Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2006 08:51:57 -0800
Reply-To: Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Alternative Fridge Ideas
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Over the years all (3) of my Westy fridges have worked well. So why might I consider a change?
Not sure. Lately I have seen AC/DC mini-fridges that advertise an average draw of .6 amps per
hour (usually 2.5-ish amps when running, but they only run about 10 to 20 minutes per hour). and
with the nice 65 amp Optima camping battery, a new fridge should be able to run several days on
the battery (longer with a solar hook-up). These new fridges are AC/DC, and don't have propane
hook-ups. Lack of a propane fridge is not an issue for us as we rarely stay in one spot for more
than a few days, and even then, we drive a bit from place to place during the days that we return
tohe same campsite (re-charges the battery). Most of the these new mini-fridges have a freezer
compartment, and some come with no freezer. We feel that we do NOT need a freezer.
The major problem is to find a fridge that fits into the Westy's Dometic cabinet opening. Most of
the new mini-fridges are much deeper than the Dometic fridge, so will stick out quite a bit, or
one is limited to smaller fridges.
As I measure the Dometic fridge, the interior is: (HxWxD) 47x35x26cm for an interior capacity of
about 43 liters. (less about 4.7 liters for cooling fins nets about 38 usable liters volume). The
Westy cabinet opening for the Dometic is: (HxWxD) 67x43.5x37cm. the 37cm depth is the difficulty
as few mini-fridges are this 'shallow'.
I found 4 different manufacturers of small AC/DC mini-fridges. Nearly all use the same Danfoss
compressor, so the guts are the same.
www.isotherm.com www.novakool.com www.coolmatic.com www.norcool.com
You can do your own research on these web pages.
Several of these manufactures have an 'intelligent' device that knows when the alternator is
producing electricity and freezes a plate (in the fridge) and then coasts on amp use. These draw
fewer amps on AVERAGE.
I really wanted to build my own fridge in the westy's fridge cabinet opening.
http://www.isotherm.com/products/facts/builtInBox.htm but my (in all other respects 'dear') wife
suggested that with my (lack of) cabinet building skills, the result might look a fridge made by
Picasso. I hate it when she's right! Also the cost of the whole fridge seems to be the same as
the cost of just the compressor & cooling unit. So I got out the tape measure and measured
everything 8 times.
The only fridge (that I found) that comes close to fitting in the Westy fridge cabinet opening is
the NovaCool R2300 at: (exterior HxWxD) 72.1x42.5x35.6 it fits depth and width, but is about 5 cm
(2-ish") too tall. At 59 liters, it a bit bigger inside than the our Dometics (43 or 38 litres
depending on how one measures). But my wife would like the Westy stove/sink raised a few inches
anyway. OR one can use a smaller fridge that is not too deep. OR one can just let the fridge
stick out a few inches.
Karl Mullendor used a small Norcool for his fridge replacement:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/McTavishPAC/fridge/fridge.html
Karl's 1.7 cubic foot fridge is 48 liters, slightly bigger than our Dometics and fits fairly flush
with the westy cabinet.
So far, we are torn between the NovaCool R2300 that COULD fit in the existing cabinet (by raising
the cabinet a few inches) OR buying the larger Isotherm fridge (85 liters twice the size of our
Dometic) and putting it behind the passenger's front seat. We have, for years, had a storage box
behind the passenger's front seat, so we're use to having that space occupied and we could use the
Westy fridge cabinet space for shelved storage that was in the box (and shift Westy weight to the
right side of the van).
So not sure what I'll do, and we'll do nothing for till later this summer. I just thought I'd put
this research in the archives and maybe even Frank Condelli will read it!
If you have any constructive/alternative ideas, I'm all ears. Malcolm
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