Not All Fridges are Created Equal.

67cj5

Man On a Mission
When it comes to justifying why some fridges cost more than others the Compressor is the first thing that gets mentioned along with the Companies looooong History,

Lets start with the Compressors, Many companies use and Quote having Secop / Danfos BD35 Compressors which sounds impressive because when people come here and ask everyone Quotes that Model, Trouble is there are at leased 9 in total BD35 compressors but there are only 2 / 4 models which are the ones to Own, the other 5 versions are fitted in to cheaper fridges which are mainly 12v/24v models that have to have an adapter fitted so they can also run on 110v/240v, Where as the BD35 and the BD35F are made to run on all four Voltages and can run on 50/60Hz, Thats the first Differance,

The Second most important factor is the Insulation, Many Companies quote having 35mm, 40mm, 42mm, 52mm and 60mm of insulation and more But just because one Company quotes more insulation does not mean "Diddly Squat" where one Companies 60mm/70mm walled Fridge might sound impressive to Mr or Mrs Greenhorn the Cold truth about Insulation is it all depends on what type of insulation it has and how it is installed within the Cabinate it's self,

As I posted in this thread about the thermal habbits of a couple of fridges I Own, https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...ternal-temp-test-with-thermal-imagery.224558/

As I stated in that thread Some fridges can really hold there Temps where during a normal On-Off Cycle some fridges can take a couple of hours to complete a full On-Off Cycle and several days to Thaw Out, And just to prove the point I re did the Test,

The first Fridge in the Test was the Snomaster 35L with the Snomaster 66Watt Compressor And 42mm of Insulation, This fridge has to be one of the fastest Cooling Fridges on the market Bar None and it cools all the way down to -22*c / -7.6*f but it will get even colder than that, And as fridges Go it's temp range during Power Off to Power On is very stable varying less than 1.3*c, Which sounds impressive and even better to see in Action, The 66w Compressor is even more powerful that the Secop/Danfos BD50F which is a Beast in it's self, But for the Snomaster to maintain such tight variations on it's Temperature Loss it Cycles quite often,

The Second Fridge In the Test was my ARB47L / 50Qt 5 year old Blue and Grey Model which has been running everyday for the past 5 plus years, This fridge uses the much smaller Secop / Danfos BD35F Compressor But the reason for matching up the ARB47 with the Snomaster 35L is because they both have 42mm of Insulation,

Now for the Test, Using it's own LED readout to judge the Temp because it is very accurate I ran the Snomaster for 24 hours set to -22*c / -7.6*f and I just let it complete it's Cycle and then I set the Temp setting to 0*c / 32*f to see how long it would take to warm up and power Up,

I ran the ARB47 for 24 hours at 2*c / 35.6*f and then I ran it at -4*c / 24.8*f for about 4 hours again after it had completed it's Run Cycle I set it to 0*c / 32*f to see how long it would take to warm up and power up as normal,

Both Fridges are surposed to have equal 42mm of Insulation and equal contents with less than a 10th of their Capacity so this seemed a fair Match. Apart from the Snomaster having to warm up by 22*c / 39.6*f to start and the ARB 47L only had to warm up by 4*c / 7.2*f, Now with the ARB only having to warm up by a couple of degrees it would be fair to assume that it would have been the losser and power up first, Amazingly Absolutely Not, The Snomaster powered up in just 4 hours 55 minutes and it's Temp readout was reading +1*c / 33.8*f, In the same amount of Time the ARB had dropped ( Warmed Up ) from -4*c / 24.8*f to -2*c / 28.4*f warming up by only 2*c OR 3.6*f and it was only halfway there and still had more to Go and no doubt it would of managed to make it to about 12 hours before it powered up and to think that the Snomaster actually warmed up a total of 23*c settling at +1* thats One Huge temperature loss in just 4 hours 55 minutes Vs the ARB's 2*c,

