For the past 25 years of motorhoming we have always had a 2 way gas electric or a 3 way gas/240/12 volt fitted in our various motorhomes. Whilst they worked most of the time they had the usual problems of absorption type fridges where they do not work well in hot weather.

The other major issue is having to level up each time you park. We have spent many an afternoon where you spend the first five minutes at the site finding the most level spot on the site, driving back and forward to find where to get all the wheels either into or out of the appropriate holes in the terrain and then me crawling around under the wheels pushing the levelling blocks in and directing the driving up onto the blocks. Whilst this is all achievable you do not realise what breeze it is when you do not have to worry about the levelling any more (other than what is comfortable for sleeping).

The decision to go a 12 volt compressor fridge was not one that was taken lightly as it is not a cheap option. Whilst the fridge was around half the price ($1400 instead of around $3000 for a similar sized gas fridge) the required 500 watts of solar panels and the rest of the solar system makes up for any savings on the fridge. We had had a good solar system in our previous motorhome and loved the freedom of lifestyle choice that this gave us, so had decided that was the way to go again when building our latest motorhome. Then it was a matter of working out our required wattage from our system and came up with the figure that we required 500 watts. 4 x 123 watt panels did the trick.

Then there is the space issue as 4 panels of this size are not small. We do not have much more room on the roof of the motorhome.

The difference now with the new fridge is great. On our recent trip the weather was mid to high 30's most days and the beer was always cold. We do not have to worry about levelling up, do not have to plug in or turn on the gas as soon as we get to our destination, and the fridge is always turned on. There was never any need to worry about it at all.

In our 17 days away we never had a power issue and never had to worry about the fridge. The panels had the system fully charged by mid morning each day. And the compressor did not keep us awake at night. We had heard stories how this can be a problem but we rarely heard it.

For my money electric is the way to go for us from now on.

© 2008 Gail Bennett (motorhominglifestyle.com). If you would like to reproduce this article on your website please contact gail@motorhominglifestyle.com