Have to agree the Engel has a good rep and I believe has a tropical rating . If going off road get one with swing mounted compressor they are certainly built to take it rough.

Gitsho - There is nothing wrong with absorption fridges in the larger sizes, provide they are installed correctly. For these fridges to work properly you must provide the correct convection path for the cooling air (this includes the path being to large and allowing the air to bypass the fins and not passing through them.)

One of the things for you to watch is the capacity of the van to carry the solar system necessary to power a large compressor fridge. To be self sufficient with solar you will probably find the system will weigh over 100 kg. If you have 2, 9 kg gas bottles you will have sufficient gas for quite a few weeks. An extensive solar system will only power your fridge for a couple of days, you will also need to carrying a generator and volatile fuel to cater for overcast and wet periods.

Have you weighed your van in touring trim to see if it is capable of carrying the extra weight?

gitsho wrote:

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Anybody out there that has any ideas, experience with caravan fridges can you help,.    The time has come to replace our 150 litre fridge (3 way) to a two door 175 litre (approx).  We are non caravan park campers and prefer to get off the beaten track.   rgds  Gitsho

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 Easiest is to replace with what you have but make sure it is "T" rated 3 way with there no moving parts. Great.

2nd easest would be go to 185 litre 3 way, once again must be "T" rated with auto select for power supply, ours is awesome, on gas it cuts in and out and owers the running cost some what.

Wife loves the 2 door, good size freezer storage, frig maintain good cold temps.

I have read where 3 way friges are much lighter, no moving parts over 12 volt compressor frig.

I don't want your problem but good luck sorting it out.

blaze wrote:

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near 10 year old post
cheers
blaze

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 Darn! I did not read the whole post but followed that Aus Kiwi bloke.

I wonder what he did with the caravan? 

It would be interesting to learn of the out come to his expensive problem.

The 21st century method is to buy a 240vac inverter type fridge freezer and a 375 Victron inverter dedicated to only running the fridge/freezer. The savings between buying a 12v compressor fridge or 3 way fridge and this combination will buy you enough solar and lithium batteries to power it and energy to spare. The combo uses less than a 12v compressor fridge, will work in any climate, auto defrost and if it has a problem, the fridgie bloke in any town can fix it or at least tell you how much it will cost to fix it. If it's more than $400, push it out the door and buy another one so you get a few yrs warranty. They are tougher than any 12v compressor or 3 way fridge so no worries about the rough roads killing it, just look for ones that have decent shelves and door inserts, they are the bits that fall to pieces, not the fridge itself.

T1 Terry

There are a lot of them available, need the dimensions or where you want to fit it to narrow down the field a bit.

T1 Terry

Craig1 wrote:

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T I, Thetford N504.3 , climate class T. 600 wide, 1100 high and 660 deep. Could go a bit higher with some cabinet work. The label says 12 volts = 14.2 amps, 170 watts.
On 230/240 VAC it says 1 amp and 240 watts, so would it run on your 300a inverter and for how long on a fully charged 120 a h agm Full River battery ?.

I was also trying to get some brand names out there for all of us, for future reference as well. Thanks mate.

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170w @ 14.2v and 240w on 240vac, not a terribly efficient 240vac power supply eh.

Armed with the size space you have and allowing 50mm each side, look through these units https://reg.energyrating.gov.au/comparator/product_types/28/search/?wrapper_search=&model_number=&machine_type=Two+Door+Fridge%2FFreezer&capacity=200to300 find one that you might be interested in, copy the model number to a Google search and see if it will fit. An example, the first one listed after a Google search https://www.lg.com/au/fridges/lg-GT-223MWL The lettering after the model usually means the colour and which way the door swings. Appliance on line is another good spot to look https://www.appliancesonline.com.au/category/refrigeration/

Samsung was very popular 12mths or so back, but there are so many players in the game now it really comes down to size and looks/features. Hi Sense has recently climbed to prominence along with LG, but there are so many makers out there now that offer similar performance/energy use that it really is a buyers market.

 

T1 Terry