3-way chest Fridge

[Tank]

I am thinking of buying a 3-way chest fridge, i.e. Gas, 12V, 240V, or preferrably if available a straight Gas only (more than likely a gas/12v setup) chest type fridge.
Some of the specs I've read so far shows cooling only down to 25 degrees below ambient temperature, which is useless for keeping food fresh. Has anyone had experience with the one that Repco sells. Not after a fridge/freezer (unless advised otherwise), just need something to leave in the new campertrailer, while I have the Engle in the Disco, appreciate your views, Regards Frank.

[Bushie]

Had an old Electrolux 3 way for years, 25deg below ambient sounds about right. It was a rather hot September at Innamincka (40+) that convinced us to get a 12v compressor fridge.
No cold beer and food going off just wasn't good enough.
To the best of my knowledge it's the heat exchange process that limits to cooling of this type of fridge.


Martyn

[loanrangie]

12v is useless and 240V a bit better , gas gives best performance only downside is another fuel to worry about but then most people use gas for something so just allow an extra or larger bottle .

[sam_d]

As mentioned above the 12v mode is a bit pathetic, 240v is okay and gas is pretty good.

I have an Aldi 3-Way fridge I bought about 6 years ago. The only time it gets used these days (as I now have a Waeco compressor fridge) is for when we're camping in one location for a few nights, running it on gas as a gas bottle will last for ages - well after a 12v battery has gone flat.

As for how well it cools on really really hot days I can't tell you - we've never been that lucky with the weather - but generally it is pretty good. I can't imagine the Repco fridge being too different.

[AnD3rew]

I'd just go a good compressor 12v/240v and invest in a battery and a solar panel for your trailer.

There's a reason gas fridges aren't popular anymore.

[Judo]

I tried a 3-way briefly before purchasing a compressor type. I don't know how anyone can live with a 3-way! Agree that 25 below ambient sounds right - and is just hopeless in summer. No 3-way will be much better. It's a physical limitation of the 3'way design. If you don't use it often, you may also need to give it a good shake every so often to remix the gas/liquid in it. (Sometimes not convenient if it's installed somewhere).

There is additional cost to just the fridge if you do it right, but my recommendation is to get a compressor driven fridge, dual batteries and a solar panel. You don't need a particularly big or expensive solar panel and the battery is topped up to 100% daily. It's brilliant. The fridge is never outside of 2-4*C regardless of ambient temp and you don't need to swap between gas and power. They also run on 240v with a power pack.

[Tank]

Thanks for your replies, I have naturally considered a straight compressor fridge and I have an Engle fridge in my Disco. The cost just to setup a battery/solar setup +plus the cost of another compressor fridge is prohibitive, I have a 3 way fridge (Electrolux upright in my old camper trailer and it has a freezer section which works well on 240V/Gas, would I have to switch to this type of fridge, Regards Frank.

[d2dave]

If you go with an upright Electrolux/Dometic be aware that they have three different ratings of fridges. They are Sub Normal, Sub Tropical and Tropical.

The only one that will work well is Tropical, and I can tell you from experience. If installed properly Tropical do work well.

I have had all three. One was a Tropical purchased new and it worked brilliantly in hot weather. I currently have in my caravan a six month old two door Subtropical, it it works ok, but not brilliant, and this has the best install that can be done.

I have also had sub normal and these are useless in hot weather.

[BMKal]

I've also got an upright Electrolux 3 way in the camper trailer Frank.

Works OK on 240V, not much chop on 12V and we've never had the gas connected up on it. Original gas plumbing to this and the cooker were a bit dodgy, so I removed it when we first got the trailer given to us and have never replaced it.

I find that the 12V will keep things cool if you pull the temperature down nice and low with 240V overnight every night - but if you go a night without 240V power, the 12V side of it will not keep up, even in mild weather.

I've got two Engels now, so tend to rely much more on them. I have a couple of "portable" batteries that we use - one is a "Thumper" which I think is now a Waeco product - the other is an Engel power pack - brilliant bit of gear. Both charge OK from power sockets in the vehicle when travelling.

Shaun usually borrows one of these battery packs from me when he goes on camping trips in the D2 (it doesn't have dual battery set-up). He has the same 40 litre Engel fridge that I have.

[Redback]

Chestcold chest 3 way is what I would get Frank, only downside to 3 ways though as you would be aware of is they have to be level, the more level they are the better they work, so what ever you put it on, needs to be able to be leveled up fairly easily.

We have a 3way in our camper(electrolux) it's 39yrs old, came out of a 1974 Cub Drifta:o it has only just died, been a brilliant fridge, we also have a Finch chest Fridge, it works really well on Gas/240v, it's getting a bit long in the tooth also, this was going to be our replacement in the camper, but mounting it is the tough bit at the moment.

Baz.

[460cixy]

I wouldn't knock em too hard I have had one years ago that would freeze the contents of the fridge on gas and a mate went to and island off qld to shoot goats in summer and took two gas fridges two weeks no worrys just make sure there level ad redback said and 12 volt is pretty useless

[101RRS]

I think they are a bit his and miss - the three way in my camper did not work real well when I bought it - it was build in so I pulled it out (not an easy task) and turned it around a few times and when I used it first off in the middle of summer it worked very well - kept my ice creams frozen.

The next time I used the camper was 10 months later and the fridge did not work so well - freezer was just below zero but the rest of the fridge was a bit warm - obviously having the fridge sit for a long time is not good and needs to be turned around and shook up a bit - a bit hard for a built in. So looking for a compressor fridge to replace it.

