Help,Fridges at a good price?

[Bassjunky]

I am looking at purchacing a fridge for the patrol. Does anyone know where to buy one at a good price? I am looking at either a waeco or an engel 60lt. Favouring the engel.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[BenDover]

Gday bassjunky,
My dad has had a few of those over the years and the best by far is the waeco's. He has 1 permantly in the back of his dualcab hilux ute. Runs it 24/7!! Comes home from work and plugs in the 240 and all day it runs off his car battery at work. Brilliant... Not a problem with them at all. I hired an Engel once for camping at fraser. It was a gas-12v-240v one. It sucked and all the food went off. (not saying that they arent much better these days) but that 1 was crap. So i personally dont like them...

But there is no such thing as cheap with those fridges . He is actually selling his waeco 80 litre fridge that is pretty much still new as he has 3 of them for $850 if your interested.
BD

[Brett1907]

Bassjunky, everyone has their own opinions as to fridges. I can tell you people who swear by each of the brands on the market. The main thing is if it is going into your car then a 12/240 volt unit is what you want, which is what you have said too so I am stating the obvious.

If you are on the Gold Coast, Go Camping in Nerang are around the best price I have seen for Waeco, Engel, Evakool, Reefer and others. If its down to cost I would go an Evakool. They use the same Danfoss compressor as Waeco, but have more insulation, are Australian made (except for the compressor). They also mount the compressor in a pod at the back/side of the unit, removing the heat from the food storage area. I feel they are better than the Waeco's, but that is my opinion.

Engels are a bit more expensive than Evakool/Waeco and I know a lot of people who think they are brilliant. My father had one for over 15 years, it did numerous Variety Bashs' and a trip around Australia, the only thing that went wrong was the fuse in the cig plug blew. On the other hand, both frodges with the danfoss compressors broke due to vibrations (he had a BushTrakka caravan).

Brett

[wamjam]

any absorbtion fridge isnt as good as a compressor one.the one mentioned by ben was gas/elect absorbtion style.usually work ok on gas or 240 but a bit dodgy on 12v as they use too much power.
ive used an engel 40l and it works a treat..

[Wahoo]

I hired an Engel once for camping at fraser. It was a gas-12v-240v one.

LOL, how old was the Engel that ran on gas

BJ, the Waeco have the same motor as your household fridge has, not really good on the rough tracks, they are more for the blacktop,
a very good friend of mine ownes/runs a marine shop, sells waeco , he is now pulling out of the waeco side as there is way too many comebacks, alot more PPL are buying waeco as they are much cheaper
waeco owners dont get cranky with me im just going by what he told me


Daz

[Lazybugger]

Try Caravan Refrigeration Sales at Lawnton (ph 3205 1236). Now Geoff is a mate so I am a little biased but I think like tackle stores there is an advantage in going to this sort of guy rather than BCF etc, and thats service. Its no use spending the money on a fridge then finding out its not gonna operate to your needs, make sure you discuss how you are going to power the thing and how long you expect to run it and what sort of stuff you are hoping to either freeze or keep cool. Geoff can help with all that sort of stuff. You may pay a bit more than the discount price but you will walk out knowing everything you need to know and it might save you a lot of heartache later.

BTW checkout the new south african fridges Geoff is now an agent for (brandname escapes me), they look nice and tuff. They will be on display at the camping, tinnie & tackle show this weekend.

Cheers

[Bassjunky]

Cheers guy for the input.
I am going to the T&T show on the weekend to have a look. I think that the waeco look a little cheaply made but at the same time I have heard good and bad reports both ways.
I find the waeco lids flop around a bit.
Do they seal ok?

[kingtin]

Cheers guy for the input.
I am going to the T&T show on the weekend to have a look. I think that the waeco look a little cheaply made but at the same time I have heard good and bad reports both ways.
I find the waeco lids flop around a bit.
Do they seal ok?

Bloody hope so as I've just bunged out for the 110 'cause quite simply, that's what the deckie liked the look of. Spent a fair bit of time looking at various brands and seeing as I'm not going to be bouncing it around (powered site) that was the one for her/me. Wasn't too sure about the "tackle box type" fasteners though but it's covered by guarantee. I'll be using it purely as a freezer (gotta look after the bait) and keeping the cold stuff in an esky topped up daily with bottled water frozen in the Waeco.

There's no divider in the 110 so you have to decide if you want it as a fridge or a freezer unless you make your own divider.

