At what point do you move from the cooler to a fridge?
- Thread starter CSG
- Start date
For me it was not as cut and dried. I did spend $370 on an Edgestar and don't regret it, but I am still not sure it would be worth it to me to spend $750 on an ARB fridge. If most of your trips are a weekend or a long weekend, then the cooler works just fine. I have a 5 day cooler and would use frozen water bottles and frozen gallon milk jugs, which would last 3 days no problem. No wet food either. The main reason I bought a fridge was for the the week and longer trips where you would be forced to find ice on the road. And while I love my fridge, it does make me watch my aux battery level much more closely, and still doesn't quite cut it in some situations. It may lead to me buying a solar panel, which will turn my $370 edgestar into a $700 edgestar + solar panel!
JJBiggs
Supporting Sponsor | SEES
In this feedback lies my question. I have yet to pull the trigger on a fridge. I am curious on battery usage/drainage versus use.
1. Will a single aux battery do the job?
2. If you go solar, how big of a system do you need?
TIA.
adventureduo
Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
The point where we moved from a cooler to a fridge was when we started heading out once, twice a month. Over 2 years our fridge has paid for itself in ice costs. Especially when you get in some somewhat remote areas where ice can be scarce and they charge $5.99 a bag. IMHO if you can't afford a fridge and you don't head out but a few times a year.. just stick with a nice cooler. Some can do very well in hot weather these days.
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
I have some info here on solar.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28712
Mine worked quite well last summer.
Output is 60 watts, and it kept both my batteries topped off.
I do not run the fridge through the aux. battery as some do, but I run it off the main battery.
I followed the info from Painless Wiring when the dual battery kit was installed, and they say to hook up nothing to the aux. battery.
It is to be used for starting the rig in case you wear the main battery down.
I have ran my fridge before at home in my driveway for 4+ days on a long weekend without starting the rig, and it started up when it was time to go to work.
Four days would be the maximum I would try that.
But with solar now I can stretch it out a lot longer.
Coincidentally I just pulled the trigger on a new ARB refrig. What tipped me over the edge besides it being such a "cool" unit with great reviews was our last camping trip which used $50 in dry ice and $20 in cube ice which lasted 4 days and was gone after that. We have 4 more camping trips planned for the summer, I figure I'll make up a good portion of the cost of the refrig just this season.
The Adam Blaster
Expedition Leader
This is the exact same way I think about it.
Getting ice is a small inconvenience, yes, but is it enough to warrant spending 4-5-6-7 hundred bucks on the solution? You can buy a lot of ice for that, or even make your own as others have said with plastic bottles and your home freezer. (I actually use square tupperware for this purpose to make decent sized blocks.)
But, if you are able to get out and enjoy life on the road or in camp areas more than once a month in the summer, then it definitely would be a good return on the investment - both in money saved on ice, and in the extra convenience factor.
I almost bought one last year for my month-long trip to the east coast, but I knew after that trip I wouldn't use it again for at least a year. I ended up with an electric cooler instead, the type that cools to a certain level below the ambient temperature. It works ok for what it is, and the cost was quite low, I think 50 or 60 bucks. I will likely get about 2-3 years of use out of it before I will feel the need to upgrade to a true fridge/freezer.
I think if I did have one, I'd use it in the garage, even if it was just to keep the random beers cold for the next time I had company come over. Other than that, it would sit on a shelf for 11.5 months of the year.
But that's me and my life.
The Adam Blaster
Expedition Leader
And I wouldn't try doing that in the winter, especially up here! lol
cnynrat
Expedition Leader
Lots of testimony in this thread already about the convenience of upgrading from a cooler to a fridge such as an ARB or Engel. I agree with all of them - once you make that upgrade you won't want to go back to a cooler. In my experience, a good cooler certainly works fine for 3, maybe 4 day trips in hot weather. You can manage the soggy food problem by freezing water bottles, and using dry ice if necessary. The fridge really becomes indespensible for trips much longer than that where you won't have the opportunity to replenish your ice supply, so to me that's when a fridge becomes necessary.
If you don't go on longer trips often, a fridge can still make sense if you expect to use it often enough. You will probably find other uses for it once it's there in your vehicle. In this case it's probably a little more of a luxury, but I'm betting that if you decide to make the investment you will not regret it.
If you don't go on longer trips often, a fridge can still make sense if you expect to use it often enough. You will probably find other uses for it once it's there in your vehicle. In this case it's probably a little more of a luxury, but I'm betting that if you decide to make the investment you will not regret it.
john101477
Photographer in the Wild
You know you NEED a fridge when your out for 5-6 days, 110 degrees out, and the nearest ice is 40 miles away. I am seriously contemplating a fridge myself. maybe next spring.
