# small fridge wanted, any suggestions, what do you have?



## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi

We want to fit a small fridge/cooler into our motorhome. It only needs to be small and ideally 12volt as we do not want to have to vent it. Any suggestions please

stew


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

We had a 12v cool box/fridge in a small boat years ago. It worked fine, was just big enough and didn't cause battery problems, Alan.

A bit like this: http://tiny.cc/cyj79

Sorry for the long link. For some reason the shortening does not work on my computer. No Script may be preventing it perhaps.

Zeb Note. Fixed it for you Alan.

http://tiny.cc/ is very handy for the odd one that won't work with Nuke's URL squasher.

P.S. Just noticed. You had ticked the box to "Disable BB Code" for this post. That's what stopped it working I think.


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## MOTORHOMER (May 9, 2005)

We have one of those 12v boxes its one of the older ones. We used ours when our fridge packed up over Christmas one year. Worked well for keeping the alcohol cold and milk etc but I recall it was rather greedy when used on the 12 volt when no electric to hand or means to charge the battery.
They are probably much more efficient now.
motorhomer


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## philoaks (Sep 2, 2008)

I think the Waeco range of fridges are the dogs whatsits when it comes to compressor types which run on 12V only (no venting required). Only problem with them is the price!


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

we have a cooler box and they are good but noisy. The waico do look good but as you say are pricy. Might be the way to go though

stew


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Stew

Beware (some) of the 12 volt ones.

As Motorhomer says, they can give the battery a pasting. 8O

They may have changed/improved since we had one, but ours was a "Peltier Effect" cooler/heater, and although it kept the milk cool and the butter from melting, it couldn't manage "_cold_"! :roll:

For those who don't know (_it may save disappointment_ :wink: ) the Peltier effect is what happens when a DC current is passed through a thermocouple. One end gets warmer and the other end gets cooler, and the effect is reversed if the polarity of the current is swapped over.

If a whole lot of thermocouples are mounted as a panel in an insulated box, it can be warmed or cooled by passing a 12 volt current one way or the other, via a selector switch.

They are OK for cooling, but could never be considered as a fridge and will get nowhere near freezing your ice cubes. They are not very energy efficient, and for a given amount of power from the battery, the cooling effect is quite costly.

Hope this helps avoid a mistake.

Dave


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks Dave. We saw the Waeco CoolMatic CR-50 Refridgerator in operation at Peterborough. The guy reckoned he had been running it off one leisure battery with a solar panel and the beer was still very cold on sunday

stew


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi again

The Waeco is a compressor fridge (as you know) so it will work just like a domestic one and will not be tilt-sensitive - which is handy if you are forced to park on a slope.

They are expensive (nearly half a grand last time I looked) but you would not be disappointed with the performance. They don't consume too much power either. I can't remember the figures, but I expect your battery would still be run down fairly quickly (couple of days at most?) if not on hook-up. Guessing here though, so best if you check. :wink: 

The really good news is . . . it will freeze your ice cubes perfectly!! :wink: :lol: :lol: 

Dave


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I have been looking and am surprised at how high the power consumption is on cool boxes. It looks as though an efficient answer will be expensive. 

Oddly I don't remember having a problem powering mine but that was before I knew how to do the sums and found out it should not work, Alan.


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