame of course just remove the cladding and fitting a removable panel, certainly make rear fridge access easier... Well only on a tin van, a glass job if the vent needed to be repositioned, a larger vent can be used and any hole patched, bogged and sprayed..........

Of course the old fridge could be sold and most of the cost recouped I would assume..... If you do swap it out measure the doorway first, you may have to remove the door frame to get it out, one we had to remove years ago pulled a big window to get the fridge out, it was a big bugga ................

Mind you if my current fridge craps out I will go a compressor and some lithiums as if I can afford a new fridge I have surely won Lotto.

My WA mate who is a regular off grid fella has a compressor job and he reckons 100amps storage for the fridge minimum and thats usable amps so I think he has 360a/h, he found the original 2 x 120ah not good enough so added another to cover the van use and has about 400w on roof and 200w portable to cover it all and when these crap out its lithium, cashed up retiree, old work mate and he drives a Jeep..............

 

[jazzeddie1234]

My WA mate who is a regular off grid fella has a compressor job and he reckons 100amps storage for the fridge minimum and thats usable amps

Yes that is what my mates tell me too. Dometic quote around 70ah/hr so 100 is much more likely in WA heat. The van has 200ah of lithium and the ute tray batteries are stuffed so they will be changed to two cheap 100ah lithium which can charge the van if required. The ute has 120w solar and runs the ute fridge happily, van has 400, and a 140 portable to run everything else.

The two things driving this is our fridges jammed packed - so more storage would be great, and the number of lpg bottles we go through every year.

I really appreciate the comments though - I have plenty to consider before the next big lap.

 

[Drover]

Yes that is what my mates tell me too. Dometic quote around 70ah/hr so 100 is much more likely in WA heat. The van has 200ah of lithium and the ute tray batteries are stuffed so they will be changed to two cheap 100ah lithium which can charge the van if required. The ute has 120w solar and runs the ute fridge happily, van has 400, and a 140 portable to run everything else.

The two things driving this is our fridges jammed packed - so more storage would be great, and the number of lpg bottles we go through every year.

I really appreciate the comments though - I have plenty to consider before the next big lap.

Yep, I can certainly see where your coming from when I do runs back of beyond, everything is worked out according to water and gas, water I can go from 2 days and empty to 3 weeks but gas panic is 14 days............ of course thats for staying in one place, if on the move the time line stretches out........... but if you have sorted out the fridge packing, ie: bugga off the round containers and no drinks, turn lettuce into leaves in a bag, vac seal everything possible then you would really want about 10 lts more to make it worthwhile I would suppose ........................... I think you would recoup a fair bit of the expense selling the old fridge and size wise fit, well floor to roof, width as I said before would be meaning a big refurb job......................

I gather this was the 188lt Dometic you were referring to and it would be my go to, minimal mods and really the upper venting just needs to be inlne with the top of fridge which while higher may be got around by using a larger vent so not having to do any body patching........

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I'd be in it soon as Lotto cheque arrives. I think upgrading a van better than replacing, just have to start the mods all over again.

 

[Drover]

Mine is a 186lt job and I wouldn't want to go back to anything smaller....... I do miss using the Engel for the drinks fridge in summer though...

 

[jazzeddie1234]

It's interesting that thetford claim 177l for my 3 way fridge yet the 188l dometic is much deeper and much taller for that extra 10l. Although the european site suggested the thetford was only 165 in reality.

In the meantime I'm onto another mod in a high capacity 30 amp battery charger using an industrial power supply. That will allow me to recharge the lithiums much faster than the setec and the cheap battery charger I bought if I ever need to use the generator.

 

[Drover]

One of the great questions of the universe along with how many people you can stuff in a Mini...

More weight to carry around along with that extra tucker, I have never needed my genny for battery charging except for one 4 days of rain and clouds occasion and that was in preparation for possibly day 5 of cloud and didn't want to shut down my Foxtel...........

 

[jazzeddie1234]

I couldn't help myself...

It started with "I'll just check the cavity dimensions and ended with "I'll just remove that bit and see..."

 

[Drover]

Thats what happened with my door seal check...Let the fun begin...

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Ok the hole is the correct size and the upper vent is not to low. Now to tidy everything up, seal the top of the cabinet at the rear (currently open to the ceiling), put a plate over the flue hole (will leave the external grill for now but a dome light could cover it), give everything a coat of paint, look at some extra fans, run the 12v 10A wiring (there is existing wiring for powering the old fridge control board but not sure if it is heavy enough, diverting the 12v high current cable is an option too).


Oh and of course .....order the fridge...

 

[Drover]

Diverting the old cable probably more work than running a new feed direct from battery underneath and into fridge cabinet, if the old feed was a direct run from tug could use it as a vehicle feed to an anderson plug down the back, handy for compressor use as can have engine running for good power supply, way better than drawing on van batteries... mine can be used for that, very handy at times and works well.............

 

[Boots in Action]

Ok the hole is the correct size and the upper vent is not to low. Now to tidy everything up, seal the top of the cabinet at the rear (currently open to the ceiling), put a plate over the flue hole (will leave the external grill for now but a dome light could cover it), give everything a coat of paint, look at some extra fans, run the 12v 10A wiring (there is existing wiring for powering the old fridge control board but not sure if it is heavy enough, diverting the 12v high current cable is an option too).
View attachment 68558

Oh and of course .....order the fridge...

Good luck! Let us know the results of this significant mod, not only in work, but in dollars.