Fridge only or fridge/freezer?

[unsung]

Looking for opinions, having a tough time deciding.

Right now I am trying to decide between the National Luna 55L Classic fridge and the NL 60L Twin Bin combo with one lid.

I am leaning 55 Classic for simplicity and not really too sure how much I will need a freezer, but the combo does appeal for the versatility.

Any thoughts? I am really trying to stick to National Luna. Space (width) is a limiting factor so these two are the largest options for me.

 

[emulous74]

I know you said you are trying to stick with National Luna, but I went with an Engel Combi 45L it has a moveable partition that allows you to run the whole thing as a freezer or fridge, or just certain sections as a freeze and a the other as a fridge. This to me allowed the most flexibility. The freezer only comes into play when you are going on trips over 4 days (IMO). Freezing items like butter, bread, meat, milk, etc, will allow you to pack good quality items and not worry about them going bad. But honestly, unless you are a hunter, I don't see the need for a freezer on short trips under 5 days. My suggestion is buy the one where the size fits and they way that you will use it 80% of the time. You can always bring a cooler with dry ice if you need to keep something frozen the other 20% of time.

 

[workerdrone]

Have mentioned this before but there's a huge energy use difference when you want to switch part or all of an expedition fridge to freezer mode. Just something to keep in mind.

I have a Snomaster (~95L) dual compartment that's been awesome so far but I pretty quickly started using it as 100% fridge.

Non scientific impressions are that with one side as a freezer, it runs a LOT more, uses quite a bit more battery overnight when there is no solar, and affects the steadiness of the temps on the fridge side as well. This was from using the small side as a freezer, full of blue ice, that I would swap out once a day between a Yeti cooler that we were using for more cold storage.

But yes, it's definitely more versatile.

My ultimate build right now would include completely separate fridge and freezer units, with the freezer being pretty small and having ridiculous amounts of extra insulation.

 

[unsung]

I suppose the nice thing about the dual is both sides can be run as a fridge and then opt for the freezer space if needed.

 

[TSnider]

You have probably already purchased this, but I use a Snomaster 56d and highly recommend the freezer option. It does use more power of course.l, but if you have solar it’ll be fine. It’s nice to have the option. For hunting it’s awesome, for long trips it’s awesome. For baking a hot apple pie and having a scoop of ice cream 50 miles from anything is awesome. And being able to divide things up even if being used as a refrigerator in both sections is nice. A drink section and food section.

I can also make ice cubes. I do recommend on a general basis that you freeze everything ahead of time unless you are driving for 4-6 hours at the start of the trip.

 

[llamalander]

Also a Snomaster owner, the freezer has proven very useful! Often I'll cook a number of meals than can be quickly reheated in a pan and I drop them in the freezer. Prep and cleanup time are far shorter, I use much less water and can stay out much longer than with a cooler. At some point in a trip the freezer is mostly empty and gets turned into a fridge of just filled with bottles to freeze.
Beer also travels in storage and gets chilled in the freezer, making ice or re-freezing ice packs is also easy. Most of my camping is out West or Southwest, so sunshine in the solar is fairly dependable.
Having a powered cooler of any sort is a huge change in camping, with or without a freezer will likely be a great improvement.

 

[dreadlocks]

I keep my fridge right at freezing, there aint nothing I cant put in frozen that will go bad before it gets eaten, if you put frozen items in insulated bags the'll stay frozen for a good while.. the only things I see the need for freezing are Ice Cream and Ice.. Ice Cream is not that important, I can make it if need be.. Ice keeps just fine for 4-5 days in a thermos in the fridge, but I think I'll get an ice maker as wife will consume all the ice in her whiskey in about 2-3 days... Run Ice Maker when the solar output is in excess and its nothing..

Problem with two separate fridges at different temps is you just cut your battery capacity in half or worse, and the problem with Combi's is you get less space for more money.. I figured if I could go 15 years w/a cooler, then I dont really have any use for a freezer when it comes down to it and I'm not interested in paying more money to cool less beer.

 

[Photobug]

The freezer causing a signifcant increase in your "energy bill". What is that based on?

If you run the whole thing as fridge is this still true?

Is the double power usage come from making ice and other uses that consume more power that you would not happen if you did not have a freezer?

 

[dreadlocks]

> The freezer causing a signifcant increase in your "energy bill". What is that based on? / If you run the whole thing as fridge is this still true?

Physics, the colder something is the more energy you've transferred out of it.. the difference between 30F and 5F is quite big on a battery, especially if you are adding to your fridge along the way and have to cool items down from room temp..

> Is the double power usage come from making ice and other uses that consume more power that you would not happen if you did not have a freezer?

Counter Top Ice Maker is 120W (~10A) and makes ice in 6-9m, it would not run continuously but only on-demand, and practically never when the solar was not cranking power out.. and its just for wife's mixed drinks, so entirely optional luxury.. We would be using nowhere near 2x the power of my Engel to make ice, and its just ice.. my wife in theory anyhow, suck it up and drink her whiskey w/out watering it down first if we are on an electrical budget (perhaps due to poor solar).. a 2nd freezer, would likely be filled up with stuff that would be unwise to sacrifice its power for the greater good.

10A for 10-20mins a day is far less than another ~4A running 10-20mins an hour, every hour, every day.. by a massive margin.

 

[Photobug]

> The freezer causing a signifcant increase in your "energy bill". What is that based on? / If you run the whole thing as fridge is this still true?

Physics, the colder something is the more energy you've transferred out of it.. the difference between 30F and 5F is quite big on a battery, especially if you are adding to your fridge along the way and have to cool items down from room temp..

