Engle 45 (w/o 2-zone) questions???

[RoundOut]

I'm so excited to have finally have ordered the "most important mod", but upon it's arrival, I will have almost no time to test it out with cheese/eggs/ice cream/ice/milk/meats/etc. As a result, I was hoping to pick the collective brains of those here who have extensive experience with their Engle 45's.

My fridge won't have the Two-Zone, but does have the Two-Zone basket set, which appears to offer the ability to help keep items above the coldest (bottom) from freezing.

Some of my thoughts/options are:

1. Use as a freezer only. Bring another igloo cooler and two frozen 2-liter bottles, alternating them daily in the fridge and cooler to keep one solid for the next day's use in the igloo. This way, our frozen meats, ice cream, ice cubes, etc. are never at risk of spoiling or melting.
2. Use as a fridge/freezer. I have heard that if properly set, the bottom will freeze and top will be just above freezing. How hard is it to find the control setting that keeps the temperatures in this range? Is there a trick, such as using a small towel or other insulator blanket between the "zones"?
3. Use the Engle as a freezer, and my Coleman thermoelectric "fridge" as the 2nd cooler. Downside here is the extra drain on power. I probably have plenty of power with my dual batteries, though. Upside is, we can keep two whole gallons of milk or tea and a half gallon of grape juice. Also, we could use #1 above to save on power if that is an issue in this alternative.

Some considerations...

• Want to have some ice cubes for drinks
• Ice cream is the bomb!
• want to be able to separate lunchmeat and slices of cheese unfrozen
• Keep milk & juices unfrozen but cold

What do the wise minds of ExPo say? Thanks in advance for your help.

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[TheRoadie]

I'm not sure about top-to-bottom stratification, but to keep thin things like bacon frozen, you can line the packages along the sides where the cooling happens.

The great thing about a fridge is you can carry things warm and just cool them the day before you need them. Beer. Good white wine in those small boxes. Especially UHT milk in quart boxes. No need to carry two gallons of fresh milk all cold at once. UHT milk is an important pantry item for emergencies IMHO. If you have a family that goes through a LOT of milk on trips, you need to train them ahead of time with the UHT stuff so you don't get a negative reaction on the trail. In case they're not adventurous eaters.

For ice cream or frozen treats, I'd probably use a small passive cooler with dry ice. Might only last 3-4 days but wouldn't waste Engel space.

 

[OutbacKamper]

1. Use as a freezer only. Bring another igloo cooler and two frozen 2-liter bottles, alternating them daily in the fridge and cooler to keep one solid for the next day's use in the igloo. This way, our frozen meats, ice cream, ice cubes, etc. are never at risk of spoiling or melting.
2. Use as a fridge/freezer. I have heard that if properly set, the bottom will freeze and top will be just above freezing. How hard is it to find the control setting that keeps the temperatures in this range? Is there a trick, such as using a small towel or other insulator blanket between the "zones"?
3. Use the Engle as a freezer, and my Coleman thermoelectric "fridge" as the 2nd cooler. Downside here is the extra drain on power. I probably have plenty of power with my dual batteries, though. Upside is, we can keep two whole gallons of milk or tea and a half gallon of grape juice. Also, we could use #1 above to save on power if that is an issue in this alternative.

On short trips I used the Engel as a fridge with no cooler, on longer trips I used option #1 above....it worked well even in 30-40C heat for several months at a time. The bonus is that you have over twice the capacity of an Engel 45 at very little additional cost, depending on the size of your cooler. My experience with thermoelectric fridges (ie: option 3) has been ok in moderate temps, but next to useless in really hot weather - our thremo electric Waeco cooler had a power saver feature which would turn off the cooler once the voltage dropped below a certain level: result...the truck always started and the drinks were always luke warm.

Good luck with whichever option you choose.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Superu]

Use as a fridge/freezer. I have heard that if properly set, the bottom will freeze and top will be just above freezing. How hard is it to find the control setting that keeps the temperatures in this range? Is there a trick, such as using a small towel or other insulator blanket between the "zones"?

Try using two thermometers. One with the probe at or near the bottom and the other with the probe in the top basket. A short period of trial and error should get you pretty close. Also, adding pre-frozen items to the bottom helps a lot. I love my MT-45 and my wife was a quick convert!

Second the UHT milk. We use it in regular, chocolate and strawberry single serving sizes and the kids love it!

 

[FlyingWen]

Have you considered getting a smaller fridge, like a MT17, for those longer trips? While that would cost more out of pocket in the long run, it would keep ice cream (the bomb) and other items frozen.

 

[Willman]

Have you considered getting a smaller fridge, like a MT17, for those longer trips? While that would cost more out of pocket in the long run, it would keep ice cream (the bomb) and other items frozen.

You rock Wen!

I love that idea!

 

[RoundOut]

Have you considered getting a smaller fridge, like a MT17, for those longer trips? While that would cost more out of pocket in the long run, it would keep ice cream (the bomb) and other items frozen.

:Wow1: :Wow1: :Wow1: LOL, I'm going to have a hard enough time explaining the MT45 to the wife (whom I love and adore, but she doesn't love and adore my hobby). :hehe:

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[FlyingWen]

:Wow1: :Wow1: :Wow1: LOL, I'm going to have a hard enough time explaining the MT45 to the hand brake. :hehe:

.

I hate that expression simply b/c I am one! Wil begged for literally years before I released the brake on the snorkel, bumpers, tent, ...etc.

 

[RoundOut]

I fixed the reference to my better half, Wen!

I hate that expression simply b/c I am one! Wil begged for literally years before I released the brake on the snorkel, bumpers, tent, ...etc.

Forgive my insensitive reference, Wendy. That is inappropriate for me to refer to the better half that way.

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[TheRoadie]

Forgive my insensitive reference, Wendy. That is inappropriate for me to refer to the better half that way.

I've had to edit posts after Mrs. Roadie read things I've accidentally typed that would have been better kept as thoughts.

 

[RoundOut]

That picture is priceless!!! :xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma

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[Bergger]

Our trips usually are between 3-8 days in length. We use our Waeco CF-50 as a fridge. It holds all our meat, veggies, fruit, dairy, condiments and other odds and ends. We then have a Colemane Xtreme 6 day cooler that holds all of our canned beverages packed in ice. This seems to work well as it keeps the food out of the melting ice and keeps the fridge closed most of the time as we usually go into the cooler more often for drinks. It also gives me plenty of loose ice for my afternoon and evening drinks. :friday: The Coleman 6 day cooler worked great on our last 7 day trip. We stopped once to top it off with a small bag of ice. I think this combo works out very well. If I were going longer and I might invest in a second fridge to use as a freezer but with that comes other issues, like power consumption. For 7 days or less I really like the fridge/cooler combo.

 

[RoundOut]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

It looks like we're going to take the Engle and Coleman thermoelectric. We'll use the Engle as a freezer and the Coleman as a fridge/cooler, rotating a block (in a 2-liter bottle) of ice each day to help keep it cold. Both will ride in the back seat (we're pulling the back seat out) on a custom platform to be designed/installed on Friday.

I appreciate everyone's input.

Hope to see you on the trail soon!

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[FlyingWen]

I agree that adding a 2nd fridge would be hard to swallow with the extra $$ and space used.

We have 1 MT45 for 3 people. We vacuum seal most of the food (meats, diced onions etc) and saves us some room. We only put a few sodas in at a time and carry the rest in the vehicle and put more in as the stock gets low. Leaving the beer and sodas out makes a lot of extra room for Ice cream and ice to be kept at the very bottom of the fridge where it is coldest.

Just my .02