Hello all,
We are quite new to camping and would like a bit of advice
on 12v fridges/coolboxes before we buy one for our holidays.
What we we like to find out are if they are any good and do they consume much power from a car battery, because the last thing that we would want is a flat battery on the car after leaving it running all night.
Any suggestions on makes and models as the fridge/coolbox is for a family of four.
Many thanks
Andy
the 12v coolboxes are only any good for weekend use and not for longer holidays, but in saying that they are better than nothing. get the fridge down to a decent running temp beforehand, then freeze everything including milk suggest you use 1 pints and dont forget to leave one out over night to defrost (one lump or two comes to mind) your car battery will go flat very quickly if left plugged in on the campsite, you could if you have eletric get an adapter from halfords to run this permantly on240v but wouldnt suggest this if the cool box is the only reason works out expensive.
What we we like to find out are if they are any good
Within their limitations - that they cool to 20-25C below ambient and hence are useless in the South of France - yes, they're good.
and do they consume much power from a car battery, because the last thing that we would want is a flat battery on the car after leaving it running all night.
Any cooler or fridge run from a car battery will flatten it overnight. Running from 12V is what you do to keep stuff cold on your journey. When you get to site, you plug it into the mains (with an adapter) - so you must have electric hookup.
Any suggestions on makes and models as the fridge/coolbox is for a family of four.
Well the Maplin one works for our family of 4, but we're softie campers and wouldn't go if it was too hot or too cold.
And a friend at work doesn't bother with them, prefering to freeze freezer blocks in the site shop fridges and use those to keep a conventional cool box cold.
But if you really want a proper fridge for camping, you need a "3-way" one. Expect to pay about £150 for a "combicool".
We have a combi cool and it works very well indeed (just make sure you use it level on site) but for weekend use it is a pain being big and cumbersome. For 1 nighters we use Tescos cool bag and put 2 2 litre frozen pop bottles. Fill them with water squeeze them slightly and put top on and freeze. For 2 nighters we take the cool bag and Cool box with 240 volt adaptor. This is for 2 of us and the proity is chilling the beer and white wine.
Saw 12 volt cool boxs in Safeway/Morrisons for £17 the other week dunno if they still got them.
There are cool boxs that cut out before they flatten your car battery, in our experience they cut out more or less when the engine stops!!!!!
DON'T leave the cool box running from the battery overnight. Two hours waiting for the RAC to jump start the car will ensure that we don't do that one again. I now cool the box down for a couple of hours of an evening - making sure that I disconnect the thing. Also cooled it down bu taking it out when I've taken the car out. Also a lot will depend on when your accessory socket workd - we've got one onthe dash board that is ignition wired - but the second one that my husband installed is permanent. Handy at imes - but the guitly one in that incident. For longer stays we will now go for the EHU option. Last year I found this idea to keep the mini fridge running. This was the ideal way of keeping the milk fresh, kids yoghurts cool, as well a few bits like cheese, and also meant that I could buy meat for a couple of days at a time. Many of the cool boxes and mini fridges tend to be 12/240 volt - but beware some come with only one adaptor.
Hi
We take an old table-top fridge with us. We don't use it cold on the journey, but fill it with breakable things instead, then plug in with EHU and fill it when we are settled.
We keep it on a small table off the floor, and love it. It was cheaper than a 3-way camping fridge and we can use it in the porch at Christmas when I have overshopped.
We had a hot week last year (honest) and it kept the beer at just the right temperature. It's even got a little freezer area which froze the kids' Ice Pops!
It might not be traditional camping but it works for us, I don't like "roughing it" on my Summer Holiday.
Only trouble is the space it takes in the car, but worth it.
Last year we bought the 28ltr coolbox from Halfords. They were reduced from £89 to £44.50p. We already had an adapter to plug into mains but at that time you could get them from Halfords for £16. We use this in the awning for OH beer etc and found it invaluble in France last year. They are in Halfords now at full price again, but the girl told me they would probably drop to half price again maybe in June. They really do hold a lot and you can use them upright like an ordinary fridge or flat like a normal coolbox. They also have the heating facility if you want to keep things warm if required ie. a takeaway. They do get really cold and we wouldn't be without it now as we use it full time at home to store beer and wine.
I brought a fridge last weekend from Halfords for £39.99 seems good got both leads and it fits 1.5 lt bottles and has space at the back that I found I could fit butter chesse bacon and sausages. and room in the door for milk etc.
Like others we purchased a Halfords 12/230v cool box last year as we were going to the South of France where we always find the fridge too small. I was very surprised how well it worked even in the heat. Good investment and a nice bit of kit.
David
PS Should have added that when in the caravan we run it with the 230v adaptor.
We have a lidl £24 cool box we run it on mains at home put it on 12v while driving and take frozen milk with us half a pint fresh for day one and a frozen 2pint for later. If we are on hookup it can run on the adapter and if not I would use ice packs and get them refrozen.
------------- Good friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget.
Thanks for all the replies to my post, they are all much appreciated and a big help to us.I think we will go for just a normal coolbox for weekends and may invest in on of these small 240v fridges for longer stays.
We are off to Woolacombe bay later this summer so hope the weather will be kind to us as this is our first week away as we only camp for weekends normally.
Thanks again.
Andy