One of the most essential parts in most RVs is the refrigerator. But this can also be the most challenging part, according to the members of our Facebook community (well over 135,000 members at the moment).

And in today's Podcast Episode 413 we talk to Todd Henson from the National RV Training Academy. Do you have a compressor or absorption refrigerator? Find out all about the differences and challenges for both in today's podcast.

We also answer viewers' questions and go over some of the most important news in the RV Lifestyle.

You can watch the video version of the podcast by clicking the player below.

If you just want to catch the audio version of the RV Podcast, you can listen on your favorite podcast app or in the player below.

Essential Info About RV Refrigerators

Before we jump into the interview, I want to tell you that NRVTA has a fantastic educational space for those of you interested in doing your own RV repairs! If you are a DIY type of RVer, then check this out. This course is a great way to up your skills in repair and keep you on the road longer. We think this is becoming really important these days, so we are partnering with them to get this course out there -- RV MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR HOME STUDY COURSE FOR RV OWNERS Let us know what you think! Now on to the interview.

Essential Info About RV Refrigerators - two different types

Mike Wendland:Well, Todd Henson from the National RV Training Academy joins us right now to talk about refrigerators.Todd, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

Todd Henson:Well, I appreciate it. Thank you for inviting me.

Mike Wendland:So we want to talk refrigerators.And there are so many questions, so many concerns. Do you want to start us off?

Jen Wendland:Okay. So how are RV refrigerators different than the ones you have in your home?

Todd Henson:Okay. Ooh. So a broad question, but let's get into it.So what we call your residential style refrigerator uses a compressor in order to cool down the refrigerator and, of course, your freezer. And with that, you have two different temperature controls. You can set your temperature for your freezer separately from setting your temperature for your refrigerator. But we use a compressor, and we use refrigerant.Now, the RV-style refrigerator, which is what we call an absorption-style refrigerator, uses a different method in order to create coolness. And what it does is it uses some chemicals. We boil ammonia and we mix ammonia with hydrogen and therefore, we get a flash freezing effect. So we call it an absorption-style refrigerator.

It's been around for 150-plus years. It's actually older technology then, of course, with our compressors, but just basically two chemicals coming together, we get a flash freezing effect, and then we just simply use thermal dynamics to pull the heat out.

So now I'm sure you probably had no clue that, or no interest in me telling you all that, but it's just the delivery mechanism that we have with an RV-style refrigerator that makes it different. The cooling mechanism, we're using chemicals versus a refrigerant.

Mike Wendland:Now, if you had to pick the one that's better, I would say the compressor is what you'd want to choose.