Whynter FM-62DZ Dual Zone

[MotorVation]

I've was going back and forth for a few months trying to decide which 12v compressor fridge to buy. I watched every video I could find and read reviews on several models/manufacturers. I pretty much had it narrowed to the Whynter Dual Zone 62 qt, the Whynter 65 qt and the Truckfridge TF51 with the latter getting the best vote due to the Dan Foss compressor.

In the meantime, I had the Whynter dual zone in my Amazon shopping cart. I like to add items I'm considering to the shopping cart as prices fluctuate and sometimes killer deals are available if you're not in a big rush to buy them.

Anyway, to drag this out a little further, I was on Amazon last night and they had one of the dual zone's listed as "used-very good" for 439.00 + tax. It's in the original packaging so evidently someone bought it then cancelled the order for whatever reason and shipped it back. It says they (Amazon) tested it. We'll see.

Last night I decided to sleep on it and if it was still there maybe I'd pull the trigger.
It was and I did. Worse that can happen, it's defective and I have to ship it back on their dime. I'll have 30 days and I'm going to run it non stop the entire time. Amazon's selling the new ones for 728.89 + tax so I saved about 300 bucks. I'm pretty wary of this particular fridge as it does get it's share of bad reviews but I like the idea of the separate freezer. Maybe I'll get lucky.

I'll update after I spend some time with it....

 

[frater secessus]

All my Amazon "warehouse deals" were fine, no problems.

Do you use camelcamelcamel to track price fluctuations?

 

[DannyB1954]

Nice score. If that doesn't work out well for you I will tell you my solution for a refrigerator freezer combo. I have a lot of solar so I decided to go with a 54 quart unit and set it to freeze. I will have plastic bottles filled with water freezing during the day to use in a separate cooler that I will use as the refrigerator. At the break of day I will exchange the ice bottles between the cooler and the freezer. The solar can spend the day refreezing them. So I will have a 12 Volt freezer and an ice chest, but I won't have to buy any ice. There will still be enough room in the freezer for the things I want to keep frozen.

 

[MotorVation]

All my Amazon "warehouse deals" were fine, no problems.

Do you use camelcamelcamel to track price fluctuations?

Glad to hear your warehouse deals went well. I'm looking into buying a three year protection plan for it  (after I determine that it's working correctly) but the one that's correct for my purchase (used-refurbished) has absolutely no information about what it covers. I emailed the seller for the info. Never heard of camelcamelcamel but I'll look into it..

 

[MotorVation]

Nice score. If that doesn't work out well for you I will tell you my solution for a refrigerator freezer combo. I have a lot of solar so I decided to go with a 54 quart unit and set it to freeze. I will have plastic bottles filled with water freezing during the day to use in a separate cooler that I will use as the refrigerator.  At the break of day I will exchange the ice bottles between the cooler and the freezer.  The solar can spend the day refreezing them. So I will have a 12 Volt freezer and an ice chest, but I won't have to buy any ice. There will still be enough room in the freezer for the things I want to keep frozen.

I've thought about doing that. Thanks. If this fridge doesn't work out I may try that or maybe sectioning off part of a fridge that's a freezer OR fridge...

 

[Frugal66]

Nice score. If that doesn't work out well for you I will tell you my solution for a refrigerator freezer combo. I have a lot of solar so I decided to go with a 54 quart unit and set it to freeze. I will have plastic bottles filled with water freezing during the day to use in a separate cooler that I will use as the refrigerator. At the break of day I will exchange the ice bottles between the cooler and the freezer. The solar can spend the day refreezing them. So I will have a 12 Volt freezer and an ice chest, but I won't have to buy any ice. There will still be enough room in the freezer for the things I want to keep frozen.

This is my exact plan. Thanks for the validation!

Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk

 

[MotorVation]

Just to update the thread....
I've been running the fridge for a week now. It's been in the van in the Florida heat for about 5 days. It's freaking hot here. I mean HOT.
I don't have my house battery bank yet so I have it hooked up to shore power via an extension cord and run it on dc when I'm driving the van. It's holding temperature well. I have the small zone at 10 degrees and the large at 37 degrees.
I can run it off the van's dc power port (hooked up to the starter battery) but there's a voltage drop when the van's not running so I don't let it run long like that. When I get my battery bank the cig plug is gonna go and I'm going to wire it directly to the house batteries or to a fuse block.

So far I'm happy. I did buy this as a return from Amazon so although I haven't called Whynter yet, I doubt I'm going to get a warranty. I'm gambling for sure but I couldn't pass up saving 300 bucks...

 

[MotorVation]

Whoops, I forgot to explain why it ended up being a return and why I got the price I did.

The gasket was deformed on the large zone. Some yo yo pushed the lid closed and fastened the latch without removing one of the plastic shims they ship with. The shims are there to provide some air flow while it's sitting in the warehouse so it doesn't get funky inside.

I had to heat the gasket up with a heat gun and reshape it. Other than that it's ok...

 

[CaptainBuilt]

This fridge has been on my short list. Now seeing it used, I may do the same thing.