Waeco portable fridge/freezer

Georgio

Georgio

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Have seen these on special offer and am thinking of purchasing. If used as a fridge (rather than a freezer) what is the real world power consumption?

I'm looking at the CF-18 and CF-25.

I did have a thermo electric cool-box last year but it drinks the electric and only really works for a weekend when you put frozen stuff in it that slowly melts.
 
We used the CF-18 on the boat and in the van during a European tour a couple of years back - absolutley brilliant.

In August in Italy it was 40oC outside, so hotter the back of a blue van, and we had to keep it on 'low' power and 'min' temperature to stop stuff from freezing in it - compressor ran maybe 2 mins out of every 6.

If you put the power anywhere near half it will freeze stuff very quickly.

Especially for the 18 model you have a big powerful compressor for a very small space so it doesn't work very hard.

We would leave it running of a small van battery (just the normal starter battery of the 1.9 diesel engine - so quite small) for 3 days and the van would still start no problem - so imagine it is a very low power draw.

Jonny
 
I got mine twenty or more years ago, probably the equivalent of the CF-18, and it's still going strong. Seting the thermostat anywhere higher than the minimum will freeze even the beer.
Power consumption is very reasonnable, as the compressor works about 25 - 30% of the time, even at the high of the med summer. Thus 25 - 30 Ah. a day (24 hours)
Very good piece of kit, one of my best purchases ... then.
Of course no experience of the most recent versions.
 
I bought a CF18 2 years ago. It's a great bit of kit. Uses hardly any power and will freeze the milk, orange juice, and the beer /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Various friends have bought one after seeing mine.
 
[ QUOTE ]
If you put the power anywhere near half it will freeze stuff very quickly. Jonny

[/ QUOTE ] Yes we had frozen sandwiches the first time too, great bit of kit

Pete
 
Bought a CF-18 last year , from Ebay , would echo some of the other comments , current consumption seems low enough not to get too worried. I have only a one battery system on my boat with a standard battery ie. not a deep cycle type. I found I have to set the CF-18 on the lower of the two battery protection settings to keep it working. I guess this is because it takes the top off the voltage fairly quickly on a standard battery.
Bought off Ebay for about £290 , which is very good comparing it with about £350 being the current going retail rate.
I did get concerned about this and about warranty if it failed but decided it was worth the risk.
Also , the compressor runs very quietly so it does not stop you sleeping etc.
Let me know if you want the Ebay contact I will try and find it for you.
 
We have the CF-35 - Brilliant bit of kit and well worth the extra. Good also as it has built in mains or 12v systems and automatically switches between the two if you plug or un plug from shorepower. We have had no problems at all with things freezing up and the thermostat seems very good. Also it has a variable setting to cut off if the volatage drops below certain levels. Highly recommended.
 
I did a consumption test over the period of 2 weeks in a not very warm UK summer (temp low 20's) with the thermostat set to give an interior temperature of 5 degrees. This was with a CF18. It was kept reasonably full and not opened too often. It was used to store food, which was usually cool from a shop when it was put in.

Over the two weeks it averaged 11 amp-hours per 24 hour period, so an equivalent continuous consumption of approx 500mA. This was running it on a 12V system.
 
Purchased a waeco cf 18 last year , pleased with it although the motor cutting in every 5 .5 mins for 40 sec's can get a bit tedious especially at night when try in to sleep. Been in touch with waeco about above motor running times; ambient temp 22c interior box temp 3c, their reply was , this is the norm.
 
If fitting a portable box I found they do a neat sliding tray for it to mount on so it can slide in and out or a lkr or under a counter top. Only problem was that they don't do as many sizes of tray as they do fidges so I had to chop 4" out of the midle of it, not a problem as long as you can weld! Fidge is great, new ones don't have a problem freezing things as the temostat is set digitally and controls temp to within 1 deg.

Can't confirm the power as I only recently installed mine, turned it on and set a power meter to check the consumption and was very supprised to find the 24 power draw was 0, till I realised the fridge was set to 4deg but the cabin was down to 2. Dumb or what, dont check the fridge in winter!
 
Should have opened the fridge - it might have worked as a heater and brought the cabin up to 4 degrees! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
we use the 25, as full time liveaboards it gets hammered, after 2 years, all I can say is fantastic. would agree with current consumption, although last summer in the plus 30 degrees C temps, it got up to a crazy 20 amps / day - that is set for 4 deg C
 
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