My wife bought me a "pre-Christmas" present, a Waeco CFX fridge/freezer.
It's one of the mid-range models but it seems to be big enough for what we want to do. It has a removable divider so that when in you have a freezer compartment and a fridge section. Or, remove it and either have all fridge or all freezer.
When we were discussing getting one of these naturally we read the forums, talked to people we know who own these types of fridges. And the Waeco v Engel "discussions" came up. Basically we found 3 points of view; 1. Waecos are good, Engels, not so good; 2. Engels are good, Waeco are not so good; and finally, either are fine.
Yesterday ran it overnight, empty, to see how it performed. Setpoint was at -15 degs C. Plugged it into the Jeep's 12v outlet and drove to Melbourne to buy stuff at Costco.
We were in the store for about an hour to hour and a half. When we got back to the car the temp was up to -2 degs. The power outlet is switched on/off via the ignition, which I'm getting swapped over to permanently on.
Anyway, it easily took all the fast food goodies that I bought and some standard bulk refrigerated items (butter, cheese, etc.). It cranked back down to -16 for the trip home. Everything was either still frozen or cold.
I'd like to hear from people about their experiences with these gadgets and in this case, is the rise in temp normal? The car's temp was around 18 degs or so. It wasn't hot or cold in Melbourne yesterday.
Can you run these units as a regular fridge/freezer. That is, on 24/7 whilst away camping? Or do you use them as temp. storage and to use the caravan's fridge as the main one to rely on.
It'll be interesting to see how it runs on one of those portable battery packs that we're discussing in another thread.
-- Edited by mjt57 on Wednesday 11th of November 2015 02:27:57 PM
patrol03 said
07:42 PM Nov 11, 2015
I have had two Waeco fridge/freezers,40l and currently 50 l. Both were excellent while they were working. The 40l had a thermister replaced after 3 years and the 50l had a main board replaced under warranty,the first thermister fitted two years ago and at the moment I am fitting the second thermister and a main board. My next fridge will be an Engel but while the Waecos are operating they are brilliant.The Danfoss compressor is excellent it is just the rotten electronics that let the system down and I'm bloody sick of it.
hako said
07:47 PM Nov 11, 2015
We carried a 50l Waeco Chinese copy freezer set at -20C on our around Australia trip last year with no problems at all. It sat in the back of the Territory connected to the Territorys accessory plug when driving and at night to an old car battery sitting in the back. When camped for a few days we charged the old car battery with a folding 80 litre solar panel the charged the old car battery. The insulation on these fridges is not the best despite many claims and once power is dosconnected they warm up pretty quick unless chockers with frozen food so it pays to use a cover for them. You don't have to spend big dollars!
Good Luck.
ps...here is an unbiased test Waeco against Engel. :
The test compares several brands, not just Engel and Waeco. The way that I read the results, the Evakool would be the winner for me.
mjt57 said
11:24 AM Nov 13, 2015
Thanks for that link, Dorian.
The article reviews the older Engle CF model. We bought the newer (and better) CFX one.
Bruce and Bev said
12:29 PM Nov 13, 2015
We have a Waeco CFX 50lt which we bought while on sale at Annacoonda - came with Waeco stand (sturdy aluminum to keep it off stony or muddy ground, an insulated cover (again very sturdy and make a huge difference to both cold retention and avoiding damage to the unit. BUT also a Waeco plug pack. It has a dual plug set. One for the Waeco and one for other devices with smaller socket fittings). You can push button the plug pack to either run with the motor on or off with a red LED to warn you, or one that will only draw power with motor on - green LED.
Temperature loss is typical of these fridge/freezers, but they cool down very quickly.
When we need additional fridge/freezer space, we use it 24/7. You should have a 12v and 240v lead, so plug into either outlet on your RV. We use 12v as we have solar and enough batteries to run it 24/7 when no 240v power available. But the insulated cover helps heaps with keeping the unit cool
hako said
12:53 PM Nov 13, 2015
dorian wrote:
hako wrote:
ps...here is an unbiased test Waeco against Engel. :
My wife bought me a "pre-Christmas" present, a Waeco CFX fridge/freezer.
