flyboyprowler Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 We are travelling back to the UK from Santander by ferry and will have to switch the gas off on our Dometic fridge freezer during the crossing. We have two leisure batteries so do you think the fridge will be OK on battery for around 30 hours for the crossing? Many thanks, Ainsley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocsid Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 Not a chance if as implied it is a three-way absorption fridge. Ours has a 170 Watt 12 VDC element so pulls over 14 Amps when it comes "on", plus the wiring ought to ensure it can't be powered without the alternator generating electrical power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 What model of fridge/freezer do you have? https://www.dometic.com/en-gb/outdoor/uk/support/faq/cooler-energy-consumption Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63 Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 Hi Will you have the ability to freeze down a few bottles of water, and deep chill the fridge(and it's contents) before setting out?...That way you can just treat the fridge as a passive coolbox and leave it turned off? (our Coleman and Igloo coolboxes can still have ice filled bottles in them after 4+ days..) I suppose it all depends on what is being brought back though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 I think pepe's idea should work. Some years ago we sailed from Newcastle to Gothenburg, stopping off at Kristainsand, with frozen bottles of milk, plus a few ice packs in the fridge. On arrival at our first site in Sweden - after a crossing of about 26 hours - everything in the fridge had survived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocsid Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 It is the only technique we have, as I said running it off the batteries ought to "unavailable" by design as that would lead to a lot of flat batteries, and running off gas is not permitted on ferries, and of course for most of us there is no EHU. I only have experience of 5 to 6 hours using the fridge as a dumb coolbox and that works with no issues, certainly if pre stuffed with say a couple of 4 pint milks frozen solid. The risk I suspect will only be to the frozen items held in the freezer section, not typical fridge space items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboyprowler Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 On 10/18/2022 at 9:28 AM, pepe63 said: Hi Will you have the ability to freeze down a few bottles of water, and deep chill the fridge(and it's contents) before setting out?...That way you can just treat the fridge as a passive coolbox and leave it turned off? (our Coleman and Igloo coolboxes can still have ice filled bottles in them after 4+ days..) I suppose it all depends on what is being brought back though.. Sadly no. We are driving up from south Spain to the ferry, and will take three days for the trip. Will probably have to run the freezer down before the crossing and hope for the best for the fridge content. Many thanks. Ainsley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63 Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 Hi again If you do have something in the fridge that you really need/want to save, you could buy some bags of ice from a supermarket on route? (we've never had to buy it but using bagged ice for use in cool boxes is quite usual amongst tent campers..). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted October 24, 2022 Share Posted October 24, 2022 Hi If it's important cargo or medical , why not ask for a EHU ? I do know if you are able to confirm same to Ferry company they usally comply Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Probably a bit late in replying, but we recently did the 12 hour Portsmouth to St Malo.we have 200 amps of Lithium and a Victron 12/2000/80 inverter/charger, we left it on 240 with the inverter on on No 2 of the five lights. Batteries we at 98% when we left the van and at 37% on our return just over 12 hours. Although we were using 12 volt to make 240 the fact the 240 is temp controlled, The 12 volt is constant so overall less drain on the batteries, we were also running a Dometic CX35 on 12 volt.everyone is different this is just what we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 Make a good energy calculation. Of your Powerstation. In Amps per hour And than we can talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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