I purchased this to replace the AC/DC/Propane refrigerator which was in the Minnie Winnie RV we are restoring. The old 3-way power refer no longer worked, and a new one like that is more than three times the cost of this one. This fridge fit right into the same cabinet the old one came out of. The height was perfect. It is just a little narrower, but actually has a bit more interior space because the depth is greater. To fasten it n place was easy. The back is on two rollers, and there is a convenient hole next to each. I bolted it down through the floor of the cabinet. The front has leveling feet which screw in and out. I took each out completely and then screwed it back in through a steel angle. The angles fit against the front of the cabinet below the opening and are screwed in place. To keep it from rocking I put a piece of foam about 6" square on each side near the top. It is solid and still has good circulation. I used some trim to cover the gaps on the sides.
The refrigerator works perfectly, and once we adjusted it the fridge part is in the high 30s while the freezer hovers near zero. A compressor fridge like this just cools better than a propane model. We boondock quite a bit, so we need to be able to run this when camping far from shore power. I'm an electronics guy, so I did some testing. This draws 70 watts when running, but it doesn't run all the time. At 80 degrees ambient temperature it runs a bit less than half of the time, so it draws only an average of 30 watts or so. Now, 36 watts is 3 amps at 12 volts. Three amps times 24 hours is 72 amp hours, and I am using a really good AGM deep cycle battery with 85 amp hours.
However, I also have 200 watts of solar panels on the roof of the RV. To keep the math easy, figure they average 144 watts for 10 hours a day. 144 watts is 12 amps at 12 volts, times 10 hours, means I am getting 120 amp hours of solar charging, which is well over what the refrigerator is consuming, so, in practice, my battery stays full. If I get a few cloudy or rainy days, I just start the RV and let it idle for a little while. When the engine is running it charges the house battery at about 50 amps. Even on a cloudy day I still get quite a bit from my solar panels and it isn't cloudy all that much here in the southwest where we live and camp. The power for the fridge comes from a 1000 watt pure sine inverter.
We did have to install some eye bolts so we can run a bungee cord across the doors when we are driving. So, now we have a great fridge, no need for a generator, and I can enjoy an ice cream bar when camping in the middle of nowhere. BTW, this arrived early in perfect condition, and the delivery guy even helped my unpack it and put it into the RV.
Arrived really well packaged, and in pristine condition. Works Well. Good Door seal. Its worth noting that mine arrived with 4 door shelves that covered the width of the door and not the small shelves pictured. All of the shelves are removable and the third shelf down has a slightly lower repositioning option if desired. It is NOT AUTO DEFROST. And has a somewhat quirky characteristic of forming frost on the inside rear wall of the refrigerator section, when the compressor is on, this then melts and is channeled away down a small hole when the compressor is off. Called a Cycle Defrost. The freezer section will require a manual defrost too. All in all the Avanti is good package for the $349 i paid for it at time of purchase. I see now that it is listed at $454 currently. I would, frankly, have been far less happy at this price point as I feel the overall build quality, while far from being poor, does not warrant a cost in excess of my original purchase cost.
Its has not yet been running 24hts, and is already very cold. If the energy star rating is accurate, it is a great little energy efficient unit.
Didn't get 5 stars from me because I would have preferred a little bit more freezer, even at the expense of a little bit less fridge
At 7.4 Cubic its OK. A 9.9 Cubic is a more realistic size IMHO. But for what it is, and how it does it. It seems to be an excellent little unit.
It fits right in where our RV fridge used to be. Cheaper than the parts to fix our old Dometic fridge. The cubic feet say it's slightly smaller, but we feel both the fridge and freezer section seem bigger somehow. Maybe better arrangement. LOVE the many slots to put the shelves into. Makes it easier to setup one section for tall things like milk gallons.
VERY quiet.
Runs on 120 watts. That's it!!! About like running two laptops. We run on solar frequently and it's nice to have such a low wattage. The Dometic needed 500watts AC when we weren't running on propane.
Small drip tray in back was broken (probably from factory since the box and foam were in great shape). Contacted seller (Varouj Appliances), and they sent out a replacement immediately without having to return the old broken plastic like some sellers want you to do.
So far this is working great for my camper
If Avanti plans on making more of these, I hope they will deal with the shipping damage. My boyfriend and I had a huge fight over this refrigerator. When it arrived, the UPS driver and I went over the package. I could see damage to the packing. The driver said he thought it was just a slice on the foam at the bottom from forklift. Looked about right. When I unpacked it, the flimsy packing sort of fell off, never to be repacked in that material. I had examined the cardboard on the sides and none of the cardboard had taken a hit. However when I unpacked it there was a pretty good dent under the cardboard that showed no signs of being hit. Not nice.
