Regular Mini Refrigerator Question

[Steve Carlson]

I have a dorm fridge in the camper for times when electricity is available. If not, I have an Engel 12V fridge that I have used for overlanding (sorta like boondocking in a different place each night). I keep it in the TV - it's not like I cook inside the camper much anyway. It can run off of the TV battery pretty efficiently. It takes about 1 amp on average, depending.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by lmckay

Thanks Jon, that is good advice to plug the tube! I had some Crows come and steal my bag of rolls off my picnic table last camping trip and I was really looking forward to a tomato and ham sandwich with those too... dang it

Yup... chips, crackers, bread- those seem to be the most attractive to birds and critters. Squirrels chewed right through a plastic Rubbermaid tote to get at them on our first trip. That's how the ice-box-as-dry-storage arrangement came about.

[John in Santa Cruz]

btw, if you want a REALLY good icebox cooler, check out the Canyon Coolers... we have a 55 qt and a 22 qt, both the Outfitter series. these things are Yeti class at a way better price, and have some improvements over the yetis, like better latches that are flush so they don't snag if you slide the cooler out of your truck. airtight when latched closed. they are IGBC certified as bear proof food storage, too, so they can be used in places like the Sierras where bears are a constant problem.

last labor day weekend we were boondocking at a music festival where it was 105F all day every day, nighttime lows were in the 80s... the 55 qt was in the back of the truck parked in the sun, full of beer, soda, and bottled water that was all prechilled as well as cold cuts and cheese in the tray, I only needed to add around 10 lbs of ice every other day to keep things frosty cold, and thats because we were diving in there a couple times per hour

[Wayne Collins]

There are portable coolers, like a Coleman Ice Chest, that you can plug into the 12 volt aux outlet in your car. The one we have will also work for warming the stuff in it. Just reverse the polarity. You would not want to leave it working when you shut off the engine. But the Aux 12V outlet should go off when the key is off.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Wayne Collins

There are portable coolers, like a Coleman Ice Chest, that you can plug into the 12 volt aux outlet in your car. The one we have will also work for warming the stuff in it. Just reverse the polarity. You would not want to leave it working when you shut off the engine. But the Aux 12V outlet should go off when the key is off.

Which, as I understand it, is only capable of lowering the temp inside to 36 degrees below the ambient temp. So, if it is 86F outside, it will be ( at most ) 50F inside the cooler, which is not safe for foods. You should read the instructions that came with your cooler to check this.
This one claims to cool to 40F below ambient, which is still not safe for food:
https://www.colemancanada.ca/en_CA/p...ectric#start=1

[John in Santa Cruz]

my kid has a portable compressor fridge that looks like a big icebox, he runs it off either solar charged 12VDC, or 120VAC from the camp generator (when they are desert party camping in the summer, a 10kva diesel generator runs all day every day, and feeds the whole camp, so everyone can have air conditioning in the campers and vehicles)...

[Don Clemens]

My daughter has a 1976 Scamp 13'. I have installed a Danby dorm type compressor refrigerator, 1000 watt inverter, 2 six volt golf cart type batteries, 60 amp converter, that charges the batteries, when she is parked and plugged in and a charge line from her Toyota 4Runner with an isolator between the alternator and the trailer. I works great, keeps everything cool and even has a small freezer compartment. I have been RVing for 50 years and I don't like the RV refrigerators. I have a 40' Country Coach motorhome and converted it to a Samsung residential refrigerator several years ago. It has been great, much larger and it keeps everything cool. I also have a Samsung dorm refrigerator in my storage bin for beer and wine and it also runs off my inverter. Both work great.

BTW, you need the 1000 watt inverter for the startup draw by the refrigerator compressor. It will draw about 10 amp AC at startup but then drop back once it is running.

