Hi
We are experienced campers who have always felt that using electric hook up was "cheating". That was until we went to France last year and hired a fridge for our last camping holiday, now the missus keeps going on about chilled white wine!!
(I have read all the previous posts about getting a proper EHU etc and will be ordering one from Towsure.)
So we are looking to buy a small camping fridge.
It appears to me that the traditional camping ones are either gas run or an electric coolbox type. Would it be possible to run a small domestic table top fridge instead. I have no idea if the power would be too much for camp electrics! We wouldn't plan to run anything else off the sockets...no heaters/ cookers etc, just the fridge.It would be kept inside the tent and would be only used once or twice a year in an England climate!
Our main issues against getting a proper 'camping' fridge are the price and also the 'humm' at night! (I am a light sleeper.) We are on a budget and it looks as if a 2nd hand table top fridge is going to be a cheaper purchase than a new 'camping' fridge.
I'd be interested in your thoughts.
The only one to buy IMO is the Waeco CAB40, yes I know it's pricey, but it is a cracker. We bought ours mainly for use in France as our previous purchase, a Towsure cool box, just could not cut it in the heat.
We use one which deal with ehu, 12v or Gas. now we have progressed to a tintent we use it in the awning for the wine etc. When camping it was very very good.
The table top fridges work very well in tents. No problem with overloading the electrics . Argos had a good deal on one a few weeks back , under £50 , don't know if this offer is still on .
Edit , this is the one table top fridge
Not available for home delivery but may be available at some stores .
We use a table top fridge. Its the Proline from Comet. Holds 45 ltrs and costs around £80. We paid 5 euros per day for the same fridge in France a couple of years ago so this year we have bought our own. The instructions for the Proline says it works fine in temps up to 35 degrees so should do ok in France. It is also less bulky than the 3 way camping fridges.The Argos fridge that Debbie mentions is out of stock everywhere as we tried to find one online and reserve it in store before getting the Proline.
We keep looking at Argos to see if they have got their fridge above back in stock without any joy. We have a very good electric coolbox, but because of the way they work it is often frozen in the morning and Hound 2 was very dischuffed to be given frozen food!! We will have baby granddaughter with us this year and don't know what her reaction would be to frozen bottles.
We use a three way camping fridge (gas/12v/240v) because of the added benefit that it runs absolutely silently - we bought an electric coolbox first time, but the fan is really noisy - you don't notice it during the day but we ended up turning it off at night. We got our fridge second hand off ebay! It's worked perfectly! It has the added advantage that for long trips down into France like we're doing this year, we can load it up with some food (saving money and taking as much food with us as we can this year!) and run it in the car on the way down too! Just bear in mind that if you're going to be sleeping near to either an ordinary fridge or an electric coolbox they can be quite noisy! 3 way fridge gets my vote!
As others have said 3 way fridges are silent - We've got a cab40 but its absolutely massive not what you would want if you want a small fridge but you can get smaller ones. 3 way one would be good for you then as you aren't reliant on hook up you can just run it off gas
If you decide on a Waeco Combicool CAB40 then be sure to get the grey coloured one, it cools to 30˚ below ambient. The blue one only goes to 20˚ below and this might not be cool enough.
Better still, but a lot more expensive is the Waeco CoolFreeze range. They can be set from between +10˚ > -15˚C, perfect for camping on the continent, but as said very expensive.
A small table top fridge will work fine on EHU, but if it is a domestic model I wonder about the safety of using it whilst camping where it might be exposed to excess moisture .. condensation or rain?
as I have posted earlier this month we bought a Waeco Coolfun freezer for £ 150 from Camping & General, runs quietly will freeze or chill but there is no visible indication of temperature so a thermometer is the next buy, trial & error is the game at the moment - Towsure sell them & do price match with evidence .Failing that campingonline sell an Eskimo freezer that is similar
We went through the same dilema. After wrecking two household fridges we ended up with the compressor type camping fridge that cools to 30 below ambient. The reason that our household fridges died I believe was because we had to carry them in the trailer rather than the car boot. If you have a hatchback or estate you may well be ok. The bouncing in the trailer over long distances didn't agree with the fridge workings. One continued to run but didn't get cold and the other severed a pipe. Both had been second hand so the financial hit wasn't too bad but after two failures we opted for the camping variety.
Have a look at the Eskimo range...a bit cheaper than Waeco if you decide to go that way.
Am I wrong to think that coolant liquids in normal type fridges needs to settle after transit, for a couple of hours? Wouldn't that be a bit incovenient on a weekend away? Cant be used in transit (see above), then needs to settle and then needs to cool. Then time to go home! I have to agree with others about the Waeco CAB40, mine is brilliant and incurs none of the above inconveniences. Well worth it if you can afford it.
Have this week, just taken delivery of a Coolzone table top fridge. It is not small at 17" x 17" x 20" high, but has a 48 litre capacity and only runs at 47 watts. Got it at Argos for £78.29 + £5.80 delivery. Product code 481/0124.