So, the shipping is an issue and cost a star.
That said, the unit is perfect size. It is the same body that comes on a more expensive Summit unit. Very well designed.
You must follow instructions, which I had not seen this way before:
1. The unit is not kept upright from the factory to you. Avanti suggests waiting two hours before plugging it in. I waited 3 days. The oil needs to settle.
2. This is the only instruction printed bold, all caps and underlined: leave five inches space from any wall. This was no problem for me.
3. Run the unit on high -- 7 -- for 24 or 48 hours. I'm at 24 and going for 48. Of course everything is frozen solid. What I am noticing is that the unit is getting quieter and quieter by doing this.
At this point, you couldn't take this away from me. It's what I needed. But my boyfriend is still mad at me for accepting it. : (
Feature Product
- Energy Star rated.Unit dimensions 55.5 H x 21.75 W x 22.5 D inches ,Carton dimensions 57.25 H x 23 W x 24 D inches
- Adjustable and removable Glass Shelves and Door Bins
- Interior Light and Leveling Legs
Description
Avanti RA7316PST Apartment Sized Refrigerator and Freezer
It arrived as promised and scheduled, the delivering agent, pleasant and helpful. Then it waited 5 days to open up for me. This is actually bigger inside than I thought it would be. After installing in my Motor Home and letting it rest comfortably in it's new home for a day or two I plugged it in, and fired it up. Then I mowed the lawn, after which I enjoyed a NW IPA while I admired my skill with a John Deere, then checked the new refer. Set on 3 it's going to keep Rocky Road frozen and, more importantly a all my NW IPA's nicely chilled. BUT, for this next I can only **** like it.
I was concerned when reading some of the reviews for this unit, When it was delivered I noticed a few minor bumps on the box, having spent 20 years in LTL freight p/u&d there was nothing worth noting on the DR. When I opened it I found some very minor dents in the black panel door and sides that did not match the bumps on the box, I could live with them. But I remembered one review mentioned significant damage down low. Low and behold the left rear corner of the refer was mangled and had bent the roll-out wheel to the point of making it hard to level, lucky for me I have a hammer. Somewhat disappointed I beat it into "level" with the hammer, then left it alone for the two days before plugging it in.
I have to agree with some of the reviews that speculated these are possibly factory damaged seconds. Mine looks like it may have been dropped on that corner or poked with fork-lift then boxed. It seems to work fine and because it is inside a closed space only the small ding on the door is seen.
End result, I Like It. I paid a quarter of what it would cost to replace the Dual Fuel, smaller, authorized replacement, and the shipping was free. If I had bought for my house it would be in the game room in a dark corner beside the bar and NOT in the 5000k lit kitchen. Cheers!
This fridge was delivered by Amazon to my doorstep which is amazing and one of the nice perks of having prime. The fridge itself is very light and easy to move. All of the shelves inside and the two doors came taped. So you have to do a fair amount of unpacking. Once set up I put it at the middle setting and it keeps everything nice and cold. The freezer is on the smaller side but for one person it really doesn't matter unless you are storing a large amount of stuff. The door shelves will easily hold two litter soda bottles on the bottom and fit multiple cans or jars on the upper ones. There is no dedicated slot for butter or eggs but for me that doesn't really matter.
Three month update:
The fridge is working like a charm. I had the setting at 3 but I had to turn it down because the drinks were too cold.
This refrigerator is wonderful!! Cools quickly and stays cool. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because the first one arrived damaged on the outside and the drawer inside was cracked and broken. Amazon ordered us another and we returned the 1st one. When the second one arrived it also had dents externally. I called Amazon and told them. I didn't want to go through the process of ordering another, so I told them I would keep it (it's for our RV and once installed you can't see the dents). They were kind enough to give us a discount because we were keeping the refrigerator.
Very pleased with Amazon's quick response and resolution to the problems.
This is a refrigerator. It keeps things cold. The freezer is a little small, but it's not like there's any reason to assume or expect otherwise. Most people could get by with this and a cheap chest freezer, saving a lot of money on a full-size refrigerator/freezer unit.
Love it. Highly recommend if you need a little small frig then regular or a little bigger then compact. Very impressed with delivery. Would purchase again.
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