Need help with fridge/cooler concerns.

[Sharpie]

I need a little help with regards to using a fridge or cooler. Thanks for any and all input. Yes, I have been searching other posts but still need help.

For the last 34 years all I have ever known and used is a cooler of various sizes and brands. Until I started reading this forum I had never even heard of nor had I ever seen a portable fridge. I still have only ever seen one to this day. Not sure if they just aren't common where I'm from or what. I don't even have any people I could ask since I don't even know anyone who has one.

In the past we always carried one ice chest with ice and food only and then carried a huge ice chest with backup ice/ drinking ice and then one with cold beer. This is what I have done ever since I was in charge of bringing food/ice/beer. Over the years the ice chests have obviously gotten bigger and bigger to accommodate more ice, food and beer. Now you know my background with regards to this issue.

I am currently building my expo trailer and am starting to plan on what goes where and what fits in each spot. I am currently stuck, and have been for a couple weeks, on what size of ice chest to put in the trailer. I had decided to go with the Yeti 105 since it's the biggest I could fit in the allotted trailer space. I was planning on building a sealed divider to separate food from drinking ice and using dry ice for the food side. Then my buddy started talking about getting a fridge and I started reading posts on here about fridges and I'm now confused about what to do. As usual I went straight to the largest fridge I thought I needed, which was the 80 plus sizes.

What I dont understand about the fridges is how you can store food for, let's say four people, for a week, three meals a day and still have room for drinks or drinking ice. I understand that you put a drink in as you take one out for consumption, but what do you guys do? How do you provide drinking ice for at least three days without needing a separate fridge/cooler? I don't drink much beer anymore and don't need to cool any extra cans besides water and sodas. What size of cooler do you use and how many people can that support and for how long? What do you do for your drinking ice? The last trip I went on we ended up taking three large ice chests and not to mention various little coolers to support 5 guys, one week, food, beer, drinking ice and the only reason the ice lasted that long was because it was cold the majority of the time.

Sorry for making this so long but I just don't get the hype about the fridge if I still need to take a cooler, especially when I can buy two top of the line chests for the price of a really nice big fridge that is less than half the size. Yes it would be nice to cut down on the weight and the amount of ice and chests I have to bring but I need my ice for my scotch. Am I thinking about this in the wrong way or do I need to switch how I do things? I have also just recently started expo camping and it is definitely different from what I have done in the past. Like I said any help/thoughts/input is much appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[matthewp]

The majority of people using fridges will have the issue of ice availability for cooling purposes. With a fridge, you don't need to worry about finding ice to keep your food et. al. cold. That is a good thing when you are in the middle of nowhere (IE: Out west in the Canyonlands area) and don't want to have to divert your plans specifically for logistical support. With the amount of food/beer/etc. you seem to be hauling, you might decide to stay with a cooler. I can/have frozen ice in a cube tray for the purposes of my scotch (The majority of fridges are capable of working as a freezer).
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Also, in the argument against fridges (not being devil's advocate, just pointing out an issue you didn't mention that needs to be accounted for), you may have forgotten about the power needs for the fridge. Most consume somewhere along the lines of 2-3amps per hour, so you're looking at the cost of, at a minimum, 1 quality deep-cell battery ($250-$300 range, and I run two in my camper). This doesn't mention the issue of recharging that battery (I'm rumming a 120watt solar panel on top of my camper).

 

[Sharpie]

I didn't say anything about the electrical issue so I could keep everyone on track and not talk about that too much. I do plan on having the electrical needs for a fridge but need to make sure that I really need one first.

Do you typically only take the food/drinks for yourself/family and that is why you don't need anything else? How many do you pack for? I mainly am going to start packing for max 4 people for food/drinks (no beer)and then need ice for drinks. For a group of that size what would you suggest? Remember I have never really seen a fridge up close and have no idea what to expect. Thanks.

Nice trailer by the way. How is that battery meter working for you?

 

[4x4junkie]

There are a number of dual-zone (fridge & freezer-in-one) units that have become available in the last few years that should allow you to keep some ice on hand for some mixed drinks. Sounds like one of these units might be exactly what you're after (and would allow you to bring out some ice cream too if you want).


http://www.amazon.com/Whynter-FM-62DZ-Portable-Refrigerator-62-Quart/dp/B008VX01P2

 

[Honu]

family of four here

drinking ice ? gets thats a luxury that we do not take camping most places the water we have never gets to hot anyway so its fine the way it is
kids juice and a couple other things stay in the fridge so its cold

IMHO as far as food goes you take a certain amount so size is the same if its in a fridge or freezer if you are bringing drinking ice that ups the amount of space consumables take up
we vac pack our meals and prep the meals some at home lay them on a half sheet pan and freeze if we can so we always have a dry food bin along with fridge/cooler anyway

