fridge / freezer question

[longshanks]

Hi all

My wife and I are considering the addition of a fridge to our '03 Grandby shell. The guy I bought it from had an Engel MT45 and it looked like it fit perfectly. I tried to talk him into including it with the sale, but no dice!

I have a couple questions for those of you that have integrated fridge freezers such as the MT 45.

1) how do you deal with items that you want to freeze, vs. items that you don't want to freeze? We are in a bit of a quandry on this and I haven't been able to find any information about it in the discussions on this site. I am guessing that I'd like to make ice cubes, but also keep non-frozen items like milk in the fridge. In a standard 2-compartment 3-way fridge, you can keep the frozen stuff in the freezer section, but from what I remember, the Engel is all one compartment. Any suggestions on how to manage this?

2) is the noise of the compressor going to wake us up at night?

3) what is the best place to buy one in western Canada?

thanks for your thoughts

Shane

 

[chnlisle]

Shane,

You can set your Engel to the desired temp. Frozen items placed near the botom tend to stay frozen. It takes a bit of practice but you quickly get to know where to set the temp dial. The unit only draws a couple of amps on 12v so it cycles on and off infrequently but the compressor is very quiet. We never hear it when we sleep. In April we spent 2 weeks in Baja and never needed ice and with my solar panel I could spent years without needing it. The only thing you need ice is for drinks but we just kept the tequila in the fridge.

If you look at the link to my camper down at the bottom of this post you can see how mine is mounted. I'm an Engel dealer and make a special offer to WTW folks. I'd need your mailing address to find out how much more postage is required for Canada but let me know if your interested,

Jay

 

[Hittheroad]

Hi all

My wife and I are considering the addition of a fridge to our '03 Grandby shell. The guy I bought it from had an Engel MT45 and it looked like it fit perfectly. I tried to talk him into including it with the sale, but no dice!

I have a couple questions for those of you that have integrated fridge freezers such as the MT 45.

1) how do you deal with items that you want to freeze, vs. items that you don't want to freeze? We are in a bit of a quandry on this and I haven't been able to find any information about it in the discussions on this site. I am guessing that I'd like to make ice cubes, but also keep non-frozen items like milk in the fridge. In a standard 2-compartment 3-way fridge, you can keep the frozen stuff in the freezer section, but from what I remember, the Engel is all one compartment. Any suggestions on how to manage this?

2) is the noise of the compressor going to wake us up at night?

3) what is the best place to buy one in western Canada?

thanks for your thoughts

Shane


We are in a slightly different situation but our experience may be useful. We have both an Engel and a propane fridge. At the start of a long trip we stock the Engel with frozen items (including some gel packs) and turn it all the way up to fully frozen. It will run most of the time on that setting but it is quiet enough you hardly hear it. We cycle the gel packs through cooler if we have more for the fridge than it will hold. When driving a several day long haul route we find the fridge can blow out so we drive with it off but with a few gel packs from the Engel to keep it cool. Later in the trip when we have eaten much of the frozen goods we turn the Engel down and run it as a fridge - no ice then.
On a different related topic. Freezing ice cubes can be tricky if you are moving. The water sloshes out before it is frozen. We recently found rocks that are designed to cool drinks. You keep them in the freezer and drop them in your drink to cool it down. They work well as long as you don't swallow them.

 

[pods8]

Good call on the solid ice "rocks" or other items like that for drinks.

I think the vertical 12V units allow a bit more freezer/fridge segregation as well.

 

[Specialk]

Hi all

My wife and I are considering the addition of a fridge to our '03 Grandby shell. The guy I bought it from had an Engel MT45 and it looked like it fit perfectly. I tried to talk him into including it with the sale, but no dice!

I have a couple questions for those of you that have integrated fridge freezers such as the MT 45.

1) how do you deal with items that you want to freeze, vs. items that you don't want to freeze? We are in a bit of a quandry on this and I haven't been able to find any information about it in the discussions on this site. I am guessing that I'd like to make ice cubes, but also keep non-frozen items like milk in the fridge. In a standard 2-compartment 3-way fridge, you can keep the frozen stuff in the freezer section, but from what I remember, the Engel is all one compartment. Any suggestions on how to manage this?

2) is the noise of the compressor going to wake us up at night?

3) what is the best place to buy one in western Canada?

thanks for your thoughts

Shane


I on the other hand, like and need ice for my cocktails for happy hour when camping, to dilute the whiskey... I have an old Dometic 3 way with a small freezer that I am able to make ice in, it works even when hot out, since I have added 2 small CPU fans to vent the heat.

 

[FX4]

I have been using a NovaKool 2600 for a couple of years now ,very low amp requirements and quiet.Even came with a ice tray with a tight lid for ice making without the mess Already have the spot mapped out for transfer to my shell build

http://www.novakool.com/

http://www.novakool.com/distributors/default.htm