Fridge problem

[GeoffnSue]

One week’s pension buys a domestic compressor fridge freezer but it would take more than ten weeks pension to buy a replacement ‘Dometic’ fridge freezer.

The questions are:-

1. Why does the addition of a small gas burner, 12 and 220 volts heating elements, small mild steel flue pipe and a hand full of electronics, also lacking electric motor, justify a tenfold price hike?

And it can’t be demand, as there must be millions (well hundreds of thousands) of caravans and campers all fitted with 3 way fridges.

2. I appreciate whilst on the road and on a site with hook up, no problem.

But how long can we ‘wild camp’ maintaining ‘cool’?

Two 100 amp leisure batteries and 100 watt inverter, charged by 194 watts of solar panel assuming a clear blue sky (Greece or Portugal)

The spec of the fridge freezer quotes electric consumption @ 183kwy and also quotes that it will maintain temperature for 15 hours without power. My calculator shows 500 watts per day do you think it might mean that that the compressor is running for 9 hours a day using 56 watts?

Ohms law confuses me when thinking between 12 volt availability and 220v consumption.

Is this something others have done?

 

[Derek Uzzell]

1. That's the way it is. If the fridge manufacturer (Dometic, Thetford, etc.) can demand a high price and get it, then justifying the price becomes academic.

 

2. I vaguely recall someone mentioning in MMM that he had fitted an ordinary domestic 230V fridge in his motorhome (which I assume is what you are contemplating). 500W per day would equate to about 21W per hour, which would equate to roughly 2A per hour at 12V. Sounds like your batteries/solar-panel system should be able to tolerate that as long as you had some sun and the fridge could genuinely maintain temperature for 15 hours without power. (It does need emphasizing, though, that I failed my Physics "O"-level.)