Re: Bushman 12v fridge

Had one for 3 or 4 years and swear by it. Originally got it because of an article in a mag where they did comparo's. They put fridges in a room with 50 deg celcius ambient temps and tested the drop in temp inside the fridges and also did power consumption tests.
The Bushman equalled the best performers but had slightly less amp draw in achieving the results.
I took it to the V8 races recently in the back of my XR8 ute and turned down to 1 dgree for icy cold drinks it ran for 8.5 hrs and when I went to start the ute you wouldnt have even known it was connected. (fridge was already up to temp when engine shut down)
The same fridge has been around OZ twice and done numerous weekenders and the annual trip to the fish markets at xmas. If it ever stops it would be the batteries 2X AA to run the LCD only replaced mine 9mths ago but they recommend to replace every 12mths and only use alkaline.

Pay heaps less than the other too often complained about fridges and go for it.

Pete

I have had one for 3 years .

It worked very well for the first 24 months then I had an intermittent problem.

It got worst while in NT.

Got back to NSW and it just would not cool even with a new cord from the agent. ( Power ok checked with multi meter and power switch was on.)

Rang the agent and did not receive a reply after 8 days. Rang again and I was advised that if I wanted to drop it of on a saturday the wife would meet me on the road and pick it up.

Just needed to give her a ring when I got close.

I rang the mobile on the way down and on the way back and only got a message bank.

Rang on the Monday and told the agent the problem, all he could say is she must have beed at netball with the kids.

Get referees from who ever you buy it from and check their after sales service.

Havin said all that most people appear not to have a problem with bushman and they don't draw a great deal of power.

Regards Bob

Hi Pete

I bought one 2nd hand about 2 years ago. It had been round Aus. It now lives in the back of the Pajero. I have found it to be excellent. You just set the temp you want and forget. I have found while running it _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx about 4 amps. In summer conditions it will run about 12 hrs in 48. That works out to 24 amp hours a day with normal usage set at 3 degrees. I recently spoke to the sales rep at the Brisbane caravan show and he said replacement control panel were about $75. I have found that if the fridge is in the sun the lcd display will go blank, but that is easily fixed by placing a piece of paper over the lcd to protect it from the sun. Overall I am quite happy with it and would buy another. The wire trays in it are handy when filling the fridge as you just take them to your house fridge for filling as apposed to the whole thing. I also have used a trailblazer and chescold 3 way and although they are both excellent fridges I find the bushman the easiest to use, mainly because of the digital set and forget and the wire basket.

regards Kc

G'day Pete,
We've had a Bushman for 7 Years & the only problems we had were early days up at Darwin I had to hard wire the connection to the fridge as the humidity seemed to effect the plug in contacts.
We also had the board replaced after our Darwin trip and no trouble since.
Our fridge has travelled most of Australia including desert country, badly corrugated roads etc and has not missed a beat
Good Luck

I've had one for about 9 months bought brand new. About a year ago, they changed the compressor over from the Danfoss (used in the Waecos) to the ACC GD30FDC which is supposed to have an even lower power draw. I get about 72 hours of use when set at 3 degrees and running off a 65 A/H battery.

The original one I bought developed a strange noise when the fan was running, and it died on me after about 2 weeks and Clem, the owner, swapped it for a new one no questions asked, so I my after sales experience has been quite positive. One minor thing with mine is that the rubber feet have unscrewed themselves and I've lost a couple of them as a result.

Thanks for the comments people, I bought it today. . . .