Chescold RC1180 advice
Submitted: Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 10:09
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41187
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75Troopy
Hi guys,
Firstly wanted to say thanks for the wealth of knowledge i've gained by reading through these forums for the last week or two. Unfortunately that and Google haven't been enough to answer my question..... For all of those rolling there eyes at yet another Fridge thread.. i am sorry...
So some background.
Typically we go camping and stay in one place for a week or so... I have been using a large Tropical cooler with 10 x 2L frozen milk bottles to keep it cool. I limit the kids to opening it only a few times during the day.. but even so after 5 days its really not much good.
After all the reading the ultimate solution would be an AGM second battery combined with 80-120W of Solar.. unfortunately the wife just won't let me spend the $3K at the moment :-) (She doesn't come camping with me and the 3 kids..) Also the camping spots around here are typically in forests ie surrounded by trees.. so not sure if the shade would stop the solar working...
So, been looking very closely at the Chescold RC1180, I'm a little concerned if its going to be able to handle the temperatures. I live in
Canberra and we regularly get days over 35c and up to 40c.... I don't really need it as a freezer, but i was hoping to be able to add beer and drinks as we went along. So my thought was remove the divider and use the extra cooling power and make it one large fridge.
So far the info I am reading seems to contradict itself.. some people saying if you remove the divider it freezes things even in the Simpson, others saying if you add warm drinks then it pretty much fails.
I'm suspicious that the variance comes from people who owned the older models v's new ones... Would a love to hear from some people who own one of the newer models for there opinion on whether it would be up to the task..
Thanks kindly.
PS I've already bought the bulls eye level for it :-)
Reply By: pixiemops - Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 16:35
Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 16:35
Hi 75troopy (re-posted with a bit extra from post 41109)
I already own the finch fridge and only last friday decided to buy the rc 1180. Have been very pleased with the finch fridge but wanted to spoil myself . Today in
Perth the forecast temperature was 36 degrees so decided to do some testing on the fridge to see if it is O.K.
I too googled to try and find something about what kind of performance I should expect from the fridge. This way I could compare to
check I haven't got a dud etc. I couldn't find what I was looking for so set up the fridge in the garage and put in my two way in/out digital thermometer to try and get some readings.
I did have the fridge on overnight then by the time I got to the garage and set up the gas bottle and thermometer the temperature inside the freezer bit was -6.9 and the outside temperature was 32.2 deg.
Just now a good 3-4 hours at 2.06pm the outside temp according to my thermometer was 36.3deg and inside the freezer bit of the rc-1180 it was minus 10.9deg. As it is so hot
well we dont get much hotter here in
Perth I seem to think that that sort of performance seems o.k. Intend to ring up a repairer over here just to
check as I have know idea if that is good bad or otherwise.That is 47.2 below ambient. Would like to hear if anyone does know what to expect re- temperatures.
I left the fridge on overnight on 240v without the divider and in the morning the temperature was reading minus 10deg.(ambient of around 25deg i think). Feel it would make a great big fridge as long as you Turn it down a bit. Reckon if you first put warm drinks in the freezer bit and then later put them out into the fridge bit should knock the temp of them down pretty effectively .
Cheers and good luck with whatever you decide.
AnswerID:
215245
Follow Up By: Gronk - Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 17:04
Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 17:04
That was probably a fairly good
test, but what about repeating it with the fridge outside under a tarp to simulate an awning of a tent ?? You may find the outside temp a little higher than inside a garage ??
I have a little Finch fridge ( 36ltr ) which performed pretty good over chrissy, but even with the thermostat up to max, the beers, while cold, weren't icy cold, and if you wanted to add some warm beers it would take 6 or more hrs to get them down to a cold temp, so adding them at night before going to bed was the go.
But it's not big enough for a good nights drinking, so a Waeco or similar will probably be the go for me !
Have a friend with a rc1180 and while it peforms very
well ( keeps everything a lot colder than my Finch ) I'm not sure it is suitable for stop start type camping that I will do. That is ; maybe drive around all day ( 4x4 thrown in as
well ) then stop somewhere for the night ( and not take the fridge out of the 4x4 ) then pack up in the morning and head off again ??
If the only camping I did was to go somewhere and setup
camp for the week then a 3 way would suit me fine.
FollowupID:
475540
Reply By: Mike Harding - Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 17:40
Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 at 17:40
Go with the Chescold.
I have owned a Finch for a few years and am very happy with it for my style of camping which, like yours, is generally staying in one spot for some days or even weeks. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is the optimum solution unless one is prepared to buy a good sized battery and large solar panels or a generator in addition to the $1000 or so for the fridge.
About one year ago, iirc, I asked a similar question on this
forum and received many informative answers from people who own the modern Chescolds, I was specifically interested in their ability to freeze in high temperatures (~30+C). This was the post:
Site Link
Post 30140 if the link won't work.
I think it will confirm your decision - I haven't upgraded yet (mainly because of space reasons in the vehicle and I'm finding it hard to justify $1k for a better fridge) but probably shall this year.
Let us know what you do and how the solution works for you please.
Mike harding
AnswerID:
215254