Built-in vs. Portable Fridge

[melcooke]

I'm considering a built-in Truck Fridge for our ATC Ocelot and am wondering what the pros/cons are.

I've done some searching of the forums but not finding anything. If anyone knows of a somewhat current thread please let me know.

Thanks in advance

 

[JaSAn]

I went with a built-in front loading refrigerator. Reasons:

1. I didn't want the hassle of having to constantly move a non-built-in refrigerator out of my way.
2. I wanted access to the refrigerator with the top down. A chest type fridge either takes up too much floor space or I can't fully open the top with the roof down. Makes it awkward or impossible to load groceries.
3. All condenser heat and compressor noise is outside the living space.
4. I have additional insulation on the sides and top.

My bed is down across the front (build thread in signature) so that helped drive my decisions.

 

[craig333]

A front loading fridge is just so much more convenient. The "the cold air will fall out everytime you open it" thing just isn't true.

 

[Kolockum]

A front loading fridge is just so much more convenient. The "the cold air will fall out everytime you open it" thing just isn't true.

True on both counts. The cold air won't fall out but all the contents will. It may be my driving or me cramming a ton of crap into the fridge but I always have issues with stuff falling out when I open it. I am tempted to get a chest fridge and have it on a slide out from under the bench next to the door.

 

[Ronin]

Hi Mel,

We just met at Gold Bluffs last weekend. Here's a pic of my Truckfridge TF51 in my ATC. I just have a preference for it over the 3 ways I had in my previous FWCs. My wife and I pack 4-5 days of pre-cooked meals plus beverages in it with no problem. Yes, it is harder to access with the top down but we always manage to do it. I can't think of any negatives.

 

[LuckyDan]

I am tempted to get a chest fridge and have it on a slide out from under the bench next to the door.

Rapid Beverage Deployment System; an excellent idea you should invest in without hesitation

 

[OutToLunch]

We went with the two-way Dometic built in for our Ocelot and have regretted it, but I think we got a lemon. We are looking at remodeling the interior and replacing with an Arb type portable chest that would sit on floor under the front window of the camper. We have a side dinette and the floor space under the front window is currently used for food boxes on trips. Need to take some measurements.

Besides the door shelf on the Dometic breaking off and the blue plastic shelf also breaking, I found the use of space in the Dometic difficult. If you stacked items to fill it up, they often tumbled out when you opened the door. When full, it was also a chore to retrieve items from the back without either taking other items out or without them tumbling out. Maybe it is a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the hill, but we will probably replace our front loading Dometic in the remodel with a chest style portable. Note that there is a Dometic model that has a slide out.

 

[larryqp]

I had a Dometic chest two compartment but one thermostat in my Eagle, it was damaged in the crash, so I bought a National Luna, two compartment, two thermostat chest refrigerator / freezer for the Hawk. Much more expensive, but more efficient, very quiet, works well and solidly built. The dometic was all plastic, this is stainless steel.

I leave it on al the time running on my solar, so since I have to drive 20 miles to town for groceries and all errands I buy groceries then pack the refrigerator. Then I can go hiking or fishing before heading home and not worry about the groceries. It keeps ice cream hard as a rock.

The other key point for the purchase was the optional steel mounting plate, which made mounting to the side bench in the Hawk very easy, yet I can remove it quickly if I want to.

 

[rando]

I have had both a chest style portable and now the Isotherm front loader in our Fleet. I definitely prefer the front loader. It is just so much easier to access things in the front loader. With the top loader, there was some sort of law of nature that whatever you needed next would be on the bottom, and it was very awkward to dig thorough the fridge with top down. I have been very happy with the Isotherm, extremely quiet, reliable and energy efficient.

 

[melcooke]

Larry, how much solar and battery storage do you have that enables you to let the fridge run all the time?

I had a Dometic chest two compartment but one thermostat in my Eagle, it was damaged in the crash, so I bought a National Luna, two compartment, two thermostat chest refrigerator / freezer for the Hawk. Much more expensive, but more efficient, very quiet, works well and solidly built. The dometic was all plastic, this is stainless steel.

I leave it on al the time running on my solar, so since I have to drive 20 miles to town for groceries and all errands I buy groceries then pack the refrigerator. Then I can go hiking or fishing before heading home and not worry about the groceries. It keeps ice cream hard as a rock.

