Short-term travelling, is powered refrigeration needed?

[WQTraveller]

Hi:

Most of my travelling consists of two to four day day trips in campgrounds. I've been a tent camper most of my camping life, so I cringe at paying for electric. I've continued that with my teardrop and tent trailers. I cook with propane and propane accessories, cool food with ice, and use battery to run lights, radio and charge gadgets. I'm pretty much a fair weather camper and don't tend to travel when overnight temps are below 5°C/40°F or it's stormy and I don't expect camping in the van will be much different. Maybe my edge seasons in May and October will be longer than they are in a soft-walled camper.

My last long road trip was from Ottawa ON to Virginia Beach USA in 2019. We stayed for two weeks. Even though the trip is 1,200 km/750 mi, towing a camper, travelling with a dog and the unpredictability of traffic around DC made us decide to motel it and break the trip into two days. We stopped in Front Royal going down and Wilkes Barre coming back. I love that trip and can't wait for cross-border travel to reopen.

Anyhow, on that trip, I decided to leave the propane at home and I packed a microwave and ordered a bar fridge and hot plate from WalMart. The KOA only had electric sites, so I was going to be paying for electric whether I used it or not. I especially love the fridge and it now has a home under my desk in my home office.

I don't want to wire anything into the vehicle permanently. I am not a full-timer and don't anticipate coming close to being able to take month-long trips until the end of the decade. So, I am wondering if a 12 volt fridge is of any value or can I bring my bar fridge power it off an inverter connected to the alternator while driving and plug it in at pay campgrounds. Boondocking would be problematic. I assume that I would be crazy to consider running the hotplate and microwave under those circumstances so propane it is. I just don't like transporting propane in the van. At least with trailers, propane could be transported on the hitch frame.

I appreciate your experience on cooling food on road trips.

 

[bullfrog]

Many people use a second battery and an inverter that are only connected to the vehicle charging system while charging or in use or one of the power packs as they have several charging options and include an inverter. Charging the second battery while parked with hook ups or at home will save your vehicle wear and stress. Your vehicles alternator and charging system shouldn’t be used more than necessary as it shortens the life of the components in my opinion. A 12 volt refrigerator will use less power as there is no inverter loss but many people here at Lake Powell use a 120 volt AC chest freezer with a inverter in a vehicle to keep fish several days so I would think you could do the same with a dorm refrigerator if you limit the time plugged into the inverter to travel and plug in upon arrival.

 

[Ravella and X]

We have a 4 cu ft 120v fridge in our little trailer. We boondocked from March to October all over Nevada -- before we had solar power. We treated our fridge like an icebox, and carried spare ice in a big Yeti to replenish it so we could stay out longer between ice trips. It worked. We didn't complain much, and the melt water became laundry and foot washing water. But now that we have solar and an inverter, we only have to get ice if dark clouds persist too long, or if we get caught in a super hot heatwave and the solar can't keep up by itself.

12v fridges are kinda expensive. It'd be nice, but there are other things I'd rather spend on now. (What am I saying? I don't like to spend!)

 

[Uncle Todo]

Acopower has a line of portable fridge/freezers that have a built in battery that powers it for about 10 hours or so and can use a solar panel to keep charged or plug into 12v or 120v.
https://www.amazon.com/LiONCooler-5...460728&sprefix=acopower+x,aps,142&sr=8-3&th=1
Also have one with an extra battery
https://www.amazon.com/ACOPOWER-Lio...=1609460827&sprefix=acopower+x,aps,142&sr=8-3
A little pricey, but it's kind of a stand alone unit, doesn't need an inverter, house battery, or high output alternator.
Reviews look to be decent.

 

[Tony's Dream]

WQTraveller......

We have a lot in common. My wife is not interested in living in a van for months at a time. So we compromised with me doing solo short trips. I have planned a trip from Nebraska down to New Mexico and back. I have several national parks and other sites to visit on the trip. The trip will take one week. Like you I had to figure out what I wanted to set up and haul around. I didn't want to haul around a propane tank just to run a fridge, so I opted for an ice chest. It has the least safety issues and takes up less space. I have thought about installing an RV plug and outlet so when I stay at places with AC.....I can connect to charge my battery packs and run some appliances.

A 12V fridge sounds nice, easy, and less messy than ice......but I'm not interested in constantly looking for ways to power it. Spending $800 for a fridge in lieu of an ice chest does not make sense to me. If I was living in the van full time for months, then maybe it would be worth it....but for only week long jaunts the ice chest makes the most sense for me.

