Any recommendations for a cool box for a family of 4? Is it worth getting an eletric one? Where can I get the best value ones from? If eletric what type of hook up wil I need for it or could I run it off my car (without making the battery flat)?
an elec would flatten your car battery so that is out. if you are using electric hook up then can get something with a maisn adaptor and plug it in. or there are some very very good unpowered cool boxes that will keep cold for 4-5 days (with ice in em of course) and iceytek claim 10 days. the 10 day icetek are more money than the others though. come in a range fo sizes.
We have an electric (12v) one we use when travelling and then it has the juice etc in it on site, it can be used either way which gives you the best of both worlds, when we go shopping we take it with us and have it plugged in any frozen stuff is put straight in it along with the cheese butter etc, when we get back to site it is left closed until we need to open it, first time open we transfer the stuff we want in the caravan to the wee caravan fridge and leave the rest in the box in the awning. You can get a 240 to 12volt charger for them and if you have lecky that would be very useful. If we really need to cool it down on site we plug it into the caravans 12 volt system for a wee while.
good idea to take cool box to the shops . Will be doing that with mine. Can be a problem getting frozen food home in time especially when the weather is good (if we will ever see that again).
Have the plug in one which doubles up for picnics. Have a fridge that is mains or car battery but it does not hold quite as much. If you can get either at a good price its worth paying the difference. Used our coolbox for a week without flattening the battery but used to turn off overnight and go for a run in the car everyday.
Quote: Originally posted by Sue72 on 20/6/2007
is there a coolbox/fridge that works from a leisure battery? If so, what sort of connection would we need? Thanks
Yes and no.
Most cool boxes are 12V and will run from a leisure battery.
Trouble is, fridges are huge power users so they will completely flatten a leisure battery in a couple of days.
If you're planning on being more than a day without mains electricty, you need a gas fridge.
haven't tried the xtreme but did get one of these 34L Coleman 3-day from blacks.
Did extensive testing (on here somewhere if you search) and ended up taking it back - it didn't do what it said on the tine (keeps ice for 3 days) in fact it didn't keep ice for 10 hours!
We got an aldi cool box - even switched off it was better than the coleman.
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Topic: Cool box electric or traditional?
