Super Cheap $499 Fridges

Yeah, I thought so too Ray, but I just couldn't trust the poxy manual to be right.

I thought it was a mistake, but could be wrong (it's happened before LOL).

Jim.

I think the best "value for money" fridge on the market has to be the BUSHMAN, common compressor with other brands, you set the temp and it holds it, unlike an engel with its 1-5 setting, has a removable basket making cleaning easy, and if the little electronic box that runs it is ever an issue, you can connect the 2 wires, and it will run all the time, so you can at least monitor it, while you get a new one posted to you for $36 odd.

They started off at $850 odd, but are around $935 od now I believe.

That reminds me of one other thing about the Super Cheap job. It doesn't have a thermostat knob; it has an up and down button to set the temperature of your choice.

G'day Ian,

I bought one of those from Repco. Was in the market for a 40L Dometic, but just couldn't justify the jump to $950 for the bigger unit.

The Repco ones are imported into the country by Narva (Brown & Watson).

Works pretty well on 240V haven't tried gas yet.

There's another thread with more information on it and some comments from a guy that also bought one and has done some testing.

I reckon they're great value.

Cheers,

Smocky.

Ian,

I'm the other guy that bought one of these "Narva" fridges (changed my handle Smocky). We have an Engel that lives in the vehicle but were looking for a "camp" fridge to go in the trailer. We were in the market for a Finch or Chescold when these popped up. It's been running for a week now on 240 and is nice and cold, 0 DegC at the bottom and 4 DegC at the top with very little deviation day or night. I ran it for a day on gas and noticed no appreciable difference from 240V. I have not tried it on 12V but I assume, like the other non compressor fridges of this type, the volts would need to be kept up to it or it may struggle.
It appears well made, the lid is a bit plastic looking but seems solid enough and overall it looks pretty much like a Finch.
It's getting a field test this weeekend and provided it keeps working it may prove one of the best deals going IMHO. 12mth warrany for $399, apparently less if you haggle which I didn't.

G'day,

don't feel bad, I didn't haggle either, although I do get a trade discount at Repco and there was $0 trade discount on that item.

I thought $399 was a great offer and didn't bother asking for a further discount.

Would love to hear how it goes this weekend. The 3-ways don't go well on 12v, that's been pretty well reported, but are usually excellent on gas. We bought ours for camping and ours will be getting a 2 week workout in January.

Enjoy your weekend.

Cheersm

Smocky.

Just out of interest, how much gas to these things go through? And would the 12v work ok for in the car while the engines going and the volts are high?

For $399 it might be worth trading in the ol' thermo cooler. Although it does work very well for us, I think it's really going to struggle through the hot summer months...

G'day Jeff,

bugger all gas. We ran one for a bit over a week on a 4kg gas bottle before it ran out. (It may have been almost 2 weeks actually). Use to freeze stuff.

I never used it on 12v, but from all reports they are pretty crap on 12v due to it being an absorbtion fridge rather than compressor. Apparently good wiring instead of the thin cigarette lighter wiring and a 12v computer fan make quite a difference. I suppose in your position though, it wouldn't have to be THAT good to be better than a cooler.

They suck plenty of juice on 12v too, so be careful if you switch the engine off.

All said and done though, I still reckon $399 is a steal for a fridge. Especially if, like myself, you spend time in 1 spot.

Cheers,

Smocky.

Well I've got dual batt's, so not tooooo worried about the current draw on the aux if I'm just parked up for a couple of hours or so. Then I could take the fridge over to the campsite and rig the gas up on it, probaly work well... I have 6mm all the way from my Aux fuse box the a Hella 16amp plug in the cargo area so it should be ok.

The cooler.... It's a wacoe 44L jobbie. I didn't have very high expectations of it, but boy it's been bloody good. During winter it actually stays off for large ammount of the time and keeps everything at 3 degrees c. It's only capable of doing 20 degrees under ambiant so in the car with the air con on it keeps eveything at 3 degrees, park at the beach and after a couple of hours the temp starts rising. Sitting at camp in the shade it can generally hold out until the sun goes down without too much trouble. I also put a few ice packs in it and that generally stops it getting more than about 6 degrees.

It works, but it draws 4 amps continuously when the weathers hot and is a bit of fart assing around. But for $150 bucks it was a good option for us at the time (and still is).

A couple of 12 volt computer fans at $8 each placed properly in the back of the cabinet and the unit will rub as well as on gas or 240.

Have had 3 way fridges for over 20 years and tried all sorts of remedies until I read about the computer fan trick last year either on this forum or the Camper Trailer one.

Put two in and presto. Works on the move, even gets colder.

So am delighted. Problem of lousy operation on 12 volts solved for $16. Fridge is a 36 litre Chescold fridge only type.

Cheers

Magnus

Hi Magnus,

Where do you stick the fans and do you just wire them up to the 12 volt input? We have had the same model Chescold for the last 10 years. It works a treat on gas and 240V but we have never had much success on 12V.

Anyy idea how many amps they draw on 12V?

Thanks

Paj

Hi Paj,

I put one on the back blowing over the coil and one on the bottom blowing up in the same general direction.

You will find there is not much room to play with squeezing two fans in so the choice of location sort of sorts itself out. I had to modify one of the fan case with a pair of side cutters, they are only plastic, so that was no drama.

Current draw, I do not recall but would be very little. Doesn't matter much as you normally only run the Chescold on 12 volt when you are mobile in any case.

Yes they are just wired to the 12 volt input in the back of the fridge. Just be sure you don't wire them to the 240 or zap no fans!

If you don't have a little indicator light then the fans make a good indicator that the 12 volt is working as they make sufficient noise to tell the system is running. Before the fans, I installed an indicator light so I knew the 12 volt was on. Just one of the things I did in attempts to sort the 12 volt operation out.

Cheers

Magnus

David, I am buying one of these fridges on the weekend what other information do you have and what is your web site address
Darren

DJR I will post the URL later today - probably around 1:00pm
A guy who bought one told me he got a plastic coated wire basket at Big W or KMart (cannot remember) which is perfect in size.
Pity they did not include a basket as part of the package.

any update on the info / url?

Greybeard, if I was in the market for a fridge, I would buy one without hesitation. A basket or something is necessary and suggest you investigate getting one. A wireworks should be able to make you one for not to many dollars and plastic coat it.
Supercheap Fridge quick overview

well I bought my fridge yesterday and tried it on the way home( 3 hour drive). I had the temp set for 2 degrees and this was rerached in about an hour. Very impressed so far.I also buogh ta waeco adaptor to run it on 240v, this also worked fine, hope it is alright to do so. So far so good and I hope it lasts for a long time it does seem to be a good buy but only time will tell

Minimum Operating Voltage 10.7vDC

The thlot pickens.

Bonz what plot thickens?
Bonz try and do your homework first and try to make an intelligent reply without any diatribe.

David,

I went and looked at your site and it said, "Minimum Operating Voltage 10.7vDC". Jimbo was talking about ...wait for it 10.7 amp running current, see the connection? 10.7-10.7...maybe theres a substitiution been made. The Thick plot.