The store that shouldn't be named is 40 bucks cheaper than BCF, throwing in a 90litre esky and a small 12 volt cooler for free. The manager also gave me 25% off the jacket and it looks pretty smart dressed up

A good site to read up on them and also some good prices atm

http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/

kev

[Tuna_Tys]

Try getawaeco.com.au (formally the fridge shop) the shop is located down at Varsity Lakes. Usually factory seconds but I got a brand new 110 Fridge AND freezer(at the same time)with dividers for about $400 cheaper and couldnt find it in any other camping shops etc, only normal 110. They have different specials now and then.

[Alchemy]

Try getawaeco.com.au (formally the fridge shop) the shop is located down at Varsity Lakes. Usually factory seconds but I got a brand new 110 Fridge AND freezer(at the same time)with dividers for about $400 cheaper and couldnt find it in any other camping shops etc, only normal 110. They have different specials now and then.

Definately try the getawaeco site http://www.getawaeco.com.au/products.asp?catId=6

I bought a 50 litre Waeco last week for $800, brand new + $45 delivery to my door. You need to keep an eye on it regularly as the specials come and go pretty quick. Eg, there is a 200 litre tuckerbox look-a-like, 12v 24v 240v that has its own battery back up, so when your 240v goes off it automatically switches to the 12v back up. Last week these were on special at $850, now back to $1200.

To the argument on which are better. The more you spend the better the quality of the cabinet is likely to be. Eg, the snapper fridges, trailblazas etc imo are probably the best insulating cabinets, but twice the price. I have a 90 litre Evakool on Alchemy, and it is great too. The main reason I went with Waeco this time is that it is for the car, so the more compact the better, and the price was right. The Trailblazas, Evakools etc all use the Danfoss (BD35 or BD50 I think are the two models) compressor as the Waeco does, so again the main difference is in the cabinet construction.

Regards,
Dave.

[kingtin]

There's no divider in the 110 so you have to decide if you want it as a fridge or a freezer unless you make your own divider.

kev

Jeeeeeez! I talk some shit at times

It'd be pointless making a divider 'cause I've just noticed that the element travels around the whole inner, unlike the smaller models.

kev

[GBC]

For Engel, Retravision (Mt Gravatt) are dealers - believe it or not - and do better prices than the union shopper and various others.
I think Waeco prices have been covered off.
I just bought a 60l evacool at the T&T show last weekend - why? they suit what I want with a freezer and fridge - and I can clean it - Ever tried cleaning blood out of an Engel combi? Only takes a few hours!!!!
We also have two 35l waecos in the family - one run as a fridge one as a freezer - they've been around a bit now with no complaints so far.

Hope this helps.

[kingtin]

Try getawaeco.com.au (formally the fridge shop) the shop is located down at Varsity Lakes. Usually factory seconds but I got a brand new 110 Fridge AND freezer(at the same time)with dividers for about $400 cheaper and couldnt find it in any other camping shops etc, only normal 110. They have different specials now and then.

A Waeco distributor tells me that the 110 is now manufactured solely to be used as a fridge or a freezer. The element travels all the way round the case now so a divider (which has now been done away with) would be useless. They said that market research showed that people opting for the 110 invariably used it solely as a freezer.

I was looking for the older model, which I'd never seen but was reliably informed, existed, but was unable to find one. Why they couldn't leave it as it was, I don't know because I'm informed that when you removed the divider, the whole cooler became a freezer even though the whole cooler wasn't covered completely by the element. At least you had an option as you do with the smaller models.

As it turns out, I probably will use it solely as a freezer so the bigger element (I suppose) means faster freezing times.

kev

[Far side]

Try Caravan Refrigeration Sales

BTW checkout the new south african fridges Geoff is now an agent for (brandname escapes me), they look nice and tuff. They will be on display at the camping, tinnie & tackle show this weekend.

Cheers

The brand is national luna they are expensive but are the best fridge freezer on the market when I am not camping I leave mine plugged in for ICE make 10 litres of ice over night no problems

[weipa girl]

Nup cant agree with any of that , after travelling this half of aussie
and taking several types of fridges including weico and other people using several different types of fridges that were travelling with us, im talking a convoy of 14 people in 8 to 10 four wheel drives, the engel is the only way to go.

we purchased a engel the biggest you can buy the old style one mustard coloured lid , two big baskets in it, for $750 bucks second hand from a caravan sales centre in port macquarie nsw , was the best fridge bought it round about 14 years ago and its still going, but that fridge went everywhere through the roughest roads to weipa where the ruts in the road shook the shit out of the fridge but nup it still goes, split up with partner but fridge still going lol.


been married since, and bought an engel newer version not as big from a guy
up at rainbow beach had an add in paper , shit the fridge looked like brand new
and its running a treat, paid 700 for it but worth every cent , wouldnt buy another type. cheers