Anyone have experience with newer Servel fridges?

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I'm thinking of getting one of the newer Servel refrigerators; the guy I bought my solar panels from sells them for about $1100 (and there is no signif. backlog on orders). Apparently they stopped making the old ones in the 1960s, according to him, and another co. (Dometic) bought the name and starting making new ones in the last 10 yrs or so. I don't have enough solar power to run a fridge using electricity, but with a 120-gallon propane tank I could run the Servel for one year (uses avg 2 gallons/week). Does anyone have one of these newer machines? Opinions? BTW is anyone else having trouble getting the propane co. to install a residential tank larger than 120 gallons?

-- judy (wednesdayschild@hotmail.com), July 14, 1999

Answers

Wow, I don't know what part of the country you live in, but 500 gallons is the normal residential size here with an occasional 250 gal for parked trailers (5th wheel or travel type). I did have trouble getting our company to put in 1000 gal tank until I threatened to take my business elsewhere and even then I had to buy the tank instead of lease it.

Usually there are several companies serving an area, check around and see if someone else will put in a larger tank.

Another hint for those on propane, contact your propane this year. In the past we bought as we needed it and of course it was very expensive in the late fall & winter. Around here if the farmers are drying a lot of corn it makes the price go up as well as whatever the normal market is doing. By contracting you can lock in a price for a number of gallons for the season. Considering that all fuel is expected to rise in price, this would be a wise move. Also this was you can make sure that your tank is kept full since you have already paid for the fuel.

-- Beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.


I have been on the list for #500 tank for 3 months.

-- && (&&@&&.&), July 15, 1999.

judy, I just received mine last week, have not yet connected to propane. About the only thing that I wanted to add is that it will also run off of electricity in addition to propane. So, if Y2K ends up putting us in a "third world" power situation -- we get electricity, but not 24 hours a day, it ends up being "rationed" -- that also will help keeping propane fuel usage down.

In my case, when I moved into my farm here in Northwest Arkansas three months ago, I had a 500 gallon propane tank already here. I then supplemented to it an additional 1,000 gallon tank (effectively giving me the equivalent of a single 1,500 gallon tank).

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), July 15, 1999.

Contact my spouse's FORMER employer, Level Propane (www.levelpropane.com) and see if they do business in your area. They will be HAPPY (HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY) to instal however big a tank you want. There are some small details and a catch or 2 but they will explain them all (pre-buy has a "restocking charge" if you don't use it all, etc.)

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), July 16, 1999.


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