compressor chest freezer/fridge

[Lorelei072]

I’m looking to buy a compressor chest freezer/fridge soon. I’m leaning towards Iceco for the Danfoss Secop compressor and overall design. My main dilemma is between the dual-zone VL65D or VL60S. It’s just for myself and I ended up in a 110-inch short-wheelbase van so space is even more of a constraint, but I have a bunch of frozen meat in someone’s freezer I need to relocate, and I’m trying to maintain the Weston A. Price diet. The VL60S will fit my floor plan better. Would a taller one fall over as I’m driving? Can I put the meat on the bottom, set the temperature just at freezing point, and put my refrigerator items on top?  Does anyone feel dual-zone units are indispensable?

Miscellaneous thoughts: I’d love a unit that’s made in the U.S. (or at least not made in China!) with a Danfoss compressor, but cost and reliability are going to be factors, too. And I’m pretty set on chest-style units for efficiency and fung shui.

Power details: I have a Jackery 500 that I recharge at work. The 100W suitcase solar panel maybe my next big purchase. Originally I wanted a lithium power pack and array of solar panels but that’s a long way off.

P.S.: Is this the right forum for refrigerator/freezer questions? Thank you

 

[Sofisintown]

Hi Lorelei,
I'm afraid your 500 Jackery will not be enough to run a 60 quart freezer.
It draws about 45 watts per hour to run as a refrigerator, but when it runs as a freezer, it works almost constantly, and will deplete your Jackery within 10 hours or so.
Plus, what will it run on while you charge your Jackery at work?
And when it comes to solar, you have to make allotments for sun-less or rainy days, when you only get minimal input from your panels.
Jackery is notorious for slow recharging. It takes 8 hours to recharge from your (running) car, or 10 hours of full sun to recharge the 500, and they don't make days with so many sun-hours.

You must rethink your power consumption, and either upgrade the battery system, or downgrade the fridge.

 

[kygreg]

Hi Lorelei,
 
It draws about 45 watts per hour to run as a refrigerator, but when it runs as a freezer, it works almost constantly, 

I'm pretty sure your power consumption guess is way too high. I'm looking at the same unit for my build and figure 210 watt/hours per day. Once it gets down to the set temperature, the compressor only comes maybe 15 minutes/hour and during the day while charging, it does not deplete your battery at all.

 

[kygreg]

You should be able to anchor in down somehow. What's the difference between the 2 models? Is it really just 5L difference?

 

[maki2]

The energy use of any compressor fridge depends on the ambient temperature at the time. It is not a fixed number it is a variable graph with a maximim numger at high temps and a minimum use at low. when running the power use is basically a fixed number. How often the motor gets turned on and for how long by the internal temp sensor determines how much energy will be required. If you are not heating the interior on a cold day your power consumption will be lower than on a truly hot day inside a closed up van.


There are reviews on the internet including youtube where varios people have used test equipment to find out how different models perform under various conditions.  of course some people do not do a very good job of testing so take the time to look at lots of them and keep a notebook handy to write notes about what you saw and what the site address was where you saw it.

 

[Lorelei072]

I'm pretty sure your power consumption guess is way too high. I'm looking at the same unit for my build and figure 210 watt/hours per day. Once it gets down to the set temperature, the compressor only comes maybe 15 minutes/hour and during the day while charging, it does not deplete your battery at all.

Also, once food is frozen/chilled, it doesn’t require as much power to maintain the set temperature that was needed to start with. Frozen meat at the bottom would take days if not a week to thaw out.

 

[DLTooley]

I use a cooler as my refrigerator, making ice in my 45 liter. I use the Lifetime brand from Walmart comparable to other premium brands at $100.

You can run your cooler off the Jackery, with care and limitations. Jackery claims pass through charging which is critical for day time use with solar. Most important is how do you plan to run the cooler during the day while you are charging the Jackery?

If you are using solar you can drop the temperature cold enough during the day to minimize your night time battery use. 100 watts is enough, but more is better. Placing the meat on the bottom will work, but adds another risk.

I’d consider a smaller model combined with solar and a good cooler, at a similar price point. You can use the solar to run the fridge during the day while charging the Jackery, and on weekends. 100 watts gets better with that scenario.

The Jackery has a controller, so all you need is a stand alone solar panel and compatible cable.

A group 29 deep cycle from Walmart will roughly double your storage capacity along with a good controller for less than half the cost of your Jackery. The combination of a Jackery and deep cycle will be very robust and minimize risks while increasing flexibility. Going to 200 watts of solar and you are near bomb proof.

I recommend the Victron controller for the BMS type info it provides. It will likely save you from using that 2 year warranty on the battery.

