Residential refrigerator power needs

[CT Wanderer]

I have read a lot of posts regarding how much power a residential fridge uses. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is how much power the fridge uses when it goes into it's defrost cycle. This can add a significant drain on the batteries when defrosting. I assume there is a timer which tells the fridge when to do this but how do you know when it is going to do this? I would like to be able to shut this feature off when boon docking but haven't found any way to do this. I have an 18 cuft Samsung which has been great for us except for this one concern.

[DebNJim B]

Originally Posted by bcrvman

I metered mine with a KillAWatt meter and it uses 1.5kWh per day. Just doing a simple conversion (no inverter losses) then 1500/12 is 125AH. That is for 24 hrs so assume maybe 40AH for overnight. Your AGM's should be ok as long as they were fully charged at your last campground.

This calculation supports my experience. We have a 200AH battery, and when we have overnighted, we have used about 25% of capacity. Although we have an 18 foot Samsung, if you truly have a 26-footer YMMV.

[DelawareDead]

Originally Posted by JABURKHOLDER

Simple answer…don’t sweat it, you’ll be fine.

This is your answer........of course that assumes that you Walmart camp like most folks which is pull in the lot, go to sleep, wake up and hit the road about eight hours after parking.

[DebNJim B]

Originally Posted by DelawareDead

This is your answer........of course that assumes that you Walmart camp like most folks which is pull in the lot, go to sleep, wake up and hit the road about eight hours after parking.

YES
Great disclaimer there:
Walmart overnight-
Walmart camping-

[PNW Fireguy]

Every modern refrigerator comes with energy usage data. Just do the math to arrive at YOUR refrigerator’s daily energy usage. OBTW running our residential fridge on the OEM (SOB) 2 6v batteries was never an issue. Never took any special or additional steps with regards to fully charging before moving. On our current configuration the residential fridge is considered a non-significant load.