evakool fridge/freezers

reliabilty to the extreme :)

There's no doubt they are reliable but economical?? Come on give me a break! 40 Litire Supercheap compressor fridge $299 on special or $400 normal retail, Waeco $850, the new repco brands are $600-700 and Engel $1200.

........... and Autofridge $1800!

If you amortise the difference over the life of the fridge, it is peanuts.

I was happy to pay $1200 for a fridge where the reliabilty was second to none. I've given myself the least chance of this thing breaking down in the bush. In fact I'd pay double for a cold drink in the bush when it's 40ºC. I'm sure the old bushmen would have too if they'd had that option.

I have one ,the original compressor failed and was replaced, later the electronic box failed $500 to me,but was then given 2 year warrenty,

The idea of a small freezer and larger fridge is great for me no more frozen vegies BUT do not think that you can use all the fridge as a freezer by removing the partition in my case the fridge is totally incapable of this.To me this suggests the other major brands that can totally freeze everything must therefore have much greater cooling/freezing capacity.

As for reliability in my view all the major brands are unreliable it really is a lottery,just ask any repairer how many he fixes in a year.When i put mine in for repair at silverwater the workshop was innundated with fridges of many types in for repairs.

I feel that it should be said that essentially these fridgesare not financially viable to repair eg quote from everkool may 05 "normal price to replace a compressor is around the $900 mark"
Next time i will look at trailblazer etc.

Derek,

Do you have a price list for the evakools 50L - 100L

Cheers
freezer

Full Range is available.

You will need to contact me outside the forum.

Regards Derek.

AKKA DAKKA
Yeah was, but as i said in the thread about the down under, I was all go friday, but after doing some research, discovered they are the same as reefer fridges, just different badges, which are the same as Ruey Shing. I think you told me that. But after reading some old forums on fridges, i discovered that in a review of 10 or so fridges by 4WD Monthly Mag the Reefer fridges rated the worst by a mile when it came to power usage on 12V. How much weight that reveiw holds is debateable, but it was enough to dampen my enthuisiam to just run out and buy it(albiet the great price)
So now i am scratching my head even harder than i was when i first started. These things are so damn dear, you gotta wonder how they justify the prices of them. That in mind if you are gonna get one, I would rather be 100% about my purcase.

Freezer

But the Reefer fridges they tested was'nt the Ruey Shing models it was the inverter/rotary compressor models they make themself,why they never submitted a RueyShing model i will never know!! i have no doubts it would of come out on top!

That's true Freezer, the Reefer rotary models are power pigs but they are a different fridge.

Go get it and good luck.

Mad dog and ACDC

You two guys definately are the biggest supporters of these fridges, I wish there were more people giving the downunder fridges such a wrap, it would make my decision easier.
Do either of you guys have a link to that survey so i can give it a read?
Cheers
Freezer

I'm an Engel man actually Freezer but I give anything a fair go. What is disapointing me at the moment is all the Waeco problems. I'm not aware of that report being on the web.

Really, if you can scrape together a few more dollars or wait a bit longer the Engel is the way to go.

I don't know of the report on the web,the copy of 4wd monthly i had with the report i sent to RueyShing for them to look at.

I agree with mad dog there seems to be a lot of Waecoo faults cropping up on this site.

ACDC

So your a Reefer man, you sell them (not it) So can you give me reasons why these downunder/reefer fridges are better than a waeco or evakool or even Engel. I would be very interested in your reply.

After closer inspection after going back to repco, i noticed the moulding is not fibreglass like i had thought, but plastic (poly carbonate) a bit iffy on that one. Everkool has same compressor, fibreglass mould, which i thought would be a better insulator.

more efficient evaporator. stainless steel and copper.
easier to clean stainless and no smells.
fridge contents can't rub through causing leaks.
poly carbonate unbreakable! does'nt crack or rust.
more insulation than most.
lids don't buckle.
strong handles to tie down with.
no gimmicky electronics that pack up!
Danfoss compressor any fridge mechanic can fix!
low power consumption!!
fan cooled condenser.
Don't need a insulation bag!!

GEG
Which fridge are you talking about ?

Autofridge I think you're talking about, around $1800

All the info is here

http://www.quirks.com.au/autofrdg.htm

Auto fridge hey,
heard a bit about them, very expensive. For the supa hardcore campers. For that price it would want to mix your drinks as well. No doubt must be a good unit though, people are buying them. Bit to dear for me. The evakool is very similiar minus the liquid behind the walls and the spring housed compressor

sorry I cannot remember the name of the fridge/esky. I think it was a gold or yellow color. A lot of my friends have them, but if you go to an ARB shop they will have them. I know it wasnt a WAECO, and I didnt think it was called an autofridge...too dear for me too, but one day I would really like to have one. Much better to have your fridge needing to drain your car battery for 3 to 4 hours a day than all day like the cheaper versions...

In the meantime, dry ice is cool...