Whynter or Engel or ... ?

[PetePetePete]

Looking for a freezer that I can use for freezing ice packs (square water bottles). The idea is: Keep a rotation of frozen water (ice) in the freezer and another in the cooler... and cycle them as needed. This way I always have ice.

I know the Engel costs more...

Thoughts on brands? Others to consider?

[Tom--]

An Engel MT 35 has been a reliable refrigerator on board my boat for the past 12 years. Engels are quick to make the transition to freezer and the user must take care not to accidentally increase cooling setting when in refrigerator mode or unwanted freezing will occur. My 35 can freeze a gallon or two of water overnight easily. Beyond that I have no performance data for you as the Engel I operate stays at a 1 or 1.5 out of 5 setting, in the fridge mode. The amp range for my unit is .7 to 2.7A @ 12V. Early on the smaller units actually drew more amps than the 35 and 45 quart models. This seems to have changed in recent data. They are tough as can be. I think your likely to find success in your concept, but hopefully someone with more experience will be able to give you better info.

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by Tom--

An Engel MT 35 has been a reliable refrigerator on board my boat for the past 12 years. Engels are quick to make the transition to freezer and the user must take care not to accidentally increase cooling setting when in refrigerator mode or unwanted freezing will occur. My 35 can freeze a gallon or two of water overnight easily. Beyond that I have no performance data for you as the Engel I operate stays at a 1 or 1.5 out of 5 setting, in the fridge mode. The amp range for my unit is .7 to 2.7A @ 12V. Early on the smaller units actually drew more amps than the 35 and 45 quart models. This seems to have changed in recent data. They are tough as can be. I think your likely to find success in your concept, but hopefully someone with more experience will be able to give you better info.

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We bought two of the Engel MT35s about 10 years ago and had them in continuous, trouble free duty on board up until about 3 years ago. They were outside on our fly bridge, fully exposed to the elements the entire time. We cruised them extensively including two trips from Florida deep into the Caribbean, 3 or 4 north-south cruises to New England, and a bunch of trips to the Bahamas and FL Keys. They were always used in freezer mode and had no trouble keeping ice cream at around zero degrees. My only gripe was that they do vibrate a bit but we solved that by putting a foam pad underneath. One of them eventually failed after about 9 years but the other is still going strong on our home patio as an outdoor beer cooler.

[noelex 77]

Engel produce very reliable fridges, but there are other brands that are (arguably) better, but are more expensive. Here are a couple that spring to mind:

Norcoast (Trailblazer):
NORCOAST REFRIGERATION COMPANY PTY LTD - WWW.NORCOAST.COM.AU

National Luna:
Welcome to National Luna

The main advantage of these better models is better insulation with reduced power consumption, but they can be difficult to source, as distribution is limited.

There are a multitude of models on the market cheaper than the Engel. The reliability of these tends to suffer especially used continuously on a boat (rather than for weekends away camping), but some users report long, trouble free lives so they certainly can be very cost effective.

The Engel units have a very good reliability/cost ratio which has made them justifiably popular.

Overall I think these "car fridges" are an attractive alternative to traditional marine refrigeration. The better units seem very reliable (perhaps because they are a purpose made self contained unit, perhaps because they are designed to sit in the back of hot car and be bounced along rough roads). If repairs are needed the whole unit can instead be thrown away and replaced with zero installation cost, often for a similar amount to a minor repair bill for a marine unit.

They can be adjusted to be a fridge or freezer.

The combination of two car fridges instead of traditional marine refrigeration is especially appealing. They can be set up as two fridges, a fridge and freezer, or even just one fridge and a storage box if power requirements are tight (for example over winter for a boat relying on solar power). If one unit breaks down there is redundancy at least for the fridge side of things.

There are drawbacks. Space utilisation is less good. The rectangular box does not fit well on many boats. The fridge area is likely to be smaller.

