Engel Insulation

If working as freezer ~ can be cold

If its cold on the outside wouldn't that mean the insulation is not good enough.

Thats exactly why I'm wondering if it can be improved upon?

I'll look on with interest as the outside of the lid of mine feels cold.

G'day TerraFirma,

I also have a couple of weacos and made a couple covers from some material that is about 1 cm of dense foam and covered with foil (got it from bunnings). I think that if you are looking to get the longest life out of your battery (seems there are a lot of posts on this subject) it pays to reduce the ambient temperature as well, I do this with a window fan. So with the tinnie on top to act as a tropical roof the 2 weacos (1 freezer and 1 fridge) have worked well on our 70 AMP AGM battery. We travelled 3 months in the tropics like this without a problem.

The insulation effect of this stuff was evident when you felt the fridge lid it was cold - not hot as expexted when just by itself.

Kind regards

Beatit, maybe it should be a plug for the DEEP CYCLE AGM battery ? ?

G’day Mainey,

Well I’ve read the battery posts over many years and had faced the inevitable questions about modern camping some years before that. I found my AGM setup to be extremely efficient for my purposes. To be fair the battery acts as a power filter most of the time (ie. When it is getting charged from either the genie or mains power) and when no power is available it acts as sole power for the 2 fridges. For this reason I give the fridges the best environment for operation.

I have found the AGM battery can take a hiding and come back quickly when charged. A volt and ammeter keeps me informed of its current status. Personally I can’t understand the fuss about the cranking and deep cycle discussions for my usage. In fact a travelling companion has all the troubles often highlighted on this forum, trying to charge big AMP deep cycles unsuccessfully and getting peeved when the battery finally collapses.

Kind regards

Nebster,

Mine can become cold to touch on outside, which leans me towards thinking it could be improved. Also if I switch it off from fully frozen, it stays cold for a bit, but not like anything you'd measure in days, like some other brands that have been quoted here, it would be a measure of hours.

That said it runs pretty good and I'm not dissapointed in it, but like all refridgeration and ac systems you cannot have too much insulation, hence why I was asking if anyone had perhaps been down this road.

I've not pulled the covers off yet to look, infact dont know how easy/hard that in itself may be, but if I did and found airspace anywhere, I'd be looking at putting exp foam or similar into that area.

The only thing with sticking onto the steel with extra insulation is that it may take on a real daggy appearance and prove difficult to remove if you ever wanted to sell it.

One thing I do notice is that in 40deg heat the top even with bag on can become quite hot just from basic heat soakage from sun, (i try to keep it in shade but you always get it in windows at some point in day) I had decided that next trip I was going to just place on top, one of those windscreen sun reflectors, just folded up suitably to deflect a bit of heat, I think that should be a good simple improvement.

If there are any other ideas out there, lets share them

(although its inevitable that I will get told I need to buy a waereeftrailautoches!)

Rgds

Ron

Same here we couldnt be happier with our fridge either, but like you say more insulation should make it just that bit better. I made the transit bag for ours and it did improve the efficiency of the fridge.

I have tried the windscreen deflector over the top idea and it does work, thats why I am looking at going down the path of sticking this insulation on because apparently it has a alfoil look on the outside.

I dont think it should take on a daggy look, but in saying that some people I know can make anything look daggy. ;)

Might be able to incorporate the insultaion in the transit bag and avoid sticking it on. My only concern with sticking it on is if the fridge sweats.

I also am not looking at selling the fridge either, its taken everything I thrown at it and still going fine.

It has always run 24/7. (24 beers in a carton 24 hours in a day- Coincidence!) LOL

I'll try and catch up with a fridgy mate and ask him what the stuff is called and what its like, or Member No1 or another fridgy might know.

Cheers

1. Even just turning it up in the morning (while driving) and turning it down in the evening (when parked) will help your batteries.

2. The silver stuff that the waeco insulation bag is made of is VERY GOOD at keeping sunlight from heating up the lid of our waeco. When I have forgotten to fold over the top of the fridge cover the lid gets very hot on top.

3. I have often pondered what I could do to make the fridge more efficient and appart from keeping it as cool as possible (out of a hot car) a 12v fan for cooling the motor seems my only option.

Hi Terrafirma,

wasnt in anyway meant to be a waeco engel comparison, that just starts a never ending debate, I was looking for possible Engel owners who may have improved this area.

In answer to your question though, all engels I have seen, except the small shoulder strap models, have all been metal case, and every Waeco I have seen, inc one I owned have all had plastic case.

Ron

Hi Ron, Certainly not chasing a comparison, just curious as to the schools of thought with regards to metal exteriors vs plastic.?

15lt Engle is plastic case ,lid steel.

I find no difference in performance on either power source running in either mode, fridge or freeze, unless of course the battery is almost flat.

Ron

if available room for size of fridge, and costs are not taken into account the thicker the insulation the better....but your sort of right (see post in above thread 31285 where i accidently put it) it just becomes uneconomical to manufacture a domestic fridge/freezer with insulation greater than 50mm considering savings gained from power input, loss of space both inside and out.

most domestic stuff including freezers have a insulation barrier of around 35mm....as they are meant (designed) for indoor use and power is adequate.

But with batteries its a different story.....the benefits gained from using 75mm insulation v 50mm is marginal in our smaller type fridges...but in a bigger fridge it adds up to a far bigger saving....35mm in my opinion is too little for our 12v type fridges....50mm is a lot better...75mm even even better (but it effectiveness does drop away after the initial 50mm, meaning the last 25mm does very little for extra energy savings) and also increases outer volume/decreases inner volume......when one considers the small amount of savings gained.

Thats interesting, you reckon it runs better without it then?

might try that next weekend.

Guess I should just leave it n run with it as is.

The temptation to tinker should be resisted.

Rgds

Ron

Feeling all that hot air trapped between the fridge and cover which was hotter than the ambient temperature was enough for me to pull it off.