refrigerator questions

G0johnnyG0_ · May 30, 2007

i am driving a chevy 4500 with a small slepper set up. i put a refrigerator in it with the small freezer on top. once the weather got hot the freezer wouldn't keep food frozen, also the frig was working constantly, barely keeping food cold. I replaced the frig with a coleman cooler, that has a adapter to plug into a lighter or an adapter to plug right into a inverter. I get the feeling it is not meant to run continuosly as the adapter gets burning hot. The truck has a 1500/3000 watt inverter, if cooler is plugged in without the truck running the battery goes down in 30-40 minutes. With this inverter what is my best option for keeping food cold, with the least hassles of having to keep starting the truck? I also bought a small frig without a freezer to try, but i was looking at the manual and it said it would not work with a inverter. I really appreciate any advice on this as it is becoming a real pain just to keep food cold. thanks for your time.

greg334 · May 30, 2007

There are two things that will cause this, one is the insulation quality is not the best, this is normal and the compressor capacity is too small to keep up with the heat transfer needed.

The best thing you can do is get Ice packs (you know those blue things and fill the fridge up around the food when the temp is cooler. The mass that you put into the fridge helps a lot.

Also try to keep air flowing behind the fridge, if you can vent it outside it will be cooler inside the van.

Remember that even these $700 12 volt truck fridges are not high end Sub-Zero's - there are limitations because of space and compressor used.

Oh about inverters, try to keep the batteries up. I fried out my compressor because my inverter didn't disconnect when the voltage dropped to 11 volts and it goes into a brown out mode which the compressor can't handle.

bambam · Jun 2, 2007

i had bought one from wal-mart and never had a problen no matter hoe hot it was outsie it was cold in that fridge hell i had to keep it on low so it would not freeze up so check them out

vipra · Jun 2, 2007

I got my fridge at a Camping World store- it has a thermostat, so it doesn't run constantly like the ones for sale at truckstops, and it stays cold inside no matter how hot the interior of my van gets. They're expensive (at least $350), and they don't have a freezer section, but if you put them on the highest setting the whole thing will stay at freezer temperature. They don't sell my model any more, but here are the ones they have now:

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=27837&src=SRQB
http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=17919&src=SRQB
http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=13473&src=SRQB

Roadranger · Jun 3, 2007

My little Engel freezer/fridge will keep my soda cans ice cold all weekend with the engine off. Even those cheap thermoelectric coolers should run overnite OK on 12v - they only draw about 40 amp/hours in a ten hour period. I have 4 group 31 deep cycle batteries (Interstate ECL), about 200 amp/hrs to half charge

. If you are running your 12v cooler off a 110v adapter from your inverter - why? That's not very efficient!

G0johnnyG0_ · Jun 4, 2007

bambam, thats a small fridge or a cooler you have? also what brand is it? thanks

G0johnnyG0_ · Jun 4, 2007

i had the cooler running with the lighter adapter, but the adapter got burning hot and literaly melted the fuse it had on it. i took it back and got another one, and this one had a ac/dc plug adapter so i tried that route. that adapter also started getting hot so i put my small fan on it which did keep it cool. but its a pain to keep the fan blowing on it, it moves around when driving, and would rather have it blowing on me. roadranger, i have two regular batteries, would that run the fridge you have? if not any other suggestions? thanks a bunch!

Tennesseahawk · Jun 4, 2007

Most trucks have rv fridges that connect directly to the truck's 3 or 4 batteries. A 3000 watt inverter doesn't do much good if you only have one battery. You need 4. Even then, I wouldn't hook the fridge up to the inverter. It needs constant power (batteries).

-Vampire Super Slooth Trucker!!!