Joe replied:

Pete,

I have been researching fridges and fridge performance and I believe that I can help you here. The Liemack is the most effective fridge/freezer on the market bar none. It pulls down to temperature extremely quickly, and definitely much faster than anything with a Danfoss compressor in it (Engel, Waeco etc) and does it with the minimum noise possible thanks to a rotary compressor.

It is robust and the control panel is all touch pad. This means that it will not be affected by dust or water.

It also has an extremely useful 240volt outlet which can be used to top up rechargeable batteries etc. It can even run a hair dryer, but that will cause the compressor to switch off.

It is truely the Rolls Royce of fridge/freezers. The only down side being the Rolls Royce price.

Personally I couldnt justify it when looking at Waeco fridges at half the price as the Liemack is not twice as good, and I didnt need anything better than the Waeco.

Good Luck.

Joe

Simon Evans replied:

Pete,
We had a Liemack fridge for a short time. It was the 50 litre fridge/freezer model. We found it noisy. You have to run it 24 hours a day, so you have to keep it well away from where you are sleeping. We had it mounted in a box on our camper trailer. We have a 130 amp battery and found it would run for only about 27 hours on the battery, and that was without you opening and closing the fridge at all in that period. The freezer compartment is off the fridge separated by a lift out metal panel, so to get anything out of the freezer you have to take things out of the fridge first. We didnt like it. But fortunately for us the dealer took it back.
Simon

paul czernotowycz replied:

I spent three months researching fridges and found the Liemach to be the best. Yes it is expensive but nothing can beat it the heat. We pack our 70DTV with all the fresh food and beer we need for our two week trips and open and close it as many times as we like and it runs for three days on two 600cca batteries in parallel. We set the temp on 4 degres and forget. We trialed a Autofridge and a Engel and found that we had to monitor them constantly to make sure they ran at their optimum, we couldnt be happier with our choice it has never let us down and there is nothing better than fresh meat and vegies instead of frozen or cryovac products.

Simon Evans replied:

Pete, We ended up getting a Chescold RC1180 gas/electric, and we are pleased with it. It suits our style of camping, which is one of staying several days in one place. If you were on the move every day, an electric one might suit better. But there has been times when we have travelled on every day, and we have found our Chescold fine for that sort of use as well, during the day you run it off your car battery, and at night you leave it in the car and run it off 240v if you are in caravan park, or lift it out and put it on the ground and run it on LPG. Some people run them in the car at night on gas and just leave the windows open a bit, and some people run them on gas when they are driving, but that is not recommended. I dont know what they work like in extremely hot conditions. I have heard that they dont work too well. Ours is a fridge freezer model and we have two digital thermometers, one in the fridge and the other in the freezer, and we are able to monitor the temperatures without openeing the lid and adjust the thermostat accordingly. I see you have asked someone else about the noise level of Liemacks. In my view there is no way you can sleep too closely to one. We had ours mounted in the storage box on the drawbar on a Kimberley Kamper and it would have been impossible to sleep with it switching on and off during the night. Liemack tell you to leave it turned on 24 hrs a day and to let it cycle itself on and off. In addition, Liemack claim it to be very energy efficient. We conducted a test of ours before the dealer took it back, where we charged our battery up(130 amp deep cycle) and turned it on and ran it until the battery was flat. Admittedly, ours was a fridge/freezer, so maybe it had to work harder than the fridge only one, but we did this test in our garage at home with the garage door open and the lid of the storage box open to provide ventilation, so it wasnt in the sun, or sitting in a hot car. We did this test twice, one time it ran for 27 hours and the other for 26 hours. We had the cut out temp at 4 degrees and the cut out battery voltage at 10.5v. We monitored the temp in the fridge, the freezer and the outside air. The air temp reached about 30 degrees at midday, so it wasnt all that hot. During both these tests we didnt once open the lid to take anything out or put food back in, as you would normally do. I have heard from other people that they are energy hungry and noisy. Regards Simon

Neil Wass replied:

Undeniably the best 2 way fridge Ive ever come across. The performance is everything the brochure says it to be, the voltage draw (given the wiring configuration in the manual)is extremely low. Quiet in operation, very quick to drop temperature. I get 2 days out of my two batteries in the hottest of weather (given the quantity of hot beer that continually gets added to the fridge once the camp realises Ive got the best fridge/freezer in camp) - 4 days in cooler weather with a short run here and there to provide some surface voltage to the batteries. The 240 volt inverter is invaluable as is the touch pad control panel in quickly regulating operating parameters given changes in conditions. I use mine (70 litre) totally as a freezer (running constantly at -10 deg.C) with a 33 litre Finch 3 way for perishables. My wife persists in taking away such durable foods like pears, lettuce, avacados etc.) Last Easter, we took away (in the Liemack) 2 ltrs ice cream (for the kids), fr. Sarah Lee cheesecake, potato gems, fish fillets etc and we always travel with two trays of ice cubes for my wifes rum and cokes. The Liemack has certainly allowed us to rough it in style.
Enjoy one. I can recommend it. Youll never be short of people expressing interest in one.

Tony replied:

Pete,
I looked at Liemack and thought they to be good fridges but the price is a bit steep. I was amazed to read other users of Liemacks say they only get 2 days from 2 large batteries. One said he got only 27 hours! I chose a Trailblaza 60L compact model. My fridge (Danfos BD35F compressor) will run for 3 to 4 days on one battery (N70Z) on fridge temp. Keeps my beer cold!! Also, because of the extra insulation (3 inches) on this fridge, when the battery does go flat, the contents of the fridge stay cold for another 2 days (the beer is still cold enough to enjoy).
I trialed a chescold 38L in Cape York and could not give it back quick enough. Bloody useless. Flattened the battery in 5 hours - had to be dead level to run on gas properly and still didnt keep the beer cold enough.
Oh and the trailblaza - with the latest Danfos its so quite we can sleep right next to it. The fridge is really rugged and butt ugly but hey - it works perfectly!
Regards.