The Snomaster is amazingly fast at Cooling and their claims about having a 66 watt Compressor is Horse feathers, On Start Up I saw it peak at 99.8w and for a while it was quite happy to Run chewing a constant 95.3w remembering that the Snomaster is only a 35L / 37Qt fridge where as the ARB peaked out at 52.4w, And the ARB is bigger at 47Litre / 50Qt

At £500.00 or $650.00USD the little Snomaster is not a good fridge At ALL, when you think that you can buy something just as good or better for 250/300 Dollars from Amazon and still have enough money to buy a Jackery or a little Something for the Wife just to make Her day puts the Snomasters on the MIA List, And don't just think "Well they do make Better Models" Coz they Don't, Their 70mm walled Expedition Range is even a worse Power Hog, I had the top of the line one in that range and I saw it Chewing up to 113w while it was running And when I hooked it up to a fully Charged 115Ah Deep Cycle Battery it was chewing power that fast I had to hook the Battery up to my big Charger even though it uses the same 66watt Compressor as the little 35L version and no matter which model you buy all of their Compressors Rattle and clunk just driving down the road, There is a good reason why the named Brands Fridges cost more.

Hope that helps.
 
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Wallygator

Adventurer
No not all fridges are created equal and neither is their price tags. This fridge has been riding in my vehicle for 3 years now and has never let me down. Got it on sale and I could buy two for the price of one of the other name brands. A no brainer for me as I feel those other fridges are way over priced. An as far as power consumption goes, I over built my solar system for my requirements so I have some leeway. YMMV

https://mikescustomtoys.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15&products_id=45
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
No not all fridges are created equal and neither is their price tags. This fridge has been riding in my vehicle for 3 years now and has never let me down. Got it on sale and I could buy two for the price of one of the other name brands. A no brainer for me as I feel those other fridges are way over priced. An as far as power consumption goes, I over built my solar system for my requirements so I have some leeway. YMMV

https://mikescustomtoys.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15&products_id=45
Yep well you have to go with whats right for you, I went a bit OTT and with a bit of luck I will be buying a National Luna so I can test it out,

Bottom line is the name brands you can get parts for down the track as well as having Global Service Centres, (y)
 

roving1

Well-known member
Interesting info.

Regarding cycle time it makes me wish these fridges had programable spreads for cut off. I would love to have like a 2 degree spread during solar hours and then switch to an 8 to 10 degree spread at night and/or a higher set temp for overnight to conserve power more in the cooler hours with no solar and have it be automated.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Interesting info.

Regarding cycle time it makes me wish these fridges had programable spreads for cut off. I would love to have like a 2 degree spread during solar hours and then switch to an 8 to 10 degree spread at night and/or a higher set temp for overnight to conserve power more in the cooler hours with no solar and have it be automated.
Well at the moment my ARB 47L/50Qt is cycling something like on for 15 minutes and off for 2 hours, You can change how they cycle just by what you put in there And/Or how you arrange what you put in there.
 

roving1

Well-known member
Well at the moment my ARB 47L/50Qt is cycling something like on for 15 minutes and off for 2 hours, You can change how they cycle just by what you put in there And/Or how you arrange what you put in there.

That's a pretty moot point though because the fridge will be full of X and then be slowly emptied until the next re-supply. I'm not going to be putting river rock in my fridge just for thermal mass as I consume the contents. LOL. Though emergency thermal mass beer might be a possible consideration. :unsure:
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Well at the moment my ARB 47L/50Qt is cycling something like on for 15 minutes and off for 2 hours, You can change how they cycle just by what you put in there And/Or how you arrange what you put in there.
Well Once you get them beers Cold and place them above the sensor the fridge will cycle less and it will stay off for longer, A lot of fridges now have Hi and Low speed cooling but the ARB's run in Auto mode where they vary depending on how low they are set and the Ambient Temp along with how and what you load them with,

In that warm up test I did the ARB did not come up to temp from -4*c to 0*c until almost 13 hours later which is close to 3 times what the Snomaster did.
 

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