Living Our Dream

Motor Home Project: Install a Residential Refrigerator

Part 1 - The New Fridge Arrives

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

RV refrigerators are gas absorption type while most refrigerators used in homes operate by means of a compressor. We won't get into the mechanics of how each type of refrigerator works, but gas absorption RV refrigerators, especially the larger ones, are notorious for not cooling well. The reason gas absorption refrigerators are used in RVs in the first place is they can operate on either 120V electric or LP gas (some models also operate on 12V electric) whereas standard residential refrigerators in the U. S. require 120V alternating current.

Our motor home came equipped with a 12 cubic foot, 4-door Norcold RV refrigerator.

Some newer motor homes offer residential refrigerators as either standard equipment or as an option. Because of all the problems with RV refrigerators, many owners of RVs that originally came with an RV refrigerator are replacing them with a residential model. Over the past year, several of the RV forums in which Paul participates have had topics on the subject of replacing an RV refrigerator with a residential refrigerator.

We have not been happy with the cooling of our Norcold ever since it was new. It was slow to make ice, and it never kept ice cream hard. The shelves inside were close together making it hard to find anything. As we found out last spring when our cooling unit failed, RV refrigerators are expensive to repair.

Norcold has also had a good bit of trouble with their 12 cubic foot RV refrigerators. There have been several recalls over the past few years because of fires. The new cooling unit we had installed last spring came equipped from the factory with the latest recall sensor already installed, but the control box for the sensor failed after only about a month, so we had to have the box replaced.

Even though we installed a new cooling unit less than a year ago and even though our Norcold was protected by the latest fire-prevention recall device, we finally made the decision to replace our 12 cubic foot, 4-door Norcold with an 18 cubic foot, French-door Samsung RF197 residential refrigerator. Because our refrigerator is located in the hallway, we needed either a French-door or a side-by-side model so we could open the doors fully.

We chose the Samsung for several reasons. First and foremost, it is a counter-depth model that we calculated would fit through the door of the motor home with the doors of the refrigerator removed. Every other model we found would require the removal of a side window or even the windshield to get the refrigerator inside.

The second reason for choosing the Samsung is it would fit into the same space where our Norcold was located. The Samsung is 6½ inches taller than the Norcold, so the height of the space had to be increased, but we determined the width and depth of the Samsung would fit quite easily. Also, because the Samsung it is counter-depth model, it would not intrude as far into the hallway as some of the other models would.

We don't boondock anymore so we don't really need to run the refrigerator on the inverter, at least for long periods of time. However, it would be nice to run the refrigerator on the inverter for short periods if we wanted to. The Samsung will operate on a modified sine wave inverter, which is the type of inverter our motor home came equipped with; and that is the third reason we went with a Samsung. Without getting into a lot of technical details about different types of inverters, let's just say most other residential refrigerators would have required us to replace our modified sine wave inverter with a pure sine wave inverter in order for us to have the ability to be able to operate the refrigerator on the inverter even for short periods.

We ordered the Samsung RF197 from Lowe's near The Villages right after after New Year's. We chose the silver platinum version (simulated stainless steel finish) over real stainless because the simulated stainless shows fewer fingerprints. The original delivery was estimated at about 5 weeks, but it arrived in about 3½ weeks. Waiting for the refrigerator to arrive and doing some of the prep work for the installation is the reason we have been just hangin' around so much lately.

We got a call on Wednesday scheduling our delivery between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM on Thursday. The truck showed up around 2:00. The delivery guys knew the delivery was to an RV park, but they were apparently hoping it was going into a park model or mobile home. They were a little chagrined they were going to have to squeeze the fridge into a motor home.

The first thing they did was measure the motor home door. After they measured the fridge, one of them announced it wouldn't fit. Our door is 24 5/8" wide, and the Lowe's web site said the refrigerator was 24½" with the doors removed, so Paul knew it would be tight. However, on the back of the refrigerator there was a plastic box covering the water connection for the ice maker and a metal grill that provides access to the coils and compressor that stuck out an additional ¼" from the back of the refrigerator making the total depth 24¾. Uh oh.

Paul tried to convince the workers the fridge would fit if they would remove the plastic cover and metal grill from the back. More measuring and much discussion took place.

Paul watched patiently from the tailgate until they finally decided removing the rear covers was worth a try since they had driven so far to deliver the fridge in the first place.