Power consumption is difficult to pin down. The units have less thick insulation than traditional marine refrigeration. Surprisingly, in practice they tend to compare very favourably. User reports of low power consumption are commonly reported. A lot of this is relatively small volume, but there seems to be some power savings from matching the components well, sophisticated variable speed thermostats, advanced insulation materials and short pipping distances. The Engel units use a very different "swing" comprossor that seems very efficient but the insulation is little less than many so the overall power consumpion is about average.

[Group9]

We bought our Whynter (the model with two compartments) in August, 2015. It has been on our boat, and running continuously since then without a problem.

[PetePetePete]

Amazing replies guys!! Thank you so very very much!

Our usage will *not* be constant. There will be some 2 week and 3 week periods of heavy usage (where it will be on the boat and opened and closed fairly often (family of 4).

We have a small refrigerator (isotherm/indel) on the boat Refrigerator works, the little "Freezer" area at the top is a bit of a joke... but still fine for some things (12VDC/~110VAC).

The end game is to limit the amount of ice we have to buy. In some locations ice may not be available or may extremely expensive.

...basically, just another step to being as independent as possible.

[a64pilot]

I have tried several times to gather data on a Whynter myself without success. There are things about it that I like better than an Engle like the digital thermostat and display.
I think there are many of them out there and if they were junk we would have heard about that by now.
My gut feeling is that increased efficiency is more about insulation than anything else, and that little compressors are extremely reliable now and run for years and years on average. I have a big dorm fridge in my hanger that I had when I was in the Army and it has been running continuously for 15+ years for example.
I think I will go with a Whynter myself, cause it's way less expensive, and likely not all that less efficient. I will not try to run it off of a cigarette lighter plug though.

[seajester]

I love my Engel. I do only use it as a fridge, and yes it takes up a lot of room - but I now use the ice box for all my dry goods - cereal, chips, cookies, bread etc.

[leftbrainstuff]

Engel. No brainer. Whether in the boat or in the back of a ute for years they are damn reliable and effective.

[River Cruiser]

I went through this same search last year. The price of the Whynter was very appealing as were the reviews and reputation of Engle. I had some experience with a Chinese built ice maker and it was a bad experience, 3 of them failed 2 of them out of the box. During my search I ran across ARB brand it is marketed towards the 4x4 off-road people, reviews were very good, it's a very study built product to take the beating of riding off-road in a 4x4. I ended up buying their 63 quart model and have been very pleased with it, they're pricey like a Engle but I believe will hold up longer.
http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-Fridge-F...472-P3626.aspx

[alctel]

I have an an Engel combo - it's a fridge and a freezer, with two compartments.

Just kept on trucking for a few years now - it just works. Including when it went flying across the cabin in a knockdown. The floor was dented, but the Engel was fine.

[Pania]

National luna no.1 has cooling plates all sides and bottom will freeze very quickly and hold temp in hot conditions
Engel no.2 extremely reliable only had one fail (compressor )still got one thats 25 years old done about a million miles and still going

[davil]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I have tried several times to gather data on a Whynter myself without success. There are things about it that I like better than an Engle like the digital thermostat and display.
I think there are many of them out there and if they were junk we would have heard about that by now.
My gut feeling is that increased efficiency is more about insulation than anything else, and that little compressors are extremely reliable now and run for years and years on average. I have a big dorm fridge in my hanger that I had when I was in the Army and it has been running continuously for 15+ years for example.
I think I will go with a Whynter myself, cause it's way less expensive, and likely not all that less efficient. I will not try to run it off of a cigarette lighter plug though.

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looking to buy a Whynter.
any new info since you posted?
thanks

[davil]

Originally Posted by Group9

We bought our Whynter (the model with two compartments) in August, 2015. It has been on our boat, and running continuously since then without a problem.

===================================
Hi
thinking to buy a Whynter
any new info since you posted last?
thanks

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by davil

===============================================

looking to buy a Whynter.

any new info since you posted?

thanks

In truth there was an Engel sale a year or two ago and I bought an Engel.
Been happy with it for the most part, but it’s noisy, it vibrates. There is no question when it turns on and off.
But it does do what it’s designed to do, get cold.
It does sweat though, so it could use better insulation.

Gut still thinks the Whynter is a better value though.