Three Way Fridge Question

ozzymac,

I had a Chescold 3 way for years and it served me well before it finally died in Alice Springs last year.

Before you leave home bring the fridge down to the temp you want on 240 and pack the stuff in it a day or so before you leave home. Keep it on 240 as long as you can. They all run best on 240.

Mine never worked at all on 12v so I didn't bother with it, but a mate had one that worked OK on 12v and so he plugged it in to a 12v lead with big terminals to maximise power. Even so his would not get colder on 12 just hold a temp provided the day wasn't too warm.

When you arrive in camp connect the fridge to a gas cyl with a regulator and level the fridge. Mine was very fussy about this and I bought a circular level to help with this task. I could get mine to just about freeze water on gas if it was about 20 - 25 C any hotter and it was flat out keeping things cold. Again my mates was a bit better than mine in that regard. Like all fridges they like the shade.

It is also important to keep the gas connections clean. Put a dust cap on the male fitting on the fridge whenever it is not connected to a gas supply. If it won't light then start by blowing out the connection.

After a few years of this you will probably buy a 12v fridge that will run comfortably off the car or auxilary battery while it sits in the back of the car at whatever angle the car happens to parked. I did. Now I have about fifteen mins more for relacing at the end of a hard days drive and I can get on the road that much quicker in the morning too.

The Chesscold now sits mext to the bar-b at home keeping things cool on 240v

Hope this helps
Duncs

Ozzymac

Would agree with above text of Duncs.
Had a Finch 3 way for a few years and found that in the milder southern climates that it wasn't too bad if backing it up with a nightly dose of 240 volts or gas. Basically 12 volt will sort of hold it cool during the days running up to the high 20's outside temp but over that I never had a lot of confidence in it for holding your more perishable foods. I find caravan 3 way fridges the same (as they are, but just bigger, with a dedicated freezer section).
Whilst the old finch did serve its purpose it was quickly replaced with a 12 volt compressor type fridge/freezer when I moved to a much warmer northern climate. The difference is chalk and cheese. But like everything it depends on what you already have and making the most of it.

Regards
WAL.

Just do a search on the net for for your model number etc and you should find it, this could be a good start:
http://www.gasrefrigeration.net/dometic_manuals.htm

You didn't mention if it was a free standing fridge or in a van but as mentioned before they don't work well on 12 volts unless you have decent wiring, they draw 10 or 12 amps at 12 volts so there is always a substantial voltage drop by the time it gets to the fridge (it was down to 9 volts in my case). So as mentioned before, pull it down on 240volts, use it as an esky during the day and run it on gas/240v when you are camping.

If it mounted in a caravan, proper venting and a computer fan blowing over the cooling fins will help, see Collyn R's articles:
http://caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/articles/fridges_two.htm

DaveNJude

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If you have the latest model Chescold you should not have any problems with 12v ,240v or gas operation..we run ours in the wagon on 12v when travelling...just plugs into the lighter socket no problems...must be very level when operating on gas , but a 9kg bottle of gas lasts for about 3 weeks on freeze...and that is up on the Murray river in about April - May

Don't know why people say it must be level "on gas".
IT MUST BE LEVEL on any "heat" source, ie gas, 240 volt or 12 volt
The only exception is it's OK to be off level if constantly moving... ie: driving along. If you then park and feel confident enough to run it off your battery a while (be carefull- they use over 10 amps)...then IT MUST BE LEVEL.
If you run them off level they overheat (as the fluid does not circulate), and you will slowly but surely destroy them! This is not covered by warranty!
(That's why it's very risky buying second-hand, as you don't know how the fridge has been looked after.)
Cheers

Yep - happy with our chestcold 3 way fridge freezer - runs best on gas, good on 240 and ok on 12. As previous advice, get it running happily on 240 prior to departure with the goodies in there and very cold, run it on 12 while mobile and gas when stopped.
Also as prior advice, level is very important when stopped. We have added a small 12v fan to the rear - stirs up the airflow around the back side. 3 ways take a bit of monitoring and management but the payoff is no energy problems - a 4k gas supply should run it non stop for a week and half at least. Ours stays in the back of the Jack and I just run the gas line out to a cylinder on the ground. Our only weakspot in the formula is trying to run it on 12 when we are away from the car shopping etc - the 12 v circuit is very greedy on power - that is not a good aspect of the 3 way.