2 fridges?

[pjwooly]

Evening all.Can some one please tell me which would be more efficient between say running two 40L fridges (one as a freezer) or one big 80L fridge freezer.
Asking cos we already have a 40L in the house keeping the baby food frozen but never used for camping.It would be a bit cheaper to buy another 40L but not sure on running two 40's.I will be running them off a ArcPac 130 amp setup.

Appreciate any info thanks.

 

[Old.Tony]

The most important thing - that you can never forget - is that when you're away from mains power, power is everything. Without it, your food rots, or you're off to buy ice. Thankfully with winter coming along, fridges - especially chest fridges - will last a lot longer on the same power.

It does depend on the fridge chosen, but you'll nearly always use less power with one fridge than you would with two. However, owning one already (and one that is too small for your purpose) means you need to choose between the expense of a new large fridge, or the cost of a smaller one added to its higher power and space requirements.

Personally I'd look at the Engel range - they use a lot less power than the Danfoss compressor based units from Engel, ARB etc. We ran our 60L Engel for the entire easter break on a 75Ah AGM and it never stopped. Sure, we were 800m above sea level in the central tablelands of NSW, but it still cycled and kept the food thermometer that I keep in it right in the middle of the 'green zone'.

 

[Ihaterocks]

Hi. I currently run 2 engel 40 litre fridges. I believe this is a better way of doing it from a power consumption point of view. 40l draws max 2.7 amps per hour. 80l draws 4.2 amps per hour. If you vacuum seal your meat and pre freeze, your freezer will cycle on and off far less. From a failure point of view, with two fridges you still have a backup to get you out, not that I've had an engel play up yet.

 

[Ihaterocks]

Hi. I currently run 2 engel 40 litre fridges. I believe this is a better way of doing it from a power consumption point of view. 40l draws max 2.7 amps per hour. 80l draws 4.2 amps per hour. If you vacuum seal your meat and pre freeze, your freezer will cycle on and off far less. From a failure point of view, with two fridges you still have a backup to get you out, not that I've had an engel play up yet.

I run them both in ute tray on a 105 amp hour full river battery. Usually get 2-3 days out of battery without charging. Battery is charged off car and Given a deep cycle charge once a month at home.

 

[75 GRC]

Pjwooly,


The biggest thing with running 2 independent fridges, is keeping them full!!
Fridges take a long time to cool air... When they are not full, I just went on a weeks camping trip, and had a 40ltr waceo, and a 70ltr companion. Running off a Dual battery system, I was using a 160w solar panel to reboot it daily, and I had no problems at all and at one stage I had 3 fridges running off the one battery.

As long as you keep then full you will be fine, if you have a solar panel floating around that would be be an advantage.

I also agree with Old Tony, we are coming into the winter months, and this will help your amperage Draw a lot.

Hope my two cents worth help you out.

Cheers
Geoff

GOT A V6 PETROL, BUT I LIKE TO CUSTOMISE!

 

[sparra04]

the biggest killer on your 12v fridge is loading hot product and constant opening of fridge
reloading the fridge with anything while your on 12v is no good, try and buy cold if you have to reload
to combat this we only use 1 fridge solely for food, we use a good esky for all beverages (with salted ice)
our fridge is always loaded with frozen product on 240v b4 we leave and it is inside a thermal bag, park in the shade where possible, leave a canopy window open (better in a wagon with a/c on)


I recently set up a mates camper with 2x waeco,s ,1 on freeze, 2x 120 amp batts and a 240 watt panel (hard mounted on roof) with the ctec dual charger
he had no issues at all with power or fridges when he did the "big lap" (he was driving most days and had good solar backup)
cheers

 

[TigerST]

the biggest killer on your 12v fridge is loading hot product and constant opening of fridge
reloading the fridge with anything while your on 12v is no good, try and buy cold if you have to reload
to combat this we only use 1 fridge solely for food, we use a good esky for all beverages (with salted ice)
our fridge is always loaded with frozen product on 240v b4 we leave and it is inside a thermal bag, park in the shade where possible, leave a canopy window open (better in a wagon with a/c on)


I recently set up a mates camper with 2x waeco,s ,1 on freeze, 2x 120 amp batts and a 240 watt panel (hard mounted on roof) with the ctec dual charger
he had no issues at all with power or fridges when he did the "big lap" (he was driving most days and had good solar backup)
cheers

Heaps of good ideas there......

 

[siringo]

I run 2 fridges. Initially bought a 40L Evakool, the needed more space. Bought a 40L Ironman. Both are great fridges.

A few good points for 2 fridges.

- You can use one as the fridge that always gets opened for stuff like milk, bread, cheese, butter etc and the other one gets opened at night for steak etc.

- If one breaks you can use the other

- When you go away overnight you can use 1 small fridge instead of 1 big fridge

I think If I had my time again, I'd still buy 2 fridges.

 

[pjwooly]

Hey thanks for the replies guys...I do have two 80watt panels I removed from the canopy roof cos I didn't like the dodgy way they were fitted.

I am wanting to fit my panels to the cab roof on a roof rack system.
Has anyone done this? as I would like to have built a good size rack for the canopy for bulky items like the kids stuff and swags and surfboards etc.

I did see a thread on here with some custom cab racks but have been unable to find them...can someone point me in the right direction please.

Thanks again....plenty of ideas to think about.

Pjw

 

[terryc]

People hve covered the advantages and disadvantages okay. The only other point worth making is when you get old and feeble, it is darn side easier to move the smaller fridges than one big fridge.

We have a 70L Evakool which can be 50% freezer & 50% fridge(weekend trip?), but we've never run it that way. Usually it is 50% water freezing and 50% frozen stuff with the vbege & cold stuff going in the icebox which is cooled by frozen water bottles from the water freezing.

 

[macka17]

The most important thing - that you can never

Personally I'd look at the Engel range - they use a lot less power than the Danfoss compressor based units from Engel, ARB etc. We ran our 60L Engel for the entire easter break on a 75Ah AGM and it never stopped. Sure, we were 800m above sea level in the central tablelands of NSW, but it still cycled and kept the food thermometer that I keep in it right in the middle of the 'green zone'.

Hi.

That power usage fallacy is.. A Fallacy.
We've used and compared multiple units. Waeco and Engel of different sizes over the 40 yrs or so I've been doing it in this country, (and since the Waeco came out)
Look it up on the "caravaners forum" there is a LOT in the archives there on such

I HAD a Engel once.
Mate is a registered 12v fridge mechanic.
His wksp is always full of Engel compared to a few Waeco. He uses Engel but gets them for free. Told me to get Waeco and was soooo right.
My 80 ltr Waeco with 17mm Roof ducting insulation as a cover (absolutely magis) It forms condensation on the lid when in car in summer.
and never uses (According to AMP Meter) more than around 2.8 or so when running, normally less. apart from when drawing down at the start.

Have sold caravan now. so if anybody with a 50\60 ltr Waeco, would like to swap it for an 80 ltr. Pre Digital guage.
I'm interested. (central QLD)

 

[jjohn]

I say leave the solar panels on the canopy any rack on the cab roof for the heavy stuff. The chassis will carry it better on the roof.

 

[pjwooly]

yeah thanks terryc that's what I think we will do for starters as we have both those items already.