Fridge, Gas or electric? (1 Viewer)

K

k12pfc

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My little Nipper has the original gas fridge fitted and due to the high running costs am thinking of replacing it with a powerbox 36L deluxe, good idea or not?
 

Geo

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Jul 29, 2007
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Gas for me with the option of electric should i need it
If you are changing I would suggest a 3 way fridge for all occasions
Geo
 
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vwalan

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depends where you are travelling if you go to hot climates condeser fridges stop working ,but a compressor fridge relies on electic power 12v or posslbly 240v.yuo,l need solar to keep it running. +inverter for 240v.

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ourcampersbeentrashed

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Get one with a gas option just in case you need to park where there is no electric hook up and dont forget sometimes there can be electricity strikes, by buying a dual fuel at least you have an option xxxxx
 
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oldun

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To put the other side......

My 12V compressor fridge works a full efficiency, under thermostatic control all the time - even when on board a ferry.

We took loads of frozen meals with us this year (because of the poor exchange rate) and they remained fully frozen even after the longer ferry crossing from Portsmouth.
 
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superk

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Depends how you use your van and where. The majority would welcome the flexibility of dual or triple energy sources.

However, I found the big fridge in our RV was gas hungry when off EHU or touring abroad where the EHU was often too low powered to run the fridge alone or along with other demands . They can be fussy - make sure you park level.

I appreciate the simplicity of our compressor fridge - park at any angle - no burners to fowl up - but we do, for the most part, stay off EHU so need to make sure there's plenty of battery and recharging capacity. Expedition vehicles use compressor fridges.

:Smile:
Keith

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scotjimland

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Depends how you use your van and where. The majority would welcome the flexibility of dual or triple energy sources.

However, I found the big fridge in our RV was gas hungry when off EHU or touring abroad where the EHU was often too low powered to run the fridge alone or along with other demands . They can be fussy - make sure you park level.

I appreciate the simplicity of our compressor fridge - park at any angle - no burners to fowl up - but we do, for the most part, stay off EHU so need to make sure there's plenty of battery and recharging capacity. Expedition vehicles use compressor fridges.

:Smile:
Keith

Hi Keith

exactly my sentiments, we are on metered leccy so I run the fridge on gas .. but it uses a lot .. :Sad:
on leccy it was using about £1.20 per day, this is partly due to the step down tranny consuming about 130 watt .. that's a lot of money down the drain every month..

My plan is to change for a 12v dc compressor fridge which should be able to run off of solar for much of the year.. but even on EHU it will be a lot cheaper to run.. and as you pointed out will be fine on the smallest supply ..

Jim
 
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Terry

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Hi Jim £1.20 per day ? :Eeek: get rid of it or buy a gas bottle adaptor/ filler :thumb:::bigsmile::ROFLMAO::whatthe::whatthe: I bet my 3 way only uses about 3 quids worth of gas every couple of months :thumb: never bothered checking it though :ROFLMAO:
terry
 
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scotjimland

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Hi Jim £1.20 per day ? :Eeek: get rid of it or buy a gas bottle adaptor/ filler :thumb:::bigsmile::ROFLMAO::whatthe::whatthe: I bet my 3 way only uses about 3 quids worth of gas every couple of months :thumb: never bothered checking it though :ROFLMAO:
terry

Hi Terry

£1.20 is for leccy .. not gas, :Doh:

I have a 19kg bottle I fill at the local garage .. :thumb:
but yank fridges drink lpg :Sad:

Jim

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Terry

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Hi Jim :thumb::thumb: I got the post first time around hence suggesting gas :thumb: but at the rate of £1.20 a day :Eeek: I think I would have to consider binning that yank fridge :ROFLMAO::Sad: Then again it will cost a few bob to replace it :Smile:
terry
 
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gazznsam

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Everybody uses their vans differently,
when we first built ours, the idea was to be mainly in england, and occasionaly go abroad for a few weeks, maybe a month at the most, staying on campsites.

so a small battery, mains charging and a 3 way fridge seemed best,
ok the thetford 3 way fridge never worked right on gas from day one, despite having 2 recalls for problems with the gas valve, but that didnt matter much as we were staying on campsites with lecky.

we then started going to the motorhome shows a lot, did every one one year, and at the first one of the season (driffield) we found our single battery wasnt good enough now we had sat tv, and were using the laptop a lot on the internet (a ride to makro in hull and back with a generator strapped to the back sorted that out temporarily)

so we fitted a 460 Ah battery bank and a solar panel, then found we could go to europe for £19 each way with norfolk line, so decided to go abroad more, then we discovered the aire and stellplatz systems, meaning our increased battery bank was a godsend, but then our small gas tank limited us, so we got a larger one, and the next year i ripped out the truma gas fired heater and blown air system, and put in an eberspacher wet system,

our 90 litre gas tank then lasted about 2 months instead of the month it did before... only real drain on it now was the fridge,

then we went down to spain, and after about bordeaux it struggled, by spain it was useless, we were back to seeking out aires with lecky to keep the fridge going, so i ripped the thetford fridge out and fitted a 12 volt compressor one, got some funny looks doing wood work in a diy shops carpark, as we fitted a larger fridge freezer,

The new fridge was excelent, cooled down in minutes after something warm was put in it, didnt matter if we were slightly off level, sams ben and jerrys ice cream (4 quid for a piddely little pot :Eeek: was safe again, and we could bring back some kassler joints from germany in the freezer safe in the knowlage that they wouldent defrost.

Then we found out that our single solar panel wasnt really upto the job of keeping the batteries topped up, so 2 more were bought in germany (£300 each for 123 watt sharp panels) and we were set,

the gas tank now lasts years as it only feeds the cooker and generator, of which the genny died 2 years ago, so theres now a 2 stroke petrol in it's place temporarily (it'll still be temporarily in there in 3 years time i bet)

BUT, now our battery bank is dying, it's 4 to 5 years old so is overdue replacement, and we can last as long as we get sun, but 2 consecutive rainy days and were out of power,
we managed ok at the week long stratford show, had to run the genny for a few hours once,

anyway, after yet another of my life stories.... the little 36 litre fridge the OP wants should pull next to nothing, my fridge is a 112 litre jobbie (75 fridge, 37 freezer) uses about 80 amp hours in a 24 hour period, but it's the freezer bit that requires the higher power usage, the fridges with an icebox in them pull considerably less.
 
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