They removed the covers from the back, rechecked the dimensions, then unloaded the fridge and began removing the doors.

We were all hopeful as we carried all the doors and bins inside and stacked them around the motor home.

With the doors off, the workers wheeled the fridge over to the motor home on a dolly and got it lined up with the door opening.

In it goes. We're committed now!

Almost in.

Phew, they made it!

Even with the covers taken off the back of the refrigerator and the doors removed it was still a tight fit. There were little plastic clips on the front that hold the bottom grill in place that got hung up on the door frame just as they got the fridge almost all the way in. The lesson learned is to check the dimensions of the refrigerator yourself (including any clips, covers or extra projections) before ordering if possible. The problem was this model is a special order and is not stocked anywhere, and since we had to go by the dimensions provided, we almost cut it a little too close.

Fortunately, the delivery guys didn't give up, and they eventually made it work. If it hadn't fit, Paul would have probably had the guys leave the fridge anyway. He then would have had to pull out the side window and get several of our neighbors to lift the refrigerator onto the back of someone's truck. We then would have had to slide the refrigerator in through the window.

Once the guys got the fridge in, they removed the tape and packing materials from inside and put the doors back on.

After the delivery guys left, we plugged the refrigerator in. While we waited for it to cool, Paul checked the current draw with his Kill-a-Watt meter (a Kill-a-Watt meter is an electrical meter that measures electrical current and electricity usage, among other things) and found the maximum reading of about 3.5 watts when the compressor started and less than 2 watts while the compressor was running. He also disconnected the motor home from shore power and plugged the refrigerator into an electrical outlet supplied by our 1000 watt inverter. He was pleased to find the inverter had enough output to start the refrigerator compressor and continue to run the refrigerator even while the inverter was powering the TV, DVR and computer at the same time.

The refrigerator is quite large standing there in the middle of the motor home. It will be a little inconvenient, but we'll have to work around it until Paul gets the old Norcold out and gets the cabinet modified so the Samsung will fit in.

It took the refrigerator about 2½ hours to cool down to the temperatures recommended by Samsung (38º for the fridge and -2º for the freezer). After dinner we transferred the food from the Norcold to the Samsung.

The next step will be to get the Norcold out and to begin modifying the cabinet. We'll tell you how that went in our next post.

Still Hangin' Around

Bushnell, FL - Events of Tuesday, Jan. 17 to Friday, Jan 21, 2012

Paul always likes to pull the motor home off the site once or twice during the winter and take it for a drive to get the motor up to operating temperature and to get all the lubrication flowing. We decided to do that last week. Paul does all the motor home driving when we're traveling, but Margery took the opportunity of last week's more leisurely drive to practice her motor home driving skills. She has only driven the motor home a few times, but she really has the hang of it.

Before we left on our short drive, Paul took a few photos in the morning sun of the parerwhite narcissus (or is that narcissi?) that Lora and J. Michael gave him for Christmas. They came as a kit preplanted in a decorative container. All Paul had to do was water them and put them in a bright location to get them going.

Paul used to force several types of spring bulbs to bloom in the dead of winter when we had a stick house up north so it would seem like we were having an earlier spring. Most spring bulbs have to undergo a period of about 90 days at temperatures below 40º in order for them to bloom. Paul used to pot up hyacinth and daffodil bulbs in the fall and put them in the spare refrigerator in our garage. Starting in January, we would take a new pot out of the refrigerator about every two weeks so we would have an almost constant succession of blooms indoors all the way until the spring flowers started blooming outside on their own.

Paperwhites are an exception and don't need the cold period, so they are perfect for us since we have no spare refrigerator and since we spend our winters in Florida where it is warm. The paperwhites Paul got for Christmas bloomed in only about three weeks, and their heady fragrance fills the whole motor home. Leave it to our thoughtful daughter to think of a perfect gift for her dad.

Speaking of Christmas, RVs have been steadily flowing into Blueberry Hill since we returned after spending Christmas in Pittsburgh. There are some empty sites, but the occupancy rate is higher than last year. People may be getting used to the "new normal" of high unemployment rates and are wanting to get on with their lives. Reduction of prices at Blueberry Hill to 2009 levels seems to have helped, too.

