Budget freezer boxes anyone? Experiences?

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by bensolomon

I bought a battery operated rv fridge fan from Amazon. One d cell for a while year. Also, I have lin d the inside of my box with some insulation that came with our frozen fish order from alaska. I have that stuff on the wall with the icebox that is on the whole side. Also, I cut two pieces of that phone and place it on top of the food before I close the lid just like the previous poster.

Just those two things have dramatically reduced my power consumption.

Also, I put two Frozen 32 oz bottles of water in the fridge to take up space and be a cold sink.

Yes I did read an energy conservation thing about refrigerator/freezers, it's the air in them that cools the fastest, so the more product you have inside and the less air, your compressor will activate less frequently, you just have to make sur not to block the cooling vents.

[s/v Jedi]

I guess I won’t start about Snomaster models because they are even more expensive… even though I think they were cheaper than Engel.

Anyway, we have three and they are the bees knees.

[spotfire]

We tried a dometec, but the unit used way more amp hours than our batteries could provide. We sent it back and purchased an engel, much more efficient cooling, better warranty. ran it for 10 weeks straight last season, no problems.

Once you cool it down, it stays cold with very little power draw all night.

[Rjt]

Hey Franziska, we live aboard 24/7 cruising the Queensland coast. It’s hot here! We bought a cheap 25L freezer around 18 months ago. We also bought the zip up insulated cover with it. I added some closed cell bedding roll foam on two sides as additional insulation. Other than the 12v connector failing (fixed with a couple of 1/4” spade connectors) we’ve had no issues. We keep meat etc and the essential ice for sundowners.
As for warranty, we bought locally, so the local importer supports the warranty. There’s no doubt this was a great value buy.
Haven’t done a power test, but draws 3 - 4A and runs maybe 12hours/day.

[Manateeman]

We owned two Dometic portables, the largest they make and the next size down.
They both died and we would never purchase them again.
One ran for a year. We have a huge battery bank so that was never the problem.
We used booth as freezers. When they crash, there are no alarms, so you loose a lot of nice food. A lot of moisture condenses under them and you need extra insulation and some method to deal with the water. We also had an additional fan running to try to keep the compressor cool. We cleaned and defrosted religiously.
Very expensive junk.
Captain Mark

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

We owned two Dometic portables, the largest they make and the next size down.
They both died and we would never purchase them again.
One ran for a year. We have a huge battery bank so that was never the problem.
We used booth as freezers. When they crash, there are no alarms, so you loose a lot of nice food. A lot of moisture condenses under them and you need extra insulation and some method to deal with the water. We also had an additional fan running to try to keep the compressor cool. We cleaned and defrosted religiously.
Very expensive junk.
Captain Mark

Exactly, I have one that is limping as well. I guess people rather learn such lessons themselves instead of believing experiences shared. I think they forget that once it’s died, they get to chose again, I wonder what option they take then

[smj]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

We owned two Dometic portables, the largest they make and the next size down.

They both died and we would never purchase them again.

One ran for a year. We have a huge battery bank so that was never the problem.

We used booth as freezers. When they crash, there are no alarms, so you loose a lot of nice food. A lot of moisture condenses under them and you need extra insulation and some method to deal with the water. We also had an additional fan running to try to keep the compressor cool. We cleaned and defrosted religiously.

Very expensive junk.

Captain Mark

.From my reading if you Bluetooth your phone to their app it will notify you if the temperature gets out of the range you have it set to.
They also have a 5 year warranty on their compressors.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by smj

.From my reading if you Bluetooth your phone to their app it will notify you if the temperature gets out of the range you have it set to.
They also have a 5 year warranty on their compressors.

Mine doesn’t have Bluetooth. I believe these are the Australian boxes, Dometic bought the company.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by smj

.From my reading if you Bluetooth your phone to their app it will notify you if the temperature gets out of the range you have it set to.
They also have a 5 year warranty on their compressors.

I never got why a fridge or freezer needs a Bluetooth app.
It notifies you when there is a failure, but what then?
The stuff will go bad anyway because you are unlikely to have a second one on board in time...

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Rjt

Hey Franziska, we live aboard 24/7 cruising the Queensland coast. It’s hot here! We bought a cheap 25L freezer around 18 months ago. We also bought the zip up insulated cover with it. I added some closed cell bedding roll foam on two sides as additional insulation. Other than the 12v connector failing (fixed with a couple of 1/4” spade connectors) we’ve had no issues. We keep meat etc and the essential ice for sundowners.
As for warranty, we bought locally, so the local importer supports the warranty. There’s no doubt this was a great value buy.
Haven’t done a power test, but draws 3 - 4A and runs maybe 12hours/day.

Thanks.

Local buying is good but when cruising further from home you really need an international guarantee heeded by the manufacturer.

That is perhaps one reason why some opt for a brand unit.

[smj]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Mine doesn’t have Bluetooth. I believe these are the Australian boxes, Dometic bought the company.

Maybe it’s the larger coolers?

[smj]

Originally Posted by Franziska

I never got why a fridge or freezer needs a Bluetooth app.
It notifies you when there is a failure, but what then?
The stuff will go bad anyway because you are unlikely to have a second one on board in time...

I’m guessing if your on the boat or close by it gives you the opportunity to purchase a bag of ice?
The domestic app tracks the power usage which is the main feature I would be interested in.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

We owned two Dometic portables, the largest they make and the next size down.

They both died and we would never purchase them again.

One ran for a year. We have a huge battery bank so that was never the problem.

We used booth as freezers. When they crash, there are no alarms, so you loose a lot of nice food. A lot of moisture condenses under them and you need extra insulation and some method to deal with the water. We also had an additional fan running to try to keep the compressor cool. We cleaned and defrosted religiously.

Very expensive junk.

Captain Mark

Hey Mark, sorry to hear from your misfortune.
What would you choose next time?

We are after a small freezer unit, say 45l.
As fridge we have an old household unit. Works fine for us on a cat (little heeling).

Condensation is less of an issue for us, it lives on the bridgedeck and can drain overboard.

[Munoz]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Hi,

had a thread recently, asking for experience with specific (Vevor & Alpicool) budget freezer boxes recently. Unfortunately no results.

So here is a rephrased one :-)

We'd love to have a a prebuild freezer box onboard.
First choice would have been an Engel or Dometic/Mobicool/Waeco, but they are all hugely expensive (800-1000€ for a 50L model).

Has any of you have good results with a lower priced model which lasted well?
Or are they all designed to break after few months?

We are after a 45-50L model and it needs to be a freezer not a fridge.
The technology is around sinze many years, so I do not see why they should cost close to or more than 1000€.

Ideally we would want to purchase in the EU.

I purchased a mobicool 40L about 3 years ago in the EU, at the time SVB was asking about 400 eur I think, but looking around I got it delivered for just under 300 eur. It's still going strong after 3 years of full time use including 2 years in the canaries and the Caribbean.

Not sure what the prices are like theses days.....

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Franziska

I never got why a fridge or freezer needs a Bluetooth app.
It notifies you when there is a failure, but what then?
The stuff will go bad anyway because you are unlikely to have a second one on board in time...

Eat it !