Off Grid Refrigerator

[John_P]

I need to buy a refrigertor for use off the grid. I am interested to find any informaton that compares the relability or longevity of propane powered refrigerators with DC electric powered refrigerators. I can supply either kind of power with about equal difficulty, so the choice for me really becomes one of quality and reliability.

Do you have any direct comparison experience? If you have bought one or the other, how did you choose which type to buy? Can you post any links that offer reviews of either type of refrigerator?

Thanks in advance.

[RangerRick]

I have a small one I took out of a travel trailer. It's runs on 110 volt and propane via a selector switch.

Rick

[12vman]

A propane fridge will last most of your lifetime if you don't let it set unused for long periods of time. They will rust out..

The 12 v.d.c. units are power hogs! (the ones without a compressor - freon units) The absorption units (same as the propane units) use a heater element that can use up to 400 watts! You'll find this type in campers and such..

Propane units can be operated in alternative ways if times get tough. All you need is a small flame in the heating tube.. 8)
~Don

[Shamrock1121]

Lehman's have gas-powered refrigerators - www.lehmans.com.

From a thread on the Gulch, I mentioned an ice house after showing my granddaughter a picture of her great-great-great-uncle in a local museum. In the picture he is cutting blocks of ice with a huge ice saw from his pond and transporting the ice blocks with horse and wagon. They stored the ice in the ice house and used it in their ice box (the predecessor to the refrigerator).

Martin contributed that he had frozen ice in boxes (which could be made from wood, or nearly any kind or convenient size of plastic container) for this purpose, rather than cutting ice blocks.

Yet one more option....

-Karen

[John_P]

The DC refrigerator that I have been considering is the Sundanzer 8 cubic foot. The specs sure don't indicate that it is a power hog, but then it is designed for off-grid applications, and not for RV's.

At an 86 degree average ambient temperature, it only consumes 220 watt-hours per day. At my more likely 76 degree average ambient, consumption is rated to be only 180 watt-hours per day (in what is described as a typical residential use pattern). In a 24-volt sytem, that is only 7 to 8 amp-hours per day, which is not a big load on a solar battery system that has 500 to 1000 amp-hours of storage capacity.

My understanding is that it has no heating element, because it is not a frost free refrigerator.

This makes the choice less obvious.

[Ocala]

or you can try one of these
http://www.shtfmilitia.com/viewtopic.php?t=176

[idris]

Could just use the very recently-invented Nigerian in-ground refrigerator: clay jar in bed of wet sand; otherwise, the ancient, but similar, Coolgardie Safe, which is a wire mesh box cooled by evaporation from a cloth with the lower end in a bowl of water. Totally off-grid, need no high-tech prefabrication. These gadgets do work: just how much stuff do you need to refrigerate? Put it in a bag in flowing water?

[bill_in_in]

Back in the 1800's in St. Louis, there was a meat processing plant that used solar powered refrigeration. It was basically the same system as the more modern ammonia/LP units but using solar for heat when available. Seems like someone would re-invent the wheel....