> Is the double power usage come from making ice and other uses that consume more power that you would not happen if you did not have a freezer?

Counter Top Ice Maker is 120W (~10A) and makes ice in 6-9m, it would not run continuously but only on-demand, and practically never when the solar was not cranking power out.. and its just for wife's mixed drinks, so entirely optional luxury.. We would be using nowhere near 2x the power of my Engel to make ice, and its just ice.. my wife in theory anyhow, suck it up and drink her whiskey w/out watering it down first if we are on an electrical budget (perhaps due to poor solar)..

10A for 10-20mins a day is far less than another ~4A running 10-20mins an hour, every hour, every day.. by a massive margin.

I think you are in a unique position where you have a large trailer and a huge solar array. Short of having a trailer or camper I have as large a vehicle as possible and trying to figure out how to fit a fridge into our rig, let alone an icemaker. Right now we carry one or two coolers but are able to move it from bed of truck to cab for sleeping. A fridge would weigh more than I would be willing to move back and forth.

 

[dreadlocks]

my last setup was a 4x8 trailer, I moved my fridge all the time to put it in the shade or bear lockers.. really not that much more cumbersome than a large cooler, once you subtract all the water ice in the cooler its not that much heavier, like a big cooler if you got two people its not that bad, but pushing at the limit of one person... my problem with that rig was getting enough battery and solar just to keep fridge running as a fridge.. didnt have the room for more batteries or solar, moving cooler was more of a necessity because I could get longer runtimes keeping it under a shade tree than mounted to the tongue of my trailer in the sun.. you could mount casters on it or get a lil collapsible dolly for moving it about easier.. or just take it out and sit it under your tailgate.. If you are on a strict energy diet, just one fridge keeping things cold is hard enough.. let alone freezing stuff, making ice, or running a second unit that takes even more power.

oh and the ice maker is less than 1 cubic foot in size, compared to my 80qt fridge.. its tiny.

but yes, I've got enough battery/solar now I could run a dedicated freezer separately and then some.. but this is the first time I've been able to go off the grid indefinitely after a few failed attempts.. its not as easy as people make it seem, few people here are bragging about all the times things didn't go so well, drained a battery flat and all the food went bad.. for example, if you have a lead battery.. and have 2 days of runtime, you need to drive 6-8h every 2 days OR have adequate solar AND full days of sunshine.. else you're going to be on the losing end of the stick on any trip longer than a weekend.. at that point you might as well just stick w/a Cooler, driving to get ice every few days would require less effort.. my old cooler would keep food cool for 3-4 days for a couple bux of ice and no electricity.. $1k on a fridge will buy a ton of ice, and we aint even got into batteries yet.

PS: As for Keeping Ice in a DC fridge, a big ole double wall thermos will keep the stuff forever practically in a fridge.. we've got like a gallon sized coleman one, can fill it up at fuel stops and stuff along the way.. thats what we've been doing for years.. its just you cant make ice in it, so you gotta ration it to last until you can get more.

 

[Photobug]

oh and the ice maker is less than 1 cubic foot in size, compared to my 80qt fridge.. its tiny.

.. $1k on a fridge will buy a ton of ice, and we aint even got into batteries yet.

I am figuring $2k for a fridge and what it takes to keep if fed, that is a lot of ice. Or gets us half way to a used camper that has a fridge already. We are seldom more than 3 days away from facilities. We are prepping for a trip to Mexico in the fall but will be staying in hotels for the Northern half, and ice should be plentiful.

Just tossing around some creative thinking here. Could a one cubic foot ice maker keep a chest cooler cold for less solar power than a fridge? Especially if it starts ice cold and filled with ice.

 

[dreadlocks]

I doubt it, but 150W ice maker running all time would be alot more energy than a 30W fridge running all the time eh.. this is like what I'm talking about: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H7SGQ52

they just have a single cooling element, dumps ice into bucket.. then it melts and gets refrozen.. I highly doubt you can get the out as much ice as they claim in a day, but its plenty for keeping the bar stocked indefinitely.. I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder out into the backcountry for a week or more without restocking any supplies, one of the nice things about having a base camp.. I was not interested in the ice maker until someone here mentioned one about the time my wife was complaining about rationing ice..

I'm just a beer drinker so I could care less, but this was a hill my ole lady was willing to die on when I switched us to a fridge.. but I won her over w/her thermos, and of course she prefers good clean ice that aint been soaking in hotdogs and dirty kids hands.. happy wife, happy life.

 

[Vanhalo]

Here are my thoughts on a Dual Zone Fridge/Freezer. I will speak from a Snomaster perspective and specifically the CL56D and the CL60.
The CL56D is a dual compartment, dual lid, dual zone fridge and the CL60 is a single compartment, single lid, single zone fridge.
IMHO the CL56D is like having 2 smaller fridges in one unit. Less space to cool and 2 lids mean you may not be opening 1 side as much.
I have no data to back this up but it seems to me the larger lid and single zone fridge would lose it's insulation dynamics faster.

 

[dreadlocks]

I have no data to back this up but it seems to me the larger lid and single zone fridge would lose it's insulation dynamics faster.

Not really, this is why Chest Deep Freezes are the most efficient.. cold air sinks to the bottom, you open the lid and all the cold air inside stays right where it is, doesn't pour out the front and suck in a bunch of room temp air every time its opened in a big convection like a front opening fridge/freezer.. with a chest setup practically no cold air escapes, so opening it to get into it has virtually no impact unless you forget to close it.