Hi all well hubby and I have bitten the bullet ,my business sold and hubby gave his boss notice ,house being rented out yikes !!! Dmax and jaco dove (lifted and checka plated) ready to roll my problem is what type of freezer to buy we have a three way fridge in van its old and not that great tiny freezer would love some advise from seasoned travellers we intend to be in more remote areas up north any advise will be greatly appreciated cheers Heather
Welcome to the gang Wilburys1234, enjoy here and out in the playground.
Is the 1234, mum, dad and two fur kids by any chance
Maybe look at a Waeco or Engel 12/240v portable fridge freezer, they can both be either. Just make sure you have a good battery set up in the Dmax, duel battery that is. Oh! some $$$$$ would be good too. Both brands worth it if you have the need.
Make sure you include the loaded weight of the freezer in you over all weight of the Dmax as well.
Keep Safe out there.
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Thanks Dougwe no kiddies or grandkids coming on this trip this is our time 😜 tables have turned we will call in and bum on them lol I have been looking at the Engel but then seen a 65lt one on eBay un sure of the brand don't mind spending the$$$$ if reliable we just had a little piggy butchered and would like to take our produce with us 😀 cheers Heather
I'll second Dougwe's recommendation, but lean towards the Engel. If you only want to use it for a freezer the 35L smallest of the metal cased ones is a good size. I have one that stays permanently in the back of my vehicle as a fridge, but can be used as a freezer when doing trips with the van.
Having said that, you really don't need much in the way of a freezer if you are staying in populated areas. You can get fresh produce easily, and you can buy your meat cryovacced so that it will last for roughly 2 weeks (maybe even a tad longer) just in the fridge.
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Welcome to you Wilburys1234, I have an Ever Kool 70lt 12volt fridge/freezer in my D Max. This brand uses the same type of compressor as the other two top brands. Not as expensive but just as reliable and efficient. I bought it on E bay for one thousand bucks. Brand new and Aust. Made. I have it on a drop down slide out. Fitted and wired permanent to a 130ah deep cycle AGM battery and a 200watt solar panel on roof rack. It has run 24/7 since last August. And it hasn't failed in any way. I can't praise this produce more highly .... But this is only my opinion The beauty of this one is that it has two lids, so when you go to the fridge side for ya beer on a hot day, the freezer isn't being opened at all. Each side can be controlled seperate you and can be all freezer or whatever you need. Any way check them out take your measurements and compare them all, I'm sure you will find one that will suit your needs.
Oh yeah, I have an old pop top van and even though the 3 way fridge works very good, I only use it to store things in cause I free camp 99% of the time, free power from the sun.....so I can save on gas as well. Happy camper.. Happy travels, maybe will see ya on the road soon.... Cheers, Sarg.
-- Edited by sarg on Tuesday 21st of July 2015 08:59:42 AM
Welcome to you Wilburys1234, I have an Ever Kool 70lt 12volt fridge/freezer in my D Max. This brand uses the same type of compressor as the other two top brands. Not as expensive but just as reliable and efficient. I bought it on E bay for one thousand bucks. Brand new and Aust. Made. I have it on a drop down slide out. Fitted and wired permanent to a 130ah deep cycle AGM battery and a 200watt solar panel on roof rack. It has run 24/7 since last August. And it hasn't failed in any way. I can't praise this produce more highly .... But this is only my opinion The beauty of this one is that it has two lids, so when you go to the fridge side for ya beer on a hot day, the freezer isn't being opened at all. Each side can be controlled seperate you and can be all freezer or whatever you need. Any way check them out take your measurements and compare them all, I'm sure you will find one that will suit your needs.
Oh yeah, I have an old pop top van and even though the 3 way fridge works very good, I only use it to store things in cause I free camp 99% of the time, free power from the sun.....so I can save on gas as well. Happy camper.. Happy travels, maybe will see ya on the road soon.... Cheers, Sarg.
-- Edited by sarg on Tuesday 21st of July 2015 08:59:42 AM
Not sure which compressor the Evakool uses, either a danfoss or their own branded one, but the waeco uses a danfoss and the Engel uses a Sawafuji swing motor compressor. But which one is better than the other seems to be great material for enthusiastic discussion. I've had both waeco and engel fridges, I just prefer the Engel as I've had more luck with them.
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We have a waeco smaller version (I think about 40 Lit) it has its own power supply for use on 240V and of course 12 volts.
We have had it for over 2 years now, on and working well for most of that time, I agree with Dougwe, the cheaper ones tend to be just that, cheap and nasty.
Cheers
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Engel man for a long time so a little biased. I have also broken a few of the other brands in the work situation but never an Engel. The newest model 40 litre Engel fridge/freeze might be hard to bypass. I am about to hand the current 40 litre to the grandson and get one of the new ones because of the designed division into dedicated fridge and dedicated freezer areas.
Iza
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Thank you all, well I looked and measured looked at price and again as I didn't have my glasses on expensive little suckers I can see the practicality of twin lids, but I went with the 60lt Engel fridge freezer properly a bit of over kill in size but I want the freezer capacity once all our home grown produce is used we can turn her back to a fridge and as troopy said most meat will be crayvaced once we have to buy what we can't catch our selfs thank you all for feed back count down is on have to be out of the house for tenants by the 31 they move in on the 1 August yeehaa then We will be a real grey head nomads cheers Heather & Cyril
I've got a waeco and an engel, the waeco is ok, but it doesn't like to run if my house battery is not being supported by solar panel unless I overide the low voltage. I would buy another engel when needed down the track from preference I think. I like both products and I think everyone has different experience and different budgets.
Thank you all, well I looked and measured looked at price and again as I didn't have my glasses on expensive little suckers I can see the practicality of twin lids, but I went with the 60lt Engel fridge freezer properly a bit of over kill in size but I want the freezer capacity once all our home grown produce is used we can turn her back to a fridge and as troopy said most meat will be crayvaced once we have to buy what we can't catch our selfs thank you all for feed back count down is on have to be out of the house for tenants by the 31 they move in on the 1 August yeehaa then We will be a real grey head nomads cheers Heather & Cyril
Good choice. Just make sure that you get a cover & a tie down kit for it.
I made the young fellow throw the cover in guru Cupid heck spent more on it than I have any fridge freezer in my life lol ,haven't got the tie down kit though unsure if we will keep it on back of dmax under Torno ,would get bloody hot under it I imagin or in the van mmm only thing I didn't measure was the darn door width of van yes grey hair ! Or in back seat of car when travelling any suggestions folks we can still get it in van pulling canvas back but when we're set up some were will chain it to the van out side I think we're do other nomads keep there's ?
I made the young fellow throw the cover in guru Cupid heck spent more on it than I have any fridge freezer in my life lol ,haven't got the tie down kit though unsure if we will keep it on back of dmax under Torno ,would get bloody hot under it I imagin or in the van mmm only thing I didn't measure was the darn door width of van yes grey hair ! Or in back seat of car when travelling any suggestions folks we can still get it in van pulling canvas back but when we're set up some were will chain it to the van out side I think we're do other nomads keep there's ?
I keep mine in the back of the Patrol. Before I had a cover I used a windscreen heat shield reflector cover to keep the sun off. A mate of mine with a dual cab ute keeps his in the rear seat area of the cabin.
It is chained to the Patrol using the third seat securing U bolt & a couple of the standard tie down points. When I take it out of the Patrol, I use the same chain to lock it to the van's suspension.
In november i purchased a Giant 60 litre dual zone fridge freezer . The dual zone allows each compartment to be used for either fridge or freezer and has dual compressor with independent temperature settings. No problems so far and has been running for 6 months continuous.
