12v Fridges and water crossings ????

I would have thought if you end up in that predicament, losing some food would be the least of your worries

Mate - if you're planning on going through water that deep there are probably a few more important things to worry about!

Expect you're *really* worried about frying the fridge electrics ??
And THAT is a very good question, one I haven't seen on any forum before !!

I have a fridge and arkpak, but in the cabin, so not as bigger risk, if they went, as others have said I'd have bigger issues with the 4B than the fridge.

I'd suggest maybe a low plastic tub to help keep water at bay that might get into the back on a crossing, but of course it can't be that high it would restrict airflow.

Or, as you suggested, maybe some cling wrap / shrink wrap around the fridge as a precaution before a water crossing ?
You'd have to turn the fridge off for as long as it takes to cross, of course.

If you're concerned about protecting the fridge from short-term inundation you could sit it on a square of heavy-duty plastic sheet. Keep the sheet folded down while travelling with the fridge in use, then pull it up around the fridge before the water crossing ....... with the fridge turned off of course.

Just don't get so excited by the success of the crossing that you forget to turn the fridge back on and still lose your tucker. LOL

You've probably got a similar problem to those guys who travel around with fridges in the back of open Utes - I often wonder what they do when it rains....

As Allen said - best thing is to make sure it's disconnected - most things will recover from water ingress given enough time to dry out..........

Ive previously done what Allan B suggested when I've had the fridge on the tray. Sat it on some black builders plastics, tucked the excess away and if I came to water where it was a concern I'd unplug it, wrap the whole thing and tape it up

A mate of mine was travelling with us once in a Hilux ute. We went through many a creek/puddle with no water getting into his tray area.
He got cocky with one large water hole and got stuck. It was only after he was stationary that water got in his tray. All his camping gear got drenched.

Don't stop, and you will be fine, but as mistakes can happen, i would suggest a tub to sit fridge in for that crossing if you have any doubt at all. Another suggestion is let someone else go first. Let them be the guinea pig. lol

Makes me wonder how camper trailers get on when the fidge is in the trailer a lot of them are lower than the vehicle that makes this question very relevent in my mind best of luck to you nolans can be tough

Steve

thank you to most for your replys and ideas i found a solution bunnings sell a military style waterproof storage container that measures 1100x550x670 for $400 for any 1 that has similar concerns your fridge will be safe even if you sink the car lol cheers and happy traveling

Suggestion 1:

If the water is that deep, do you really, really need to cross?

Suggestion 2:

Go with the fridge in the tub recommendation.

Suggestion 3:

Add a periscope to the bilge pumps already installed if suggestions 1 or 2 don't cut the mustard.

You could always take a small inflatable dingy or raft and float your fridge across ON TOW or even before crossing.
That way it won't get flooded if the 4wd disappears down a hole.

That way the fridge is safe and the winch can then be used to recover the vehicle at your leisure.

Trippin mate..a far more reasoable question that a lot of people want to admit.

Its hardly unusual to see or hear of 4wds with all the contents saturated..so how does the fridge fair.

I still remember a video of the famous "Roothy".....wett to the waist, soggy seat, saturated swag and pouring water out of his tool box.

If ya dragging arround a 100 liter fridge....um.....you have placed a pretty larger wager there.

I find it interesting that people carry such large fridges and depend on them when there are very reasonable posibilities of failures, from variuos causes.

The problems are...you have a large risk packed in that single large fridge and its too big to mount high.

Personally I simply cant imagine what could justify, such a large fridge....but plenty seem to carry them.

surely you carry other dried, canned and long life food appart from what is in the fridge.



back to the actual risks to the fridge.....in the past the portable fridges, like the engel where pretty simple.....the fridge motors where more of less sealed units and the thermostats where basic mechanical items, if there was some sort of inverter..it was pretty well " tropic proofed"....if they where not turned on when they got wet...once they dried out, they would be just fine.

These days however the modern fridge contains electronics that may not fair as well.
though...as with most electronics...if it is turned off when it gets wet...its got a pretty fair chance of working when it dries out.....yeh but that drying out is a bit of an issue when the contents of the fridge will keep it cool and promote condensation.

It is common to see 30 or 40 liter ..or even 50 litre fridges mounted high in the vehicle where if they got drowned, the vehicle owner had far bigger problems than the fridge.

But that big hundred liter lump makes that a bit difficult.


anything you do to protect it will either take up a lot of space, impeed the performance of the fridge or be very inconvienient.

That blow up dingy is looking less and less like a joke.

yeh I see what people mean about the sheet plastic and the big tubs...but what are you going to do..wrap the fridge up at every crossing...pull it out and put it in the tub each time or what.

I have seen people with fridges and eskies on the roof rack....I saw one bloke climb a ladder to get some milk for his coffee.
But a 100 liter fridge will be well over 100Kg full......that is a lot of weight to travel on a roof rack and a real lump to lift up there each suspect river crossing.

HEY
Ya know what might be the go...one of those poartable spill containment bunds.
I've seen em like fold up and I've seen em that look like a blow up swimming pool.


Another thaught.
If ya like fishin...kill two birds with one stone...tow a boat up the cape and put the fridge in that.

cheers

Hi mate,
been in a situation where water got in and thought of a pretty easy solution,

bought some duct tape and if in the same situation would simply tape over the door openings and enter via an open window, still have it today

just make sure you drop your tyre pressures so that your footprint is quite large so you get maximum traction and create a gentle bow wave, I also have a Bra to go across the front even though I have a snorkel.

HTH

cheers

Gday,
Does your car have a sunroof?
If it does you could position it under the sun roof, on top of an air mattress so it could float up through the roof as the water level gets higher?
You may want to consider putting the Mrs and kids in the fridge too.

Ps. don't worry about the knockers they don't know what adventure is......Happy boating.

Cheers

Hi I'm in qld and I'm very interested in how and who mod plated you 4X4 with the 6" lift and tyres this would help me a lot because I'm planning on raising mine higher than the 2" lift I have and fitting bigger than my current 33" tyres thanks.

We lost a fridge that way when the kids borrowed the car for a competition event.

They should have turned it off when water got into the cabin.

Getting wet in non salt water wasn't so much a problem as shorting of electrics.

I wrote a post about repairing it - basically we brought a chinese copy control module for it which saved a lot of money - fridge still works well.