Many recreational vehicles contain a 3 way fridge to allow their owners to keep their perishables refrigerated.
These 3 way fridges provide one of the luxuries of a stick built home to the RV owner.
However, these fridges do not work quite the same as a standard kitchen fridge freezer.
I will briefly discuss this below.
A fridge intended for home use usually only operates from one power source, 120v AC - or whatever your local mains voltage is.
A 3 way refrigerator intended for RV use - or use as a camping fridge - can operate from any of three different.
Not only can they utilize mains power, but they can also run on LPG and 12v DC.
This makes them ideal for not only RV use, but also for camping and off-grid living.
For a 3 way fridge running from LPG, the source of heat - a propane, or sometimes butane, burner - is used to power a cyclical chemical reaction.
The refrigerant - usually ammonia - goes through a cycle of evaporation and condensation, which cools the appliance.
3 way refrigerators are generally optimized to run very efficiently on LPG, so use very little propane during operation.
It is also important that when using a RV refrigerator, that the RV be leveled.
Operating one of these units on a significant slope can damage the appliance.
When a three way fridge is plugged into grid power, the user may opt to switch to electric rather than propane power.
When running off electricity, the cooling cycle is powered by an electric heating element rather than the gas burner.
One important thing to remember when running off 12v DC is that these units draw considerable amperage.
While a 3 way fridge may run off a car battery that does not have the engine running, it will not run long without flattening the battery.
12v DC is chiefly intended as a power alternative for short periods of time, or for when the vehicle engine is running so as to keep the batter charged.
Another factor to consider is that if you are going to power your fridge off 12v with the car engine running, be sure that your alternator is powerful enough to both power the refrigerator and keep the automobiles battery charged.
All that said, however, in a recreational vehicle the chief power sources for a 3 way fridge will be mains power or propane; this makes these RV refrigerators a great choice.
These 3 way fridges provide one of the luxuries of a stick built home to the RV owner.
However, these fridges do not work quite the same as a standard kitchen fridge freezer.
I will briefly discuss this below.
A fridge intended for home use usually only operates from one power source, 120v AC - or whatever your local mains voltage is.
A 3 way refrigerator intended for RV use - or use as a camping fridge - can operate from any of three different.
Not only can they utilize mains power, but they can also run on LPG and 12v DC.
This makes them ideal for not only RV use, but also for camping and off-grid living.
For a 3 way fridge running from LPG, the source of heat - a propane, or sometimes butane, burner - is used to power a cyclical chemical reaction.
The refrigerant - usually ammonia - goes through a cycle of evaporation and condensation, which cools the appliance.
3 way refrigerators are generally optimized to run very efficiently on LPG, so use very little propane during operation.
It is also important that when using a RV refrigerator, that the RV be leveled.
Operating one of these units on a significant slope can damage the appliance.
When a three way fridge is plugged into grid power, the user may opt to switch to electric rather than propane power.
When running off electricity, the cooling cycle is powered by an electric heating element rather than the gas burner.
One important thing to remember when running off 12v DC is that these units draw considerable amperage.
While a 3 way fridge may run off a car battery that does not have the engine running, it will not run long without flattening the battery.
12v DC is chiefly intended as a power alternative for short periods of time, or for when the vehicle engine is running so as to keep the batter charged.
Another factor to consider is that if you are going to power your fridge off 12v with the car engine running, be sure that your alternator is powerful enough to both power the refrigerator and keep the automobiles battery charged.
All that said, however, in a recreational vehicle the chief power sources for a 3 way fridge will be mains power or propane; this makes these RV refrigerators a great choice.
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