Thread: About to buy a fridge...

Originally Posted by Ranga

I know others who work that way - ice making in the freezer to transfer to the esky. They all swear by it.

The one thing that bothers me with that approach, and why I was thinking of going a fridge/freezer is the way things end up getting wet in an esky.

I know this thread is a bit old, but one solution to the "wet factor" is to get something like Techni Ice. It's quite affordable, and resuable (especially the HDR version) and it saves you from needing to have more and more water that you just throw out. I don't know how long it takes to freeze though.

We used to use techni-ice but moved to disposable nappies

Get them nice & wet....with water , chuck 'em in the freezer & voila

Nice & cold with no water leakage.

Originally Posted by Signal1

So you got the Bushman? Used it yet? Thoughts?

Excellent fridge, very versatile with the extra lid and collar, and keeps things cold very efficiently.

Been away twice now for 72 hour stretches. Ambient temp about high 20s, fridge temp set to 2 degrees and never went above 3 degrees, and the 120Ah deep cycle battery running it went from 12.8V to about 12.4V.

Originally Posted by Disco44

Check out the Queensland made Evacool( Made in Caloundra) My 60litre fridge/freezer is 6 years old now with not a problem.Across the Nullabor last year the temp outside was 53c the fridge compartment 5c. They can be run as a full freezer or fridge/freezer. They are reputed to have the best insulation on the market but have a fibre glass body but it is as tough as old boot leather .Mine has been to the cape twice and nearly around the whole of Oz .They have the danfoss motor and are very economical.
John Disco 44

G'day Evacool make the Fridgemate, I've just been down this same road and narrowed my choice down to the exact same fridges.

Fridgemate is physically larger but also has larger cold space.

ARB can work as fridge or freezer not both at once Fridgemate can

I bought the Fridgemate on that alone and have found it to be brilliant.

I don't know current draw exactly but I got 2 days @ -18 degrees on the freezer side and + 1.5 degrees on the fridge side with the ambient during the day of 35 degrees on a 100 amp deep cycle battery.

If running all fridge I've found a power setting of 2 out of 10 keeps the beer between 1 - 2 degrees.

At all freezer about 16 hours to freeze a 15 lt water bottle

It keeps the meat frozen and the beer cold, so I'm a happy little camper

both are good fridges so it comes down to your preference