Outer Limits 4x4 Board

She who must be obeyed has decided on the Chescold RC1180

I have been told that if used within a tent it will rot the seems as there is a small amount of gas that they give off.
Can anyone confirm/deny this

Only other option is a case (wood box) for it to sit in outside as it will be on the beach; but i don't want $1000 of fridge to be stolen
thieves

Any ideas/opinions/tryed and tested methods

She wants this soon so i need to figure this out Tax cheques can be good and bad

If thats the blue one there not to bad as long as there level.In my opinion they are not as good as a waeco,because to run it on 12 volts it has rediculous current draw ,not only that the pilot light goes out in the wind and who wants to lug around another gas bottle.The waeco pulls minimal power and you can leave it in your car as you travel.Just my opinion.

if it can cause a tent to rot, id be worried what its going to do to my vehicle, and family on a long drive

LuxyBoy wrote:I have been told that if used within a tent it will rot the seems as there is a small amount of gas that they give off.
Can anyone confirm/deny this

I really can't say it's wrong, but it sounds like garbage to me. Where did this story come from?

wrksux wrote:if it can cause a tent to rot, id be worried what its going to do to my vehicle, and family on a long drive

You DO NOT run gas fridges in a moving vehicle.

Correction - you SHOULD NOT. Many do, and get away with it - some end up burning their vehicle to the ground.

Your call.

Scott

I have a chescold 40l old one i find that if it is in the front of the tent but not the main sleeping section you get a lot of fumes building up. this may have an effect on the aeams but i haven't found a problem yet but then have only ben using it for 2 yrs

I have owned one of those polly ones for many years, bush camped for 3 days up to 3 weeks with it many times,nothing comes close to gas in these senarios (i also own an engel)just set and forget, not once have I used it inside a tent, just not safe IMO, you could always buy a cheap dome tent just to house the unit? But keep it far enough away not to set your main tent on fire if murphy comes to camp .
Ps dont sleep with gas, dutch ovens excluded

cheers fnq

So making some sort of box seems to be the go; bugga more to carry

I have. I don't think running a gas appliance of any sort inside a tent is the smartest thing I have ever heard. If it decides to run poorly, you all get to die in your sleep from CO poisoning.

Other than that, it was a fine fridge. Run a week on a little gas cylinder and would stay cold inthe ruck on 12V.

Just buy an engel or waeco instead, I used to have a 60L chescold, biggest piece of crap i've ever owned. Unless they are dead level, they struggle to stay below ambient temp (So they don't work in the car). I will admit that they are good for extended stays in one spot if you arent going for drives, but thats it.

Well my camping trips are normally minimum a week and the fridge would stay at camp. Esky can come on truck to carry beers
The only exception to this would be travelling around Fraser island, which i hope is soon to come

I worked out:
Chescold + Gas Bottle + Protective Box =$1100 approx
Engel + Battery + Charger + Generator =$3000 approx

I know you can run dual batteries but i don't want to take the fridge when i am on tracks, and solar panels worked out more expensive than buying a generator which i could run 12v lights off. Although the engel setup would be nice the chescold allows me to do other things to the truck because of the price

It sounds like youve all ready made your decision,i hope you are happy with it.

Chescolds on gas are good if your in one spot for a while and as others have said they need to be on flat ground. If your running one on gas I wouldn't have it to close to a tent, and certainly don't travel with it running on gas in an enclosed vehicle, some people do it but its down right dangerous. i was following a Troopie out to Somerset ruins up the Cape a few years back when a fire broke out in the back of the Troopie the hose from the fridge to the gas bottle wasn't sealed properly. The hose was burning where it connects to the gas cylinder then a plastic bag containg rubbish that was near the fridge went up in flames, a bag with clothing and stuff got burnt as well. They didn't have a fire extingusher either I had a couple of dry powder ones with me and was able to put the flames out. I gotta say it scared the bejesus out of me when i saw flames ontop of the gas cylinder. That was the first time I had seen someone running a Chescold on gas in a vehicle it's a very dangerous practice. I would spend the extra bucks myself and go with a waeco ar engel set up.

A chescold can not be beat if you camp for a few days or a few weeks. Only use an engel or weaco if its weekend and day trips you do.

As long as they are level, which isnt very hard to do, they will work at treat. Friends of mine have had one for 15yrs and it hasnt missed a beat yet.....

I think you made the right choice, most people I have talked to who bag them were confused with the differences between the old eutectic (sp) types and the newer but still old element chescolds or just couldn't use them properly or any of the above and probably some more even as mine is not a special case but has never let food thaw we didn't want thawed -ever!

The Chescolds with the element will keep meat frozen at 35-40 deg daytime in the back of the old patrol (no aircon) on 12v on a 5 day road trip to the tropics, the thermometer we had was set to warn us at -4deg and it never went off, night time was on gas and around 28-32deg.

A couple of hints on how to deal with them, use dedicated 12v to the freezer of a gauge large enough to handle the amps. This will see sub 0 temps when traveling in 35-38 deg heat.

No need to rev it up before the trip like the finches etc just use a frozen 2L bottle of water placed in it with the warm drinks at the start of the trip to kick start it or just the frozen meat and refrigerator stuff as per the Engel.

When packing as the element is at the top if you pile the meat in to create a cap of food the lower levels may start to thaw over time on 12v and might on gas at 35deg also. Pack so that there are gaps to the bottom to allow the cold air down to the lower areas.

Also consider a partition of plastic on the far side of the case to the element that divides the space into two sections, works real well to stop the milk, drinks, cheese, marg etc from freezing and turbos the element side somewhat as a bonus, don't forget to pack so the cold air can reach at least a portion of any food that needs freezing.

At 27 deg I have measured - 17 deg in ours.

Another thing, don't treat them like the drinks fridge at home, for stuff needed regular keep an esky with ice made in the chescold overnight in 2L bottles. Works a treat if you have kids or a few drunks in camp .

My Engel is great for road trips but a royal Pita on those lovely easygoing extended base camp type trips we infrequently (now ) enjoy.

cheers fnq

I agree, I had one for years. They only need to be level when on gas, and that is not exactly rocket science. The cool very well and last a long time on a little bottl. In the car they keep cold without problems on 12V.

Also you can pick them up cheap second hand.

fnqcairns wrote: No need to rev it up before the trip like the finches etc just use a frozen 2L bottle of water placed in it with the warm drinks at the start of the trip to kick start it or just the frozen meat and refrigerator stuff as per the Engel.
cheers fnq

Thanks for the tips fnq
I am still keeping my esky just for drinks and the big chescold i am getting already has a partition that is removable so i can run fridge/freezer or fridge or freezer

Looking for the adjustable feet now to make my box; i know what i want just can't find them. You know the end of a pool table how it srews up and down? I want a mini version of that.