The Primus stove people are doing fridges and lots of other things these days.
I have aquired a new 60 litre stainless one though a barter for work to a retailers 4WD.
I beleive it normally retails for the $1200 to $1400 dollar range.
I have been looking at the stainless Engal for a while and the price was too great even though I have great respect for the Engal.
I could find little information of the Primus fridges on the web and so I am doing my own report.
I am impressed with the construction and quaility.
Features are.

Drain plug in the bottom if required.
3 year warranty
50mm insulation.
alloy inner with dual plastic coated wire cages.
28 kg weight.
Wireless remote battery and temp monitoring
12/240 volt
Alarm if lid is not closed after 2 mins
Steel handles
steel lid clips.
Hinges are plastic , but are solid enough and of a simple easy to replace design.
Will pull down to minus 22 degrees
Has a three voltage cut out options from 10 to 11.8 volts
Has three internal temp sensors
Has internal LED lighting
I think this is the equal to a Engal stainless fridge in design.
All I have to do now is bounce it around for a few years in the back of my Landrover....to give it the long term test.
If you see one it is worth a look and also advialible in a 40 litre size

I have a few hours on this fridge now and every thing is very good except Three things.
I feel the condenser is not that big and is hidden away from the world by the stainless panels.
It has a computer fan to assist air flow, but the compressor seems to run for long periods of time which I can only put down to a slightly small condenser.
I notice even though the insulation is very good and everything being 50mm thick around the bottom and sides, the lid only has 25mm thick insulation and with the stainless outer sheet it does get slightly cool indicating to me the coldness is escaping from the lid.
The lid seals are very good design and quality.
My old Engal 35 litre, chestcold 3 way and Mobicool never had a problem with power supply in the back of my defender and they worked OK.
The remote volt and temp unit showed the wiring is not all it could be and I was getting voltage drops though my wiring when the (Landrover) motor was not running.
This never worried the older fridges , but the primus must have a electronic control board as it would some times shut down to low volts.
The other interesting thing is the compressor appears to be variable speed as you can hear it changing speed as required by its refrigeration needs.
Last thing is the plastic coated wire cages are there for a reason as even though the interior is alloy, it is thin and can be dented by a bouncing bottle or one thrown back into the fridge from a distance without the cage.
It still appears to be a good thing and its power use is low, but runs longer than it should for the above reasons.
I am getting the optional insulated cover for the fridge and this should stop any heat entering though the lid and improve things.
Don't get me me wrong its atop fridge and well made.
Some thing else I found and liked is the four bottom foot pads mounted on a thick inverted U section stainless strengthener.
Ron

Hi,

Bought the 40l version at Anaconda last week for $899, cover incl.

60l looked too big, but its same height, 30mm wider and 90mm longer.

Never had a fridge before, so have nothing to compare it with. Only use so far has been one weekend with a Mazda 4x4 ute with only a tiny cranking battery. Just started the car occaisionally to keep it at the set temp of -8.

Seems to be well made. The remote wireless temp display / battery indicator / voltage readout is great.

Be interested in how your 60l one is going Ron.

There was a 60l Engel sitting beside the Primus 40 on the display and it was way too noisy for my liking.

cheers, DL

Yes , and the damn thing will stay noisy and drive you mad for 20 or 30 years. Mine's only 12 and is already driving me mad.

Regards Philip A

My primas is still working well and I have no complains.
It lives permanetly in the back of the 101 landrover now and it runs when ever I drive the vehicle if I need the fridge or not as I am too lazy to unplug it .
If you are looking for a better quality fridge the primas may be for you.

My 40 L Primus got its first real workout last week, along the Glenelg in western Vic while on a work trip.

As previously posted, I've never had a fridge before.

Fridge was loaded into car (single battery Ford courier 4x4, not the RRC) then filled with 'essentials'. Took a while to get below zero while driving. Would bring it down on mains first before leaving next time, but was pushed for time last week.

Remote temp and voltage readout worked faultlessly, as did the fridge itself.

Seemed to draw very little power. Kept temp @ -9 overnight, leaving enough juice to start from the puny single battery. Voltage got down to 10.5.

If I make up my mind to keep this trayback for work it'll get another dedicated battery and controller.

Overall I'm impressed with this tax deduction.

cheers, DL

Another fridge / freezer option is the Evakool Fridgemate, we have a 60 litre version that has proven to be very good over the two years we have owned it.

When I looked on thier site yesterday they were having a seconds / demonstrator sale, from memory they have the same 60 ltr FridgeMates for $799 if anyone is interested. Our one was also a purchased on one of thier seconds sales and there was nothing wrong with it.

www.evakoolstore.com

cheers,
Terry

Also, I find my Bushman THE BUSHMAN 12 VOLT FRIDGE FREEZER FOR CAMPING & FOUR WHEEL DRIVE to be pretty good. Hasn't let me down yet.

I comes with 2 different size lids, an expansion collar, 3 different sized baskets and cover as standard. In a 4WD Action shootout it was the most energy efficient of all the fridges. My only gripe is lack of drain plug.

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1995 Defender 110 Wagon (now gone)
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If I was in the market for a new fridge I would buy the Bushman it seems to be a really good bit of gear.

cheers,
Terry

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