Ice in ARB 63qt

[shibubba]

Hey guys,

Just bought a 63qt ARB fridge, bought the 63 because of the foot print ( needed it shorter, 17" high is the exact height of the action packers i use for everything ) and planning ahead for the family that is coming down the pipe.

Question is.... I understand that the fridge works best with as little "dead air" to cool as possible. So if running in fridge mode would you guys put in a few ice packs to help keep air cold and amperage draw to a minimum? Or if I pre cooled it before heading out would it maintain a low amp/hr draw? I cant honestly say I will be using the entire fridge space all the time..... that is a huge fridge, but I know I will in the future and I only wanted to do it once. I am going to run this off my arkpak ( 120Ah ) for 4-6 days at a time...may get a solar panel to help.

I assume I am correct in thinking the .87 A/Hr draw is under ideal conditions, most likely with their "90 cans" and next to zero dead space.

What do you all think?

 

[SWITAWI]

I wouldn't put ice in a fridge/freezer.

These are more pricey than your standard 'blue ice' packs, but if you're looking for filler that will maintain a low temp I'm starting to hear about these - http://www.arctic-ice.com/index.html

They say the Alaskan Series is for keeping beverages and perishables refrigerated, and the Tundra is basically a dry ice replacement for keeping things frozen when you're not opening the cooler that often

 

[hoser]

I would fill the extra voids with frozen bottles of water.

 

[Honu]

Ditto frozen water and you can drink it and have nice cold water and will make energy draw Niall
Chances are depending on how cold the ice will barely melt

 

[brentbba]

I would fill the extra voids with frozen bottles of water.

Doh! That's a great idea to keep draw on the fridge way down and preserve the 2nd battery even more. I've drawn an Optima Yellow top down to next to nothing from a Friday afternoon to Sunday Morning when the ambient temp never got below 90, even overnight and well over 100 during the day parked.

 

[Weeds]

I would fill the extra voids with frozen bottles of water.

The rectangular Nalgene bottles work great for this.