icebox upgrade to fridge?

[kimmc]

I just recently bought a 2002 Coleman Laramie. It comes with an icebox, and during our first trip with it, we were not impressed with the cooling. Has anyone looked into the cost for an upgrade to a 3way or other type of fridge? I called the local dealer, and they quoted me about 500 dollars for a fridge and another 500 for the installation. Is this reasonable? Would it be worth it?
Thanks for your input...

[Old Goat]

I have only run our three way fridge in our 01 Niagara on LP a couple of times. We rarely dry camp so there is no need for it...I have never used the 12Volt system and only use 110 Volt at a campground. I have found that the fridge stays cool for a normal days travel without running at all...We always have an ice chest for snacks and drinks while traveling and to put perishables in that we pick up along the way........If and when the Dometic goes bad I will replace it  with a standard 110 volt dorm fridge. A good one that is about the same size as the Dometic and  makes ice cubes costs  less than  than $150.00 and would be easy to install.....

[mike4947]

Well the going rate for the price is around $500 for the unit. As for installation, the ice box is held in by usually 4 or 6 screws through the face plate and then it slides right out.

But, to install, you have to run 12 volt wiring, install wiring and an outlet to plug in the 120 volt, and plumb a propane line to the area. Then there is the trauma of taking a sawzall or jig saw to the side of the trailer to cut for the upper and lower vents. All this is actually easy to do, but takes time. With dealer service labor rates running around $100 and hour you can see why they get $500 to install one.
I can safely say if you can get over the trauma of cutting into the trailer side, LOL the instructions that come with the fridge for installation can get you through it in a weekend. And if followed you will end up with a better oprating fridge in most cases than if the dealer does it.
We've found better than 1/2 the fridges were not installed correctly. Bad or missing baffles, misplaced venting, missing insulation, seen it all.

[flyfisherman]

Kim - I seem to have been cursed on 3-way camper fridges. Had two different campers back to back, both equiped with them, and I had nothing but problems getting them to work out in the boonies. They would work great in the driveway (or after I complained and took them back to the dealer where they worked just  fine in the dealer's shop!) - I'd make sure the camper would be level, follow the directions to a "T" and they still would be nothing but trouble. Even had a couple of fellow campers experienced with them come over to my camp site and they could NOT get them to work! What really takes the cake is that in our present camping/fishing group there's a couple of popuper's that have them and they work flawlessly!

When I bought my present little Starcraft I made sure that it did not have a 3-way fridge ... I went back to the old method of an ice cooler; and your very correct about the "built in" ice cooler that came with the camper ... next to being useless for the performance and the space it takes up. The first thing I did was to remove that cooler and convert the space into a useful storage cabinet.
When I'm towing on down the road I use the Coleman Xtreme cooler (I have two smaller ones) for whatever perishables I'm bringing along; and I carry them in the bed of the pick-up where I can easily access them.

One of the fellas in our group has a Jayco popup which also came without the 3-way fridge and he likewise tore out the (identical to mine) built in ice cooler and converted to a storage cabinet. He also tore apart the porti-potti cabinet that is just to the right of the camper door and converted that into a right nice wood frame that will just hold one of those 110v dorm fridges that the Old Goat was referring to. I like the handiness of the location of this fridge. And he only uses the fridge when civilized camping with hook-ups.

Personally, before I'd invest the monies and effort into converting your present set-up to a 3-way, I'd sure look into maybe some less "painful" options, (unless, of course, you just love the camper and plan on keeping it until ...)

Good luck,

Fly

[hoppy]

Just a suggestion if you camp at CG's with power, purchase a dorm style refrigerator.  They only cost about a hundred bucks, and are very easy to install in the existing area that the cooler is in presently. Just run a 110 V recepticle near it, cut a 3 X 6 vent through the wall of the PU, and you are done.

 My 78' Palomino had a Sears Kenmore model in it when I purchased it, and it worked great. As a matter of fact, it's still working great to this day.

 Just an alternative to those pricey and sometimes problematic 3-way fridges.

[Old Goat]

If you are replacing a three way fridge with a dorm style, the 110 V electric  plug in is already there...Just a matter of fitting it in the cabinet and trimming it out...not much of a problem....I am thinking more and more about pulling out my three way while it is still working good and installing a dorm fridge...Can sell the Dometic for a lot more than a dorm would cost... It would be lighter too.......

[lushy]

I too have a built in icebox which I use only for beverages  :!  when I do use it.  I use the 110 volt dorm fridge for most of the food and dairy items and I am very pleased with it. Here's how we do it:

I have a Coleman Powerchill cooler (110v / 12v) which I plug in inside the house a day or two before we go camping. Right before we leave, we load all our food into the Powerchill cooler and then plug it into the Utility/Cigarette lighter in the van. When we arrive at the campground I plug the camper into the electric hook up first thing, and I have the dorm fridge already plugged in inside the camper. By the time I get the camper set up, the fridge is usually cold enough to transfer the food from the Coleman Powerchill cooler into the dorm fridge. Plus we can use the Powerchill cooler as an "extra" fridge by plugging it into the camper (110v) and.......

NO ice needed!! :frosty: .

This seems to work very well for us....hope it helps!