Fuel for Thought

Engel Refrigerator

The most cherished possession I have in the van is my Engel refrigerator. It is the MT-35F-U1 which translates to a 34 quart refrigerator that sips power from 12V/24V DC or 110V AC. At just under 50 lbs, it is heavy compared to a cooler. At three years of not having to lug bags of ice, it seems a fair trade. The price tag is also heavy, so I compare that to the reduced power requirement and reduced wear and tear on my batteries which are both heavy and expensive.

My last cooler was a Coleman thermo-electric type of cooler. It eliminated the need for ice, but it didn’t hold a steady temperature. In the big truck it wasn’t an issue, because I had ten batteries, and I rarely sat longer than my 10 hour break, and the inside temperature of the truck didn’t vary that much. Expediting in the van put more demands on the cooler. Longer downtime meant a wider range of inside temperatures, and the minimum capacity battery bank required closer management of power consumption. The power hog ended up being the electric cooler. It pulled a solid 4 amps anytime it was plugged in. The Engel requires less than one amp for one minute about every 6 minutes. The rest of the time it’s just sitting monitoring the temperature.

The  power miserly nature of the Engel comes from the Sawafuji swing motor compressor. I am fascinated by the concept behind the compressor. The link goes to a write up on how the compressor works. It is one of those timelessly simple designs—few moving parts and efficient. I want to see someone incorporate the swing motor compressor into a small battery powered air conditioning unit. Engel does sell a guts-only version of the refrigerator, so someone could adapt the working components of the refrigerator to their own cooler or insulated structure. Unfortunately, $1000 makes for an expensive experiment.

The 34 quart model does approach bulky in size, so wherever I mount it, that is where it has to stay. To make the most of the space it occupies, I designed it into my bunk/cot design. Three pallets and room to sleep means room for the refrigerator too. Engel makes a nifty slide-in floor mount. The plate screws into the floor, and the feet of the refrigerator slide and lock into the mount plate--no straps, hooks or other homemade contraptions to detract from the professional, industrial design.

I like the top loading design for in-vehicle use. If I forget to latch the lid, the contents may tip, but there is no door that is going to swing open, unless I’m belly up. The top loading design also holds the cold air in better when the lid is open (same principle as a top loading freezer). Speaking of freezers, this thing freezes too. It has a single compartment, so it’s either a range of cold or ice. I don’t need to keep frozen goods, so it’s usually going to be in refrigerator mode, but the few times I’m bootlegging Blue Bell Ice Cream to family members, the everyday contents get wrapped in a blanket, and the thermostat is cranked down to ice cream.

And speaking of ice cream...

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