Hi all we are looking at getting a new upright fridge/freezer either Bushman or evercool about 170ltr give or take leaning to the BUSHMAN just looking for your thoughts on these 2 makes these are not 3 ways fridges . for the new semi off rd that hubby is building thank you from the traverling Caseys
If you are building the fit out, choose a household 240ac inverter fridge freezer that is the size you want with the features you want. Since the late '90s household fridges have leapt ahead of 12v fridges that have not been improved much since the late '80s. A new 240vac inverter style fridge/freezer uses less power even with the inverter losses factored in, will operate in all climate conditions, (Australian Standard tested at 48*C) are auto defrost, heaps cheaper than a 12v compressor fridge and if it gives trouble somewhere away from the major distributor, any fridge mechanic can look up the model numbers and diagnose what's wrong in mins and order parts if needed. If the very worst comes to worst, it can be pushed out the door at the local tip and buy another one and still be in front compared to the $$ you would have paid for the "purpose built" RV fridge.
Household fridges have to meet Australian standards before they can apply for an energy star rating and this test is savage, no RV fridge would pass, but they don't have to be submitted for testing so they haven't had to compete to stay ahead of the completion.
If you want to get an idea of how much battery the fridge will to use, the yearly consumption is written on the label, multiply this by 1,000 to get watt hours from the kWh number, multiply that by 1.1 to allow for inverter losses (never hat much but better to be on the safe side) divide that by 365 to get how many watt hrs per 24 hrs, then divide that by the house battery voltage to get Ah per 24hrs. You can't that sort of information for an RV fridge, the numbers they give are so general and vague you are left guessing rather than knowing for sure.
Will they stand up to the rough road treatment ..... better than the RV models will, we have replaced quite a few RV compressor fridges that had died and fitted an inverter fridge with a Victron 275 inverter dedicated to just running the fridge and a USB cord for phone/computer charging as a bonus. None of those have failed and the one that coped the roughest treatment was in van that did all the 4WD adventures as part of a bucket list. Even the motorbike riders were complaining about how rough the track was at the time, so it had to be rough eh :lol:
250ltrs is a good size for a fridge/freezer, top or bottom mount freezer is a personal choice thing, but left or right swinging door needs to be determined by where the fridge will be mounted. Personally, I reckon mounting on the passenger side or centre is even better if you have a wall going across the RV that you can use.
T1 Terry
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We have just replaced two 12v fridges Evakool 110l and Fridgemate 55l with a 279l LG 240v inverter fridge (rated 3.5 stars 290kwh per annum) and am very happy with . I'm currently running it on the big inverter for coffee machine etc. I realise this isn't ideal as the idle draw is 0.9A. I already have a Victron 12/275 inverter which I am planning to use as a dedicated inverter for the fridge as suggested by Terry above. My main concern is the 275 may not have enough power to run the fridge on defrost cycle. Any thoughts Terry?
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If you are actually building the RV, have you put any thought into fitting two chest type fridges in place, instead of an upright. I say this because we have an upright, and one of the issues is when the door is opened the "Coolness" falls out. I am thinking that with chest type, this would not be an issue, and this would prevent the fridge (s) from cycling on and off so much, which when on solar only would be helpful.
We have just replaced two 12v fridges Evakool 110l and Fridgemate 55l with a 279l LG 240v inverter fridge (rated 3.5 stars 290kwh per annum) and am very happy with . I'm currently running it on the big inverter for coffee machine etc. I realise this isn't ideal as the idle draw is 0.9A. I already have a Victron 12/275 inverter which I am planning to use as a dedicated inverter for the fridge as suggested by Terry above. My main concern is the 275 may not have enough power to run the fridge on defrost cycle. Any thoughts Terry?
The defrost cycle turns the compressor off, so both don't run at the same time and try to defeat each other. The defrost elements use less than the compressor so no problem with the 275 inverter powering it. Looking through the spare parts for LG fridges and the defrost element is either 185w or 200w but I can't actually find any model specific specs on which defrost element the 279 uses.
T1 Terry
__________________
You can lead a head to knowledge but you can't make it think. One day I'll know it all, but till then, I'll keep learning.
Any links to any sites or products is not an endorsement by me or do I gain any financial reward for such links
If you are actually building the RV, have you put any thought into fitting two chest type fridges in place, instead of an upright. I say this because we have an upright, and one of the issues is when the door is opened the "Coolness" falls out. I am thinking that with chest type, this would not be an issue, and this would prevent the fridge (s) from cycling on and off so much, which when on solar only would be helpful.
The down side is cryogenic migration, the thing you want is always at the bottom so everything has to come out to get to it the only cold that actually falls out is the air, it doesn't have much volume so doesn't take much to cool it again. Try opening the door on the fridge just after you shut it, the air cools that fast it creates a vacuum ... well unless the door seals are past their use by date. the more stuff packed in the fridge, the more efficient it is, sounds strange initially, but that is stored cold and takes up space that air would otherwise fill and leak out when you open the door.
To save a bit of battery capacity over night, you can store cold in an ice cream container full of water. Put it in the freezer during the day and on the top shelf of the fridge at night. The cold flows from the top to the bottom so until the ice melts, that stored cold will hold the fridge temperature low.
But really, modern 240vac fridges are that efficient and well insulated, it's not worth the hassle
T1 Terry
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You can lead a head to knowledge but you can't make it think. One day I'll know it all, but till then, I'll keep learning.
Any links to any sites or products is not an endorsement by me or do I gain any financial reward for such links
The blocks in this graph show the power consumption problem when one opens the fridge door. A test I did over a few days to get a rough idea of our power consumption.
Whether items are at the bottom of the fridge or the back, it is the same issue. Maybe cut a hole in the top of the fridge to access regular items.
No reason to take it back Ian, I didn't mean to sound like I was having a go at you are anything like that. The teenager that stands there with the door open for 10 mins while he waits for something to materialise on a shelf for him to eat, would do exactly what you said ... actually a chest fridge would be ideal for that situation, a teenagers would never move anything to look under it so as long as you put vegetables on top it would stop them raiding the fridge
T1 Terry
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You can lead a head to knowledge but you can't make it think. One day I'll know it all, but till then, I'll keep learning.
Any links to any sites or products is not an endorsement by me or do I gain any financial reward for such links
For a while, the upright freezers had separate drawers so the cold was retained inside each compartment. Maybe the same thing could be implemented in a fridge .... but it would be a case of doing it just to prove a point, the $$ savings in energy use when it generated by the sun at no extra cost would be hard to quantify
T1 Terry
__________________
You can lead a head to knowledge but you can't make it think. One day I'll know it all, but till then, I'll keep learning.
Any links to any sites or products is not an endorsement by me or do I gain any financial reward for such links
No reason to take it back Ian, I didn't mean to sound like I was having a go at you are anything like that. The teenager that stands there with the door open for 10 mins while he waits for something to materialise on a shelf for him to eat, would do exactly what you said ... actually a chest fridge would be ideal for that situation, a teenagers would never move anything to look under it so as long as you put vegetables on top it would stop them raiding the fridge
T1 Terry
Laugh a lot, Terry just surprise me, "he is human" and has a sense of humour.
Like the advice about domestic refrigerator for the caravan.
the only cold that actually falls out is the air, it doesn't have much volume so doesn't take much to cool it again. Try opening the door on the fridge just after you shut it, the air cools that fast it creates a vacuum ... well unless the door seals are past their use by date. the more stuff packed in the fridge, the more efficient it is, sounds strange initially, but that is stored cold and takes up space that air would otherwise fill and leak out when you open the door.
