90 litre to 150 litre fridge gas consumption comparrison

Submitted: Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 14:10

ThreadID: 70139 Views:9436 Replies:4 FollowUps:4

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Portable Fridges

The debate over which fridge is the best on the market is one of the most contested discussions in the camping recreation. In this article we look at the range of features and the major issues to

didiaust

Yes another fridge question

I have to convince the better half to get a 150 litre fridge in our next van but I need to be prepared for the argument that the 150 uses too much gas

Can anyone of you engineering gurus give me a game park figure of how long each might last on a 9kg bottle. I would not be running any other appliance off the bottle

Di

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Reply By: paulnsw - Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 15:46

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 15:46

nobody in their right mind would fit a 90l fridge in place of a 150l.
90l is not tropical rated and drop the bundle at 30c. Dometic 150l is tropical rated. All Thetford fridges are rubbish and not tropical rated for refrigeration and drop the bundle at 28c
gas consumption depends on operating ambient temperature. 9kg bottle lasts aprox 16 days.

AnswerID: 371804

Follow Up By: didiaust - Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 16:03

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 16:03

Thanks Paul

If we get a new van we can ask for a larger fridge ( at a cost) or we can settle for a 90 litre

If we buy a second hand van I was deciding whether to hold out for a larger fridge

So I need to avoid the Thetford fridge

Also is the 16 days for the smaller or bigger fridge

I am sorry to sound so ignorant

Di

FollowupID: 639097

Follow Up By: paulnsw - Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 16:30

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 16:30

Di cost of gas in the scheme of things is not worth bothering about when you are free camping.
The Dometic 120l and 150l are both tropical rated and work well if installed correctly.
16 days would be for the bigger fridge.

I would not recommend you buy a caravan with anything less than a 120L or 150l Dometic tropical rated fridge. Smaller fridges dont hold enough and crash after 30c and will not keep the food cold enough to Australian standards.

You need to avoid a Thetford fridge like you would a black plague.

FollowupID: 639101

Reply By: Member - barry F (NSW) - Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 18:11

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 18:11

Di this might help, but you will need to put your own figures in. Most gas appliances have a Mega joule rating, which is how many MJ are used per hour at Max output. firstly find out how many MJ per how your Frig is rated at.

A 9 Kg cylinder of gas contains 500 Mega joules. Divide the appliance hourly usage into the 500 which will equal the hours you will get out of your cylinder if the appliance is running flat out all the time. Hope that helps. Cheers

AnswerID: 371830

Follow Up By: didiaust - Friday, Jun 26, 2009 at 06:31

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 at 06:31

Thanks Barry

I will show His Lordship this

Di

FollowupID: 639181

Reply By: Member - Matt & Caz H (QLD) - Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 21:47

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 at 21:47

Hi Di,

We LIVE in our van we have a fridge freezer (154 or 185 litre - have to read the book again!!!) we have discovered that when free camping and running fridge and oven/gas top gas hot water ect we get approx 2.5 weeks out of a 9kg bottle (remember we are travelling with 2 kids who open the fridge 6 million times a day!!!)

Hope this helps

Cheers

AnswerID: 371867

Follow Up By: didiaust - Friday, Jun 26, 2009 at 06:30

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 at 06:30

WOW !!! Thanks for this

This is the kind of language I can use to sell my case should the imatter of gas consumption become an issue.

Our old (20years) fridge uses a bottle every 3 weeks and we don't run anything else.

We need to be able get 3 to 4 weeks without having to chase gas

Thanks

Di

FollowupID: 639180

Reply By: Member - Heather G (NSW) - Friday, Jun 26, 2009 at 08:59

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 at 08:59

Hi Di,

We have a 184litre Dometic two door fridge/freezer and when unpowered and using gas for stove, oven and hot water it uses a 9kg bottle every 11 or 12 days. We are a couple and only turn the hot water on for around 25 minutes once every couple of days for showers but I do use the oven and gas burners quite a bit, and we boil water in a billy for washing up, and all over wash on alternate days when we are conserving water.
When we are using 240 we dont have to change the bottle over for many weeks - maybe 6, not sure.

Why not just buy and fit a second gas bottle then you dont have to worry about running out. It is not a big cost compared to fuel used on a trip.

I could not live without my big fridge/freezer and it is usually as full as we can pack it as it travels better. It is one of the reasons we bought this van. Keeps the fridge well under the 4 degrees on 3 or 4 setting even when the outside temp is in the 30's.

Hope this helps you.

Heather