Waeco TC-32 fridge/cooler

Submitted: Monday, Sep 01, 2003 at 22:44
ThreadID: 6972 Views:18133 Replies:4 FollowUps:0
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Has anyone had any experience with the Waeco Tropicool Classic range of coolers, and do they keep food cold?

On the spec sheets it states that it cools to 30*C below the ambient temperature, and can heat to 60*C.

Considering the temperatures dont regularly exceed 35*C where we travel, I thought this might be appropriate to keep food >5*C.

Another advantage of this model over the Waeco CF-35 (equivelant size) is that it is $520 cheaper.

The link to the website is as follows:

http://www.waeco.com.au/tc32.html

Thanks for your help

Brett
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Reply By: Hughesy - Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003 at 06:39

Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003 at 06:39
Brett the only thing wrong with those models is that they don't actually have a compressor as such (correct me if i'm wrong) and use Eutectic's (spelling???). For it to work it runs all the time (doesn't cut in or out like a compressor unit) and hence would chew your battery down faster than a starving dog in a butcher shop. But that might be ok for you. Good luck.
Cheers,
Hughesy
AnswerID: 29855

Reply By: Steve L - Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003 at 08:01

Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003 at 08:01
Brett,

We have both a Waeco fridge/freezer (CCF-40) and a Tropicool Classic 8 litre (or is it 7?). We use the smaller one to keep drinks, etc., cool on a daily basis while everything else is frozen in the big unit.

We've found that it cools up to around 30 degrees below ambient, but only to a minimum of 4 degrees (so if the ambient temp is 22 degrees you only get 18 degrees of cooling), but that's perfect for cooling, etc. 've also found the heating works well too - I had a bad back on one daytrip and set it to heat with a heat pack in it as I left Sydney, by the time I was at Lithgow the pack was hot enough to use!

As stated above, it doesn't have a compressor, so it doesn't cool as effectively (or freeze!). And the power drain is significantly higher than the CF units (I remember to turn it off overnight even with dual batteries).

Hope this helps - we have had no problems with either unit.

Steve
AnswerID: 29858

Reply By: Shaun - Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003 at 21:32

Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003 at 21:32
Brett I have one and have found it pretty good. One thing that I noticed is that you are best running it for a couple of hours before you throw stuff in so it gets a chance to cool, otherwise it will take a while to get down to temp. I got mine 'cause it was heaps cheaper - had it for @ 4 years and use it regularly camping and had no problems.
AnswerID: 29939

Reply By: Terry - Thursday, Sep 04, 2003 at 22:27

Thursday, Sep 04, 2003 at 22:27
Brett

I'm sure the Tropicool is a peltier cooling system, it works by running a current over to dis-similar metals, the current one way removes heat (cooling) reversing the current adds heat. because its a resistor type setup it _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx a lot of energy to work, thats why you don't get larger units for motor vehicles. You are also limited by the ambient temperature level, hot days inside a car would test its cooling ability.
AnswerID: 30158

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