We got an EHU for Christmas and are now looking for something to keep our food and beer cold. We usually go camping for 2 weeks in the summer and a few mini-breaks at other times.
We've been looking at 3 way fridges and thermoelectric cool-boxes but the more we read the more confused we become about which to buy!! We have a few questions that we'd like you guys to help us with and then maybe we can make our minds up about what will suit us best.
Firstly-do 3 way fridges have to be kept flat and if so how flat?
Secondly-how noisy is a thermoelectric cool-box?
Finally-can you store either or both of these in the extension area of our trout lake?
We'd really appreciate answers to these questions and any other advice/tips you can give us on this topic.
Our 3 way fridge does like to be level, we've put a little stick on spirit level inside the flap on it so that we can ensure it is, we stand it on a couple of bits of wood and use those to level it. Oddly our previous 3 way fridge was much less concerned about level than the newer model is.
Cool boxes vary on their noise level and people vary in how much it bothers them. You'll get people who admit that the noise is a problem and those that will tell you that it isn't. Bear in mind that most people think that there own set up is best!
With coolboxes the key point is often how efficient they are, if they cool to 20 degrees below ambient temperature and it's 25 degrees in your tent then your food is likely to be at 5 degrees which is just about OK (fridges should be 4 degrees and below) but higher temps than that and you'll have more of a problem and of course inside a tent is often hotter than outside.
I love our 3 way fridge but they are large items and if your run on gas you need to carry a bottle as well.
My 3 way fridge is very fussy about level so as above I use a spirit level and blocks of wood to level it.
Coolboxes are noisy and as above may struggle to cool enough. 3 way fridges are silent so you won't hear them at night for example as you would a fan in the cool box.
Get a 3 way fridge that will cool to 32 deg below ambient (cheaper ones go down to about 20 -25 deg below ambient) and you won't regret it, mine is over twenty years old and still going strong.
I use mine in caravan awning but on electric only usually, very occasionally on gas but ensure it's well ventilated.
Thanks for the replies-we are leaning more to a 3 way fridge I think.
Our tent extension only has 3 sides so we feel it would be ok to use fridge on gas in there but what about EHU? Any thoughts? If we're paying for electricity, we'd rather run the fridge of that whenever possible. I've uploaded image of our tent with extension for people to look at and give their views about how safe it would be. We'd have the plug and EHU unit inside the tent but store the fridge in extension if people think this is safe enough.
I nearly bought a Waeco CAB40 (Grey) a 3 way that cools to 30Deg C below ambient, my camping is mostly for a fortnight in the South of France during July, were temps can be +40Deg C, and in the tent can get to +50Deg C by mid-day.
With those sort of temps, even the best of 3 ways, would struggle to keep things cool, as it turned out I got a new Waeco CF25 for the same price as what the CAB40 was.
The CF25 is not a 3 way, so can only run of Mains/12vlt, but with it being a compressor type, it does not matter what the ambient temp is at, the CF25 can be set to any temp you choose, and will go down as low as -18Deg C if needed.
The Waeco CF fridges are almost silent in running, they only fire up the compressor, when the internal temp of the fridge, drops below your setting, and even then the motor is whisper silent, and would not even awake the lightest of sleepers.
We have found the CF25 to be great, had it over two years now, it fits snugly into the boot of our VW Golf, taking up little space, and is great for keeping stuff cool, for the 1000 mile, two and a half days drive to the campsite.
We had originaly planned to hire a fridge on site, most French sites, charge around 5Euro per day for fridge hire, but as the CF25 performed so well we just stuck to using that, the money it has saved us, in not having to pay for the hire of a fridge, has now more than paid the £150 that we spent on the Waeco CF25.
For UK use though a compressor fridge maybe overkill, although many MotorHomes and Caravans come with them built in, as a better cooling alternative, to a 3 way.
You can run a 3 way on electric inside with no problems, there is nothing burning so no issue about emissions.
I would also use it on gas inside an open extension. We use ours inside a canvas tent but we are non SIG and rarely use a groundsheet
I bought EHU and an electric coolbox when we returned to camping, found it didn't work for us so switched to a 3 way fridge. I wish we'd saved the money and gone straight to the 3 way.
I also would suggest the CF range, i run both CF-50 and CF-18. Both have been battered about North Africa an are still working perfectly years later. They will cool down below freezing in +40 degrees ambient. They might be more expensive but they will outlast most cool-boxes so cheaper in the long run.
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Topic: Questions about fridges/electric cool box
