We have two 1,000 gallons tanks because we use propane for the kitchen stove, tankless water heater, space heater in the workshop, Kohler stand-by generator, the 19cf fridge, and I want a backup tank. We went with such large tanks was because of the propane shortage, accompanied by huge price increases, across the midwest several years ago
and propane is too important to us to run out of it. If you're scoffing at the last statement, then you're on the wrong board. You should never run out of anything critical to life/safety. While many people think a refrigerator is a convenience, they need to go without one for just a week. Food poisoning is a terrible thing to get because food spoiled. I also get to control when and how much propane I have delivered to manage costs and to manage the tank levels. I rarely let the tanks get below 80%. One tank is primary, the other is the backup. Two is one and one is none.
Back to the question on propane usage - the brochure for the
21cf fridge daily use at .4 gallons. That seems about right although I think it's a tad high for our 19cf. I think I initially estimated our usage about .3 gallons / day.
Caribou, you're absolutely right that it's just a change of the orifice to move the unit from propane to natural gas. However, for some reason, there was great reluctance for the manufacturers to do so for a lot of years.
We've had the propane fridge for five years now so I'm pretty confident on giving you an overview.
The upside of the fridge is it will be running regardless of electricity. It has a nice line to it so it looks good. The fridge has an LED light which is pretty bright and is run by 4 D batteries installed at the back of the unit (not difficult to access). The door shelves are deep, the glass shelves in the fridge slide out. The drawers are the same as in an electrical fridge. I'm serious - you cannot tell the difference between this fridge and the electric fridge without looking in the back and seeing the fins. Oh, and the propane fridge doesn't have an ice maker; however, we bought the metal ice trays (the kind a lot of us grew up with...) to use in case the propane fridge is the only one working. It's easy to wipe clean. The door gaskets are good. The sales guys were great on patiently answering my zillion questions.
The only downside is you have to defrost it. I don't wait until the fins are completely iced. Prior to defrosting the freezer first, I turned down the temperature control (warmer) for the fridge and moved as many things that were temperature sensitive to either the other fridge or an ice chest. I then empty the freezer and put a little fan in the freezer to help de-ice it. Put the fan on a plastic container since there will be water on the freezer floor because there is not any drain in the freezer so you have to mop it with a small towel. I use a plastic putty knife to encourage the ice to come off the walls. After the freezer is defrosted, I move the fan down to the fridge to blow on the fins. That's pretty fast work. The only real downside is it takes about 10 hours to get back to safe temperature. That's why I try to defrost on very cold days in winter. I can set the food outside and not worry about it spoiling.
When we bought the fridge, I asked the sales guy what would be the one or two parts to have on hand just in case..... he suggested a thermocouple even though they rarely went out. We always try to have replacement parts for critical equipment so I had him send me one when we bought the fridge. A while back the fridge quit cooling (shame on me for not setting the alarm on the
AcuRite thermometer we purchased separately). It was the thermocouple. And I had one on hand. I also saw it as an opportunity to defrost what little ice had accumulated in the freezer and fins. I immediately ordered a replacement thermocouple.
Would we buy this unit again? Absolutely. If there is a serious grid-down situation and we chose not to run the Kohler, we have enough propane to last a long time for cooking (stove) and the propane fridge for not only keeping food at a safe temperature; but, also convenience of having something cold to drink.
