Portable 12v chest freezers - Alpicool, Dometic etc

BruceK

BruceK

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 Feb 2015
Messages
8,361
Location
Conwy
Visit site
I'm looking for a 35-50 litre 12v chest freezer. As far as wattage consumption both have compressor motors and will draw about 8W in the same environment giving the same min cooling temps and reaching them in similar times. However Alpicool is half the price of the favoured Dometic CFX 50. There are of course other freezers out there and prices range from 350 to 1200 for similar specs so what is the actual difference in performance and what is best bang for buck.
Or better yet what do you have and recommend.
 
I bought a Outwell fridge/freezer this year. It’s worked fine. They all seem very similar and are all made in China. I run it off an inverter as it was easier than getting a 12 volt power supply to location. I then bought another cockpit fridge which is 230 volt and cost about £60. The 12 volt fridges are expensive, I’d look to see if you can get what you want in 230 volt assuming you have an inverter. The travel fridges are a convenient size for a boat though.
 
Thanks for the tip. I'll add Outwell to the list of candidates. Price wise it sits between Alpicool and Dometic. As for 220V...
I currently have 220V appliances but the inefficiencies of the inverter add to battery drain. I could run a fridge and freezer off 12V just from these inefficiencies alone while even a A rated appliance at 220V is going to draw a lot more than 8-12 W. Cheaper yes agreed but I am going a LiPo route instead of generator and battery conservation is premium at the moment.

edit: I should add that 12/220V self switching would be preferable but not mandatory.
 
Reading the spec off the Outwell 38litre manual 0.8 A at 220volt and 4A at 12 volt. The bigger 50 litre is 4.2 A. I haven’t tested the batteries overnight yet with 3 fridges running though, no problem with a 4 hour lunch stop. My main fridge is 23 years old and doesn’t work on the 12 volt side but works perfectly with 230 volt so I’m not rushing to change it. I could turn off the other fridges if need be. I know a modern fridge would use less power but I’m on the Thames and engines run most of the time.
 
Sorry to highjack your post but I’m looking for a replacement for the simple thermoelectric (Peltier) fridge I use for car journeys (to the boat I’ll add)
The problem is that mine is about 30 litres with dimension of 420 x 300 and 450 height and just fits behind my seat.
The equivalents now have so much insulation they are above those dimension.
I know where the manufacturers are coming from with eco efficiency but I’m happy to pump a bit more power in and have a more convenient size.
Any ideas?
 
If you google small camping fridge there’s a lot to look at. You have to check each spec to see the dimensions but I’d looking between 20 to 25 litres to satisfy your requirements.
 
Timeless 2 said:
If you google small camping fridge there’s a lot to look at. You have to check each spec to see the dimensions but I’d looking between 20 to 25 litres to satisfy your requirements.
Click to expand...
Thanks Timeless, yep that’s the problem. I don’t really want to go smaller and I forgot to add I need wheels. It’s too heavy to drag into, on the way, hotels. Yes I‘m a cheapskate and won’t pay €16 for a coffee and croissant
 
BruceK said:
I'm looking for a 35-50 litre 12v chest freezer. As far as wattage consumption both have compressor motors and will draw about 8W in the same environment giving the same min cooling temps and reaching them in similar times. However Alpicool is half the price of the favoured Dometic CFX 50. There are of course other freezers out there and prices range from 350 to 1200 for similar specs so what is the actual difference in performance and what is best bang for buck.
Or better yet what do you have and recommend.
Click to expand...
I’ve had a Waeco CFX40 for about 7 years or so. I only use it when away on long trips, but it performs faultlessly with easy controls. I’d quite happily buy another one.
And it’s handy as an extra seat up on the flybridge. And has been taken home to cope with Christmas drinks, it’s handy being dual voltage.
 
We had and were very impressed with our 35 litre Dometic, using it from the Med to the Caribbean & USA and wish we'd bought another or repaired it. Instead we bought a 'Norcold' unit which fried its controller inside 18 months at which point we discovered that spare parts were nigh on impossible to get in the USA and completely so outside it; to add insult to injury, the internals of pretty much every 12v fridge except the Norcold are apparently similar Danfoss/Waeco/Isotherm or copies thereof and to a large extent interchangeable, so in French Polynesia (after almost six months sans-fridge! - we completely renewed all the internals (2x the price we'd paid for the original unit) to get it up and running again. Advice we got from the fridge engineer: Avoid ones (like Norcold) with any bells and whistles as those cause problems, just keep it simple and buy the one which best fits your available space; they're all about the same just under different badges.
 
Last edited:
We have a Dometic 40 litre. Reccomended.

Four seasons old, draws 3 amps when pulling 12v. Smart switch, when 240 available it switches to that.

Three seasons used purely as a freezer, this season, 18 weeks aboard, used as a fridge as one of the OE boat fridges was used as a bigger freezer this year.

Very quiet in operation.

The Chinese are making similar items with a copy of the Danfoss minature compressor. One we liked the look of in NZ is called " Brass Monkey "
 
We ended up buying a Dellonda earlier this year as we couldn't find a Dometic, our first choice, in the country. So far so good. Will freeze and chill, has a 12v battery protector so as not to drain it and is quiet running. Worth a look.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top