How much gas does a fridge use?

[Jules_ht]

I'm away in the van with no electric in a few weeks, Thursday to Monday. I've only run the fridge on 240V and it's seemed fine. 12V it was visibly warming up so I'm not banking on that.

Question is, how much gas does a fridge use over that sort of period? If I'm going to use £20 worth in 3 days then I'll just take UHT for the tea, drink warm cider, and not bother with the fridge. If it's going to last for 6 months on a 4.5kg bottle then it's a no brainer- use the fridge.

Just some sort of clue would be useful, I literally have no idea. It's a Thetford fridge in a 2005 Bailey pageant if it makes any difference.

 

[Gagakev]

If it works on 12v then there is something wrong!!!
It should only work with the 12v plugged into the tow vehicle with the engine running.
As to the amount of gas I dont really know but some one will have calculated it.
Suppose it will also depend if you are using the cooker,water heater, fire and the fridge at the same time.

 

[Sproket]

If you have your van at home you could use a luggage scale to weigh your gas bottle then run the fridge for 24hrs and then re weigh the gas bottle. ....

My water heater is gas only and the other week when my fridge was playing up they both ran on gas fo seven days with out using too much gas.....

The only real way is to try it and see how much it uses in that time period

 

[Dustydog]

A super fridge freezer fitted in some TAs eg Dometic RMD 8555 will use 380 grams over 24 hours in an ambient temperature of 25 deg C.
A smaller more common unit will use 187 to 257 grams per 24 hours at 25 deg C . The higher use rate assumes you set the fridge to maximum cooling.
So let's assume 200 g per 24 hrs you new 4.5 kilo cylinder should last 22.5 days.
Don't forget to reduce the time if you use the cooker , water and room heaters.
Plus I assume you carry two cylinders so you shouldn't run out! :cheer:

 

[Jules_ht]

Thanks to all contributors (but particularly Dustydog- that's precisely what I was after).

I have one cylinder in the van (no idea how much gas is in it), and another from my camping days (that is still pretty full) so should be all good. The cooking kind of depended on the fridge, I won't be cooking if there is no food!

Think I'll give it a go. So cool it on the gas, use 12v whilst on the road (gas off at the cylinder), then back on gas as soon as sited. Lovely.

If you're using 12S and you switch the engine off, will it switch the fridge off or drain your battery (and if drain the battery will it be the leisure battery or car battery)? I have a TEC3M relay in the circuit for the 12S.

 

[Sproket]

I have one cylinder in the van (no idea how much gas is in it), and another from my camping days (that is still pretty full) so should be all good.

All gas bottles will have there tare weight stamped either on the bottle or on a plate under the gas valve, if you weigh the bottle and subtract the tare weight you will know how much gas you have left to use.

If you're using 12S and you switch the engine off, will it switch the fridge off or drain your battery (and if drain the battery will it be the leisure battery or car battery)? I have a TEC3M relay in the circuit for the 12S.

If your relay is the one in the link it is automatic switching so the power to the fridge will be cut when the engine is not running.

30Amp S Type 12v TEC3M Self Switching Dual Charge Relay

 

[Jules_ht]

Yep that's the one- went for the dedicated 12n electrics kit so the car knows the van is there & tweaks things accordingly, but then a generic 12s add-on kit (all from PF Jones, just didn't see the benefit of the dedicated 12s kit which was 3 times the price of the generic). It includes that relay.

 

[JTQ]

The amount of gas used will of course depend on a number of other factors, the required temperature, the ambient temperature, the in van temperature, the details of the installation[ ie how freely air can flow over the condenser], wind on van side and frequency and duration of opening the door, being a few that come to mind.
So whilst we have the makers burner consumption figures, the amount of time the burner is actually burning gas is a big unknown.
Reallity is that the fridges I have had, consume very little gas.

 

[ProfJohnL]

It will also depend on how many times you open the door to get a bottle of beer out

 

[Gafferbill]

........and the temperature of the bottle of beer (or any other foodstuff) when you put it in the refridgerator