Esky vs 12 volt fridge

I wouldn't bet on that.
A car fridge can make it so cold you can lick it!
Cheers
Happy New Year

I enjoy my beer however it is. the fridge does get it cold but nothing beats a beer out of an esky. There is no fiddling with dials etc just perfect temperature beer every time. I will probably start taking the esky and fridge out now it is warmer. since having the fridge I do sort of miss the beer from the esky but i dont miss the soggy steak and snags

How wrong you are. Can an esky full of ice put ice crystals in a beer? I have my fridge cycling from minus 1 to plus 1.5 deg, and as an ex esky person have definitely been converted. Just count up how many bags of ice in a year you may buy, thats what we did and figured the fridge was going to pay for itself in a couple of years. Don't get me wrong the esky is a wonderful thing, just don't think u can say its better than a fridge. As the bush tucker man always says.......for the real important things like beer,u can't beat a car fridge :) Just cant work out why he drinks fosters lol

Reiner,
What size eskies did you buy? - I've decided to buy a couple of eskies instead of a fridge, and will be camping with my wife and 2 young kids for 2-3 days at a time. I'm trying to decide on what size will be most appropriate.

HH

Hi guys, your discussion on fridge v eski is cool stuff. I run an Eva Kool fridge in my Jack and its the best thing. As you say, no messing with drainage and soggy watery butter etc. We do want to purchase an ice box though 'cause the fridge just don't keep up supply of beer when mates drop around, unless you sacrifice the food. Also I'm reluctant to put all the fish bait in the fridge. Good to keep it nice and clean. PS no need to run a second battery with Eva Kool. Sooo efficient. I bought a 90amph deep cycle and have at this point run the fridge constantly for 48 hrs with no starting probs.

The post and the follow ups are starting to sound like an advertorial for 4WD Monthly Mag.....lol

"We ad a bag of ice every morning in this weather"...hmmm.... so you are not too far from a servo or shop.

Geez you blokes are hung up on your beer.

There is more to life than drinking beer...go find it!!!

Cheers

How was food kept in Pre A.D. time , Jack (Absalom days) .

My $299 42L supercheap fridge is sitting in the back of the loaded up surf as we speak, we are just waiting for the others to arrive before we take off for 3 days in the bush... The digital display has -3 on it and I've verified that with my multimeter temp probe to be spot on. I opened a king brown of home brew the other day that had been resting on the back wall of the little fridge and as I opened it the release of pressure instantly froze the entire beer and nothing came out the end!! DOH! I had it set to -6 at that stage. With my 200amp hours of batteries I can easily go a week without starting the car as it's a soft start compressor and only draws 4.5amps while running, with about a 40/60% cycle time.
Mate I've done the esky thing, I've got a Coleman Extreme 5 day esky, but by the time you fill it with ICE and with the superthick insulated walls you can hardly get anything in the bloody thing! We've got 6 people going away with us and we have food for two nights and 3 days.
3 x 600ml coffe chill
3 x 2L Soft Drinks
1 x 2L Orange Juice
1 x Roast
2 x Bags of onions
2 x Bags of Salad
1 x Big Pack of Sausages
1 x Pack of Diced Beed (for stew)
1 x 2L of Milk
1 x Butter
And more bleep I can't think of. I would have NEVER got that in my Coleman Extreme, even without the ICE! And it's Bigger than the Fridge!
Plus being parked up for 3 days in summer, I don't want to have to get more ice everyday!

We've got heaps of otherwarm drinks that'll we can whack in as we need them, it cools them down very quickly at the expense of a little more battery power, but hey, we've got plenty in reserve so who cares!!

Anyway, that's enough from me, besides they'll be here soon! YAY!

Have a good new year everyone!!

"In the old days" we went without air con and fancy electric fridges. We got very very hot and tired . I would of given my left arm for a cold ANYTHING in the Simpson in October.
Then we bought eskies and did the floating in cold cr^p thing.
Along came affordable car fridges and I for one cheered.

i gotta go with the esky. For starters for the same capacity a fridge takes up more space. Unless you're going miles from anywhere for extended periods a fridge isn't necessary and eskies have come a long way in terms of making ice last longer. For people like myself who generally camp coastal and do a bit of driving around, ice is never far away. More importantly, I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at my vehicle so an 80L Engel and dual battery system weren't on Santa's list! LOL!

12v Engel for me every time.
As most times I'm no where near a supply of ice so the engel does the job keeping the liquid of life at 3% good nuf 4 me.

I used to do the eski and ice thing until we went away with freinds who have a 40l engel. After the third trip I chucked the bleep s and bought a 50l waeco and will never ever go back.

Yes, it cost me $1000 plus a dual battery system, but I am very, very, very glad I saved for it.

I did consider getting a big icebox and using block ice but our freinds did all the hard stuff, been there, done that, and they ended up buying the engel and were the ones that ended up convincing me to get a car fridge. The ice box they had took up so much room inside the 4WD that they needed a roof rack for all the other stuff. Not any more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Muzz

Hey i think there may be one other condender here to consider. Its a little heat exchange fridge which bar the gas compression works on a similar principle to a real fridge and uses 12v. Where this thing fits in the equation is day trips and shorter outings. It will not get to 0C but will get cold to the touch and makes drink drinkable on a hot day like today (i did a test today in the 40+C car). It will never replace a real fridge or esky but it has some advantages over the esky as it will keep cold off power so you never need to get ice. It uses way less power than a fridge becuase it's just a fan and heat exchanger. and it costs less than a movie ticket (almost) $29 or $49 from dick smith. as i say, never beat a fridge but still handy to have hanging around.