I did some cooler trips again vs fridge trips nice thing about the fridge the last stuff always comes home fresh and cold

trips 4-5 days cooler or fridge work
longer than that use your fridge as a freezer and swap out blue ice blocks and you can stay out a long time

when we had a trailer we had a 60 or 80 forgot now fridge in the trailer and a 45 in the car
fridge and freezer on long trips longest was about 20 days was awesome to use that way

if your food fits in say a 45 fridge and you want to bring drinking ice etc. that means you need maybe a 80 cooler


I think the thing is drinks take up the most room I often think I should start not bringing juice the kids like and let them drink more water or a powder mix for dinner and call it good
milk have them cut way back on that also since breakfast are often not cereal when we camp so almost not needed
vac packing and meal planning is a huge way to cut back

my thoughts also family loves to make dutch oven cinnamon rolls but we cheat with pop open rolls I should practice a good dry mix that is fast and easy and as good and not waste room

again seems the food we bring takes up a certain amount of space to me a fridge vs cooler is nothing to do with the amount of food we bring
fridge is easy to pack put it in stays cold cooler is more thought more prep but also works

 

[dddonkey]

I have a 41qt truckfidge and it works well for my needs and have used it on 3 day trips with the family (5 of us). I can get all the cold food and milk in there with no problems, but I will carry and old school cooler for drinks and my beer. By day two I can move whats left of my beer to the fridge if there is room and the other drinks are still plenty cold for the wife/kids. When we get home, the left over food is cold and dry, no more soggy cheese.

 

[AlbanyTom]

I could be wrong, but if you're depending on a battery to power your fridge, I'd use a cooler and ice instead. I say that because lead acid batteries aren't very efficient, in terms of Watt-hours/lb. I believe ice is better. Or in other words, 100 lbs of battery won't keep food as cold as 100 lbs of ice. That's my bet for efficiency, and I could be wrong. I'll add that a cooler is way simpler and more reliable than batteries and a fridge.

Now if you change things around to substitute a generator and fridge, then I'll bet that gasoline has way more energy per pound, even with the efficiency loss of the fridge and generator, than ice.

Some people like fridges because it's easier to keep the food dry. I just use plastic bags.

If you camp someplace where you have AC power, like a campground, then a fridge starts to look really good.

Oh, and you probably already know this, but in general dry ice doesn't just keep things cold, it makes things frozen. It would be tricky and not efficient to try to use it to keep things cold but not frozen...tricky because you'd have to insulate it from the food, and also insulate both from the outside, and control the insulation such that the heat transfer was enough to sublime the dry ice at a fast enough rate to keep the food cold but not freeze it.

 

[matthewp]

I didn't say anything about the electrical issue so I could keep everyone on track and not talk about that too much. I do plan on having the electrical needs for a fridge but need to make sure that I really need one first.

I see your point about not mentioning the electrical issue. I learned in my build that it can add a considerable amount to the "realistic" price-tag of the fridge.

Do you typically only take the food/drinks for yourself/family and that is why you don't need anything else? How many do you pack for? I mainly am going to start packing for max 4 people for food/drinks (no beer)and then need ice for drinks. For a group of that size what would you suggest? Remember I have never really seen a fridge up close and have no idea what to expect. Thanks.

I am using a roughly 65qt marine fridge/freezer. That does great for my wife and I for a three or four day campout. I use my "dry-storage" in the kitchen for my drinks, and plan ahead during the day to put some in the fridge early in the day, to drink later. I think, with 4 people, you're probably going to want to go quite large if you do go with an electric fridge/freezer. Maybe even think of a hybrid concept, a reasonable cost cooler with ice for your drinks, but use an electric fridge for the perishables, so you can aleviate the fear of maintaining cooler temps for the stuff that NEEDS to stay cold.

Nice trailer by the way. How is that battery meter working for you?

I'm very happy with the battery meter. I do notice a bit of fluctuation in percentage reading between when the fridge is drawing its charge v. no draw, but otherwise very happy with it.

 

[CaliMobber]

Or in other words, 100 lbs of battery won't keep food as cold as 100 lbs of ice

The problem with that statement is my alternator doesn't make free ice while I drive


One other idea you need to think about with a fridge is that ice takes up allot of room in your ice chest, A fridge can hold the same amount of food while being considerably smaller since you dont have ice taking up room.

I bet the larger capacity fridge like the 65qt or even 80qt would solve your problem. You can even bring a beer cooler on the larger trips if you feel the need. My 42qt easily holds enough for me for a few days and 2 people. I load the fridge full of warm beer after breakfast since ill be driving around and replacing the electricity as I drive.

