Fridge Questions!

[Timbo]

All right you lot, I have some questions for those of you who have FRIDGES in your 4WD's!

They are too expensive for me to buy right now, and I'm going to be pulling apart my home made drawers and re-designing them first.

I dont understand the fridge/freezer. Every time I look and the Engel/Waco fridge freezers, I can work out which part freezes and which part is just the fridge?

I would have expected when the lid shut, it would seal off 2 sections, but they dont. Every one I have seen in the shops, the whole thing is frozen inside which leads me to believe one of two things.

1. Fridge/Freezer means it's a Fridge, OR, a freezer.. not both at the same time.
2. You can some how control 2 halves separately.
3. I'm crazy

Now I'm leaning towards option 1. but it doesn't make sense to me. What if I have meat or something else I want frozen, but also have goods that I just want cold, like cans. How do you do both?

Also, all of you blokes that have fridges..

What size is your fridge?
How many people did you buy it for? ie: Just you? Your family and if so, how many?
Which brand do you have? Why?

[macca]

Mate that is a loaded question or series of them. Fridges are a discussion held around many fires, what a person has in their 4b is invariably the best thing on the market.

For me its a 40ltr Engel, had a 39ltr since 1982 and upgraded in 2006 to the more modern unit that used less power.

Been used as extra fridges at home as well as many trips away. I cannot fault them and have just bought another for my 80 year old Dad who is doing up a commuter bus for touring.

I've seen many fail or play up on trips which is a real PITA, but never an Engel. Most of my mates have Engels so we dont have trouble carrying food etc for others whose fridge has stopped working.

Our 40 has been plenty big enough for 2 people, we cryovac stuff at home and allways get the butcher to do that as well. Room enough for enough beers to keep me happy as well.

I think those double section fridges have 1 for freezing and the other as a fridge, the single section units are able to be used as 1 or the other not both at the same time.

They are a good investment, and buying quality today means you will get years of great service from it.

Good luck

Macca

[AB]

Great replies guys thanks!!!

If anyone didnt know Timbo and I work together, infact I'm Timbos Boss so he's one lucky bugger to have a boss like me...haha

We went out today to get some maps on the Toolangi area and saw about 40 different fridges and started asking the question's which none of us could answer.

I've only owned a very old school but reliable trailblaster (1980's fishing trawler fridge) weighs 70kg's and only holds a small amount so we were very intruiged to what other's here have to say about what their own set up these days.

p.s Tim, I only hired you because you turned up in a Patrol to your job interview...lol

[Woof]

I've got a 60l Engel Fridge/Freezer on a drop down fridge slider, the freezer compartment has a lid so I just put all of the pre frozen stuff in there and Bob's your uncle, as Macca said cryovac the meat (I get my butcher to do that).
Everything else goes into the fridge compartment, beer, eggs, beer, milk, beer, butter, beer, tomatoes and of course beer.
The thing I like about the combination of the fridge/freezer is you can always put the beer in the freezer for a while to bring the temperature down, just don't forget it.

[Woof]

Forgot to add, always pre chill the stuff that you are going to put into the fridge and have the fridge going the night before you are going to put stuff into it.

[Timbo]

Great tips guys, has answered a few of my questions indeed.

I'm not trying to spark a brand name debate.. that could go on forever like the Patrol vs Landcruiser argument (Patrols are better, Landcruisers have a better rear door :P ) but I would certainly do my research into the components between the 2 brands and the warranties.

My ex GF's Mum's partner.. (lol mouthful) had a couple of big Waco's and i think an Engel. Mainly used for fishing and 4WD'ing but sometimes as a back up for home. They are both great units.

So much to buy, so little money.

AB, you need to pay me more.

[Woof]

So much to buy, so little money.

AB, you need to pay me more.

Yeah come on AB, you just cut my overtime down so surely you can pay Timbo a bit more.....lololol

[AB]

Yeah come on AB, you just cut my overtime down so surely you can pay Timbo a bit more.....lololol

$2.50 per hour is more then enough Timbo...lol

[Timbo]

hahah.

I also had another question.

How many volts do those fridges drain? How long do they last on a battery not being charged? I imagine you'd really have to go for a drive every day or second day to keep the battery charged up from the excessive drain.

[macca]

This get a bit harder to understand, volts are not a great issue... except they indicate the state of charge (SOC).
Amps is the power that runs your fridge in this case, a battery with more amp hours (Ah) lasts longer

Example using a 100Ah battery, this is hyperthetical as efficiency of the battery is not that good.
100amps for 1 hour and its dead flat
50amps for 2 hours
10amps for 10 hours and it goes on

If your fridge runs at 2.5amps it should run for 40 hours.... but

1) The fridge generally cycles on and off so will last longer.... but

2) Batteries dont like running to dead flat and my LifelineAGM (Adsorbrd Glass Mat) are recomended to run no lower that 50% SOC so the 100Ah now has only 50Ah available. The reason for this is number of recharge cycles, run to 0% SOC and you will get a couple of hundred recharges. Run to 50% or higher and the recharge count goes up dramatically (50% = 2000 cycles)

What that effectively means is you buy a battery twice the size you think you need.

All this gets worse because a car dual battery charging system will often not charge above 80% unless you reach for the credit card. Now you have effectively 30Ah to run the fridge, camp lights etc.

30Ah will run a fridge set on freeze for 24 hours no worries and AGM batteries take a higher current charge so charge faster giving more usable energy in a short time running the engine.

Lifelines SOC open circuit voltages. 100% = 12.80v, 75% = 12.55v, 50% = 12.20v, 25% = 11.75v and 0% - 10.50v.

Gives you a bit of an idea without confusing I hope

Macca