What size refrigerator do you have in your bus?

Paladin · February 13, 2008, 03:27:27 PM

Is a 25 cubic foot too large?

-Dave

HB of CJ · February 13, 2008, 03:40:37 PM

Not for me to say. We had a 6 cubic foot in our cabin years ago, but there was only the two of us. Worked OK, but was always very full. It would depend upon your needs and life style. Traveling with six teenagers? No reefer would be big enough.

Dallas · February 13, 2008, 03:43:33 PM

If it fits, and it holds the food you want, and performs the other functions required.... FOR YOU..... use it.

You seem to be asking a lot of questions lately that want the affirmation of the other members of the board or the RV nuts in general... do it your way, see if it works for you, if it does, post and let us know how and why, if it doesn't, do the same.

None of us can tell you that this is right or this is wrong on many different topics.......... we can only tell you what works for us.

Personally, I use a 12 cu ft fridge with a 4 cu ft freezer. It draws 3.9A and my inverter/battery can support it solo for 30 hours. It's 20 years old, I have covered it with blue styrofoam insulation, it runs about 3 times per day.

Dallas

Paladin · February 13, 2008, 03:48:02 PM

I'm concerned about physical size, depth mostly. That's why I asked what others may have used and if they fit well without being enormous.

I apologize for asking questions. I'll shut up now.

jjrbus · February 13, 2008, 03:50:09 PM

Life changes, I had a motorhome with a 6 cu ft, it was a bit small. I built my bus with a 12 cu ft, more than enough I thought. I looked at guys putting in great big reffers and wondered why? I got married, nowIknow why!!
Typed words often do not convey the real meaning of the typest. I'm sure DAllas did not mean you are asking tooo many questions, ask away.

jackhartjr · February 13, 2008, 03:55:59 PM

Palidin, you said; "I apologize for asking questions. I'll shut up now."!

Whatever you do...don't shut up. I for one...and I'm sure a lot of others are learning from your questions. I don't think Dallas made that comment with you shutting up in mind!
Jack

Paladin · February 13, 2008, 03:57:27 PM

Without being confrontational, I really don't care how others do things but if they happen to have done
something the same as I am thinking then I'd like to hear of pro's and con's before I do it myself.
Saves hassle, time and possibly money for me which I thought was a good thing. I can learn, modify and adapt to lessons learned by others.

TrevorH · February 13, 2008, 04:01:30 PM

^^^^^^^^^^ I think this is what this board has been created for. I think the point to Dallas' comment is that it can be hard for someone to answer some questions as it is different for different people. IE how many people are in your family, how long do you camp for, what kinds of food do you bring, etc. The fact that we can build everything to fit what we intend on using the bus for is why many of us have started this. We dont fit into the traditional lump sum category. I could be totally wrong here but its my .02.

H3Jim · February 13, 2008, 04:01:35 PM

I have a 16 cu foot. It seems about right, always enough space, but then I've not trraveled with more than several other people. When i go the desert, I always have enough root beer floats for all the kids (adults too)

Dave Siegel · February 13, 2008, 04:02:12 PM

Palidin, we have a 12 cu. ft. household refrigerator in our bus (Silversides) It has a freezer Door and a refrigerator door. There are only the two of us and that is a tad small for a four day go away. It requires using a cooler for the beer and spare supplies.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that our coach is only electric, by that I mean we are either plugged into a wall or the gen set is running.

Dave Siegel

Gary LaBombard · February 13, 2008, 04:05:55 PM

Paladin,
For gods sake don't worry about any,all and every question you may have. We all benefit. I have learned also the hard way what we are saying here, keep em coming. I am sure nothing was meant, again it is easy to take different meaning in text written by one person and read by another at times. So what else can we help you decide to do, heck I am sure I will beneifit from what you ask.

Personally I enjoy all you have to say.

Gary

Dallas · February 13, 2008, 04:17:09 PM

Quote from: Paladin on February 13, 2008, 03:48:02 PM
I'm concerned about physical size, depth mostly. That's why I asked what others may have used and if they fit well without being enormous.

I apologize for asking questions. I'll shut up now.

If you shut up I'll send 14 stray young male tom cats to infest your bus!

My point mainly was to let you go measure and fit it and see if the size was sufficient for you. We don't know if you decided to make the walls plumb or work with the curve of the wall. We don't know if you are gonna feed 20 people per sitting or 2, we don't know if you'll have 1 battery out of a toyota corolla, vintage 1978 to run your inverter, or a 15Kw Genset.

I had no intention whatsoever of wanting you to stop asking questions, I only want you to stop and think about all the parameters and implications of what you are asking... All of us have different needs and different uses.

Dallas

JackConrad · February 13, 2008, 04:19:06 PM

We had a 14 cu.ft. house type reefer. It just did not work right after falling over on an off camber turn (when we first got it, we made a short weekend trip witout anchoring it.. A BIG MISTAKE!) Anyhow we replaced it with a 15 cu.ft. house type Energy Star from Lowe's. The reefer runs off the inverter and battery bank when dry camping. We run the generator 2 hours in the morning & 2 hours in the evening. Typically it is just the 2 of us in the bus and we only go to the store about once a week. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and will not return till a week from Sunday. We will be dry camping at an antique tractor show that is 15-20 miles from any stores.
What you need depends on several factors including how many people are on the bus and how often do you plan to shop for food. Also do you plan to do mostly dry camping or connect to power pole. You may also find that your needs will change as you use the bus. When we converted our bus, we were mostly camping with power hookups, but lately we have been doing much more dry camping.
Please do not stop asking questions. As was mentioned, not only you, but also others benefit from the answers. Although we cannot tell you what is right for you, we can tell you what works for us and give you a brief explanation of how we use our buses. Hopefully this will help you make an informed decision. Jack

buddydawg · February 13, 2008, 04:23:29 PM

Paladin

I think you may do like me. I like to see what others have done and hear their opinions ally it to my situation and then see what sticks. There are so many variables related to what we do it is hard to have a cut and dried solution to a problem. I agree with Dallas though, don't do it because someone else does, do it because it works for you. Which I'm sure you already do that.

Good Luck!

Tenor · February 13, 2008, 04:41:05 PM

In our first bus, we used the fridge from our 73 Winnie. This was the "full size" RV type with a small separate freezer. We almost never used the freezer until we had our son and we needed to freeze breast milk. We filled it pretty quickly! We usually did a good job filling the fridge and it would last about a week. In the new bus, we will use a bigger Norcold from a 1995 travel trailer. I don't know what it's exact size is, but it it a little bigger than the old one, especially the freezer. If we need to move the "beverages" to a cooler, that's no big deal. We usually need those outside anyway! I also have a tiny cube freezer from Michigan State salvage that I can take or may install in a bay.