Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2021 08:20:30 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: =?utf-8?Q?Re:_I=E2=80=99m_leaving_the_Dometic_propane_brotherhoo?=
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In-Reply-To: <d0d78c2d-3f5b-bef6-b4ae-16ca341ba0b8@williamsitconsulting.com>
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Hi steve,
I got the fridge thru a friend of a friend…he is a RV dealer. So I got dealer cost. I’d asked him a couple of years ago about this fridge and at that time he was having a hard time getting any. This time he said it was the only one in the canadian distribution system.
It’s a pricy unit. The truckfridge units are much cheaper. But I don’t think they have the same control system as the Dometic ( Dometic has some sort of fancy stuff going on to reduce compressor power usage. I think there are aftermarket add on units to do same for units not having that built in).
There is also the Italian vitrifrigo which looks very good.
I’ve been doing some casual power tests this last week. Casual as in … I don’t have data logger and the ambient temps weren’t controlled… but I got some idea of the powere consumption per 24 hr perked at the various coolness settings.
Borrowed a flir camera and today I’ll try getting images of fridge and see just how good the insulation is.
I’ll post that on blog this weekend.
Alistair
> On Sep 17, 2021, at 5:33 PM, Steve Williams <steve@williamsitconsulting.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Alistar,
>
> I too have a soft spot for the propane fridge. It is so maintenance free except for the occasional disassembly.
>
> I live in Canada (Revelstoke, BC) and am curious where you purchased the Dometic from. Did you find a Canadian supplier?
>
> I haven't looked at the Dometic one, but have been seriously considering switching to an electric fridge, specially after the heat of last summer!
>
> I already have 120 AH (100 AH real) of Lithium that I did a DIY install last year (under driver's seat) to power a Propex heater & my mobile office (laptop, monitors, etc).
>
> I am using a DC-DC charger, but would probably do a solar install as well to permit cold beer after a multi-day backpacking trip :D
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Williams
>
>
>> On 09/09/2021 7:35 p.m., Alistair Bell wrote:
>> I’ve put my time in. I’ve done all I can. I’ve made it work as well as it can. But the recent combustion chamber clog , repeated ( no doubt contaminated propane ) clogging. And I don’t want to pull the fridge while camping again . I’ve done that twice now, just recently and years ago in central bc.
>>
>> I’ve just received my new Dometic crx50. With ac power option . Got it on test stand in workshop and it’s quite nice. Quieter than expected . I’ll blog later with power consumption data etc.
>>
>> Of course I feel sad. I have a soft spot for the propane fridge. But I have the solar and battery capacity to make this work.
>>
>> Alistair
>
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