Fridge in the cold...

[Philthyphil]

I'm cross posting this in places I think make sense so I apologize if you see this in more than one place... My question is, has anyone ever had trouble with a fridge mounted in a trailer having problems in cold weather. You would think that it would just work less and draw less power but I just want to make sure before I spend a bunch of time and money setting up my trailer with a fridge and it not work the best it can. We do a lot of winter camping as well as summer and I just want to make sure I use it to it's potential. Positives or negatives for location of fridge (vehicle vs. trailer) welcome...

 

[cnynrat]

We have a 50l ARB in our FJ, and an Engel in our trailer. We've camped in temps down into the mid-20's and they have both worked well. I think your expectation that the fridge has an easier time keeping stuff cold is on target.

What I haven't done is camp where the ambient temps are well below my target fridge temp for extended periods. I'd assume you might have trouble with food freezing in that situation.

 

[Jeff Wanamog]

Yes Dave is correct. If you think of it this way, it will make sense. A refrigerator does not "make" cold, it removes the heat.
When there is no or very little heat per the thermostat setting vs. the ambient temperature, the refrigerator does very little work.

Go for it. You will wonder how you ever survived without these portable refrigerators!

Jeff

 

[Philthyphil]

I plan to go for it. I think I will be fine with bringing the comforts of indoors, outdoors, once the baby arrives. I am somewhat of a purist, but also a realist. To keep the wife and the newborn in the out of doors, it will be necessary to bring comforts of the indoors. That's the plan anyway... Plan the plan, work the plan... We'll see???