It's one of the mid-range models but it seems to be big enough for what we want to do. It has a removable divider so that when in you have a freezer compartment and a fridge section. Or, remove it and either have all fridge or all freezer.
When we were discussing getting one of these naturally we read the forums, talked to people we know who own these types of fridges. And the Waeco v Engel "discussions" came up. Basically we found 3 points of view; 1. Waecos are good, Engels, not so good; 2. Engels are good, Waeco are not so good; and finally, either are fine.
Yesterday ran it overnight, empty, to see how it performed. Setpoint was at -15 degs C. Plugged it into the Jeep's 12v outlet and drove to Melbourne to buy stuff at Costco.
We were in the store for about an hour to hour and a half. When we got back to the car the temp was up to -2 degs. The power outlet is switched on/off via the ignition, which I'm getting swapped over to permanently on.
Anyway, it easily took all the fast food goodies that I bought and some standard bulk refrigerated items (butter, cheese, etc.). It cranked back down to -16 for the trip home. Everything was either still frozen or cold.
I'd like to hear from people about their experiences with these gadgets and in this case, is the rise in temp normal? The car's temp was around 18 degs or so. It wasn't hot or cold in Melbourne yesterday.
Can you run these units as a regular fridge/freezer. That is, on 24/7 whilst away camping? Or do you use them as temp. storage and to use the caravan's fridge as the main one to rely on.
It'll be interesting to see how it runs on one of those portable battery packs that we're discussing in another thread.
-- Edited by mjt57 on Wednesday 11th of November 2015 02:27:57 PM
I have had two Waeco fridge/freezers,40l and currently 50 l. Both were excellent while they were working. The 40l had a thermister replaced after 3 years and the 50l had a main board replaced under warranty,the first thermister fitted two years ago and at the moment I am fitting the second thermister and a main board. My next fridge will be an Engel but while the Waecos are operating they are brilliant.The Danfoss compressor is excellent it is just the rotten electronics that let the system down and I'm bloody sick of it.
We carried a 50l Waeco Chinese copy freezer set at -20C on our around Australia trip last year with no problems at all. It sat in the back of the Territory connected to the Territorys accessory plug when driving and at night to an old car battery sitting in the back. When camped for a few days we charged the old car battery with a folding 80 litre solar panel the charged the old car battery. The insulation on these fridges is not the best despite many claims and once power is dosconnected they warm up pretty quick unless chockers with frozen food so it pays to use a cover for them.
You don't have to spend big dollars!
Good Luck.
ps...here is an unbiased test Waeco against Engel. :
http://www.rvworldstore.co.nz/blog/waecoengel/
-- Edited by hako on Wednesday 11th of November 2015 07:49:16 PM
Portable battery packs work good as they are exactly that .... portable, where your fridge goes so does the power pack.
But have you considered a dual battery system? If you have the room. Not so hard to set up (if you are handy at 12v wiring)
No worries about flattening the crank battery
Also just another idea, remote thermostat display so at a glance you can see the fridge is working.
When outback a few years ago we travelled from Kings Canyon to Palm Valley and somewhere on that 7 hour drive our fridge blew a fuse.
Got to Palm Valley with a warm fridge and contents... not good. So I now have both fridges hooked up to these.
The top temp is in car temp (No air/con working at time of pic)
The bottom is fridge temps easy to read at a glance and if it starts going up there is a problem that may be remedied more immediately.
Cheers
Vince
That article refers to a test report whose link is now dead. Instead I found it at the Wayback Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110301062053/http://www.waeco.com.au/documents/N308_FridgeComparo.pdf
The test compares several brands, not just Engel and Waeco. The way that I read the results, the Evakool would be the winner for me.
The article reviews the older Engle CF model. We bought the newer (and better) CFX one.
Temperature loss is typical of these fridge/freezers, but they cool down very quickly.
When we need additional fridge/freezer space, we use it 24/7. You should have a 12v and 240v lead, so plug into either outlet on your RV. We use 12v as we have solar and enough batteries to run it 24/7 when no 240v power available. But the insulated cover helps heaps with keeping the unit cool
Just checked the link I posted and it still works for me so....?
Regards
The link you posted links to the actual test report (http://www.waeco.com.au/documents/N308_FridgeComparo.pdf) at another site. This other link was dead when I tried it.