Camping Fridges

[Mr C]

After 3 great weeks in France with lovely weather and an orange wife now, this was our second time, we realised a few things we might do different or felt needed, one was an extra fridge , wonder how people have found these electric or gas or whatever, coolboxes/fridges are in say the south of France in the summer and which one to get, where and how much ?
Thanks for any advice

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Hi Hugh Just returned from a fortnight in Bressuire, mid to high 20`s throughout, we have a Waeco Tropicool 35 litre, whilst not the cheepest option (about £300.00, I think) the beer was really cold at all times, we have had it several years without problem, it doesn`t flatten your car battery in ten minutes, like some do. Comes in 12/24v and mains. We got ours from a dealer near Stoke on Trent, again with no problems, if you google you will find them.

 

[ChristineandAlan]

Hi hugh jass,
we had a month in france in june ,we bought a 240/12volt coolbox to go from lidles it was great,it was worth its weight in gold,we are going to barcelona on the 31st august for a month with the cooler box.by the way the cooler box cost us £29 that was a real bargain,they were a lot elswhere,keep your eyes open for the offers,you can keep a check on lidles web site.
All The Best AlanP/T

 

[Mikey_74]

Hi, remember that these elctric cooler boxes that are around £50sih mark aren't fridges and they only cool something like 15degrees below ambient temperature, their instructions also state that they're not intended for continual use, if you want a fridge then that's really what you need to buy, we had one when we were campers, a proper 3way jobbie, I think we paid around £120 for it, it worked a treat and could be left on

 

[spirogyro]

Hi,
We are a family of 5 and the fridge in the caravan we are about to buy is potentially too small for a long trip.
We were also thinking of getting an auxillary portable fridge.
Can anyone tell us how long it takes for the newer units to drain the car's battery when the engne isn't on.
And how long do the portable fridges hold their "coolness" before they need 12 volt or mains plugging in again ?
Thanks
Spirogyro.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Spiro,

The proper answer is that these 3 way powered fridges, are not designed to be run on 12V battery by its self. The normal mode is to have them powered by the car engine only when the alternator is producing power. They tend to use about 8 Amps of 12V dc current continuously, so they will quite rapidly discharge any car or caravan battery. (car battery Ah divided by 8A = theoretical time, but if often much less due to age of battery ad other losses) ,)

There are two problems you will encounter if you try to run them from just your car battery, The first is that after only about 1 or may be 2 hours, the battery may not have enough capacity left to start the car engine. the second is that if you did leave the unit taking current from the battery, as the battery car battery reaches the end of its charge, the plates inside the battery can be irrevocably damaged. Caravan (leisure) batteries are built differently and can withstand total discharges, but even they will be damaged or have their capacity impaired.

Check the manufactures specification for insulation to assess the effectiveness of the unit left un-powered, Freezer ice blocks can help keep things cool for things like ferry crossings.