 

[bullfrog]

I used to go to town every 3 or 4 days for work while camping. I would buy a steak, a dozen eggs, a can of green chilies, a hunk of cheddar cheese, and a large container of orange juice as well as a few pieces of fruit and vegetables. Cut the steak in half for first nights dinner along with some fresh roasted corn or asparagus and maybe a piece of fruit later. In the late morning brunch of steak and eggs with the green chilies and a piece of fruit later in the evening. Next morning cheese omelette and rest of the chilies and later in the day fruit and cheese following morning boil the rest of the eggs, finish the cheese and orange juice. Usually at least one day I would hike living off boiled eggs and fruit along with plenty of water. Sometimes instead of steak pick up some plain roast beef sandwiches but in the day in town eat at a buffet and get plenty of vegetables usually a salad. Usually the fruits might include watermelon or cantaloupe and canned pineapple or peaches. No refrigerator required although in the desert heat I would use a cooler with no ice and immediately put cold items in it. I lived about 6 months that way with no problems.

 

[nature lover]

I have an iceco 20 quart. With batteries and solar. The entire system cost me less than $800 and it works perfectly. I have to carry insulin and one of my seizure medication that has to be refrigerated. Bob just did a new video last week about a cheap refrigerator he’s now using. I think it was $270. You don’t have to go with the domeditic or Engle which are out of this world priced. I have 150 W of portable panel 180 amp hours of batteries and the refrigerator is usually the only thing I have on that system. The voltmeter has never dropped a below 12.2. Even on cloudy days. Those batteries also charge from my alternator and there is a switch on my alternator which keeps my starting battery separate. My little fridge is also a fridge freezer combination but I only use it as refrigerator now. It’s small but it serves a purpose I can keep a salad some meat eggs cheese and a few other things with my medicines.

 

[LoupGarou]

No, a powered AC/DC refrigerator isn’t needed. You can purchase ice whenever you source provisions and/or fuel.

Purchasing one has made my life simpler. I no longer have to deal with the water, plastic bags and rearranging the contents to get all the ice to fit.

 

[chris84]

For short trips I always found ice chests easier to deal with, because with a fridge if you turn it off after every trip you have to make sure and dry it out to prevent mildew anyway.

When using my van every week I made the switch to a battery powered fridge and like it as well because I leave it running all the time.

I see benefits to both, but if you go with ice, splurge a little on a nice cooler, it will be worth it, trying to use a $29 ice chest is not the way to do it.

 

[MrNoodly]

It depends on what you want to eat. I know some full timers without fridges or coolers. They eat things that don't need to be refrigerated. As for me, I "need" my cold beverages.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I lived out of a Subaru for 3 years with a cooler and ice; it works ok.  Cheap Coleman cooler wrapped in a sleeping bag, kept out of the sun.

For short trips, freeze your ice at home.  For longer trips, ice is available most places.

 

[highdesertranger]

" ice is available most places"

this is the key phrase to this conversation and the key word in that phrase, "most".

I have been in places were ice was not available and had to drive hours to get any. this was one of the main reasons I went with 12v refrigerators. when you have to drive 6 hours one way to get ice it is no longer cheap and easy.

highdesertranger

 

[MrNoodly]

when you have to drive 6 hours one way to get ice it is no longer cheap and easy.

And after six hours it almost isn't ice.  

 

[ckelly78z]

A better way to have ice in a cooler is to freeze quart milk jugs full of ice at home, and put them in a good cooler similar to a YETI. This keeps the melting mess away from your food, and will last for days being in one (or two) large blocks...no need for power on trips up to a week if you use propane to cook on.

I would also wrap a blanket around it, and keep it out of the sun.

 

[hugemoth]

A dorm fridge works fine on a small inverter while driving but it may overload the circuit if plugged into a cig lighter socket. Best to attach inverter directly to the battery and run a 110 volt extension cord to the fridge. My Sanyo and Magic Chef dorm fridges run fine on a 225 Watt modified sine wave inverter but generally any inverter over 140 Watts can overload a cig lighter socket.

For the last 9 months I've used one of the $200 Chinese 12v fridges which works great and will not overload a cig lighter socket.

 

[Uncle Todo]

I will be getting a fridge as I plan on longer than short term traveling.
My biggest challenge is what size do I need, or the smallest size I can get away with.
Space is at a premium, but on the plus side I'm trying to plan road eating that requires minimal refrigeration.

Let us know what you end up going with!

 

[MrNoodly]

My biggest challenge is what size do I need, or the smallest size I can get away with.

I have a 24 qt fridge. About half the space is for drinks (6 to 8). My supply of beverages is stored outside the fridge, and when i take a cold drink out I replace it with a non-refrigerated one. The rest of the room is for a week to ten days of meat, eggs, cheese and other things that need to be refrigerated. About 3/4 of my diet is from things that don't need refrigeration.