G'day, hello and how ya goin? Just wondering how long it takes on average to get a gas fridge from a warm start to cold. I realize a lot depends on ambient temp etc, but let's take an average summerish day of mid to high 20C. There will be times I'm not camped and the car's not running. I might be shopping or off photographing something or whatever. Rather than run the fridge off the battery, I'll put its contents in the Esky with a couple of ice bricks and leave the fridge off until I'm camped for the night or longer. So are we talking an hour or two or what?

Hi Gary,

Best advice I can offer is never try to cool an empty fridge,

Turn it on for an hour,or so,load it with Already cold stuff,and that will help keep it cold.

Put your Ice Bricks in first to help it along,their coldness is sacrificed to cool down your fridge,

Thereby,your fridge will get reasonably cold fairly quickly,especially when

already cold stuff is added,IE,the more it is loaded with cold items,the better.

We have a Waeco,TC-35,which is not even a fridge,only a Thermoelectric Cooler,

which we keep on the back seat of the car,this is loaded with a couple of half sheets

of Techni-Ice,when traveling/shopping etc,about an hour before we go,and the drinks/food

stay cold all day.

We can go shopping in the morning,put meat,milk etc in the cooler,come home in the Afternoon

and everything is nice and Chilled,even the 2 little half sheets of Techni Ice are still mostly hard

Please bear in mind the thing is turned off while the car is stopped.

Do exactly the same for our Very old Chescold fridge Freezer,when traveling with it.

John

bill12 wrote:

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Have youtried it on gas?  Powering it on an inverter is a no win situation as you will loose converting 12v into 240v,and back in heat. Also, they don't like running on gas when moving. Has anybody had some experience with running on gas while travelling? I hope someone can help. Bill

-- Edited by bill12 on Thursday 12th of September 2013 12:49:29 PM

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HI Bill

No problem with running on gas while moving, except for safety factor , mainly when refueling is in progress

However running on gas is not recommended, but again due to possible fires.

Not the abilty to function correctly

But if the fridge is not level, when parked, can cause problems  just as for being out of level at ANYTIME stationary

30mins would be about the max I would leave it out of level

 

PeterQ

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Thursday 12th of September 2013 01:10:25 PM

My Electrolux is an oldie, Peter, probably 1980-ish. It's a 2 way, gas and 240V. A mate who worked with those things years ago in Texas said it was the top of the line model in its day. I have an inverter but would prefer not to power the fridge off the battery. Thanks for all the suggestions and info, chaps. The time it takes to cool surprises me, so I can see why pre loading it with cold stuff helps - and not leaving it off for long periods.

I checked the back of the fridge and found that it's been powered by mains most of its life. The gas burner and flue area are clean as a whistle. Even so, I cleaned it with a blast of pressurized air.

For one thing, I wouldn't have the gas alight while driving. Too dangerous I reckon. And like Peter says, the fridge needs to be level to operate efficiently. In fact, the whole camper needs to be level to stop me falling out of bed, not to mention peeing without making a mess. As to solar panels and batteries, I'm afraid I'll be using what I have for a while - 70W panel and 1 AGM 105ah. Lights, camera batteries and a laptop are all I need... and maybe an hour or so of telly. Can you buy a telly that runs on gas? The fridge will be restricted to gas (unless I stay at a CP). And my fish will be canned or already frozen so no worries there. :)

bill12 wrote:

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[1]Don,t you think that running it on 12v or 240v thru an inverter will use too many amps? These fridges use 12+ amps on 12v , and probably more using an inverter.I know its an expensive way of doing it

[2], but a 12v compressor fridge freezer is my opinion of the way to go.It depends how hot it gets

[3]. My waeco has frozen fish in 35c outside, and uses abou 2.5 amps after getting cold. with solar panels , and 2 120amp/hr deepcycle baatterys,it works for me. I am of the opinion that they are more efficient.I suppose its what Gary can afford. Bill

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Hi Bill

[1]Yes, you cannot realy run a absoption fridge of fbatteries unless you have LOTS & LOTS of battery capacity &  a means of recharging ALL the power they use

[2] a compressor fridge is much more efficient energy wise but still can use a lot of energy over 24hrs,so you need a means o fALWAYS HAVING THAT ENERGY AVAILABLE

Sufficient solar panels ,Battery  capacity ,&/or a generato rfor those long days of poor or no sun

 

[3

I beleive you are saying that the Waeco draws an AVERAGE of2.5Amps

in otherwords 60Amphrs over 24hrs]