Bongo Fury

Hi

After a 12 day Scotland trip with melted butter, soggy cheese and gone off milk we've decided we must buy a camping fridge/coolbox. Go outdoors have the Quest 45 litre for £170.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/waeco-3-way ... ge-p115652

Has anyone got one of these, are they any good?

The coolbox reviews are making me think we need a fridge rather than an electric coolbox but they all seem very pricey.

Sara

In general, electric cool boxes are disappointing whereas the 3 way fridges are much better.

I have often been tempted to warn customers in camping shops against thermoelectric cool boxes but usually decide that it's none of my business and the shop keeper won't thank me for letting him miss out on two potential sales.

I have been satisfied with the performance of the 3 way. Ice forms readily on the inside panel but there is still a direct relationship between fridge temperature and ambient. every three way i have looked at seems to have the same working parts, the differences being in styling of the box. I would look for one which appears to have good inherent insulation.

Serious users will advise going for compressor rather than absorbtion technology but they are more expensive and are not silent. However, they cost even more to buy than the relatively expensive (compared to domestic fridges) 3 ways but cool more reliably and draw less battery current on sites with no hook up.

However, 3ways run very well off a gas bottle on non electric pitches and are happy on mains where available. They just eat 12 volts because they don't have a thermostat in the 12 volt circuit but run continuously at a compromise level. The clue is in the small print of the advert in your link: "This cool box is thermostatically controlled on 230v".

3 ways need to be fairly level to work properly but I have never experienced problems or had to turn it upside down to reset it.

I paid £130 14 years ago for a Camping Gaz CTL350 (essentially similar to the one you are looking at) and have had no urge to upgrade to compressor technology.

We also have strategies in place for milkless, butterless, cheeseless, camping when we don't take the fridge!


Frank

Diplomat wrote:In general, electric cool boxes are disappointing whereas the 3 way fridges are much better.

I have often been tempted to warn customers in camping shops against thermoelectric cool boxes but usually decide that it's none of my business and the shop keeper won't thank me for letting him miss out on two potential sales.

I have been satisfied with the performance of the 3 way. Ice forms readily on the inside panel but there is still a direct relationship between fridge temperature and ambient. every three way i have looked at seems to have the same working parts, the differences being in styling of the box. I would look for one which appears to have good inherent insulation.

Serious users will advise going for compressor rather than absorbtion technology but they are more expensive and are not silent. However, they cost even more to buy than the relatively expensive (compared to domestic fridges) 3 ways but cool more reliably and draw less battery current on sites with no hook up.

However, 3ways run very well off a gas bottle on non electric pitches and are happy on mains where available. They just eat 12 volts because they don't have a thermostat in the 12 volt circuit but run continuously at a compromise level. The clue is in the small print of the advert in your link: "This cool box is thermostatically controlled on 230v".

3 ways need to be fairly level to work properly but I have never experienced problems or had to turn it upside down to reset it.

I paid £130 14 years ago for a Camping Gaz CTL350 (essentially similar to the one you are looking at) and have had no urge to upgrade to compressor technology.

We also have strategies in place for milkless, butterless, cheeseless, camping when we don't take the fridge!


Frank

Ooh that is good to read. I just picked up a used Sibir 3 Way for £50. Not planning to use it for more than overnight on 12V or on the move. It will come out of the van if I choose to use it on gas but I can't see that need arising. I will get a WAECO next time my Bongo goes straight through an MOT!

Thanks for the info

Sara

mountainmummy wrote:Hi

After a 12 day Scotland trip with melted butter, soggy cheese and gone off milk we've decided we must buy a camping fridge/coolbox. Go outdoors have the Quest 45 litre for £170.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/waeco-3-way ... ge-p115652

Has anyone got one of these, are they any good?

The coolbox reviews are making me think we need a fridge rather than an electric coolbox but they all seem very pricey.

Sara

my mate has one works well with gas, drains his leisure bat in about 3-4 hours, dont know about 240v but probably the same as gas, im going to get one when i get around to it

Just pemember you cant use the gas in the vehicle.
These are best on 240v or gas, 12v will soon flaten the battery

3 way fridges aren't really meant to be used from a leisure battery. Those fitted in caravans etc are only wired up so that the 12v only works with the engine running.

Hi

I think the electric cool boxes get a bit of a bad press albeit it's important to remember that they keep things cold rather than make things cold.

I've used one for two years (with mains and 12v leads) and think it's ideal most of the time. I get about 16 hours out of a fully charged leisure battery and of course if you're going hook up, then no problems. Now 16 hours is I think more than I should get if you do the maths, but I've used my watch and 16 hours is what I get.

We usually do a week each year in Cornwall without hook up and the coolbox works just fine. I've just come back from two weeks without hook up and half way through the second week, the battery was dead in by about 4am so I ended up leaving it outside at night with a cool pack in. I should point out, we do a fair bit of zipping about whilst we're down there which'll top the battery up of course.

If I had the money and space for a 3 way fridge, I'd probably get one but if budget's an issue, a cheap and cheerful electronic cool box can fulfil a lot of needs at a fraction of the price

Cool boxes are usually capable of reducing the temperature by 10 degrees compared to ambient so on a hot day they aren't that great - they are not a fridge but one might suffice.
I used to have a 3-way fridge in an old Bedford CF and I will at some point fit one to the Bongo as we do do some wild camping.

winchman wrote:Just pemember you cant use the gas in the vehicle.

The old one I had which, I think, was an Electrolux vented to the outside of the vehicle.