Waeco Fridge selection

[setsuna]

argh! help me!
Not sure if this is the correct section for this post, apologies if its wrong!

I am in the market for a car fridge.
My problem now is deciding on the correct size!

We recently went away for a week, and we made well to do with a 60litre to store the milk, meat for 4people, and what small amount of room was left was used to chill of a few coldies at a time. We had esky and ice for the rest of the drinks and items that could stand to get wet.

The CF60 did veryvery well, though it seemed to lack cooling power - it had to be set to -2 to keep things at a decent cool temp (without freezing).

I want to do away with the need for ice and esky for cooling of drinks in the future.

Most of the time when we use it, it is going to be for 2 people travelling on short trips, weekends and such. However next year we're hoping to head out to the Pilbara for a decent stint with a few other people, we may have another CF60 to use as a freezer/or another fridge on this trip.

Space isn't toooo much of an issue, but the 60litre fitted PERFECTLY with other items in the back of the disco, the 110litre fridge being an additional 200mm (with handles) would probably make storing anything else in the back near on impossible.

I don’t like the look of the fridge/freezer type fridges as they use a heap more power, and the compartments become dedicated – if you only need a 10litre freezer, that’s 20litres (or whatever it is) of empty space you can’t put food/drinks in.

Am I going nuts thinking the CF60 isn’t capable enough, the CF80 uses too much power (being fridge/freezer), and to may as well go for the 110!?!?!?

David.

[weeds]

i run the other type of fridge and no pont getting into one brand is better than the other..............

is you cabling up to scratch, both neg and pos wires going back to the battery, right size etc. i have never owned a waeco but i imagine it should do the job, a mate of mine has a 60L and it works a treat

[Tombie]

Mate what do you take :D

We have comfortably run a family of 4 off of a 40L for a week....:)

Gave the 40 to my old man and run a CF50 that we got from my (deceased) Father In Law now.

Never seem to have an issue...

[vnx205]

Parkinson's Law states that "Work expands so as to fill the time allocated for it."

A similar principle applies to fridges. Whatever size you have, you will fill.

Several years ago I used a 15 litre Engel on an extended trip to Darwin with my wife and two children.

On a later trip it even took all the fillets from a 71cm barramundi.

At the time I couldn't understand why anyone would buy a bigger fridge.

My camper has a 60 or 80 litre fridge and I often manage to fill it.

[d@rk51d3]

We went with the CF60, since it had the same power draw as the 50.

The 80, although layed out nicely, and with a good capacity, was a power hog and got crossed off the list.

The only problem I can see with the 60, is the height. Too tall to put in the camper trailer, and almost too tall to put in the back of the RRC and be able to access the contents. It does fit nicely into a D1 rear passenger side with the rear seat folded.

The 50 may be a little more user friendly.

[Disco44]

We went with the CF60, since it had the same power draw as the 50.

The 80, although layed out nicely, and with a good capacity, was a power hog and got crossed off the list.

The only problem I can see with the 60, is the height. Too tall to put in the camper trailer, and almost too tall to put in the back of the RRC and be able to access the contents. It does fit nicely into a D1 rear passenger side with the rear seat folded.

The 50 may be a little more user friendly.

Yep that how I place mine,better access and leaves the room for other things using the rear door.

[NOZ]

I have a cf80 and its a great fride/freezer, but it does chew through the power.

Waeco do make a cf50 dual zone might be worth considering

I have a family of 6 hence the 80lt choice

[Chenz]

I have a 60 and it has been across the Madigan Line and various other trips in pretty hot conditions. I always run mine at -1 or -2 and have not had a problem with either the amount of power of having enough room to put in supplies for an extended period.

The only issue is making sure you have nice thick wiring as it is sensitive to voltage drop. I used almost battery cable leads to my plug and this solved he problem

[setsuna]

I have substantial leads to the rear of my vehicle, so power is not much of an issue.
the 2nd battery is about 80ah worth.

The CF60 does seem like the best option for power consumption vs fridgespace.
how well does it go as a freezer when cranked right down?

David.

[d@rk51d3]

Recently did a short trip (2-3 days), and used our CF60 as a fridge, and another (Dad's) as a freezer. Seemed to work well.

[big guy]

I have a 40 and does us fine. Key is to rotate food and cool as little as needed. Thats my thing anyway.

My fridge is now 6 years old and never missed a beat. Waeco is well up to the job.
My next buy is a engel but as said before, thats another thread.

I like a fridge I can personally lift in and out if need be.
The bigger you go the heavier etc.
Personnel thing I guess.

[DI5CO]

I have the CF 50 & it has been fine. Only had it 2 yrs & it has done broken hill & nullabor both in January. I had to run mine at about 0 to - 1 or 2 as well. During the cooler months I will run it at around 1-3. I thought it was due to the seal not being as good as the fridge at home & opening & closing often. The temps when we were in broken hill got up to high 40's & it worked fine. Have been very happy with mine.
Dave.

[Dorko]

I have a 60L... works a treat! i have the case that came with it, but i run mine at -1.

Dorko

[Trakker]

Shouldn't need any more than the 60L. I have a family of 5 and we do well with a 50L fridge in the 4WD. Our camper trailer came with 2 x 35L fridges and I don't bother using them anymore.
We no longer even need to run a freezer as we get our meat vacuum sealed at the butcher (free of charge)which enables us to go a couple of weeks with the meat fridged, not frozen. MUCH more convenient (no hassles with defrosting, and unintentionally freezing other food), and much kinder on your batteries if you're in the one place for any time.

[SVX37]

[QUOTE=vnx205;1248525]Parkinson's Law states that "Work expands so as to fill the time allocated for it."

What happened to Murphy's???:angel:

[vnx205]

[QUOTE=vnx205;1248525]Parkinson's Law states that "Work expands so as to fill the time allocated for it."

What happened to Murphy's???:angel:

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".

Parkinson's Law is the adage first articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955:[1][2]
"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's law of Nazi Analogies)[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."[3][2]

The Peter Principle is the principle that "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence."

There are a lot of laws and principles that govern our lives. Don't get them confused. :p