Refridgeration When Camping

[Seahorse]

andy
i really do think the bar fridge is good.
i looked at a new westinghouse 120lit with a completly sealed freezer for $295.
i think the 2kva will shit it in.
shouldnt take long to cool down and stay cool enough through night till morning, especially when not opened and with sep sealed freezer.

greg

[Flex]

difference between a bar fridge and a proper camping one is about 10 hours difference per day your running a generator. Solar panels are expensive so maybe not for you. I have a AGM deep cycle battery, runs the fridge for 8+ hours non stop to -20 degrees. 2-3 hours of charging and away I go.

If i had a bar fridge I would need to run a generator for hours upon hours+ carry crap loads of fuel.

go into a few good camping stores and get some advice, go check out trailblazers and get some info on all the ins and outs.

[freefish]

If buying a camping fridge whether gas or 12v make sure it cools to -(x) degrees & not (x) degrees below ambient.

[TheRealAndy]

andy
i really do think the bar fridge is good.
i looked at a new westinghouse 120lit with a completly sealed freezer for $295.
i think the 2kva will shit it in.
shouldnt take long to cool down and stay cool enough through night till morning, especially when not opened and with sep sealed freezer.

greg

I have a 350l fridge here that I can run of my old work genny. The work genny is a no name and from memory its about 950W that I used to use for running a couple of flood lights. I dont do trade work anymore, so its been a while since its been used. The fridge is now about 8 year old. Most of them are fairly efficient these days, but the smaller bar fridges may not be so efficient. 2kva will run just about anything that you use in your house on a day to day basis.

Flex, I understand where you are coming from. I have a 12V waeco that is fantastic. Great for me and the wife for week long trips, or a long weekender with the lads. But in gregs case, add approx $2500 for equivelent size trailblazer fridge , about $300 for a good deep cycle battery, maybe $300 for dual battery charging from the car... Its getting up there. IF you can handle the noise from a genset the 240V option aint that bad.

At the end of the day I guess it depends on the type of camping you will be doing. A week in the bush with your mates, then genny and a big fridge a must. Long trips with the wife, then the 12V options are the go. Once a year 2 week trip, tough call, perhaps a bar fridge and hire genny or a 12V hire fridge???

[Seahorse]

thanks flex and andy for all ur imput on this.
i dont think iam the only one having this delimea.
flex i can see ur point on the running time and the need to carry all that juice.
but as ady says, its all adding up in cost.
i dont mind the cost of the genny, and from what iam told the hondas are super quiet.
freefish.
i have heard this before and its a very good point to watch.
sorry for all the questions fellas but if u dont get it right the first time, then it becomes a big cost.
cheers
greg

[Just_chips]

Hey Flex what size AGM battery do you use to run your fridge during the day?

Kev

[Cheech]

Last year we went to Fraser for 9 days, and will be going up again this year for 2 weeks in 3 weeks time beach camping. I do not have a fridge or Freezer, but manage to get by with ice and eskies. This is how mine works....

I have a home made 85 litre esky made with 50mm material. The lid has an air tight seal, which is the key of any good esky. This is my ice esky. A month before the trip I start freezing 10 litre ice blocks. I use one of those square plastic buckets as square packs a lot better. Freezing a month out means the core gets colder and lasts longer.

I fit about 4 of these blocks as well as quite a few smaller blocks in the esky. There is also room for frozen food.

I also have a couple of very heavily salted 2 litre water bottles that are added to the esky. These delay the thawing of the ice by a few days as the temperature is lower. This esky is only opened once each couple of days.

I have 2 other eskies. the 65 litre evercool is used for all the refrigerated food. At the start of the trip I put in one 10 litre block which lasts about 3 days. Then replace with 10 litre blocks from the ice esky as required. Usually about each 3 days.

The frozen food does not stay frozen, but does stay very cold in the ice esky. If you really wanted to keep it frozen you could use dry ice in a small esky, but I do not see the need.

