Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:45:46 -0500
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Substitute for the RM182B
In-Reply-To: <1344946452.77228.YahooMailNeo@web120204.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
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---- Jeremy Stovin <jjstov@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> The portable fridge seems nice, but where would you put it? Not alot of real estate in back. Then again, I am toting two kids and a wife also.
I have the original Dometic in my '87 Westy. I have not really had the opportunity to test it out. If I plug the van into shore, how long would it take to actually cool? Someone told me, hopefully jokingly, that it will take a couple of hours just to get maybe 30degrees >below ambient.
Jeremy, no, that wasn't a joke, and isn't that different from a home refrigerator. Don't expect any refrigerator to cool instantly. When I get ready for a trip, I plug the refrigerator in over night, then load precooled items from my home refrigerator and freezer into the Dometic. Generally, when the temperature runs around 90 F or cooler, the Dometic will frost the cooling fins on all three modes, and hold the air space at around 38-40 F, a bit warmer if I fill it too full. At temperatures up around 100 F, the D.C. mode won't handle that, and will creep up to around 50 F, but the other two modes still will frost the cooling fins. On my recent 5k + mile trip out west, the Dometic handled my cooling needs for food. I kept beer and my wife's insulin in an ice chest. That was for capacity reasons, and just for a peace of mind edge on the insulin given the up creep on D.C.
I have thought I would replace the city water port with a small fan, or maybe just cut a new port for a fan to better ventilate the space behind the refrigerator, as some have done, but have never gotten around to doing so. mcneely
From: Robert Stevens <mtbiker62@GMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: Substitute for the RM182B
On Aug 13, 2012, at 8:33 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
Other than the shocking price, that's very good news for
long-term-camping Westy owners. I'm sure people would be interested
in hearing more about the internal size and hot-weather performance
of this unit at some point.
If I hadn't already popped for my Vitrifrigo, I'd be doing this:
http://www.compactappliance.com/FP430-Compact-EdgeStar-Portable-Refrigerator-Freezer/FP430,default,pd.html
Using the Dometic/Vitri space for storage, and add a 50W solar panel on the pop top to run everything.
Top loaders are MUCH more efficient and can actuallly store suitable amounts of mass-quantities to be
"out there" as long as the 50W panel will allow (about 7-8 full dry-camping days without recharge of any
kind, except solar).
Of course, having 140-200 amp hour aux battery set up, supports that above example.
bob
--
David McNeely
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