Portable Fridges

Hi Traceyc, First you probably need to decide what you will be using the fridge for. Do you really need to keep stuff frozen. Running it as a freezer will use more power so you need to be able to meet the extra power needs when camping. If you buy meat frozen and wrap it in newspaper it will stay frozen in the fridge for quite some time. It really depends on how much time you will spend away from shops ect.. We had the Evacool fridge/freezer and loved it as we could take frozen food into more remote areas. The centre console came out so we could use it as just a fridge when in town. I must say it was nice eating icy poles or ice cream in outback areas on a hot day. This did take some managing though.
You really need to decide on your needs which is determined by where your going and availability of fresh food.
If you buy the fridge/freezer and decide you don't need the freezer you can always run it as a fridge. If you buy the fridge, then decide you need a freezer you have to buy a whole new unit. If price isn't really an issue then go the fridge/freeer.

HNY
Josh

Hi Traceyc.
One of the high priorities you need to consider is what unit weight you can manage. Even empty these units can be quite heavy and some of the freezer/fridge combos quite bulky and definitely needing 2 people to lift.
For some years now my wife and I have used an Engel 40ltr model and mainly as a fridge.
Before we head off we arrange to cryovac and freeze our meat supply and place it in the bottom of the fridge. Newspaper insulation is then placed over the top of the meat and the fridge is set on a predetermined setting that we know will keep the beer and water bottles, placed on top of the newspaper, cold.
(By the way the fridge is already cold before we put any goods therein).
We find that the meat supply can keep for a couple of weeks but this will vary based on outside temperatures and if you are constantly opening the lid.
The way I have described allows the flexibility of a fridge and freezer combination for a limited time but of course you could crank up the tuning to have the unit run solely as the freezer but be aware that such will drain much more power.
Hope this helps.

Peter

His Traceyc,

What I do is vacuum seal and freeze any meat before leaving. Make sure the meat is portioned into meal sizes before sealing. This will last easily 3 weeks in the portable without having to set to freeze.

Cheers Steve.

Yep to the above - cryovaccing meats for a fridge only model makes great sense to me (we used to do that, but have now moved to a van and have a whole new fridge formula). Hand in hand with fridge options goes the method of powering it - generators, solar panels (with regulators) and batteries (*car primary, car auxiliary or separate) all have a place (not in that order of course :-o). *Using the car's main battery presents the danger of flattening it when you least expect it. The good people here at Eoz have an article on Power & Electrics under the Topics Tab in the main menu - worth a read.

Hi Tracey,

We also vacuum pack and freeze our meat, and red meat will keep for over a month with a bit of care. Sure, you need to plan - pack meat into meal sized portions, pack it in a plastic container so that the weight of fridge contents dont burst the vac bag, pack it in the bottom of the fridge etc.

We have done a number of long trips using just a 40l fridge supplemented with an esky just for lunch things. If you remember that a portable fridge needs rather more care and planning compared to your fridge at home you will find that you can get by quite well with a smallish fridge. Also if you are using caravan parks you might be able to use the freezers in the camp kitchen to freeze just bought meat to keep you going over the next stage of your trip.

But before you buy a portable fridge you do need to consider a few things including how much power it will use and how you will provide that power. Our Electricity for camping blog here will help get you started working all that out.

Hope that helps a bit,

Cheers,

Val

In addition to the above brands there are the ARB range. I agree with all of the above advice re fridge management.
Just make sure to leave enough room at the top for the nightly wine or beer which you place in the fridge each morning before you head off!
You can also use a small esky to remove in the morning the food you will cook that night (creating room for your wine/beer to be cooled down)

One advantage of the Waeco and Engel brands is that there are probably more service centres in regional towns than some of the other brands, should you strike problems.
Look up the Topics Tab at the top and you will see there is at least one article on vehicle fridges.
Which brand to buy is almost your LAST consideration.
Issues to be evaluated before you outlay the $1000+ for a fridge, is how are you going to power it? Do you have a second battery?, Are your electrical cables to your cigarette lighter thick enough to allow the fridge to draw adequate power when the engine is off (I don't think any vehicle has thick enough wiring, unless you have a Engel which draws less current when running, but runs for longer).
IF you don't have anything in your vehicle, you can budget on another $1000 for 2nd battery set up and upgraded wiring. Otherwise you will end up with spoilt food and or flat battery in the middle of nowhere
We find a 50L fridge is adequate for a family of 5 for a week when using cryovacced frozen meat.
You don't need to exactly replicate your home style meals when on the road, just be a little inventive with your menu and you will find you don't need as much food needing refrigeration.

One very important thing that has been forgotten is how are you going to power this fridge and seeing your going for 18 days into a remote area what food are you going to take.

What do you want the fridge to do?