When we returned from Pittsburgh, we learned that Blueberry Hill had been sold to new owners, Sun RV Resorts. Although the sale won't be final until sometime around the end of January, the early word is that Sun is not planning any major changes. Sun also operates numerous manufactured home communities, but they reportedly want to increase the number of RV parks they own. It's possible they may bring in a few park model RVs (there already are several of those here), but we think they will keep Blueberry Hill pretty much the way it is. The old owners of Blueberry Hill, Morgan RV Resorts, caused a lot of bad feelings because there were so many inconsistencies in their policies, so we're hoping new ownership will be a change for the better.

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the brake problem we had with our car and about how the brake shop diagnosed a long-time, off-and-on whistling noise we had been hearing from somewhere under the car. The brake shop determined the noise was coming from the carrier bearing for the rear drive shaft for our all-wheel drive. They sprayed lubrication into the bearing, and the noise stopped. As they said it might, the noise came back the very next day, so Paul made an appointment to have the bearing replaced even though the noise quit again the day after that.

Chevrolet is doing the repairs on Saturns now that the GM has discontinued the Saturn line, so Paul called the closest Chevrolet dealer, George Nehaus Chevrolet in Wildwood, FL. Since our Saturn Vue is all-wheel-drive, and since very few of the smaller SUVs sold here in Florida are all-wheel-drive, Paul was surprised they had the bearing in stock. Unfortunately, they had to send the drive shaft out after they took it off the car to have the old bearing removed and the new bearing pressed on, so the repair ended up taking two days.

Paul was pleased to find out Nehaus Chevrolet has a courtesy car and driver who does little else all day but shuttle customers back and forth. The driver took Paul back to the motor home and picked him up again the next day after the car was done. The repair was expensive, but now we don't have to listen to the annoying whistling noise, and we don't have to worry about the bearing seizing up somewhere down the road. Needless to say, two expensive repairs within a few weeks ensures we'll be keeping the Vue a little longer.

We've really enjoyed having Pat and Mike as neighbors at Blueberry Hill this year. This past Friday, we went with them for an early dinner at Catfish Johnny's which is a few miles to the northwest of Bushnell.

Mike and Margery had catfish fingers (strips of fried catfish) while Pat and Paul tried beer batter shrimp, which is a new menu item. We all enjoyed our food. Although the shrimp was good, we thought the batter coating was a just a little too thick. 

We have several irons in the fire. Look for our next post to see which one gets hot first.

Just Hangin' Around

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, Jan. 13 to Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012

Since Paul finished repainting the front air conditioner cover, we've just been hangin' around and doing a little bit of this and that.

On the Friday after the RV show, we went for a late lunch with our friends, Pat and Mike, at OakWood Grill near the Villages. They had gone to the Tampa RV show the day after we did, and we were anxious to hear their impressions. They said they had a good time looking at RV accessories, and they had some questions about their rig for the factory reps from Open Range, which is who made their 5th wheel. They also spent time at the Open Range display talking to prospective customers and telling them how much they liked their Open Range 5th wheel.

A warning light came on in their truck on the way back from the Tampa show, and Pat and Mike had dropped the truck off at the nearby GMC dealer while we were at OakWood Grill. After a good meal (Pat and Mike had ribs, Margery had a blackened blue burger, and Paul had a smoked turkey sandwich) and plenty of great conversation, we dropped Pat and Mike off at the GMC dealer. The shop ran a 70-minute diagnostic program and couldn't find anything wrong with the truck, so they just reset the computer and told them to bring the truck back if it happened again.

On Saturday, Blueberry Hill RV Park had its annual yard sale. Anyone who has any items they want to get rid of can set up a table in front their site. We usually don't participate in the yard sale, but this year, we had a couple of larger items we wanted to get rid of plus a bunch of small items we had cleaned out of our cupboards and storage bays. We tend to accumulate way too much stuff, and it was time to eliminate some excess weight. The next photo shows Paul with our sale table.

It was a cool morning, but the sun was warm. There was a fairly good turnout, including several people who stopped who were from other campgrounds. We sold one of our large items (a propane heater) and quite a few of our smaller ones for a grand total of $39. That's not a lot of money, but it's not bad for things we would have given away anyway.

We have been having a lot of fun with our new puppy, Freeway. He is rambunctious as puppies usually are, and we have had to "puppy proof" the motor home.

He was 8 weeks old when we first picked him up, and we were very excited that he could make it to the bottom step of the motor home the first day. By 9 weeks of age, he was able to go up ALL the steps.