Don

[Lynn Eberhardt]

Before we bought our Scamp in 2006, we had a pop-up. I put a dorm fridge right inside the door so we could put food in without opening the trailer top. I had previously installed an aux battery with adequate wiring and relay in my van, which I used with a 600 watt modified sine wave inverter to run band equipment in parades. I ran an AC line from the van to the trailer when towing. The small fridge worked fine that way for years.

The fridge had a small internal freezer that I filled with "Blue Ice" that froze when power was on and maintained safe temp for a while when it was off. I also placed a tray from an ice box on the top fridge shelf, with a drain through the trailer floor, that I filled with bagged ice if we were going to be without power for a longer time.

That worked for us.

Lynn

[mccownw]

We travel with a 12v thermocooler almost everywhere we go (even when not Scamping). We have "gone through" several; they typically cost no more than ca $100.

When Scamping at a campground that has 110v, we plug in using a 110-12 v inverter (which you can buy with or for these coolers).

We only draw on 12v power while driving. (These coolers will drain a battery in 8-12 hours!) They only cool 30 degrees (40 is a typical claim) below ambient temperature. Since the interior of a car, while driving, is usually kept at ca 72, the contents are kept plenty cool. But one should not leave them inside a car, or outside, in 80+ degrees!

A thermocooler is NOT the same as a refrigerator. So we don't expect to keep meats cold enough. But it will keep a lot of other food items cool enough to safely extend their edible life. (the thermocooler was a NASA invention for use in space.)

[SteveSpear]

Based on my limited experience we put a dorm type mini fridge in a 2016 rpod we bought used. The dealer said I can get you a new dometic for $900 and I asked him the dimensions of the space. It was a perfect fit. Of course we have to use a good cooler because the mini only operates on AC.

[callison82]

I put two series 31 AGM batteries in my (late and un-lamented) Burro simlar to the system Don Clemens mentions. To handle the startup surge current of the Haier 1.6 cu. ft compressor fridge I bought a 3000 Watt surge capacity inverter (1500W running capacity). That's a very large inverter for a very small refrigerator but there is additional current to run something else (not a larger fridge though!). The two series 31's are capable of keeping the refrigerator frozen for 42 hours in 110˚F ambient heat. The Burro is long gone but I still have all of the electrics including a 60A converter to keep it all charged. All of those batteries and electronics now occupy a 35" Husky Mobile Job Box. It's very, very heavy but it does have wheels and could be considered semi-portable. I just refer to it as an "Electric Power Module". It's going to be powering yet another 1.6 cu. ft. refrigerator in just a few weeks when we finally take our new Aliner Ascape camping. All I have to do is figure how to get it into the back of the pickup next to the Honda EU3000is...

[tdhess]

Here is another option for replacing your icebox, or an additional option for keeping your food cool OR frozen in your trailer. It's an Alpicool C2 21 quart capacity DC/AC fridge. My friend has one and it is working out well for her. It uses 12v or 110V and is pretty low in power consumption. She ran it all weekend in fridge mode on just the trailer battery. She uses a 100 watt solar panel to keep the battery topped off for longer trips. There is a youtube video review of this fridge/freezer by Slim Potatohead. This cooler can be used as a refrigerator OR a freezer. For those of us without a freezer, it would make a nice addition. My friend built a pull out tray in her trailer for a more permanent installation. Just sharing more options here.... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075R1LH8D...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[Danmc44]

I have thinking about removing the dinky, useless, refrigerator from my camper and replacing it with one of the "Keeps ice for 10 days" coolers.



Has anyone one there tried this solution?



Dan

[John in Santa Cruz]

those ice boxes only keep ice for a week (or whatever) if they are 75% filled with ice, everything else including the cooler is pre-chilled, and you don't open them. of course, they have to be top open, not front, so not very practical as an RV fridge, unless you mount them on a pullout slide of some sort... and you'll need a reasonable way to drain the inevitable melt water that doesn't involve carrying the whole heavy beast outside (I can barely get my 55 qt 'Canyon Outfitter' in/out of the Escape trailer door, it lives in my truck instead... with the Casita 16, I'm not sure it would even fit through the door and go around the corner).

