fridge

I don't know if a suspension base would solve the problem, but without it I can tell you that aluminium cans wear through, glass breaks, and forget about eggs.Bob

For the engel/ARB's yep, advisable.

You can get away wthout them for the Waeco/Evacools, because of the way the compressors are mounted.

My Engel sits behind the passenger seat and runs fore and aft with the motor towards the rear, cans, eggs and what ever else you want to put in there travel quite ok on trips to the Cape, Vic Alps and everywhere else the GU has been.

A good vehicle suspension set up improves the ride negating the need for a spring base under the fridge.

I have a waeco in the back of an 80 series, with very good after market suspension. Long distance corrugated roads, etc, is my bag.
No problems at all with cans or glass. I put eggs in a plastic egg pack (cheap at caravan accessory shops). I agree that suspension is most of the issue.

Spring bases are a thing from the past - leaf sprung vehicles etc. No probs with coil sprung vehicles.

Best solution with beer cans and corrugations is to buy Coopers Draught or Light - comes with shrink wrap around each 6 pack.

Phil

Tim,

We've had two Engels over 12 years, have never used a suspension base or similar and have NEVER had any problems with breakages or cans wearing through. Our fridge is placed straight in the back of the wagon and tied down (two of our early 4WD's where SWB Landcruisers and as far as their suspension went, believe me, we felt every bump and corregation magnified). When carrying eggs I place a couple of good strong elastic bands around the carton before putting it in the fridge.

IMHO, the biggest issue is how you pack the fridge. Throw everything in loosely and you'll get a lot of movement (hence rubbing and breakages). Pack the fridge more carefully with minimal spare room and you'll be right (we've had the 21L and now the 40L Engels so there's never much spare room in our fridge). One good tip someone suggested once on this forum is to keep 1 or 2 empty wine bladders and inflate them as required to fill any spare room in the fridge, therefore prevently your foodstuffs from moving around too much.

:o) MelissaPetrol 4.5L GU Patrol &
Camprite TL8 offroad camper

Yeah, the foam is good. You can squeeze it out when the cans have perforated, provided you don't mind a bit of blood from the meat, broken eggs and spilt milk in your beer :-)Bob

Tim,
Mellissa and Phil G are right, modern suspension and pack the fridge tight and you will have no problems. Yhe only time I have had problems is when I was on corrogations and washoutouts and the contents were loosly packed and the milk carton rubbed on the basket wire causing a very small leak. I now travel with and old newspaper on the bottom and well pack the fridge. Never had broken eggs only the rub through.We have so little time to enjoy our land

IMO the spring loaded base is not to stop the tinnies wearing holes in themselves, but rather to give added protection to the refrigeration system.
The engel compressors are hung/mounted differently to the danfoss and the increased springing takes a lot of vibration away from of the refrigerant piping which has a tendency to crack when subjected to too much vibration.
And yes a thick hi density piece of foam should also help in lieu of spring base.Wow! am I cute
If yer ain't fishing, Yer ain't livin
Richard

We recently went the Cape and had Diet Coke (no beer) in the fridge. There was a bit of rubbing of the aluminium cans if I didnt pack the properly which happens when you go away with me. Murphys law of always wanting something out of the bottom just after you have packed it all away always hits and I end up thowing it all back in. LOL I dont think a suspension base for the fridge would help that a great deal. I use some foam under my 80 litre engel on the slide anyway because the dopes have the plug too low on the to clear the slide anyway!
The other thing I found useful was a block of foam rubber that I cut into strips about 4cm square and about 15cm long that I could use to stuff down around things to keep them from shaking about.
Had a fun trip to Chambers pillar one day and had about a dozen cans of diet coke going off by the time we got there. Lucky it wasnt beer or we would have had to stay the night. LOL. As it was, every tree on the way out got watered. LOL.
Andrew

I've been using the packing that it was sitting on in the box it came in for a couple of years and so far so good.

This might sound a bit boring but we do not carry beer, coke, cans of drink or eggs in the fridge. The Engel fridge sits in its jacket on MDF and is not tied down. It is however built in and is surrounded by more MDF board so it can't move around much. My truck has an ancient rigid suspension and the fridge sits over the rear axle. Never had any problems even on corrugated roads. But I do drive a lot slower that most of you fellas and sheilas..............
Cheers
WillieNever a dull moment

Tim my poor old engel sits on a home made slide and is bolted to it . Its done plenty of trips and to date we have not had a problem with it . We had a fellow with us last year and he wraped each can in half a sheet of news paper then put in the fridge. Just a thought.
All the best
Eric
4x4 tag along adventures.Cape York Connections