Three way fridge or compressor only fridge

Hi Broodie, You will get lots of answers on this one. Personally I have and favour the 12 volt compressor frigs as they seem to have less hassles in the hotter weather. They keep on working harder. The down side is that you do need a good battery supply and equally important solar panels to charge up the batteries supplemented by a generator if required. We have a 160 litre Waeco with 300 AH of batteries and 240 watts of solar. For 2016 I'm going to supplement that with a portable solar panel of around 250+ watts to avoid running the generator. The generator always comes in handy on overcast day or when you are stuck in the trees.

If you are just stating out with a new van, talk to the manufacturer about a Lithium battery system. A little expensive but half the weight for the same capacity. In fact your gain about 40% extra usable capacity of standard AGM batteries.

Cheers
Jon

Broodie, depends on a few things..... Do you camp up for days in the one place? Have a decent solar setup and a good battery bank? Tour in high ambients? I myself would go for the compressor fridge as I have a dislike for 3 ways, but each have good points and bad points. I am sure you will get nearly as many differing answers as a question about Ranger/BT50....... Merry Christmas and enjoy the new van which ever way you go.

I'm not going to be much help to you...as we are facing the same dilemma with our new van. My research indicates the 12v out performs the 3 way in all conditions and is also available in a larger size, over 200 litres. Talking on the weekend to a guy with a brand new Retreat van. He said his 12v fridge was the ducks guts.He had 2 x 150W solar panels and two 120 amp hour batteries and said he had not run out of power for the fridge on his first 3 day bush camp. The other big tip he gave and he was adamant,was fit a SOG vent to your cassette toilet..cuts down odours totally.

My experiences are that the 3 way Dometic fridge we had in our Ultimate Camper trailer when we bought in 1999 was rubbish....most of the time.

It was difficult to control the temp with any degree of accuracy....sometimes things would freeze (not good for tomatoes and lettuces etc!!!), and other times the booze got hot!!!

It needed to be DEAD LEVEL to work properly, which is difficult when you're using an off-road camper in the environment it was designed to be used in (ie: always going up/down etc). Also, the places we camped in meant that it was not always possible to get the camper level enough for the fridge to be happy.

On the upside, they are VERY QUIET!!!

I am lead to believe that the newer "smart" 3 way fridges are much more efficient and I would be willing to listen to various arguments in their favour when we decide to get a full size wobbly box in the future.

Bill

I yanked the Dometic out back around 2001 after we lost a lot of expensive cold cuts of meat, which we had purchased for a big family get together at Christmas. That was the last straw for me.

I replaced it with an upright Engel (about 100 litres I think) and it works beautifully, but does make some noise which can be noticeable at night, but not always.

The other issue, as others have already pointed out, is that you need to have the battery capacity to cope with the compressor. In my case it was simply a matter of adding another battery because we tend to travel almost every day....so the batteries are getting charged up. I do carry a 1kva gennie for use when we are going to be camped at one spot for a few days. I also have a small "suitcase" solar panel but don't think it would be up to the task of keeping the batteries fully charged in the summer temps.

Horses for courses.

So you have experience with a 3 way already, is your daily travel schedule going to change whereby it becomes a P.I.A to change routine. I found it a extra hassle firing up the gas mode on a daily basis and that is where a 12 volt low consumption fridge glows for touring. If you are stopping for 3 + days at a time a 3 way evens up a bit, after all you switch the gas on once. Solar panels have to be moved around, park your vehicle in full sun if there fixed and generally have to spend a motza on associated gear to keep the batteries in a good working order.

3 way fridges have not evolved all that much from the early days of caravanning, you hooked it up once or twice a year to stay at a spot for 2 weeks. Never were quite suited to a long touring journey, but that is all we had to choose from so you put up with it .

I have a 50 ltr chescold I bought s/hand maybe 15 years ago, it was pretty old then but even now it is perfect working order. Offered as part of an enticement to sell a campertrailer, fella bought the trailer but said no to the fridge !!!! FREE

There are two types of experience with 3 way fridges. Those with poor installations who have poor experiences, These people don't do much to improve the installations and either keep winging about them or replace them. Then there are those with fridges that have been installed properly or those with badly installed fridges who have improved the installations. They are quite happy with them.