This year I have bought a Sunbeam vacuum sealer so all the meats etc will be vacuum sealed and will last no problems in the ice esky, even though they will start to thaw after the first few days.

The third esky is just a normal esky and used for drinks. I do plan to replace it with a better esky in the future.

This year we will be there for 4 or 5 extra days, but I am expecting the ice supply to last. Last year I still had ice left after 9 days. If worse comes to worse I may need to buy a couple of bags towards the end from the Cathedral beach general store.

So that is my quiet solution.

For one week trips it is a breeze. 2 weeks is on the upper limit for my ice solution.

FYI, I also take a spare car battery (in a carry case) that I run the 12 volt fluro lights from, the 12 volt shower pump, and the portable dvd player for the kids. The battery lasts the whole trip.

Cheech

[Seahorse]

Cheech
sounds like it all works for u.
i just dont wanta take 3 eskies and play swapsie with the ice.
iam over the ice thing.
just looking for a better way.
been there done that.

cheers
greg

[TheRealAndy]

Hey Flex what size AGM battery do you use to run your fridge during the day?

Kev

I have a 120Ah Lead Acid Deep Cycle, not AGM. IT will run my 50litre Waeco for about 3-4 days (depending on ambient temp) at -10degC before I need to recharge. At christmas a drive from eurong up to indain head and back and it was fully charged.

[Cheech]

No worries. I just thought it might be interesting to others as well that are reading the thread that were interested in the topic to see that there are other options.

[chisel]

I have a 50L AGM that runs the waeco 50L for many days as a fridge. Recent trip to Moreton the fridge was running (and used a lot) for 4.5 days and the battery was still at about 50% capacity.
Obviously the type of fridge, the weather and how much warm stuff is put in the fridge will make a big difference. I'm pretty happy with the setup ... allows me to leave the fridge in camp and not worry about driving around to charge it. Will see how it goes for long trip in summer soon ...

[chisel]

I have a 50L AGM that runs the waeco 50L for many days as a fridge. Recent trip to Moreton the fridge was running (and used a lot) for 4.5 days and the battery was still at about 50% capacity.
Obviously the type of fridge, the weather and how much warm stuff is put in the fridge will make a big difference. I'm pretty happy with the setup ... allows me to leave the fridge in camp and not worry about driving around to charge it. Will see how it goes for long trip in summer soon ...

ARRGGH!! That should read 120AH AGM

[bungie]

I have a 40lt Engel. It lives on the ute whilst camping. I have a 110ah lead acid deep cycle battery in the ute to run it and the inverter. Does me great, have not had a problem with it and I beat the crap out of the poor thing driving around. Will a bar fridge take the bashing off road? even just getting to the camp site ??

[blaze]

When we camp at chrismas time, the camp site is set up for about a month. Families come and go so numbers change daily but up to 10 families.
The freezer is filled a few days before leaving (sits on a trailer) and plugged into the mains to freeze it all down. Camp site is about 5hrs from home. It is only opened twice a day, in the morning to get the daily meat out, then at night to get the icecreams out (some times it is opened more). The freezer is a tuckerbox?, about 4 foot long. The generator is run for about 2 hrs a day to charge batteries and keep the freezer in check.
Just for interest
My mother inlaws lost her home in a fire some 20 years ago and we had to do most of the clean up(under insured) and to move the freezer we had to empty it. The heat of the fire had welded (melted) the freezer shut and we had to basicly destroy it to get it opened. The contents were still frozen 7 days later.
cheers
blaze

[castlemaine]

Hi Seahorse
A mate of mine just bought one of these 75L. Eutectic fridge and keep contents cold when turned off and is very happy with it's current draw. $2.5K though . Links attached.
He's only trialled it so far but intends to take it around Australia next year.
Someone else with some experience with these fridges may want to comment as I have no experience first hand.
Cheers

http://www.energymatters.com.au/auto...zer-p-602.html

http://www.aroundoz.com/a_clinic_arc...rigeration.htm