CSG
Explorer
A couple other things have occurred to me. One is that unless I get an RTT at some point, I sleep in the back of the rig unless the weather is really nice. The fridge takes up room and would have to be moved out so I had bunk space. So does a cooler but they weigh less and I don't have to worry if it gets rained on.
Another thing is that if I get a search and rescue call out, I already keep bottled water in the freezer so I'm good to go *now*. With the fridge, I'd need to keep it running in the garage all the time so it was ready.
Lastly, if I'm going for more than a couple days, I'd probably take the camper van and be willing to be limited as to the kind of terrain it can cover in order to gain the comforts of a well-equipped (water system, heat, stove, even microwave and a/c if I grab my Honda 2000 genset)
Really great to hear the reasoning from you guys and for those of you with just one rig, the fridge definitely makes more sense for the long haul (locally, dry ice is $1.50 a pound and you have to go to town to get it). I think for now I'll keep reading and learning and stick with the cooler. It does just fine for the one-two nights I'd use the Cruiser for and the frozen water bottles are in the freezer.
Another thing is that if I get a search and rescue call out, I already keep bottled water in the freezer so I'm good to go *now*. With the fridge, I'd need to keep it running in the garage all the time so it was ready.
Lastly, if I'm going for more than a couple days, I'd probably take the camper van and be willing to be limited as to the kind of terrain it can cover in order to gain the comforts of a well-equipped (water system, heat, stove, even microwave and a/c if I grab my Honda 2000 genset)
Really great to hear the reasoning from you guys and for those of you with just one rig, the fridge definitely makes more sense for the long haul (locally, dry ice is $1.50 a pound and you have to go to town to get it). I think for now I'll keep reading and learning and stick with the cooler. It does just fine for the one-two nights I'd use the Cruiser for and the frozen water bottles are in the freezer.
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These questions depend on your situation. If you don't plane on being for more than a couple of days, or if you do considerable driving everyday, you can definitely just use on aux battery, or maybe even your main battery if it is in good condition and you are careful. For me, driving is not my primary activity, so I will often not start the car for 3-5 days, which makes an aux battery and possibly solar necessary. The size of the solar system depends on if you want to be self sustaining without driving, how much sun you get, and how hot it is. For my use I would like the solar to be close to self sustaining (ie it can run the fridge indefinitely), and my fridge draws 4.5 Amps when running, and runs about 50% of the time on a very hot day. Therefore a 80W panel would be appropriately sized.
BigAl
Expedition Leader
I'm going to the other extreme, I've done 3 overnighters this spring with no icechest. I stopped drinking soda around x-mas and only take water with me. So far it has not gotten extremely hot, so I've been happy. Not sure how I'll feel when it's hot. The ice chest takes up a lot of room. Dry and canned foods are so much easier to deal with. I may change my mind but so far it's working out
I got some good ideas from this thread
I got some good ideas from this thread
CSG
Explorer
Al, I often (usually) do the same thing. While there are times I want a nice pale ale, usually I just drink water and a soft-sided 6-pack cooler will keep a few bottles of water from getting hot. For me, it's not about the food in any event, it's about the other stuff. So normally, I do beef jerky, instant add hot water foods, etc. if I'm in the Cruiser as I'm out for only a night or two most often. With the van and its fridge, I can go nuts but I still almost never cook, it just allows me to bring better lunch stuff and keep milk for my boys, etc.
Years ago, I traveled around the west on a six week trip in my old truck and shell rig and didn't have a cooler then either. I don't remember the food but I remember the trip.
Years ago, I traveled around the west on a six week trip in my old truck and shell rig and didn't have a cooler then either. I don't remember the food but I remember the trip.
Binder Lou
Observer
Bought an Engle 35 about five years ago and have never had a moment of regret. I've made cold water in Nevada and passed out ice cream bars three days into the White Rim Trail. A little planning and pre-freezing of certain foods and six of us ate great for four days down a dirt road. When not in the back of the Scout it sits under my workbench holding my favorite beer at that perfect temperature. It uses miminal current and with driving each day I've never had a battery problem. Putting a second battery into a Scout is tough so I bought a Honda 1000 generator so I've got 8 amps to charge the battery should I ever need to. I'd like to invest in a solar panel as featured by Adventure Trailer but for now the cost isn't yet justified by need. Like everything in life there are compromises and tradeoffs to be made. I do not miss the wet mess of floating items in an ice chest. Buy the best. Beware the high cost of the low price.