If you wish to go the compressor fridge way then make sure your van has the capacity to carry 300 Ah of batteries and plenty of panels. If you don't do the necessary negotiations you are likely to end up with a 400 kg loading allowance and 100 kg of that taken up with the solar installation.

If you are going the absorption fridge way then make sure they don't palm off one of the Dometic curved door models. They don't perform as well as the ones with a flat front on the door. As well as that, have a look at their van construction and check on the fridge installations. Any gap between the top and sides of fridge body and the furniture cavity should be packed with insulation. The rear venting of the fridge should conform to this document - Optimal Installation of Dometic 3 Way Absorption Refrigerator. I have seen many manufacturers who use the small vents as shown in Option one instead of the larger vents when larger fridges have been installed. I would recommend that you order Option two. This provided for the best airflow up the rear as the ducting is a lot longer, the top of the ducting heats up and causes greater expansion of the air glow which increases the air flow. If your fridge is approaching 200 litres you could even request that the LS300 vent be used as the lower vent.

Print off the document and take it along with you when you do your negotiations. Inform them that the deal will not proceed if they are not prepared to do the installation as you want it.

If you have an absorption fridge you will get away with one 100 - 120 Ah batter saving possibly 80 kg of mass you will have to carry.

I have a couple of each style (portable) and change them around depending on the trip. The 12 volt fridge stays on all the time and is set and forget - but - it is only that way because I have invested more than the fridge is worth in solar, batteries and a dc charger. The humble gas fridge hardly sees the light of day, but if I am going to be sitting in one place for a week or more it is the first thing which gets packed. Being able to hook it up to a 9 k.g. Bottle and knowing I'm good for a month is a good feeling. They work on ambient temps though, so yes, the odd lettuce leaf and tomato has been sacrificed to the cold beer God as the outside temps drop at night and the thermostat doesn't get adjusted accordingly.
It's easy to say 12v is the greatest, but if you now have an obligation to run a genset and charger for 2 hours a day because it's cloudy the gloss comes off it pretty quick.
I think a 12v fridge/freezer in the car and a gas fridge in the van is a good compromise. Less weight, batteries, panels etc on the van, fresh vegetables all the time and cold beer as well - what could possibly go wrong?

Broodie
This one is simple
A good quality compressor fridge , hands down.
I have never had a decent 3 way ridge

Cheers

There is a book called Solar That Really Works by Collyn Rivers it would be a great help to you ,it is available on the net.In it he give examples of powering Fridges thou the costs have chanced the end results are the same.

Hi Broodie,

Without any shadow of a doubt, a compressor fridge is your best choice, especially if buying from new. The extra cost of an upright compressor fridge will be much less than if you had to buy one down the track. It will be only the differential between the cost of a new 3 way vs a new compressor type.

Here is a scenario:-
A friend and I ordered new vans of an identical type. As part of my order, I upgraded to a compressor fridge, due to my previous experience many years ago with a 3 way fridge which I found marginal in practical use.
My friend left his as a standard order with a three way fridge.
On delivery, I had a 70 litre Waeco upright fridge which takes around an hour to cool down to a reasonable temperature, runs quietly and is no problem at all.
The van came standard with an 80Ah battery, which was too small to run the fridge for any length of time. I removed the battery and sold it on Gumtree for a reasonable return and purchased two 100Ah Fullriver batteries and installed them along with a good volt/amp meter and a D250S Dual dc-dc charger to maintain them from either the alternator, or portable 120w solar panel. The van also has a built-in AC charger for maintaining the batteries while at a powered site.
I have absolutely no problem with the fridge, or battery bank and I often "bush camp" away from 240v power. (I don't like generators and don't need one)

A few weeks ago my friend advised me he is pulling out the 3 way fridge, due to poor performance issues and replacing it with a compressor fridge. This is approximately one year after taking delivery of his new van. He will also need to upgrade his battery bank to enable longer running time between charging, but is upgrading for practical reasons.

