When we went camping with friends last time, they had a 12V campnggaz coolbox connected to the electric hookup.
After 4 days our coolbox (ice packs/bottles) was finished, not very cold at all. I noticed thier coolbox contents were still fairly cold. After speaking with pople on here I had the impression that the 12v fan coolers were not very cool.
The 3 way fridges for over £100 are out of our range, but I hear the 12V fan coolboxes cost between 30 and 60 pounds.
Which of these sort of coolboxes keeps things the coldest? Any prices appreciated.
Which of these sort of coolboxes keeps things the coldest?
They're all about the same - they all use the same technology.
Any prices appreciated.
We have the Maplin "fridge" which is 12V and 240V (if you buy a 12V only one, expect to pay £15-£20 for a mains adapter) and was a good deal at £30. But that offer has ended and they're now £60 and I wouldn't pay that for one personally.
Halfords and Tescos are selling off their summer stuff now though so you ought to be able to find something there if you're quick in the £40ish range.
Or for £70 ish you can get a "table top fridge" from many electrical retailers - one of these is about half the size of a normal fridge and is intended for use in small flats. They're mains only, of course, but they are real fridges just like the one you have at home - only smaller.
Halfords have got a great sale on their electric coolboxes at the moment - my niece has one of theirs - you have to buy a separate mains adaptor for it, they're about 20 quid but worth it.
I read a tip on here to freeze a water filled pop bottle to keep in the coolbox before I went camping to keep it reasonably cold - a 2L bottle kept my coolbox really cold for 4 days!! I them rented coolpacks from the camp site - my coolbox chills 18 degrees below the ambient temperature and the week I went camping it was really hot (lucky eh!!). It worked a treat, I had a little bit of water from condensation in the bottom of my coolbox, but not that much.
All these peltier effect electric coolboxes work the same way, they will reduce the temperature but relative the the ambient outside temperature about 10 to 15 degrees below. This summer has been pretty cool so the cool boxes will seem to work reasonably well, just wait until we get some warm weather & they get less effective as it gets warmer.
Rather than using 2 litre bottles of frozen water we use 1 litre orange juice & freeze these. They are a better shape for packing & last longer than just water, as they defrost you can drink them.
We have had one for about 2 years now and it does the trick for us!!!!! Beer is always cold so they cant be that bad!!!! Ours cost us about £30 from woolworths and then about £20 for the adapter to use it on the hookup!!!!
We use a Waeco one and it's useful to have, although we run a 3 way fridge as our main unit.
We found in France last year that it simply couldn't cope with the heat which is why we bought the fridge this year.
This year, we took the coolbox so we could take it out with us for the day and this worked perfectly. We also ended up using it to keep salad stuff in (no room in the fridge - full of beer ) which worked a treat.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: 12V CoolBox That Works
) which worked a treat.
