Engel Combo (dual zone) Fridge/ freezers

Yes I have been using the 75 Litre for the past three years and have been very happy with the way the fridge has performed. I wrote up a review of it here;

ENGLE COMBO & PLATINUM DROPSLIDE


Cheers Mick

Hi Jock,
We have also had the larger Engel for 3 years and it has been faultless. A recent trip to the Cape we carried 30 cryovaced meals for the 2 of us in the freezer section. The only drawback with the unit is that it takes up a lot of room in the back of the 'cruiser.
Regards, Robert

I have had a 60 litre unit (not the combo) for around 4 years, and then got a 40 litre fridge/freezer as well. The reason for buying the 40 litre is that the 60litre is so big, and takes a lot of room. Knowing what I know now.....I would have purchased 2 x 40 litre units, and then had a dedicated Fridge and Freezer as required. Some times....I only need either one. Check how much room the 57 litre(same as 60 litre) unit tanks up in the back of your car. Just my 2 cents worth.

Great unit!!
There is one for sale in the classified section of this site.

Another unit that may be worth considering is the new Primus Mammoth range. I believe Evakool are also selling the exact same units under their own branding. I have just purchased this one.....

http://www.primusaustralia.com.au/index.php?p=line&sid=1341895712

They are now running a Secop compressor (formally known as Danfoss) and with physically seperate fridge and freezer zones it is a pretty practical setup. You can run it as fridge/fridge, fridge/freezer or freezer/freezer.

I have only been running mine as a beer fridge and a freezer at home on 240v, no chance to take it on a trip yet or do any current draw analysis, but its temperature control seems to be pretty good. Its doing an admirable job of cooling beer :) Seems to be pretty sturdy in its construction as well. Metal body with steel latches and handles. I picked mine up from Anaconda for $1230 with a bonus bag, and the Primus unit comes standard with the 240v adaptor, whereas I think its an extra with the Evakool.

Cheers
Shane

After talking to the Waeco rep at the Perth 4wd show, I won't be going Waeco again. I have an 18 year old Waeco with a danfos bdf50 and has been perfect. Still going strong. The new CFX range no longer use the Danfos compressor as the compressors are now made on china. Waeco dont yet have a solution for the larger square box compressor fridges (80 and 110 litre models) that now use the Chinese made Danfos. The new genuine Waeco compressor according to the rep does not perform anywhere near as well as the Danfos compressors.
Engel next time for me, as I don't want to rely on Chinese compressors when I am on the csr or gunbarrel.
BW....

One man's fridge research

An interesting read with some observations regarding the efficiency and cooling ability of Danfoss V Sawafuji (Danfoss superior).

I had the combi 60 for a while. It has a massive 'footprint' in a car. It worked perfectly well, kept everything cold, but was a complete pain to clean out and generally look after. God forbid you spilled anything.
I've had an evakool RF60 for the past 7 years - It gets turned off every now and then for a defrost, otherwise it hasn't been turned off. Not as 'flash' as some, but definitely up to the task, and more practical to look after and keep clean. Much smaller footprint for the same storage space, but a little bit taller which may not suit?

Thanks for all your info. I read the comparison on the compressors and now note that Waeco no longer use the danfross compressor on the new CFX range as has been stated. I think I may opt for 2 engels for ease of movement, ability to use only one if needed and of course reliability.

Thanks Again

Jock

I wouldnt say that the danfoss is superior to sawafuji at all.
In reality the more simple design of the latter would be held
in more higher regards.
The review is interesting reading.

I brought the 57L (60L) Engel last year for a trip to Alice Springs following as much as I could the old Central Australian Railway.
All the victuals were only brought on the day of the departure which means meat wasn't initially frozen. The only two frozen products in the freezer part of the Engel were a 2L container of Golden North ice cream and a precooked stew also in a 2L ice cream container.
Use of the Engel (same as in the other vehicle except it was a 32L running as fridge only) was to turn on as part of pre departure checks in morning, run all through day and then switch off in the evening. It took about four days into the trip before meat in the freezer section had frozen.
As hindsight is a wonderful thing, meat to be frozen should have been purchased a few days beforehand and frozen. What prevented us from doing that was the other participants in the trip were in Adelaide some 350km's away and we only got together to purchase the victuals on the morning prior to departure.
Also to note as this 57L was only picked up one week prior to departing, I hadn't secured it down in the back of the Rodeo, so it bounced around a bit which didn't seem to effect the operation of it, but did a little external sheet metal work damage around the base. This was caused by that lack of restraining and the ripples in the base of the Rodeo tub, so my fault. On a flatter surface I don't expect this would have occured. I've straightened it out and applied a few more pop rivets around the base.
In addition to the 32L and the 57L in the back of each of the utes, each ute also was running a 15L Engel in the cab.

I clearly can't speak of the other brands of similar fridges, however I am happy with what I've got, and heeded the lessons from the first experience. Whilst it took four days to freeze some of the fresh meat, (yes it should have been frozen first), I'd also expect that if I didn't switch fridge off at night, that four days would have been lessened.

Cheers,
Dion.

I recently purchased two Engel Eclipse 40 litre units. The main reason is that they were $799 RRP (and I got them slightly cheaper) each while a 60 litre Engel was more than double that. The Eclipse has a tough plastic outer case but are identical to the 40 litre steel unit internally. I put the basket from the steel unit in the plastic one. So now I have one unit for a fridge and another for a freezer. Takes up a bigger total footprint but very practical. This may be worth considering.

Happy touring!

i own the 75ltr Engel and have done since 2006, it's seen a bucket load of Oz and been across countless klms of corrogations without a problem. now in saying that, it's a power hungry beast, and if i had my time again i'm not sure i'd buy another, maybe consider 2 X 40ltrs instead if you have the room, use one as a fridge and one as a freezer. there is nothing wrong the unit i own other then the power it consumes, if you buy one with this in mind then you'll be happy with your purchase, don't realize the power it uses when the dial is cranked up to get the freezer doing what it's supposed to do, and you'll be disappointed with your purchase IMHO.
i've owned a 40 ltr Engel also and notice you don't need to crank up the setting as much to get it to freeze stuff, where as the bigger fridge needs a higher numbered setting to get it doing what you want to do.