Fridge Covers...Are they worth it

Mate

1st point ... a fridge is designed to remove the heat from the inside to the outside. That goes for your Kelvinator at home just as well.
The arguement is that by increasing the insulation, albeit by only a tad, you increase the thermal efficiency of your fridge.

I have a cover thingy for my Waeco and to be honest I value it more, at this stage, as protection against knocks and scrapes. Whether it adds to efficiency remains to be seen. I'm inclined to think any benefit would be minimal at best.

See ya

Cruisin
Have a read in the June issue 4x4 monthly, there is a section on fridges- tests etc.

Seems to me if it needs a cover then the insulation is not good enough in the first place.

Real good after a few years on the road for rubbing ALL the paint off of the fridge sides, thats about it though .
Just keep it protected from the sunlight and I think it will be fine.

It's all about heat transfer. Think of layering with your clothing, or to use your example, the house...... insulated house running an air con will be a tad cooler in summer than one without.

The packaging on mine for a CF 35 said up to 2 deg C. Cna't quantify this, but it would have to be a little better than without.

Dollar value?, hard call, I guess protection, coupled with a slight increase in insulation, over say 3 years, yeah, okay I reckon.

Sometimes on the way home from work, I might stop at the shop & buy cold Coke or something. I wrap them up in a blanket on my seat, and they stay cold longer, because they cannot absorb latent heat.

Also remember, there is a difference between heat and temperature........

Temperature is simply a number, eg degrees C, or F or Kelvin, whatever.
Heat is the Power, measured in BTU's

Light a match, it burns at say 300 degrees. Now light the oven and set it to 300 degrees...... see the difference.

All inanimate objects will want to absorb heat, hence the fridge at 5 deg will want to absorb the outside temp. Same fridge at the Polar Ice Cap at 5 deg will be hotter than outside, hence atmosphere will absorb heat from fridge.

Any way you cut it, any insulation is a good barrier to alleviate heat transfer.

I have the cover on the Waeco CF-40 and I'm with Rosco about it being valuable as a cover to keep the bumps and scratches to a minimum. It has a rubberised base that stops it sliding around until I get around to tying it down.

I am sure the insulation factor can only help. Some else said that if it needs a cover then it doesn't have enough insulation in the first place. I disagree. More can only help and if it means that the motor only has to cycle for 10 minutes an hour instead of 12 minutes per hour (for example) to maintain temp overnight then my battery is going to last longer or is not going to be discharged so deeply. It has to be a good thing.

I don't have a PhD in Thermodynamics but it does not take much thinking to work out the effect of wearing a jumper on a hot day - you get hotter because the heat your body produces is kept in rather than being transfered out and away from the body. With the fridge the reverse is true. Heat is drawn out and expelled from the vent by the mechanism and placing a jumper or cover on the body of it can only help in keeping heat energy out.

You pose an interesting question about whether the cover keeps the cold in or keeps the heat out. My understanding following on from the example above is that heat energy is always trying to dissipate to areas of lower energy (colder areas). Therefore the answer would be that insulation is there to stop or slow down the transfer of heat and keep the heat out. Have you ever heard of radiated cold?

Cheers
Steven

Steven

grab a couple of $4 reflective windscreen sun shields from supercheap and make your won... even better if you incorporate a bit of foam in the base to cushion bumps a bit...

Some fridges are that efficient that they don't need a cover ie Trailblaza!

Thanks for all the replys.
Looks like the only way to know is to try one out.
Got one coming for a CF-50 Waeco for $88.00 from the Fridgeshop.
Nearly half of what they want in normal Camp stores !!
For that money its worth a go.

Cheers Cruisin

Cancel the order for the fridge bag

Sell the Waeco

Buy Trailblaza

Won't need a cover

Ever!

:-)