Freeway's favorite toy this week is his knotted rope. He likes to chew on the soft ends, and he also likes to play fetch. If we throw it down the hallway of the motor home, he will go get it and bring it back. He is fun to watch because the rope is almost as big as he is. If he grabs it near one end, he has to hold his head as high as he can so he doesn't trip over the other end of the rope.

A nap almost always follows Freeway's play time.

Freeway went to the vet a few days before we picked him up from the Royal Puppy Palace, so he was all up to date on his immunizations. However, we wanted to take him to the vet ourselves to get a baseline exam of our own. We also had a few questions about feeding, training, future immunizations and neutering, so we made an appointment for Sunday after church. Since the weather was perfect (not too hot and not too cold), we were able to leave Freeway in his canvas carrier in the car while we were at church.

When we had our previous dog, Molly, we discovered Banfield Pet Hospitals. Banfield has facilities all over the country (located mostly in PetSmart stores), and they can transfer records electronically between locations. This is ideal for full-time RVers like us, so we are going to take Freeway to Banfield as well. They also have wellness plans that are like pet health insurance that not only cover office visits, but also include things like immunizations for puppies and neutering, which we will be doing in a few months.

The closest Banfield to Bushnell is in the PetSmart in The Villages. The vet pronounced Freeway to be in good health, and he also answered our questions. We made an appointment for his next round of immunizations, then we looked around the PetSmart store.

Poor little Freeway has been shivering on cool mornings and evenings when we take him outside to go potty, so we wanted to get him a sweater or doggie coat. We tried on a sweater, but decided it would too hard to get it onto a squirming puppy if we were in a hurry to get him outside, so we ended up with a doggie coat with Velco on the straps. As with most males, Freeway wasn't too happy about trying on clothes.

The next photo shows gives you a better look at the coat.

The coat fits Freeway perfectly now; but at the rate he is growing, it will probably only last a month or so. He gained over 3/4 pound his first week. Unfortunately, the next larger size was way too big, so we're hoping there will be an end to the cool nights and mornings by the time he outgrows the coat.

We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing, at least what passes for relaxing for us now that we have a new puppy. Stay tuned for more from Bushnell.

Motor Home Project: Repainting the Air Conditioner Covers

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, Jan. 13, 2012

When we were in Summerdale, AL back in October and November, Paul repainted the radii at the edges of our roof due to peeling clear coat. Unfortunately, we had the same problem with our air conditioner covers. Like the roof edges, the clear coat was probably not applied heavily enough or wet enough, so the clear coat on the top surfaces of the air conditioner covers also began to peel after several years of exposure to the weather.

The covers were originally painted a tan color that blended with several Tiffin paint colors rather than a color that was an exact match for our motor home. Paul thought the covers would look better if they were painted to match our coach, so when he bought paint for the edges of the roof, he bought extra to be able to repaint the AC covers as well.

The process for repainting was similar to that for the roof edges. However, since the tops of the AC covers where the paint was peeling was relatively flat, Paul was able to use his Porter Cable palm sander to remove the peeling clear coat more quickly.

After sanding with 220 grit on the palm sander, he sanded the top with 400 grit sandpaper, then scuffed the side surfaces with a 3M abrasive pad to provide good adhesion for the paint. The next photo shows the front cover with the sanding completed.

Rather than take the cover down to the ground for painting and risk damaging the new paint taking the cover back up, Paul removed the screws that held the cover in place, draped a plastic drop cloth over the internal workings of the air conditioner, and sat the cover back into place on top of the drop cloth.

Since the AC covers are textured, some of the sanding went through the paint at the high points of the texture all the way to the base plastic. Therefore, Paul bought a spray can of primer for plastic to use before applying the color.

After the primer dried, Paul applied the base coat of color using a Preval sprayer as he did for the roof edges. The Preval sprayer is capable of spraying many different types of paint, including the catalyzed urethane paints used for most modern automotive finishes.

The next photo shows the finished base coat on the front cover.

The base coat dries to a satin finish, and the shine comes from the clear coat, so the next step was to apply two coats of clear. The photo below shows the finished cover for the front air conditioner after the clear coat had dried and Paul had removed the plastic drop cloth.

