car fridge freezer advice

Good idea Mark. It upsets some (jokingly) when you pull a paddle pop out in the middle of the desert. But if you want to stay put for more than two nights you may want to install another battery and have two for the fridge and accessories. We run three, one for crank and standard car duties and two through a Redarc isolator for all 4wd stuff.

You may have considered all this already.

How do you make the ice for the scotch?

I thought Engel is a compressor fridge.

I know my 40lt Engel is compressor.

Dennis,

No sweat mate.
There is a small freezer compartment in the Camper fridge, specifically for ice cubes for herself's G&T. This freezes on the normal cycle setting so it is economical on battery power.

Although I have the occasional scotch, my vice is beer, cider & red wine.
I have been known to drop a cube or two in the red wine to chill it down a bit:-)

Don't get an up right. The cold air drops out each time you open the door.

Any of the brands you see in BCF, BBQ Galore etc are good. Given a choice I prefer Engel but that does not mean there is anything wrong with the other brands.

Vacuum packing is a good idea but don't take the above advice, it is wrong and dangerous. VP does not extend storage life by weeks if kept cool. The general rule is double shelf life. Pretty much all raw meats have a fridge life of 4 days at 4c. VP will extend that to 8 days. Freezer storage as a general rule is 4 times. So if you have meet with a 6 month freezer life, VP will extend that to 2 years.

40 litre is a good size. Along with a good quality cooler (esky) of around 20 litres. Make up three 1 litre bottles of salt water to use as ice blocks.

Run the fridge in freezer mode when you are driving or have other power such as solar. Turn it off or right down to minimum at night. The 3 salt ice blocks will keep everything frozen over night. If you defrost your meat and other frozen foods in the esky, it will keep it cool. But you also have 3 very cold ice blocks if extra cooling of the esky is needed.

Go in to Kmart and get one (or 2) of the foam exercise floor mats. They are $12 (not the thin $4 ones). Use the floor mat as a fridge and esky blanket. Be careful not to cover the air vents on the fridge. If you use two layers of the floor mat foam, you will notice a serious difference. A double layer dropped my Engel power usage down from 1.3ah to .95ah per hour.

Sorry. Of course you have a fridge in the van. So you might not need an esky.

Thankyou all so much for your helpful advice and helpful hints. I intend to have a look at the setup inside the different brands. I saw a 40l waeco and the freezer area was very small. As this is a main reason for buying one, the freezer area is important. Any comments please?