About 7 years ago we bought a Bushman car fridge.
We've been across the Simpson, done the Cape and a whole bunch more, with temps ranging up to 40+ and it's never let us down.
If we need to keep stuff frozen, we run the temp at -4 or -5 and the stuff at the bottom of the fridge will stay frozen for weeks. Want to thaw it out, just move stuff to the top of the fridge for the day. Can be set to operate as low as -18 if you require.
My understanding is that a lot of other fridges operate at a temp below ambient, whereas the Bushman runs at a specific selected temp. We've been camping when others have told us that their new fridge can't compete with the heat and the beer is hot. Read the small print on the side of the box before you buy, I've heard stories of warranty claims being rejected because the fridge was being operated in areas with high ambient temperatures.
I have no connection with Bushman, except as a happy owner.
Link: Bushman car fridges

Hi Tracey - here's is what we do.

We have purchased over the years two old 'bomb proof' Engels. One is 30 litre and the other 40 litre, but base size is the same so they are interchangeable. One is mounted in the tow vehicle where it is used for drinks, lunches, shopping, and as our fridge when we camp without the caravan. The other can be used in our caravan under the bed if needed either for extra fridge space or as freezer for long remote trips. We have a small caravan fridge with a next to useless internal freezer box in the caravan. This gives us total flexibility between using one or two, and options of fridge or freezer. All run from solar power.

Motherhen

Tracey try this link
http://www.getawaeco.com.au/products.asp?catId=6

It is the waeco factory seconds web site and they sell slightly damaged stock at reduced prices. The also have a showroom at Burley Heads (Gold Coast) where you can just walk in.

After all it is going to get scratched pretty soon anyway. CF80 is $1100

Another thing that might be worth your while, Tracey, is to Google for The Fridge Shop (a Waeco search also should bring it up) they often have great deals with display models and minor damage. We've had our Waeco 11 years and at the time it was a great discount and we had to look hard for the "damage". they sent it from the Gold Coast to Sydney for $50.

G'day Tracey, go to your local ARB store or 4wd outlet and near you and get them to fit a dual Battery system to your vechicle and get them to fit a Engel plug outlet in the back and put and Engle fridge in the back, you won't go wrong.cheer's GD

Hello Tracey

What a delight it is to find someone who actually responds to the replies given. All to often we get asked a question, the replies come in with little or no response from the person asking.

Thanks for being courteous and enjoy your holiday.

cheers

Hi Traceyc,

When we were looking at fridges like you are now, we put together a pack of empty containers that either held what we were going to use when away, or made up ones to the size of the packaged contents.

Ie milk container, egg carton, butter container, cheese container, small cardboard pieces made thick enough representing meat, vegys etc, decor containers of various sizes for whatever you might use/ consume for meals.
bottle of wine, 1.25lt soft drink, beer in bottles or cans, you get the idea.

Then armed with these in a large bag, I tried the various frigdes for size and how well things stacked together giving importance to frozen things on the bottom, and vegys etc on the top.

Things we found.
Didnt like the "dariy" compartments in some fridges, couldnt put alot there, and it was wasted space for us, others were too deep, and difficult to get to stuff, or things didnt stack well in the baskets provided.
Even when we thougth of using a spacer piece, bottles didnt fit or it would collapse when you removed things from under it etc.
Some were not deep enough for bottles etc.

We looked at engels, waecos, bushmans, cheaper no name ones, but their finish inside the fridge were terrible, no sealed seams, get a leak of meat juices and it would get in behind the fridge wall and stink for ever).
The newer arb ones were not out at that stage.
Tried the evakool's, yellow and white ones, and eventually settled on the 47lt white one.


We liked how we could use it as either all fridge, all freezer, or freezer/ fridge, or just use the divider and have a cooled area just the size we needed, even down to a very small fridge only and use the other area for keeping food/ untensils etc not needing cooling if you know what I mean.

Having spent some months on the road with it now, here are some of our findings.

Its excellent on power usage, we have a 120ah agm battery for it, and would travel for 5+ hrs / day, using it as a fridge/ freezer during this time, we would easily stay for 3 days without charging the battery.

Its also very versatile, and didnt take up alot of space in the back of the car, the lid didnt foul the side of the car when opening, and it was easy to access things needed for meals when it was in the back of the car as it was not on a slide.

We also got one of their 20lt ice box's so what we would do was freeze up 3 1.25lt bottles before we left, and then use the ice box as a crisper with 2 frozen bottles in the base, and use it as a place to keep fresh bread, beer/ sandwiches for lunch , extra supplies if there wasnt room in the fridge for the new bottle of milk as the old one was almost empty, or move out a few beers to make more room in the fridge for food, etc.

Of note, beer put in the ice box the day before was still well chilled, and perfect drinking temp the next day.

Each day we would rotate out a 1.25lt bottle and put it in the freezer, this worked well, even in 36deg temps, and never had the bottles defrost to water, or spoiled food.
It gave us alot more room to move as we settled into exactly what we did and didnt need, and this can change on each trip too.

Have also used it as mentioned as a small fridge, only using the freezer section on low for a very power efficient fridge, the rest of the fridge space was used for packing things not needing to be kept cool.

Excellent for a day out picknick if you get the idea.

Also we live out of town, so we use it for keeping the shopping cool on the way home, excellent as all fridge, keep the meat by the evaporator plate (cool bit) and vegys at the other end so they dont freeze.

hope this helps you in your quest for the fridge that best suits your needs.

Trains