However a normal brand name 3 way camping fridge that can be tumbled before use should work well for extended stays.

Garry

[Tank]

So am I right when I say that when used on Gas (or 240V) the fridge will cool well below the "25 degrees below ambient", if that is the case, as I did not want to go to the expense of setting up to run on 12V, then Gas alone would keep food and milk fresh regardless of ambient temps., Regards Frank.

[101RRS]

At 30 degrees my freezer is at about -16 and the fridge about 4 degrees. Not tried it hotter than 30.

You will need to have the 12v system working as it will be needed to power the fridge when driving. Depends on the fridge but mine worked OK on 12v but not as good as gas. On 12v it draws 10 amps so Ok as long as you were not going to be parked up more than a few hours.

Garry

[djambalawa]

I have an old Chescold in the 2nd hand camper we bought earlier in the year...

It works ok on 240/12v - although it draws a lot. Gas is pretty good but it does need to be level - this one even has a bubble level stuck on the top - when i ignored the level it was pretty useless.

I live in Darwin so its always hot - and the fridge on gas is still quite good for long camps - we use it for non frozen stuff like fruit, salad etc and it keeps everything quite cold - well cool :) We do have a 12v engel style fridge for meat and stuff... we run that off the dual batteries on the camper trailer and use solar panels to keep the batteries up.

[BMKal]

So am I right when I say that when used on Gas (or 240V) the fridge will cool well below the "25 degrees below ambient", if that is the case, as I did not want to go to the expense of setting up to run on 12V, then Gas alone would keep food and milk fresh regardless of ambient temps., Regards Frank.

While I've never used mine on gas, my parents had an identical Electrolux in their Toyota Hi-ace camper for many years. My father always told me that it worked very well on gas (and 240V) and they have travelled a lot throughout the north west of Aus with it before my mum eventually sold it in Tassie.

Only thing is - I believe that it's recommended that you do not leave it running on gas when you are travelling. I know that my father would never run it on gas unless the vehicle was stationary.

Definitely in a camper van like they had - I wouldn't be comfortable having a gas appliance running inside the vehicle with me when on the move. When I used to borrow the vehicle in Tassie, I always used to make sure that the gas was turned off at the bottle, with not even the pilot light running.

[numpty]

So am I right when I say that when used on Gas (or 240V) the fridge will cool well below the "25 degrees below ambient", if that is the case, as I did not want to go to the expense of setting up to run on 12V, then Gas alone would keep food and milk fresh regardless of ambient temps., Regards Frank.

I dont believe so Frank. 25 below ambient is approximately the best they will do. Chescold is supposed to be the best and they claim to operate at colder temps.

I had a Finch 3 way for many years and it did sterling service until one holiday too many when it kept nothing cold, so I bought an Engel. They (3 way) work fine on 12 volt if your cabling is up to it as they draw around 6 amps. Not recommended for long stationary periods, hence why the gas option is available.

It is illegal these days I believe to run a fridge on gas whilst on the move. I had a 2 way upright (gas, 240) in my Kombi back in the 70's and lapped Australia with it running on gas the whole time. :angel: I wouldn't do it now though.

Perry

[d2dave]

If you go with an upright Electrolux/Dometic be aware that they have three different ratings of fridges. They are Sub Normal, Sub Tropical and Tropical.

The only one that will work well is Tropical, and I can tell you from experience. If installed properly Tropical do work well.

I have had all three. One was a Tropical purchased new and it worked brilliantly in hot weather. I currently have in my caravan a six month old two door Subtropical, it it works ok, but not brilliant, and this has the best install that can be done.

I have also had sub normal and these are useless in hot weather.

Quoting my own post here.

I failed to mention that with the sub tropical and the sub normal, the small freezers that these fridges have do work very well. It is the fridge itself that doesn't.

As for needing to be level. This is only important when stopped. While vehicle is on the move it does not need to be level as the fridge been shaken around compensates.

[d2dave]

so I bought an Engel. They (3 way) work fine on 12 volt if your cabling is up to it as they draw around 6 amps.


40 litre Engle uses 2.5 amps. The older ones were 4.5 amps.

[numpty]

40 litre Engle uses 2.5 amps. The older ones were 4.5 amps.

Precisely the reason I used a 3 way for so long because of the high current draw from the Engels of the time. My current Engel (40 litre) however, is only 3 years old.

[djambalawa]

Precisely the reason I used a 3 way for so long because of the high current draw from the Engels of the time. My current Engel (40 litre) however, is only 3 years old.


I think a Chescold uses something nasty like 10 amps on 12v... hence the reason to only use 12v when driving and then with your alternator hopefully charging the batteries on your camper trailer via an anderson plug or something!

[TonyC]

Frank,
DP refrigeration, the makers of Bushman fridges do a 3 way fridge,freezer as well as household gas fridges with freezers.
Their 3 Way pulls 12.5 amps on 12 volts.
Give them a ring and ask what it's performance is like on gas.

3 Way
DP Refrigeration - Gas Fridge and Refrigerators (http://www.dprefrigeration.com.au/gas.html)

Contact
D.P.Refrigeration / Bushman Portable Fridges
Factory 3, Contour Close,
Research VIC 3095
Australia
Ph: 03 - 9437 0737
Fax: 03 - 9437 1570

Cheers
Tony