Im all honesty I feel my solar panel just help keep my battery in better health since it doesnt allow it to drop so much when parked even though it would last the trip with out it.

 

[doug720]

For trips of 3-5 days, I use decent ice chests, freeze food I can/need, and freeze 16oz, 1/2 and 1 gallon bottles of drinking water. I also have a food chest and drink chest, and load the food chest in order of use to keep the time the lid is open to the minimum, which really helps, as does a tight lid seal.

The frozen water bottles/jugs work well, keep the ice chest dry and we have cold water anytime we want. With minimum water contact, the ice lasts a long time.

Pre cooling an ice chest helps also, as does loading cold items, and minimizing loading warm drinks and other items.

I guess I'm old fashioned, but as we don't really see an advantage in using a 12v cooler on trips of less than 5+ daus. For our travels, we can go at least 4 days on our ice, and most times close to a week.

We also travel in a MH with 2 way refrigerator, so I appreciate the flexibility of having non-ice cooling, but for our non MH camping trips...Ice works for us.

 

[AlbanyTom]

The problem with that statement is my alternator doesn't make free ice while I drive

absolutely true. If someone drives a lot, and camps not as much, it's another reason for a fridge vs cooler. With me it's usually the other way around. I'm driving not much, and mostly on the hard road where ice is easy to find, then go camping and stay a few days where the ice holds out fine.

And another part for me is less technology, fewer things to break. I'm surrounded with and managing high tech garbage all day long. When I get away, it's nice to have periods of time when the only noise I hear is wind blowing through trees, and the only high tech things in use have no moving parts.

 

[photo nomad]

Lots of posts about people concerned about the simplicity and reliability of a fridge. Do you all worry this much about your refrigerator at home? The portable ones should be no less reliable. Also, in the rare chance it does fail, it can be used as a cooler!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NatersXJ6]

Fridge!!!

I find that I use my fridge far more in daily life than I do camping. Really, enough that I wonder why ALL cars don't include them.

Lunch, grocery shopping (stores are empty on my lunch hour), after school snacks for kids, etc...

camping I love it because my food is not wet and soggy, all of the daily lie condiments from the house fridge go n the car fridge for travel, extra food is always cold and ready at the end of trip and back into the main fridge...

We don't carry ice for drinks, but will occasionally buy a small bag on trips. Sort of a special occasion thing... We just drink soda without ice, I've never iced a beer, and we don't do hard liquor...

Ultimately, if you are asking these questions, you've probably already decided against fridge...

With that said, I bet you can sell your fridge used for about 90% of the new cost if you decide not to like it, and it takes up about the same space as an ice chest.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[AlbanyTom]

I'm trying to figure out how reliable a home fridge would be if you strapped it into the back of a truck and drove it off road for a couple of miles.

Clearly the portable fridges are going to be built more ruggedly than home units. Like they do with laptop computers compared to desktop computers. But that said, I'd still bet on the home one being more reliable, just as desktop computers are more reliable than laptops in service. And for sure, a cooler is more reliable than any of these things.

I have no idea what the reliability numbers of a portable fridge actually are, in terms of MTBF (mean time between failure). If they're good, then I'd expect the warranty to be in the 5 year or so range, for the mechanical parts. I think that's common for a home fridge. The cooler should last 20+. So guestimate the fridge at $500 and 10 year life, and the cooler at $50 and 20 life (being real generous with fridge vs cooler life/cost here) and the fridge is only 2500% more expensive. That's if the cooler only lasts 2x as long as the fridge, which is part of the generous part, I believe.

But the above isn't fair to the fridge, because I didn't include ice cost. That can add up fast. If I go camping 20 times a year, and take 20 lbs of ice each time, buying the little 5lb bags at $3 each, that's $240 a year. So if you already have a generator, or already have big batteries, or park at a campsite w/ electric, or just drive much more than you camp, and if you camp a lot, the fridge could pay for itself in a couple of years.

But if you don't camp much, or you have to buy a generator or big batteries just for the fridge, then the math swings back the other way fast. (I *do* know something about the reliability and cost of batteries and generators, and neither are either inexpensive or reliable.)

For me, no "worry" about any of it, just risk based decisions centered on my own desired results. Others in different circumstances will come up with different answers that suit their priorities better. It would be silly to say that a fridge is a poor choice for anyone, just as it would be to say that it's a good choice for everyone.

 

[Honu]

drop a home fridge in let me know how you are going to power that puppy when camping would be interesting

as far as durability I am betting on the engel or arb or national luna big time ahahhaahha


I never use ice when I use a cooler ? I use one juice bottle and one milk the kids drink down and freeze other items we use to keep things cool and maybe one gallon of water we can drink off