Fridge/Freezer or Fridge only.

Hi there i have the 57l engel combo it work great, i have had other engels in the past and i am glad i went this way this time. You would be amazed at what the freezer gets used for. I thought i woundnt use it much but it comes in handy
good luck

Personally and after having experience with both I would suggest to go slightly larger and opt for the fridge/freezer combination.

Don't be fooled into believing that it is ideal; depending on your settings and the ambient temprature some fridge items may become icy/frozen and/or some freezer items may not stay frozen

Having said that it is nice for us (family of 5) to be able to pack the freezer section at home with good meat, fish, pre-prepared foods etc. when we set off on a bush trek.

Afer the first week the freezer section obviously becomes less full and we use the remaining section for quicker cooling of drinks and beers. Then as the freezer becomes empty we change the setting to have one big fridge and use the extra room for packing things that doesn't realy need to be in the fridge but benifit from being in, such as fruit, veg, bread, etc.

Without the freezer section we simply won't eat as good as we do, and we last longer between supplies

Hope this helps!

CJ

From what you have said you definitely don’t need a freezer! Just go the fridge. Re your meat, as you know getting stuff vac packed is the way to go, most butchers will do this for you. How long will it last? Chicken(marinated) 10 days max kept real cold, steaks(get boneless), 6 weeks kept cold. Keep at the bottom and try not to put warm stuff directly on top, i.e. contacting with the meat. Just try not to freeze it, we keep ours in a big Tupperware container, this allows for SLIGHT errors in your temps, won’t freeze real quick nor warm up to quick being a large mass. Don’t freeze your vac packed stuff unless near it used by, why some plonkers do this is beyond me??
Have you considered where you are going to put your beer.................................
Surely a dedicated fridge is needed for this essential in life ?
Cheers Lyndon

I have a Trak Shak and I use a 60l Engel.

Works well for our family of 4, although I am looking to get a 32 or 40l Engel to use for those shorter trip when we go without the Trak Shak.


Cheers Kev

HI portlester,
When we had the 3 kids travelling with us we cryo vacced a lot of our food and used our Bushman fridge as a fridge/freezer.
For general use we used a small engel fridge that we filled every morning with the drinks and food that we would use during the day.
That meant we didnt have to keep going to the big fridge all the time so the fridge didnt have to work as hard.
I know not exactly a answer to your question but maybe another avenue for thought.
Will

Are you "handy"?
Building your own is not so hard. Buy evaporator and compressor seperately and build a box.
We have a front opening 130L fridge ONLY plus a chest 28L freezer ONLY.
Both have remote Danfoss compressors and extra insulation to reduce duty cycle.
The DIY freezer has 150mm of urethane insulation and runs at around -15C. Frozen stuff is put into the fridge to thaw.
Doing DIY allows any size/shape you want. Could be under the floor?

Cheers,
Peter

ever been really thirsty and all your beer is frozen :(

using a fridge as a freezer uses a lot of power.

have travelled around oz since mid '80's and have migrated from a gas fridge to a compressor fridge.
all are pretty easy to work with. you just need to plan a little more with the gas fridge.
also cryovac is your friend :)

If height is not an issue, you could buy a Twozone adapter to fit your 40 litre Engel.

Simple as removing the lid, installing the Twozone, which has no top or bottom, then placing the lid on top. The twozone is secured with original clamps.

You basically run the Engel on a low setting which gives a freezer section at the bottom and a fridge on top, or just one big fridge.

As we have no rug rats to cater for, we do not need a freezer.
Just the 40 litre Engel suits us and is a lot kinder on battery draw.


Bill.

We have an evakool 47lt, and have used it as a small fridge, using freezer section only on low, fridge for whole compartment, and fridge freezer.
Once down to temp, it used 2.4amps/hr as freezer/ fridge, and we used it in this configuration for a month on the road, and really enjoyed the versatility it gave us.
Also had a 20lt icecool ice box as well, used as a crisper, and we rotated a 1.25ltr bottle of frozen water from the freezer section to the icecool esky every 2nd or 3rd day.
Even cold beers from the night before, left in the iceool for a day or 2 were still perfectly chilled.

Trains

The 60lt uses about 0.5 amp/hr more than the smaller one.

Some questions back to you , do you and your kids like ice cream ? Do you fish ? How much battery power and recharge capabillity do you have ? If only 1 unit what do you do if /when it plays up ? 2 units use more power ? yet are more versatile , long trips use both - short trip only need 1 ect , Nothing beats ice in your scotch at the end of a long day.

Hi.
Do not under any circumstances but Waeco fridges.
We saw 2 of them crushed with a steel bar and another rapped around a tree on the Gary Junction track 5 months ago. They will not freeze above the 26th para.
They are rubbish when up North.
We use an 80 ltr or a 40 ltr engel on what ever trip we go on. The 80ltr gives us a 35ltr freezer in it. It allows us to freeze 8 or 9 prepared meals before we leave.
I have had engles for 20 years. They are the only fridge that will work on their side or upside down.
Cheers
Hacka

Thanks guys for your thoughts.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) with such a big family it means compromises.

We have a vacuum sealer and on our trips up to now have always vacuum sealed our meat. With the kids growing I'm guessing we will only need more room (for both food and clothes etc).

So my thoughts were leaning towards moving from the 40L Engel to the 60L and staying with the fridge only option. A fridge & freezer option would be nice, but the one 60L seems to be the best fit. Which also brings the downside of (usually) the beer missing out on a spot in the fridge.

Thanks again.

Portlester,
I think you have worked it out. Apart from our van fridge, I have 2 x 40 litre Engels, which is great for us. Lots of versatility and redundancy. Often both on freeze. Currently one freeze, one fridge. Recently, one broke down, the other was still in service during repairs. Just under 3 years old and fixed under warranty.

But for you, one bigger fridge is the go, I think. You will appreciate it with your tribe - must be great fun camping.

As for brand, Evakool are good, probably the best insulation around but the extra insulation makes it bigger. Compromise again - life is full of them. Engel have been good for us. We spend a lot of time in NT and on freeze, they hold around -14 degrees very well. In Tas at the moment, and -22 is easy -LOL.

Depends which compromise fits your circumstances best.

Norm C

I use an Explorer DC65 on my trayback. It is a big unit and would not suit everyone.

It has 42 litres of fridge and 23 litres of freezer. There are larger models in the range as well.

I considered getting two fridges, one as a fridge, the second as a freezer but in the end found the Explorer and also the Trailblaza units met my other requirements for reliability and ruggedness so well that earlier ideas were abandoned.

Advantages of the Explorer are that it works and keeps working. Direct sun on a hot January day - works no worries. Does not need an insulating blanket like some lesser brands do. In fact such extra insulation cannot be used. The fridge is a fridge. The top section of the fridge is still a fridge. Some lesser brands do not cool the top portion of the fridge effectively. The freezer works as a freezer, yeah actually works.

Why I wanted a freezer section (in the end) was that many small towns sell meat already frozen. Frozen meat is better put into a freezer than a fridge until shortly before it will be used. The type of holiday travel I do is mainly through the smaller and more remote places where frozen meat is common so a freezer section is useful. Storage of ice cream is not of much nterest to me.

I did not even consider the Engel at any point as they are known to be a noisier unit than those with Danfoss compressors and as I would sometimes sleep near it I wanted it quiet. I am familiar with Waeco as I own one and use it as a car fridge. When it came time to getting a serious expedition fridge I looked elsewhere.

Flynnie