[Glenn Baglo]

When you drain the water, you're also draining the cold.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

When you drain the water, you're also draining the cold.

indeed, I don't drain the water til I'm adding ice.

My Canyon 55qt will keep ice frozen for a week if you don't open it, but if a couple dudes are sucking down beers all day and restocking it with warm cans/bottles daily, in 100f weather, it can go through a 20 lb bag a day. its completely airtight, too, you have to crack the lid before you can drain it or it vacuum locks and drains really slowly with air burbling in the drain. I generally restock it, then go get ice, then drain and add ice.

[Pat Stipe]

Yes, I got a bright red dorm fridge on eBay . It arrived safely, and as I unpacked it, I set aside the bottom foam and cardboard packing with the holes cut in it for the front feet. Be aware, that the unit should stay in the upright position at all times, to prevent damage to the unit.

I had measured my opening, and knew it would fit correctly. I bought a piece of plywood from Lowe’s and added a cleat at the back, so it would sit level inside the cabinet, since the front of the board would sit on the front lip of the cabinet door opening. I also bought a narrow cargo strap and put it inside the cabinet, with the latch towards the inside, so I could strap it in place once it was inside. With electrical and propane lines inside the cabinet, I didn’t want it shifting around at all.

I used a spade bit to drill holes the size of the front legs into the plywood, using the bottom packing material as my guide. After making sure the strap was in place, I put the plywood in place on top of it, and checked it for level, and clearance of the lines along the floor of the cabinet. I did tape some reflectix over the inside of the vent which would have been used for a propane refrigerator. After screwing the plywood into the floor, I set the fridge into place, and secured it with the cargo strap. It doesn’t move at all.

I do use a cooler to transport food to and from camping, or if I don’t have power. It gets to temperature in a couple of hours. The freezer area is very small, but it will make enough ice cubes for drinks. So far, 50 camping nights in it this year, and no problems with the fridge. I did add some trim molding around the rough cut opening.

[Grandfatherjim]

After trying a Peltier-type cooler for a while, we splurged and switched to an efficient compressor type fridge - world of difference. For some reason I thought the Peltier-type (the kind that can either warm or cool to 40F away from ambient) would be efficient, but they are not! That thing killed my battery fast.
We wanted to have 3 days autonomy with a 1.7 cu ft fridge, and now we have it with just a group 27 battery (unless it's very hot out, and then it might run for two days, but often in those conditions it's also sunny and we can top up a bit with a solar panel). The key is the compressor - there are several brands that use the Danfoss, which uses 35 watts when running. Our fridge is a Vitrifrigo, but a TruckFridge is pretty much the same.
It took me a while to cough up the money, but I have been happy ever since (5 years I think). First day, we froze our bacon by mistake....

[george w]

I also traded out my 1.7 cu/ft dorm fridge in my burro with a 2.1 engel plus 2 golf cart batteries. Pricey but solved my fridge issues

[starbrightsteve]

I’ve been following this thread with interest. The person that started it was hoping for an inexpensive substitute for the icebox on the assumption that a propane fridge was expensive and troublesome to live with. Today I was doing some pre trip maintenance on my fridge and water heater. I started thinking about my fridge experience and I’ve got to say I have never had problems with the 4 different propane refrigerators that I’ve traveled with. They do cost more than $125 but in most cases less than a danfoss compressor type fridge along with the solar gear and battery(ies) needed to run one. I love solar and I live in northern PA and I know for certain that if it’s raining and or cloudy for 4 or 5 days straight, solar will not keep a compressor type fridge running and cooling in the summer. The ones I’ve had all made ice and the one I have now usually has a container of ice cream in the freezer. I would prefer not to have the push button conveniences the new ones have but for now and in the past, everything works.
I suggest the OP reconsider a propane fridge or a big ice chest or even retrofitting a big ice chest with additional exterior insulation.