Help with Fridge....

[iwjenkins]

Hello all

Question - how quickly does the Fridge box from a warm start get down to the optimum 5 degrees when driving the Cali.

We took delivery of our new Cali last week (I will upload picture soon ) so all is very new to us hence the question; my wife Louise insists that to get the Fridge ready to receive produce for our next journey she needs to hook the van up to our power socket in the garage the day before. She leaves it plugged in overnight until we leave in the morning. I say that if we took produce from our fridge in the house, placed it in the fridge in the Cali and then started driving, the box would cool down quick enough and the food would not be harmed in any way.

It is not a matter of who is wrong or right, I just think it is overkill to hook up the van when the battery is already fully charged when the box will chill quickly enough when driving. So, how long...30 minutes, 1 hour...24 hours?

I hope I have made sense. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

All the best

Ian

 

[SimplyDubs]

Should cool down pretty quickly, particularly if loading it up with cold produce...

That being said, we always do things the same way as your wife, having it on whilst on hook up the evening before a trip. There's little effort involved in it and it can't hurt.

Rgds
Mark

 

[Hotel California]

Just switch it on few hours before you put stuff in it , even if not on hook-up ...it is no problem at all for your battery.
I try not to set it on max cooling from start but build up ...
While i drive i intend to turn it colder and when arriving at site take it one stepback when on lesure bats.
You will get used to it afther a while ...

 

[Gavinskii]

Personally at this time of year, I tend to hook up the day before and let it cool down before adding food.
It just means when you start driving that your alternator is not having to deal with replenishing your leisure batteries - which will be hit quite heavy bringing the temperature down by circa 20c and maintaining that level of coolness before driving off.

 

[rookeryview]

It's all down to thermal mass. If you filled it with ice it probably wouldn't switch on for a few days. If you fill it with ambient foods they will need to cool down at the fridge's expense. Transfer a full load from your own fridge at fridge temp and there will be little change. The fridge is an insulated box and doesn't "store" any coldness to speak of. Water is the worst offender at soaking up thermal energy so dont fill up with beer from the supermarket shelf. Cool it down at home first. I often add a frozen 2litre bottle of water to my camping fridges to give a good starting Boost. See how long it takes to defrost!

 

[GrannyJen]

As others have said,

I switch it on the day before and often put in a couple of big bottles of frozen mineral water to give it a start.

On the day everything I intend to put in it has either been chilled or frozen the night before.

If I am driving for a few hours then I set the temperature lower and turn it back up when stopped to preseve battery charge,,

 

[iwjenkins]

To all that replied to this thread a massive thank you. We have learnt a lot.

All the best

Ian