Hi Clare, without doubt Best Buy at the moment for a proper portable camping fridge, has to be the Mobicool FR40 as that will run on 12/24v and 240v mains, if you can source one from outside uk, the price will be around £240.
If you can manage without 12/24v capability, then the Mobicool C40 (not B40) is probably the next best option, again it's a proper fridge and like the FR40 will work in any extreme tempretures, the C40 is around £150 these days.
Quote: Originally posted by Francais on 20/7/2016
Hi fleck2, does the fan on the FR40 only kick in when the ambient temp is extreme, also why is it that there is no fan on say my Waeco CF25 and Mobicool C40 as both are designed to work in extreme ambient temps.
No, the fan always runs with the compressor, it's like a commercial fridge design but miniature (like a car radiator with a fan blowing through it)
I don't know why other fridges designed to work in extreme conditions don't have fans, they must have a way of letting the heat travel out into the surrounding air, maybe as I've said previously it's through a large metal skin (which the condenser is welded to the back of) or a static condenser at the back of the fridge.
Whatever way, something must get hot.
Thanks fleck2, so what you are saying is that the fan only kicks in when the compressor fires up, and I would imagine the sound of the fan is drowned out by the compressor sound in any case.
If that's the case then fine, as the compressor only kicks as we know now and again to keep the temp in check.
In fact through the night when the fridge is not being opened, the amount of times that the compressor kicks in is minimal, as the ambient temp starts to drop through the night.
I am back on board with the FR40 now, the space saving alone would be my main reason, and I would rather be taking just the one fridge with me, rather than the two that we take now (CF25 and C40).
Being only the two of us, having a combined fridge capacity of 61lt is more than we need, the 38lt of the FR40 would be more than adequate.
Most fresh meat has a shelf life of about 7 or 8 days?
Buy and freeze on day of purchase. Shove in decent coolbox (Coleman extreme?) with loads of ice.
Meat will start to defrost but probably remain frozen for two days, and then be well below fridge temperatures for a further few days. Then all you need to do is replace ice blocks in your coolbox to retain fridge temperature and you've still got at least 3 or 4 days until your food spoils. That would easily cover a week.
Quote: Originally posted by Milese on 23/7/2016
For what it's worth....
Most fresh meat has a shelf life of about 7 or 8 days?
Buy and freeze on day of purchase. Shove in decent coolbox (Coleman extreme?) with loads of ice.
Meat will start to defrost but probably remain frozen for two days, and then be well below fridge temperatures for a further few days. Then all you need to do is replace ice blocks in your coolbox to retain fridge temperature and you've still got at least 3 or 4 days until your food spoils. That would easily cover a week.
But, why anyone would do that when going to France is beyond me!
It reminds me of an old headmaster I used to know who went camping to France every year for the long summer holidays; used to stock up his trailer tent with lots of tinned and dried foodstuffs on the premise it was 'so expensive over there'.
Personally, I prefer to visit local shops and buy fresh, but each to his own.
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