 

[Lorelei072]

You should be able to anchor in down somehow. What's the difference between the 2 models? Is it really just 5L difference?

The VL65D is 32.3*19.4*19.6. The VL60S is 26.5*15*23.5.

 

[JerryJ]

FYI - all these compressors are now made in China, Danfoss was sold and renamed Seecop, and the manufacturing moved to China. There is plenty of info about it with a quick Google search. That's why all the knockoffs like Alpicool have proliferated over the past few years, once manufacturing goes to China, designs are copied, and it becomes a free for all!

I'm very happy with my Alpicool after three months of use!

 

[highdesertranger]

Engels are not made in China. mine were manufactured in Thailand and Japan,

http://www.engel.store/en/content/Compressor-7

highdesertranger

 

[JerryJ]

Thanks for that info HDR.

Are there any US manufacturers of chest size compressor units left?

 

[Lorelei072]

I believe Engel is made in the U.S.

 

[highdesertranger]

Lorelei please read post #10. use the link it tells you where Engels are made. highdesertranger

 

[Lorelei072]

Yup, my bad. I just came back to make that correction having called them.

Are Engles more efficient than Danfoss/Secom compressor fridges?

 

[highdesertranger]

"Are Engles more efficient than Danfoss/Secom compressor fridges?"

they seem to be, but I have no real studies to back that up. they are built real well, I have three Engels one is 10 years old, One is 9 and the other is about 5. they all work like a champ. some people complain about the noise they make. the compressor noise doesn't bother me, it's very minimal. however sometimes I have to rearrange the contents because the vibration can causes the contents to rattle. 2 glass jars rattling against each other does get annoying sometimes. LOL

highdesertranger

 

[LargeMarge]

Lorelei072,
.
Please, see our response on a similar thread.
Our comment is Number Fifteen:
.
https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/...5-19&utm_content=daily_newsletter#post-570563

 

[Happy Camper]

Marge, are you a part time necromancer? I think you have brought more then a handful of threads back from the dead lol.

 

[Frood]

Yeah, I was noticing that a lot of the replies were to threads that had been dead for a couple of years.... Was going to jump in but didn't want to add more mojo to the resurrection circle...

 

[maki2]

Yes there are some side by side comparison charts on Engels versus the big name competition units. But they are a number of years old. Use your keywords and you will find it. Or just pull the data from the different companies and put it into a spreadsheet.

I am posting this to reclose the conversation. There are many newly developed fridge freezers entering the market now that old patents on compressors have expired. So many that trying to do independent quality testing on them all would be cost prohibitive.

 

[TDK1211]

Like stated above. Every set speed 12v centrifugal compressor coming out of China these days is a Danfoss/Secop BD35 and BD50 copy. And they are no longer made in Denmark. Secop was bought out by the Japanese here recently. But the production will more than likely remain in China. The original made in Denmark BD series were good compressors.

Several companies have dropped the Secops for variable speed compressors like Dometic/WAECO has with their VMOSO2 and VMOSO3. Snomaster and National Luna have 66w variable speed compressors. I think it's the same principle as the compressor and pump in your cars AC system. It's designed to take the pressure off the system. And the system can run as hard as it needs to cool the compartments. So it doesn't have to work as hard. And in turn there's less heat. And the reliability should in turn be better.

The Kt511 Sawafuji will only draw 2.7 amps til it cools the compartment. It used to be 2.5 amps. But the newer models have lights and digital displays and a fan. The Kt611 is the bigger brother used in the MT60 and MT80. I forget the published data figures. There's really no equivalent to these compressors on the market. In terms of longevity. I think the variable speeds have them beat on fast cool down. But that's it. Stupid simple.

I give credit though to Indel B corp. They seem to back their products. Whether or not it's a Iceco, Indel B/Truckfridge, Setpower, Adventure Kings (Australia). Or how ever many other companies are under the Indel B umbrella. Iceco is pushed pretty hard on YouTube. They do give you a 5 year compressor warranty. And it seems they just replace the fridge if you have problems. They practically give every Goober Snootch on YooToob a fridge for a review. The best laid out one is the 75L from Kickass. It's another Australian subsidiary. Looks like the Iceco's with a little Edgestar mixed in. But it runs a Secop BD50F. And has App control. And looks cool. And has baskets for every compartment. They are starting to sell them in the States. There's reasons I wouldn't buy a Indel B product. But as they say on the Interwebz...YMMV. I think for people without a huge budget these and even the Alpicool and the 3,000 subsidiaries they have make sense.

There's a reason Engel, National Luna, Snomaster, Dometic and ARB's cost as much as they do. There's data on them. And they do a lot of testing.