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How Many Watts Does a RV Refrigerator Use? (Explained)

Since refrigerators have become a daily home appliance, you cannot think of passing a day without a perfect fridge.

It has different models and sizes that will vary from brand to brand. Such a brand IS RV REFRIGERATOR, which produces some stylish, productive, and durable fridges.

You will find different models of RV refrigerators in local markets, or you may buy them from their official showroom or website. You will get excellent customer service which will be a good experience.

Watts usage for a RV refrigerator

The RV refrigerator uses 120 watts if you buy a regular one for everyday use. If your refrigerator is a double door and consumes much electricity, it will use around 900-1000 watts if it is a 120 volts refrigerator. Mainly, the size of the refrigerator will decide the actual use of watts.

The watts usage of a refrigerator will depend on several factors, including the size of the refrigerators, time of use, and volts or AMPS.

These are the common factors that determine the watts usage of a particular refrigerator. They will also help determine the watts of every hour, day, and per month.

You will find different sizes of RV refrigerators in the market since they come with different electric power and their cost are also different.

You must look at them clearly to find out the exact watts or KWH calculation to find out the cost. It will help you to calculate the overall cost of the electric bill.

Unfortunately, you will rarely find the exact use of watts since the usage varies daily. If you keep the refrigerator temperature very low, it will use more watts than usual.

In winter, you may keep it regular and near to room temperature since the room temperature will be minus or near Zero degrees.

Some large and big-size double-door RV refrigerators consume more watts and give you a little more electric bill over the years. You may consider some factors before buying your desired fridge since some high-tech refrigerators use less electricity to run and frost.

Here, I will show you the average watt consumed by your RV refrigerator, although it will vary from fridge to fridge.

You will get an overall idea of the wattage used by your regular size and big size refrigerator. Sometimes, the daily consumption of watts might not be proportionate to your monthly consumption. 

Per hour:

A regular-size RV refrigerator will use around 50-60 watts per hour, but it will change if the size is big and you have a double-door refrigerator.

It’s common for a double-door refrigerator to use around 100 watts per hour since it will consume and give you more space to keep everything safe.

Per day:

If you use a regular-size RV refrigerator for a long time, it will consume or use around 1000 watts or 1 kWh daily.

The exact consumption rate will differ if you use a large or double-size refrigerator to keep more things or if you have a large family. Sometimes, the watts might cross 3000 watts or become 3kwh per day.

Per month:

When you have regular usage, your RV refrigerator will use 30-40 thousand watts per month, or 30-40 kWh every month.

However, the amount will be different for a double-door RV refrigerator, and it will consume around 60-90 kWh or 60000 watts every month. So, find out your refrigerator consumption rate manually.

Startup:

Your RV refrigerator will use around 100-200 watts in a startup since it will run the cooler fast and try to get a stable temperature inside your refrigerator.

If it is a new double-door refrigerator, it will use around 1000 watts at startup. So, find out the size of your refrigerator to get the startup watts consumption.

How many watts does a norcold RV refrigerator use?

A Norcold RV refrigerator uses 47.5 watts at 100% volume, but the exact amount will differ if you use or calculate the watts in different situations.

For instance, if you use the Norcold RV refrigerator at startup, it will use more than 100 watts, but the average consumption will be around 50 watts per hour.

Since Norcold is the most popular electric or refrigerator manufacturer, you will find the best quality refrigerator from them.

Therefore, the average watt consumption will be less than any other refrigerator in the market, and you can compare it to other regular refrigerators to get the core differences.

However, the exact consumption rate of a Norcold refrigerator will be different if you use a four-door RV refrigerator since it will use more watts to keep an ample space at a constant temperature.

Maybe the watt consumption rate would be more than 100 watts per hour, and it will become more than 3 kWh every day.

So, you should take the manual guideline and find out the exact watt consumption of your Norcold RV refrigerator.

It will help you to calculate the average watt consumption per hour. Otherwise, you may go through some confusing steps to find out the exact watt consumption of your Norcold refrigerator.

How much does it cost to run an RV fridge per month?

It costs around $8-$10 to run an RV fridge per month, depending on your refrigerator, if it uses more watts or not. When you buy and install a four-door refrigerator, the cost might be more than 15-20 bucks per month since it will use more than 100 kWh.

You can’t say a fixed amount for using an RV refrigerator since the consumption rate is not constant.

If you go for a year-round consumption rate and cost, you will find something between 60-100 bucks, where 60 dollars for a regular-size RV refrigerator and 100 or more bucks for a big-size refrigerator.

It might seek your attention that an RV refrigerator doesn’t cost you more since they use updated technology.

Therefore, you should decide what size refrigerator you need and will buy; only then can you decide the approximate electric bill for that fridge. The estimation is given, and it will vary since the consumption rate and other factors are not the same for every refrigerator.

What factors determine RV refrigerator watt usage?

The following factors generally determine RV refrigerator watt usage:

Compressor technology:

A RV refrigerator with inverter technology will use less power than a standard refrigerator.

Energy star rating:

RV Refrigerators that have been given an energy star rating use less energy than other refrigerators of the same volume that do not have this rating.

Emptiness:

Because an empty RV refrigerator has much air that needs to be cooled down in comparison to an RV refrigerator that is full, the compressor in an RV refrigerator that is full has to cool down a large volume of air, and this requires more power than a refrigerator that is only partially full.

Ventilation:

Ventilation of your RV refrigerator is something that all our homes severely lack while being an essential component.

In its most basic form, the RV refrigerator expels warm air from within itself and pumps it out into the surrounding environment.

However, if the RV refrigerator does not have adequate ventilation, the hot air that is surrounding it will heat the compressor, which will result in an increase in the amount of power that is required.

Therefore, it is recommended to provide a distance of at least 6 inches between the walls of the RV refrigerator and the home’s walls.

How to estimate your RV refrigerator’s power consumption?

To estimate your RV refrigerator’s power consumption, you must calculate it by following some basic equations. They are as follows: 

Calculate Watts:

If you want to estimate your RV refrigerator’s power consumption, your first step should be to realize that watts result from multiplying voltage by the current in the form of an ampere-meter reading.

It is common practice to write this as (watts = amps X volts), however, it is also possible to register it as (volts X amps = watts), or you can also estimate (amps X volts = watts).

Calculate Kwh:

Watt hour per day can be calculated by multiplying the wattage of your RV refrigerator by the number of hours it operates per day. After calculating wh per day, the next step is calculating kWh per day.

The above calculator for the power consumption of a refrigerator is not particularly precise because it is possible that the fridge does not consume the watts that are rated for it.

Because of a malfunction or some other problem, your refrigerator might be set to run for 16 hours. Simply doing that would make it twice as valuable.

Final Thoughts

A regular-size RV refrigerator uses around 60 watts per hour, whereas a big-size or four-door refrigerator will consume about 100 watts per hour and several kWh per day. It’s better to ask your seller or manufacturer about the average watt used by your desired refrigerator to get the exact amount.