Recommendations for a new 60 litre upright camper trailer fridge ?

I swapped batteries and still cannot get more than 8 hours out of the fridge in 15 degree temperature while the 60 litre fridge in the car goes for 3 days on the same battery ( one I swapped ) in the same temperature !

Figured at 15yo it might pay to get a new more economical fridge

Thanks for the reply

Cheers
Gazz

Howdy Macca

The camper came with a 120 AH AGM but after the first time use of the fridge which only cooled for 2 hours I figured the battery was stuffed. Gave it a good long charge on my Ctek charger on the work bench at home but 3 days later it was at 10.7 volts just sitting on the bench. So I took the 120 amp hr battery out of my Ranger and put it in the camper for last weekends 3 day camp down at Mount Gambier and after about 6 hours on day one which was only about 14 degrees max and raining the battery was down to 11.0

I have a 50 litre Waeco which I bought back in 2005 in my PX Ranger and that would last 3 days without driving in those temps. I have a 60 litre ARB fridge in my Landcruiser which I took the camper to the Mount with and after 3 days the 2nd battery, 90 amp hr was 11.3 and no probs.

Now I think back and remember the previous owner telling me about four times how good the fridge works - I reckon that was his way of not telling me the fridge was stuffed lol

The Campomatic Camper trailer has a tapered front storage section and unfortunately a chest type fridge won't fit. Engel do a 57 litre upright that runs on 12 and 240 which is a bit dearer than some of the 12 volt only fridges available which from memory draws about 2.4 amps per hour.

Had a 60 litre Engel for about 12 years but it gave me more trouble than the Waeco.

I will get it sorted eventually

Appreciate your reply

Cheers
Gazz

That means your fridge is drawing 20 plus amps to do that to a 120 ah battery.
Do some measurements, dont sound right to me.

It certainly sounds like your fridge is “on the fritz”. Perhaps getting it assessed by a refrigeration mechanic might be a good idea, it might end up being a simple fix, not too expensive. Whatever you decide to do, if buying a new fridge, look up all the reviews you can on line, and I don’t mean Facebook. The old adage, “buy cheap, buy twice”, is certainly true in most cases.

Macca.

G'day Gbc

"I hate uprights for off-road work."

Understand fully - both my 4wd's have chest fridges and no probs. When I ran my tours I had a 50 litre Waeco, a 60 litre Engel and a 60 litre Trailblazer which was the best fridge ever but only suited to the back of tray tops really with their size - only fridge that worked when the temps got well into the 40's !!

I only got this camper to keep the missus happy as she now refuses to sleep in a swag, so not too much off-road work these days when she comes - especially after she broke her nose on the dash when I played a bit too hard a few years ago lol ! The camper is more for touring.

Cheers
Gazz

G'day Nick

My camper won't take a chest fridge so upright it is.

Narrowed my choice down to a Bushman 65 litre and the Engel 57 litre. Looking at new, the engel is cheaper and already comes with 240 and the Bushman's needs a 240 to 12 adaptor. I don't really need 240 but it would come in handy at times.

Thanks for the reply

Cheers and cold beers
Gazz

Gazz,

This is an Engel 80L, containing the staples of life. Even some Moscato cans in there too.



Done numerous Simpson trips, CSR & a number of Beadell tracks, with no dramas. The 57L should perform just as well?

Bob

Howdy Bob

The Engel works out a fair bit cheaper than the Bushman's and I have no doubt will do the job nicely !

Still weighing up my options including taking the current fridge out to have it looked at but where I live makes it a bit of a hassle with the loss of half a day to drop it off and another half a day to pick it up.

Thanks for the reply

Cheers
Gazz
Ps considering where you live shouldn't there be Great Northern's in your fridge :)

Gazza, have you looked at the Brass Monkey fridges, they have upright fridges in many sizes.

G'day Kazza

Had a quick look but seemed to have a few negative reviews - luck of the draw I guess.

They are very reasonably cheap compared to others

Appreciate your reply

Cheers
Gazz

We drink that 3.5 at work, Gazz, well, after work, so just stick with the devil I know.

Bob

In bought a 50l upright fridge to replace my 3way in my camper - has a freezer section and the other usuals - works Ok until I lend it to a friend when he moved house and needed a fridge.

Kept his milk fine but he complained that the freezer while able to make ice cubes had trouble freezing his left over curries and the ice cream kept on melting. I thought it must have been an issue with the fridge and went back and checked the specs - the so called freezer is not actually a freezer but a chiller box (ice maker) and the specs say when turned up to max the max temp in the freezer is only -3degrees C so really too warm to freeze and keep food/icecream frozen.

I just looked at the specs of the upright Brass Monkey fridges and they do not specify the freezer temp capacity so if considering a Brass Monkey or one of the other generic brands I would check this. I see Brass Monkey with their 50l model are calling their freezer an 'internal ice compartment' - so something to check.

G'day OzzieCruiser

Certainly something to consider as some I have researched don't have a door on the freezer so you wonder how they would work.

Appreciate the reply

Cheers
Gazz