A 12v/240v compressor fridge will give you the best possible performance and much less hassle free operation.

A 3 way fridge is a much more expensive fridge than a compressor type.The money saved on the fridge goes a long way to paying for solar panels. If you already have solar then that is about all you need. Watch the caravan dealers as they don't always pass on savings.
I grew up with a kerosene fridge and there is no way back there for me.They will not maintain 2 degrees when outside temp is over 35. The more out of level the van is, the worse the performance. So called new technology may be but the concept is the same. Provide heat to evaporate ammonia and let outside temp to bring back to liquid.

Neil

There is only one reason anybody in their right mind would have a three way fridge ...... and that is they want to run off gas for extended periods.

If you are in a single location for extended periods of time ... like weeks a three way fridge on gas is still hard to beat.

Otherwise a compressor fridge backed up by a decent electrical system can't be beat.

cheers

Just a quick point on solar. People talk big numbers. With my van I only ran the fridge on 12V. Maybe a TV now and then. A 160L fridge. I had two 80 watt panels and 2 100 AH batteries and could free camp for a week without a problem.

Another option is a 200 odd litre domestic inverter fridge running off a 300 watt PSW inverter, current draw is similar to or better than a similar size 12/24v fridge.
The big plus's are the fridge costs less than $500, is more efficient, better insulated, better quality and will actually work in high temps, has an energy rating that is certified, any fridgie can work on it and if it dies can be replaced mostly anywhere.
Even after buying the fridge and upgrading solar and batteries if required you would still have change from the initial cost of a 200 odd litre 12/24v fridge.
Samsung 228 litre inverter fridges can currently be bought for $398 with free delivery from appliances online. These fridges and the larger 250 litre version have been installed in vans and motorhomes with great success for a few years now.

compresser fridges work better in all situations except when you want to sleep besides them....

We have a 12v compressor fridge in the van. The 'van is equipped with 3 x 105 ah Full River Deep Cycle and 3 x 120 w solar panels.......the system works a treat.....I wouldnt even entertain a 3 way.......only time you can use them on 12v is why you are generating power...driving or sunlight..they are very power hungry on 12v.........why buy gas if free camping

Re-visiting this thread now that the forum is back. On caravanners forum, over the past few weeks in particular there have been a number of threads about three way fridges not working. This is a very common topic. Prompted by these questions in the past, I have run "polls" on that forum on fridges, and the results of one last year was

"Of those responding;
44.2% have a 12 volt compressor fridge,
5.1% have a domestic type of 240 volt fridge (total of 49% using a compressor fridge),
and 50.6% have a gas/electric fridge.

This shows a slight movement in type compared to the poll two years ago with 45% having a compressor fridge and 55% having a gas type fridge.

From the 132 who responded to the question about what type of fridge they would choose in a future rig, 65.2% would choose and compressor fridge, with only 34.8% choosing a gas type fridge.

80.1% of those contributing to this poll have solar power. This is an increase from 72% two years ago.

Of the 54 participants reporting breakdowns, failures or under-performance in their fridges, 22.2% had compressor fridges and 77.8% had gas type fridges. These figures equate to 34.6% of all poll participants having had a cooling problem with their fridge which is marginally higher than the 34% on the previous poll. There is also a higher percentage of participants reporting problems with gas/electric fridges compared to with compressor fridges than last time."

Note that from those with gas/electric fridges, 77.8% had failures or problems with their absorption fridge :O. That alone is another aspect for you to consider Broodie.

Hi Broodie H3 and Happy New Year,
I have just logged in after a couple of weeks without looking at E O. I had the same dilemma when I purchased a new van in Feb 2015. I finally decided on the compressor only over the 3 way. Having had the new van for 10 months and using it frequently, now constantly, I would never consider going back to a 3 way. The fridge I have is nothing short of excellent. Set on around 80% and has never missed a beat.
Beer and wine always cold and the freezer works as good as any.
Cheers
Old Yunderup Fox n Wifey.