Gas Fridge

Submitted: Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 at 00:00
ThreadID: 2006 Views:2130 Replies:9 FollowUps:4
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Have a 40l Engel. Good fridge but not big enough for us when we go bush. Thinking of buying Gas unit to supplement say Chescold or similar. Can anyone advise,
Hot weather performance are they as good as an Engel?
Gas consumption? How long does a 9Kg Bottle last
How expensive and what is a good price for say 40 Litres

regards Garry
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Reply By: Derek - Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 at 00:00

Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 at 00:00
Garry, I've got 2 Chescolds. One is a fridge about 16yo and has given me no trouble in all that time. The other is a 4yo fridge/freezer of about 40 litres and is just as good. I'm very happy with them but their cooling abilities depend directly on the ambient temp' of the day eg they easily cope on cold days, cope on hot days and struggle on very hot days. The following are some observations I have made on them.
They won't work if shaken up eg sitting in the back of a car all day over rough roads.
Make a frame for the thing to sit on. This gives air circulation to all 6 sides.
Keep it in the shade.
Keep the coil free from dust etc.
Use a power feed cable that is EASILY capable of providing maximum voltage.
Open it as least many times as possible.
The Engle is a great fridge but if you're staying in one place for a long time you will need a lot of batteries to keep it going. The beauty of the Chescold is that so long as you have gas it will keep going. A friend of mine recently sold his Chescold because it couldn't quite cope on the really hot summer days and bought a big Engel. He also bought a 2 stroke mini generator which he uses to charge his aux' battery which all adds up to a lot of money! Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
AnswerID: 6763

Reply By: Peter - Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 at 00:00

Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 at 00:00
Garry. I have a Chescold 39 ltr 3 way fridge freezer, very happy with it. I have it mounted in a metal box on the draw bar of a camper trailer & have used it in temperatures up 39 deg running on gas, not a problem. Although I have the box well ventilated, I guessing you could add at least another 5 deg to the temp inside the box when in the sun. Gas consumption is 375 grams per day according to the brochure. I use 12 volts when travelling, again no problems.
AnswerID: 6765

Reply By: CJ - Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00

Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00
I have a 20 yo 3 way Sadec which has served me very well (do a search on "Sadec" to see how you can improve their performance). Don't know about being affected by vibrations though - there are no moving parts! (but I drive Subaru's so that is not in my equation !!) Both types of frig are affected by high ambient temps, so keeping them cool and well ventilated is important, but comparing one against the other is difficult. Gas consumption is very low so a 9kg bottle would last 'forever'! Perhaps you could run the Engel as a freezer and the 3 way as a frig ?? - or give up beer and eat dry food!
AnswerID: 6772

Follow Up By: Leroy - Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00

Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00
>or give up beer and eat dry food!

Don't be silly CJ!

Leroy
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FollowupID: 3041

Reply By: Grazza - Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00

Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00
I have a 40L Engel (gas) which is about 10 years old. I love the thing! A 9kg gas bottle lasts about 2-3 weeks running constantly (try that with an electric one when camped in the one spot for 3 weeks!), the only problem I have ever had is that it can get too cold, have to keep it turned way down low!
AnswerID: 6773

Follow Up By: Garry - Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00

Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00
Thanks to all who responded. It appears there's little difference. I'll go and check prices.
Regards Garry
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FollowupID: 3042

Reply By: Blackie - Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00

Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00
Garry I'd do a search through the forum on this site there's a wealth of information on this topic....................but it may not convince you one way or the other. In fact you may end up more confused.............probably easier to make up your own mind.
AnswerID: 6780

Reply By: Steve - Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00

Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 at 00:00
Garry why don't you look at the fridges on the market with the Danfoss Compressors in them They are a lot more efficient than the Engels Approx 2.6 amps per hour draw Check out the Evakool fridge with the Fibreglass Icebox. Very Light and with large capacity inside Hope this helps
AnswerID: 6783

Reply By: colin - Sunday, Sep 22, 2002 at 00:00

Sunday, Sep 22, 2002 at 00:00
Hi Garry, have just returned from a month trip, bris, birdsville, lake ayre, yularu, alice, and the plenty, we had 5 vehicles all with fridges,3 gas and 2 with danfoss compressors, one waeco and a exploer. All the gas fridges let there owners down and needed a lot of work to keep them going, they also ranged in age. The wacoe worked alright till we hit the dirt road then failed, the explorer never missed a beat, with a twin battery system and driveing or ideling the motor at 800 revs when staying in one place never had flat batteries. The exploer has a seperate freezer from the fridge and both have their own thermostat so you have contol on how the fridge runs. The size of the fridge was 60 litres which was more than enough for a family of 4, hope this helps Col.
AnswerID: 6826

Follow Up By: Garry - Monday, Sep 23, 2002 at 00:00

Monday, Sep 23, 2002 at 00:00
Thanks to all and once again thanks to Exploroz. I did some back resarch and was astounded to see how much info there was. Saw a most interesting interchange re the Evacool. Have definitely made my mind up and will be sticking to the Engel.

regards Garry.
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FollowupID: 3065

Reply By: Steve - Sunday, Sep 29, 2002 at 00:00

Sunday, Sep 29, 2002 at 00:00
Garry see that you have decided on an Engel Interested to know what the interesting interchange was on the Everkool

Steeve
AnswerID: 7035

Reply By: Garry - Monday, Sep 30, 2002 at 00:00

Monday, Sep 30, 2002 at 00:00
Steve,
followed recommendations and researched archives. Found sufficient evidence to steer me away from the particular fridge you mentioned.

Have a look as there appears to be a lot of derogatory stuff about them. Can't say myself as had no experience but staying with the time proven Engel. In support, when I last went away (2 weeks in NT at + 30 degs and sunny) a mate lent me his. Now something like 12 years old, looked like something the cat dragged in, all rusty and dented, noisy as hell, but worked like a beauty. How can you knock em.

Regards Garry
AnswerID: 7052

Follow Up By: Steve - Tuesday, Oct 01, 2002 at 00:00

Tuesday, Oct 01, 2002 at 00:00
Garry I'm not knocking the Engels they have been around for years with little competition until now I have also checked the archives and after further research found that there was a lot of misinformation and confusion about the Evakools These were apparently the previous fridges marketed by Evakool under the Supakool name not the current model with the Danfoss Compressor as I stated.Any way all the best with your choice Regards Steve
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