the fridge. silly question !

[vj3]

Another silly question from a novice !

You turn on the fridge and leave it on when on a trip? or do you just turn it on when you park up ?

from a lepton

[Dodgey]

You leave it on. When you are driving you are powering the fridge without draining the battery so it's nice and cold when you park up and therefore uses less power from the battery as it doesn't have to work hard getting down to temperature. There is no reason at all to power it down when driving, quite the contrary.

If I don't have lots of meat in the fridge, and I'm away for a week or more then I power it off overnight. It still stays cold and I don't have to listen to it at night.

[New Forest Terrier]

I plug my Bongo in to the mains for a couple of hours before leaving for a camping trip, overnight for an early departure. If you have a hook up of course. An adapter piece to fit on the hookup cable is available from any camping store. This means the fridge is down to temperature when you load it, so nothing thaws. It also avoids a big spike on the battery when the fridge starts up as the Bongo starts.

Starting from cold the fridge stays cool all journey and arrives down to temperature. If I am not on hookup I also take a cool box with frozen ice packs for all the extra cans and packets that do not fit inside the fridge. By being careful on opening the fridge door and charging the leisure battery with 20 to 30 mins running a day I can get five days out of the fridge. When all around have warm beer and off milk this is well worth a bit of planning. A gin and tonic with ice or Jack Daniels with coke, in the middle of a festival gets some real jealousy.

[vj3]

thanks everyone

all these little tips help

v

[g8dhe]

This is a compression fridge fitted in the conversion isn't it ? Not a coolbox.

[vj3]

This is a compression fridge fitted in the conversion isn't it ? Not a coolbox.

yes

v

[Velocette]

This is a compression fridge fitted in the conversion isn't it ? Not a coolbox.

yes

v

Kept mine cool on a 24 Hour ferry crossing by doing the above plus two large bottles of water pre frozen at home. Leave a bit of expansion space of course

[Dodgey]

A compressor fridge, on a 80-100+ AH battery, in good condition, should run 24/7 for about 3.5 days. To extend that you need to run the engine occasionally, plug into a hookup, or install a solar panel.