The other key point for the purchase was the optional steel mounting plate, which made mounting to the side bench in the Hawk very easy, yet I can remove it quickly if I want to.

 

[melcooke]

Hey Ronin, it was great to meet a fellow ATCer. Do you have a pic of the passenger side and front of your build? I've not seen anyone do what you have done on the driver's side.

Hi Mel,

We just met at Gold Bluffs last weekend. Here's a pic of my Truckfridge TF51 in my ATC. I just have a preference for it over the 3 ways I had in my previous FWCs. My wife and I pack 4-5 days of pre-cooked meals plus beverages in it with no problem. Yes, it is harder to access with the top down but we always manage to do it. I can't think of any negatives.

 

[melcooke]

Some very helpful comments from a lot of people. But I have to say the comments have muddied the water for me.

My next question is how much solar and power storage am I ultimately going to have to have to run a fridge. So many variable it makes my head swim.

 

[JaSAn]

I have 200W of solar and 208AH of FLA batteries. My refrigerator is my biggest draw (by far): ~ 4A when running.
- Batteries are usually at 80% in AM.
- When I have full sun I am at back at 100% before noon.
- I can go 2 days before I get to 50% when I get little charging from solar.
- I then run a generator and 35A charger for ~ 1 hour and let the sun finish the absorption phase.

Everything else is low power: LED lights, phone and laptop charging, cell booster, MaxxFan.
I do not run a furnace.

I have an energy budget in post #3 of my build thread ( Renovating Skoldpaddan ).

 

[Happyjax]

I have the Truckfridge TB41 chest type. It runs 24/7 on my Battleborn 100Ah and 170W solar. Have used it with lights and Furnace running and never had issues but the LiFeP04 does supply more usable power than an AGM of the same wattage....
I love mine

 

[larryqp]

I have 2 x 100 watt Renogy solar panels on roof and 2 x 240 amp hour Renogy 6 volt AGM batteries. The key is that the National Luna is well insulated and appears to be very efficient

 

[Ronin]

Hey Ronin, it was great to meet a fellow ATCer. Do you have a pic of the passenger side and front of your build? I've not seen anyone do what you have done on the driver's side.

Here's the pics. My Truckfridge draws 2- 2.5 amps in eco mode. I've gone 4 days in mid 90* temps in Saline Valley without charging my 100AH VMax battery. I have a 120v flat panel portable solar charger but seldom use it. I seldom spend more than 2 days in one spot so just charging off my truck system is all I need to top off the battery. I've done 4 weeklong trips in the past 6 weeks and didn't even pack the charger. One thing I might add about the Truckfridge is it is very quiet.

 

[steve whiteside]

I have the 3 way Dometic front open fridge in my 2020 Grandby. I also have a chest style electric "FridgeFreeze" that we put on the floor of the camper and then remove when we get where we are going.

The Dometic is almost worthless for us. It takes forever to cool something down and like others have said when you open the door of the fridge everything wants to fall out. On th plus side it uses very little propane while it is barely cooling our stuff. If you are thinking of loading with drinks and then drinking and replenishing- forget it. It would probably take 24 hours to cool 2 6 packs.

The Fridgefreeze kicks butt in the cold department. Although, it is always in the way. Still, we do a lot of hot weather camping and what we like most is cold drinks. My wife and I probably go through 1.5 gallons of water per day and we like it cold. So, our fridge freeze was working over time without breaking a sweat.

If I had to do it over I would have deleted the Dometic fridge and tried to make that spot fit the fridge freeze that already owned.

Steve

 

[Fishyhead]

I replaced the Dometic 2 way fridge in my FWC Ranger with a Engel MT17F installed on the floor to a transit plate on the right hand side between the two side dinette seat boxes. Set to 1 (of 5), it holds 30F and hardly draws any power. I like the lift out basket which makes packing it easy. It's a little small but I got it to fit in a specific spot which it does. In the future, I may get an MT35F and use the 17 as a freezer.

I have a single 180W panel and a Battle Born 100AH battery.

 

[BrianG]

RamblinChet, great write up concerning the National Luna, but where did you get those metal boxes?