| Author |
Message |
Greg Roberts (Gregeagle20) (172.143.102.200)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 10:03 pm: | |
check out this refrigerator. Opinions?
http://www.compactappliance.com/ecconbotmoun.html |
jmaxwell (66.42.92.5)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 12:29 am: | |
Greg: U solicited opinions, so here goes. Too Expensive, too tall, shipping is outrageous, not enough storage capacity, and the amperage is .2 greater than the GE at Sam's. I also doubt their claim that it only runs 4 hours per day (based on the 200 watt running rating and 800 per day). I also don't like the 2 compressor design (double the trouble since that is the highest single failure item of refrigerators). At 79" h, there are very few buses that will accomodate it unless you raise the roof or chop a hole in the floor. Thnks for the tip but I'll still go w/ the 11.6 cu/ft GE at Sam's that only pulls 175 watts running and I can get 4 of them for the price of 1 of these. |
Bradd B. Smith (Bbsrtbusproject) (208.26.165.248)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 1:08 am: | |
They have the 11.6 cu/ft GE available also, on sale at a mere 459.00 + 100.00 shipping, Goes to show the "net" isn't always the best deal. At these prices you could only get two. Glad I saw it though. |
FAST FRED (65.58.190.20)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 5:09 am: | |
This unit seems to have a large freezer , so that might be why it seems to draw so much juice.
Wonder if the watt figures are to the US or EU standards?
Wonder if the run times are calculated or observed?
Your on the right track in trying to find a unit that is efficent , and while there could be more to fail , two compressors is far better than just one.
The individual compressors can be optomized to the seperate loads, nice.
The fridge wont have to overcool after you stick "Bambis Mom" in the freezer
If the insulation & gasketing were better (probably) it would use less juice than a low budget house fridge.
To really save on the need to haul hundreds of pounds of batterys for every extra day of boondockin , have you considered the Sunfrost?
Also some folks that don't mind the look have mounted 2 or 3 Solar panels on the roof of the towd , and park IT in the sun .
With no other particular high draw loads , the fridge is the most difficult to work into a boondockin plan.
Keep doing the math & you will find someway to satisfy your fridge needs.
FAST FRED |
Don KS/TX (63.15.244.188)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 6:10 am: | |
It sure depends on your intended use mostly. Our choice of a house fridge with icemaker at Sams was one of our wisest, only cost $300 too! We have room, good cooling, low cost, attractive, easy to replace. We considered the Sunfrost, for $4000 you get a box with so much insulation there is almost no room inside for the good stuff, but if running back and forth to town for groceries every day from your wilderness park is your idea of saving energy and having fun, go for it. |
Peter Broadribb (Madbrit) (170.215.38.227)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 6:37 am: | |
Would anyone care to state the model of this GE 11.6 cu.ft fridge?
Don, is this the same one you are using? How do they work out in real use? How big a battery bank do you guys with house fridges have?
Peter. |
Earl-8-Ky (209.250.50.211)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 11:04 am: | |
I bought a GE at lowes 10 Cu.Ft. for just alittle over 300$ tax included. It does have a freezer across the top but does not have a ice maker.I did not find a small one with a ice maker.that had any room left in the freezer. I have 4 deep cycle batts. from Auto Zone. They have a 3 year guarantee with one year free replacement. When dry camped I charge them about one hr a day. |
Greg Roberts (Gregeagle20) (66.7.134.190)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 3:03 pm: | |
All excellent comments. Thanks Guys. There is a small unit at my local Home Depot that I am going to get the specs on as well. My criteria for choosing is: 1) must be reasonably energy efficient 2) prefer not to haul more than 6 t-105 batts 3) prefer no propane 4) modern styling would be nice (maybe european look) |
joe shelton (Littlewind) (67.241.230.246)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 5:44 am: | |
I am corn-fuzed! I have a 3-way fridge and never run it on DC, use propane when boondockin, and AC when we have shore power. So you folks are using a 120 AC only unit, right? I have 6 8Ds for house bats and a 2500 watt inverter AND the little fridge is starting to act like it may need some big-time service soon. I'll have to re-think the fridge options. |
FAST FRED (65.58.191.252)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 5:52 am: | |
You can work the equation backwards if you wish , to figgure your boondockin endurance.
The T 105 are rated 220A for a pair , so with 4 you will have 440A of which you can only draw down 50% so you get about 220A to play with.
220A times 12V = 2640W that can be used.
Subtract 10% for inverter inefficency and you have about 2300W to use before batt set recharge is necessary.
Get the US Gov sticker from the unit you like that gives KW per year , divide by 365 .
The result is the amount of electric your choice of fridge will eat every 24 hours.
Simple math will then tell you how long your fridge will go .
Enjoy,
FAST FRED |
Stephen Fessenden (Sffess) (208.230.117.44)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 02, 2002 - 8:25 pm: | |
It is important how long you can go without any power to the fridge, gas or electric. On a 15 hour ferry ride, LP gas had to be turned off and our Dometic was still cold, fozen food still frozen, at the end of the trip. Would the GE home fridge do that well? |
Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (63.224.197.10)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 5:00 pm: | |
Fast Fred is correct (yet again! he he) in the available juice of the Trojan T-105 golf cart battery. The 50% discharge rate is important.
In my energy need calculations, I am rating the same battery at around 600 watts (each) available, which is very close to FF's figure. |
Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (63.224.197.10)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 5:11 pm: | |
Forgot again to say (I HATE middle age!) that our cabin reefer is an old Dometic 3-way box out of a recycled motorhome. Use only the propane function.
First thing we did was put a dedicated muffin fan in the exhaust vent to help things along and superinsulated the box with 2 inch rigid styrofoam.
Cut propane use by about 10-20%. (best guess) Had plenty of room in the kitchen; a possible problem in a cramped motorcoach galley. Have about $350 in it. Thanks. |