The weather forecast was calling for several cooler days, so Paul will finish the rear cover sometime in the future whe the weather warms up. Stay tuned for more from Bushnell, FL.

Tampa RV Show

Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012

In our last post, we told you about the new addition to our family, Freeway, our 8-week old Cavachon puppy. We warned there would be more photos, and here are a few.

Freeway loves the little Puppy Pal that our daughter Lora bought him. The Puppy Pal has a pillow inside that is stuffed with buckwheat. The pillow can be heated in the microwave to give the puppy the feeling he is sleeping with one of his litter mates.

Freeway also likes to pull the Puppy Pal's tail.

Every year that we have spent the winter in Florida we have gone to the big Tampa RV Show, and this year was no exception. We usually go on Wednesday, which is senior day ($1 off the admission price). The weather forecast for Wednesday was calling for an 80% chance of rain; but on Wednesday morning, the radar showed the showers would be somewhat intermittent, so we persevered and drove south to Tampa.

Since Freeway is too young to be left alone for as long as we would be gone, we took him along in his canvas carrier.

In past years, we always headed to the Tiffin display first, then made a big loop around the grounds to visit the two buildings with vendors selling RV accessories. By the time we got to the accessory vendors in the second building right near the entrance/exit, it was so crowded we couldn't even get close enough to some of the booths to see what was being sold. This year, we got smart and did our loop in reverse order. Even so, the accessory area near the entrance still had a good many people in spite of the fact we were there only half an hour after the show opened. However, this time we could at least see everything.

On our way to the second accessory building, we passed a couple of entertainers that were strolling around the grounds. There was recorded musical accompaniment playing from the cart while the fellow pulling the cart sang and played rhythm. There were several groups of entertainers, and they were all very good.

In the second accessory building, we ran across a couple from Pennsylvania selling two-wheeled shopping carts. One model had a nylon bag on one side for your purchases and the other side had a built-in, collapsible seat. The collapsible seat was also perfect for carrying larger items such as boxes or a puppy carrier. Since we were also carrying bottled water, umbrellas, and a few brochures we had picked up, we decided to buy one of the wheeled carts to make our carrying job easier. The cart will also come in handy when Freeway gets bigger (and heavier) or when we'd like to sit down for a rest ourselves.

If you look closely at the above photo, you might be able to tell Margery is standing beside a 5th wheel. When we were first researching RVs before going full-time, we determined a motor home would fit the style of traveling and sightseeing we planned to do. We love the convenience of our motor home and plan to keep it for the foreseeable future, but we sometimes ask ourselves if our style of traveling might be different several years from now.

When our new friends, Pat and Mike, started full-timing, they went with a 5th wheel. Since they are staying here at Blueberry Hill this winter, we have seen their lovely Open Range 5th wheel, which led us to the conclusion a 5th wheel might be a possibility some time in the future, especially if our travel style changes and we end up spending longer periods of time in one location. Therefore, we decided to check out a couple of makes of 5th wheels while we were at the show. We saw several makes that looked like they would be suitable for full-timing and that had layouts we liked with prices that weren't off the chart. We made a mental note of that information for future reference.

Some of the 5th wheels we wanted to look at were inside one of the exhibit buildings. That was good, because there was a brief shower while we were inside; but the rain only lasted a short time, and we only had to wait a few minutes after we were finished in that building for the rain to stop so we could make our way to the Tiffin display. The photo below shows Paul with Freeway in front of a Tiffin Breeze.

Another brief shower hit just as we were finishing up looking at Tiffins, so we took refuge in the Lazydays hospitality tent. When that shower let up, we made our way to the show exit. There was a pretty good turnout at the show in spite of the weather. In the photo below, it was still sprinkling a little, but people were starting to pop out from wherever they had taken shelter to continue on their way.

When we stopped in the accessory area near the entrance on our way into the show, we saw a security light that has a motion sensor to automatically turn on the outside light of the RV. Margery thought it would be a good thing to have, not only for security, but also as a convenience for when we have to take Freeway out after dark. We didn't want to have to carry the light around the show all morning, so we had to stop to buy the light on our way out. By this time, the crowds in that building were getting heavy; but at least we knew exactly where we wanted to go and what we wanted, so we got in and out of there fairly quickly.

The next day, Paul installed the light. It is really convenient to be able to scoop up Freeway and take him out without having to stop to turn on the light.

Paul has another motor home project scheduled. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.