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12v fridge

Started by Nooby79, January 17, 2018, 11:43:34 AM

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Nooby79

On this page...http://vandogtraveller.com/all-the-details/
One person talks about a 12v 35w fridge he uses and only cost him £30. The link given is broken. Has anyone on here found out which fridge the user was talking about??
Thanks

Camper_Dan

Greetings & Welcome!

Those 12v compressor fridges are too expensive and too power hungry, and the newer ones  don't hold up well either.

For the price mentioned, it had to be a used one...

Used 3 way RV fridges are a better buy, and so is running them on propane or kerosene when parked.  Wrecking yards tend to sell them cheap, and the best ones require no power when run on propane or kerosene.  These are absorption fridges not compressor ones, so they have no moving parts to wear out.

Good luck & keep us posted!
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Nooby79

Hi camper_dan,thanks for the reply. He did state that they can be bought for £30 new so I was just curious as to what these fridges were. I don't have much room at all left for a fridge I'd only be looking for around a 20 litre fridge give or take a couple of litres maybe. Do these gas fridges use much? I'll be using lpg for all my gas appliances.

Thanks

Camper_Dan

Greetings Nooby79,

For that price I have a suspicion he was talking about a thermoelectric cooler.  These are the fridge of choice for truckers, but don't really work too well for van dwellers.  The problem with them is they only cool to about 35f-40f degrees below the surrounding temperature.  In a truck with the air conditioning running constantly, they'll keep things plenty cool.  In a camper, without a/c running, the inside temps can easily top 100f degrees,  so they might only cool down to 60f degrees, which of course isn't cool enough to keep food from spoiling.

Propane fridges and stoves use very little propane, what kills you is using propane for heat.  A co-worker spent $2500 last winter using his propane furnace, and couldn't get the indoor temps above about 50f degrees.  I spent about $50 for the winter on kerosene, and my rig was never below about 70f  degrees.  I'm just using an ice chest at this point, and kerosene for both my heating, cooking, and sometimes lighting.  (I enjoy the glow of my kerosene lanterns, it's warm and inviting...)  I've lost friends due to propane leaks, fires, explossions, and carbon monoxide poisoning, so I just won't use it anymore.  After having used both, I actually prefer the kerosene.  It's a drier heat, much safer, and cheaper too.  Unless I'm somewhere really really cold for the winter, I rarely spend more than $50 a year for kerosene, maybe double if it's really cold.  Propane cost me about 10x that, and wasn't nearly as convenient.  My 2x 7 gallon kerosene jugs will last me a whole year on all but really cold winters, and on those, it will last me all winter plus.  When I was using propane, I would have to travel out in the ice and snow twice a week to get my 20# tank refilled.  Not very user friendly. 

The moisture put out by propane heating and cooking is also a huge issue.  Moisture is one our biggest problems, and ventilation is required almost constantly to combat it.  The drier kerosene helps, but you still enough heat to overcome the necessary ventilation.  Many of those propane heaters, are mainly summer time heaters, rather than true winter heaters.  They'll take the chill off on a chilly summer morning or evening, but you'll never be  able to stay warm in the winter.  Only having enough heat can keep you comfortable.

Besides ventilation, I highly recommend having both a carbon monoxide detector and a propane leak detector, along with a smoke alarm.  Something loud enough to wake you up if you're sleeping.  I run my kerosene heat all night long if it's cold, but I wouldn't recommend doing that with an unvented propane heater.

Cheers!

Dan
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Nooby79

Thanks for the reply camper_dan. Well I've bought an lpg bottle now so a bit late for me lol if I use it for heating though I'll be using a propex heater as the fumes are expelled outside. Then again maybe just use the lpg for cooking and heating water and get a kerosene heater maybe? Any recommendations for what I would be looking for? As for the fridge I expect your right. I had one years ago in my bedroom and the noise of the fan kept me awake and didn't really cool anything inside. Waste of time but these compressor fridges are a rip off and I can't find a small gas powered fridge anywhere,don't have much room for one :(

Camper_Dan


The good news is that the propex heaters won't add dramatically to your indoor moisture, so that's a good thing even if they do use more fuel.  Beats the heck out of  the unvented propane heaters.  A water heater is likely also vented outside, so good on that too.  As long as you keep good ventilation going, especially while cooking, your moisture problems should be minimal.  I would stick with a single fuel source because a second one will require extra space, and we all know how precious that can be.

Sometimes, cheap 3 way fridges can be found at wrecking yards.  Alternatively, you can google "portable propane fridge".  They're not cheap, but much better value than the 12v compressor fridges, because there is less to go wrong with them, and  they last much longer.

Cheers!

Smiles are extremely contagious,
Pass them on!!!

Nooby79

Thanks for the advice camper_dan. I'll keep a look out for a cheap 3 way fridge :)

xtremeadvanture

We have a TruckFridge 130 and we love ours! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J0WQ4CG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tredtur-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01J0WQ4CG&linkId=167857f9bb14789bdaf0ffd817ec5d8d
It runs off of 12v and has been running fine with no problem for 5 months on the road. They say it only uses 5 amps an hour.

Check out our Electrical build thread for more info http://xtremeadvanture.com/lets-get-wired/

Nooby79

#8
I ended up getting one of these in the end........  http://www.indelb.com/products/automotive/travel_box/tb18

Fits nicely in the van to........
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Camper_Dan

Greetings!

Looks like it was a nice fit!  Cool!

Secop used to make all the Dan Foss compressors before they got replaced by cheap chinese knockoffs in all the major brands.  Maybe this new one won't be a chinese clone yet, and be be really good.  I hope so.

I'll be looking forward to reports on power usage, performance, and eventually longevity.  I would love to be able to add a good 12 volt fridge back to the options for people. 

Oh, almost  forgot...  What was the price too?

Cheers!
Smiles are extremely contagious,
Pass them on!!!