Home made fridge?

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retneprac

Well-Known Member
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Location
Bedfordshire
Any of you lovely people made your own fridge/freezer for your landy?

Fitting out the back with demountable units, thinking to make one a fridge/freezer, do I go purpose made kit or break an existing unit for parts?

Unit will fit behind the front seats of the 110. I'd like to make the top of it a platform for the dog to travel on, if I under insulate the top will it have the effect of cooling the top?

Could I mount the compressor unit under the vehicle do you think?

Any good kit suppliers out there which are not silly money?
 
I though of doing that but I just managed to pick up a 3 way quest came with a new bottle of gas & regulator
bargain for 60 quid as the gas/reg he paid 40 quid.:D:D
$_86.JPG

I turned the fridge up to max cooling & left overnight & the plate inside was covered in ice im convinced it
will freeze whatever is inside if left at that setting.
If you needed a fridge & separate freezer id look for a caravan unit most will be 3 way. loads of breakers on ebay
ect & save yourself the grief of making one. :)
 
If you run these on gas you need to vent & it will also produce heat in the exchange.
Some need to be level to run.

I wont be running mine on gas, cooking only on gas & once ive used the camping gaz il trade the bottle for a 4.5kg calor
as the closest stockist for camping gaz is an 80 mile round trip, 4.5kg calor I can get 1/2 a mile away.
 
I wont be running mine on gas, cooking only on gas & once ive used the camping gaz il trade the bottle for a 4.5kg calor
as the closest stockist for camping gaz is an 80 mile round trip, 4.5kg calor I can get 1/2 a mile away.
You can get a bottle that you can fill up at petrol/gas pumps.
Lorry fridge is just electric & if not opened in 24hrs it shuts off. Also if power is low will shut off
 
You can get a bottle that you can fill up at petrol/gas pumps.
Lorry fridge is just electric & if not opened in 24hrs it shuts off. Also if power is low will shut off

No gas at any pumps here, closest gas pump is at Glasgow airport. :( I should never be low on power with 3 leisure battery's
2 in the trailer & 1 in the disco on a split charger also the trailer will have a solar & mains hook up. :)
 
I have a Waeco fridge. It was expensive. I would spend the money again without hesitation.

The trouble with three way fridges is the gas burner has to be level, so you need to park level or you will loose efficiency. I wouldn't know anything about building a fridge from parts by the Waeco one I have is no well put together I could never imagine doing it myself. I have put it through lots of punishment, loads of dust, banging around, etc, etc. And still been able to freeze things in it in the desert. Only one thing about a fridge is of course it cools the inside by moving the heat to the outside, therefore the inside of your car gets hotter. Depending on where you go this could be a problem. I had it in the back of a DCpickup so was ok.
 
I have a Waeco fridge. It was expensive. I would spend the money again without hesitation.

The trouble with three way fridges is the gas burner has to be level, so you need to park level or you will loose efficiency. I wouldn't know anything about building a fridge from parts by the Waeco one I have is no well put together I could never imagine doing it myself. I have put it through lots of punishment, loads of dust, banging around, etc, etc. And still been able to freeze things in it in the desert. Only one thing about a fridge is of course it cools the inside by moving the heat to the outside, therefore the inside of your car gets hotter. Depending on where you go this could be a problem. I had it in the back of a DCpickup so was ok.

Going to fit one to my 101 when the bloody Portugese eventually issue my reg number!!...they are not cheap as you say but nothing is that is built properly and does what is designed to do properly...agree re gas no use in a vehicle only motorhome or caravan...
 
Going to fit one to my 101 when the bloody Portuguese eventually issue my reg number!!...they are not cheap as you say but nothing is that is built properly and does what is designed to do properly...agree re gas no use in a vehicle only motorhome or caravan...
I bought mine in another currency and didn't really do the conversion until I got home. Pricey!

But WORTH EVERY PENNY. we went on a 2 week drive in the empty quarter in oman, and we had ice cream, cold drinks, ice, etc while our other friends were trying to just use a cool box. This was in May in the middle east. I would say it took one day of travel to be really happy about it. Get the biggest one you can afford / fit too. Because unless you are just driving round UK / Europe and can buy food everyday (in which case why bother?) you will long for the extra space. Ours is 65lt
 
You've not mentioned where it is that you will be using your fridge. Could you use a cool box?
I spent a deal of time looking and decided I didn't need a powered or gas fridge as im simply not likely to ever be routinely far enough away from civilisation to justify it, and the extra convenience wasn't justified by the extra money.
As has been mentioned, if you're routinely doing a week at a time with no contact in oman or morocco then a fridge makes perfect sense. But for cutting around the Uk, I opted for a good quality rotomoulded cool box. If however, you are already adding a split charge/leisure battery for other reasons, then the cost is rather different.

Advantages:
-Even the most expensive cool box is FAR cheaper than an electric fridge when you include costs of split charging systems, dual batteries etc.
- Doesn't require carrying any gas, which is a boon for travelling the continent where transport of dangerous goods could even see a propane cyl scrutinised
-Very easily demountable, just chuck it in the back and lift it out when you need it. doubles as a handy seat too!
-reliability, you'll never lose a compressor or fry the PCB
-more storage volume for the size as youre not carrying a compressor too.

Disadvantages:
-You can't freeze stuff, or keep it frozen*
-requires planning, as you will always need to pre-chill it for the best performance
-Requires maintenance, you'll need to top it off with ice as and when you can in use.
-putting warm beers in your cooler will negatively impact it's performance.
-Approx 2/3 of your space should be taken up by ice. which rather negates any extra storage you would have had from not carrying a compressor. However, cleverly freezing drinking water bottles, OJ and milk can certainly help minimise this.
-You will want to minimise opening and closing of the cool box, some may find this very inconvenient. Especially if you have kiddies who like to pull cokes out of the fridge every 20 minutes.

*You CAN keep stuff frozen pretty well depending on how well you pack the cooler, and you CAN freeze stuff if you use dry ice to supplement.

There are some good videos out there about how to use and pack a cool box effectively, and I reckon I could easily keep enough food frozen in my box to last 2 people a week. Using dry ice is another option if you get a good box (YETI explicitly say you can use it, other manufacturers may not). Though for some purposes it can be too cold, and cause beers to freeze and explode!
I got a YETI Tundra 65 and it fits my defender loadspace perfectly when placed width ways. The 75 would probably be slightly too big, and too heavy for 1 person to manhandle.
 
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