Thermoelectric portable fridges

No idea Ines, as we have 30 and 40 litre Engels, so one can stay in the car for lunches and drinks, and the other under the bed - last trip used for fruit and veg and storing additional milk. I plan to use this as a freezer next time.

What size is your caravan fridge and what size freezer? If you are looking for a cheaper way to keep veges cool, and you have enough freezer space to freeze a two or three litre juice bottle of water, just get an esky, and put and exchange the bottle with one from the freezer each morning.

Motherhen

They are very heavy on batteries (about 6 amps continuous),my Waeco 32ltr will get to 0deg on a good day and works easier with a ice block as well. They do work well with a 240v adapter. B

I had something like that years ago and it didn't last long...but I was using it to keep the drinks cold and it just didn't work and it was very thirsty and drew allot of power

I have a ~10 litre thermo-electric for keeping cold cans cold. I use my Engels to cool the cans but, as its behind a cargo barrier, cannot access it while driving. The thermo-electric only runs when the vehicle motor is on as the power draw is too high IMHO to leave on all the time.

I reckon its easier to use than an esky and ice blocks when all I want to do is have a few cold things available while driving (car air-con keeps vehicle at ~25C). But if you want to cool and store things then perhaps you would be better off with an Engels (or equivalent).

Cheers

Captain

Hi ines.I have the 32ltre Waeco as well and find it very good all round,especially when travelling. I did forget to turn it off one night and it flattened an 04 Prado V6 battery overnight. I have since fitted a low voltage cut out plug to aviod any more flat batteries. Something like this on eBay. Item number: 390035684332 Regards,Bob.

I have tried many Thermo electric coolers and nbeen really dissapointed.

However I recently got one of these Waeco Soft body cooler as a shopping bag and was pleasently surprised. It performs quite well as Peltier devices go, and it is easy to place in the back seat around other stuff. In my case it sits on the floor snugly. At about $110 it is not a bad price. OF course it is no substitute for a fridge but its a great in vehicle cooler. It even gets stuff cool whcih is a feat no other thermo has achieved properly.

Pulled fridge pans around the traps one or twice, 5 degrees is around the mark for keeping fruit and veg.

Everything willl keep for awhile, you just have to work it out.

Green tomatos/spuds/carrots/freeze dryed peas and beans

As others have said , very heavy on power , 6 to 12 amp draw constantly , waste of time trying to cool /chill ,best use is only put already cold items in , best systems still only manage 20/30c below ambient so useless in summer unless your from the old dart and like warm beer ,,, better off with a decent esky and make your own ice in the fridge you already have , ,,, Waeco now make a good esky or a Evercool / Bailey,s ect if cannot justify cost of another compressor type fridge.

G'day Ines

While I agree these fridges are power hungry the one I have will freeze everything, so on a long trip I turn it off overnight and wrap a blanket over it for insulation and the contents are still frozen in the morning. Frozen OJ for brekkie is great in the summer but I've had strange looks when I've warmed (melted) it on the fire for breakfast!! LOL Frozen milk on weetbix is not much chop either!

Sorry, don't know the brand, think it was a no-name but I've had it for around 25 years and it's still going strong...rotten thing will cark it now I've said that! Originally it was bought to keep lunches/drinks cool in the boat and since then it's done lots of camping trips all over the country. I've also got an AC pack which makes it even more usable but I would buy another one in a heartbeat. BTW, I also have an Engel which is used as a freezer and the thermo as daily fridge as well as the fridge/freezer in the van, so plenty of options.

Hope this helps?
Bronwyn ;-)

Don't do it. An esky with ice packs or even a soft sided chiller bag or maybe a small compressor fridge would be my favoured options.

I had one of these thermo thingies. Flattened my aux battery way too many times.

Even if we put frozen stuff in it. They would stay frozen a day or two then slowly defrost and be warmish after 3 days. YUK