Keeping It Cool On The Road: Mini Fridges

It is hard to place a value on an icy cold drink in the middle of the blazing summer, but if you happen to be driving in Australia’s vast outback, the stakes are raised. Petrol stations come and go infrequently, and unless you are able to align your consumption to these scattered beacons it may be worth considering a car fridge.

Assessing your needs

Size and type

Before you dash out to purchase one, consider your specific needs. Are you happy eating at roadside petrol stations, but just need that ice cold chocolate bar and can of Coke on standby? Do you like to make your sandwiches in the hotel in the morning then picnic somewhere scenic? Do you have snacks packed for children to tide them over till you get to the next destination? Or are you planning a long camping trip away from civilisation?
Knowing how you are going to use your fridge will enable you to decide what functions you need, such as whether you need to freeze, cool quickly or even to heat?

Location

When making your fridge decision, you also will need to consider that it will need to be able to fit into your car or 4WD, reducing available luggage space. In addition the larger it is, the heavier it will be, are you planning on moving it?
In addition, consider if your fridge will be exposed to sunlight as a light colour will then provide better efficiency than a dark one.

Frequency of use

In addition consider how much you are going to use it, are you going to utilise it within your day to day life as well for your holidays?

Choosing your fridge

There are three different types of fridge available, thermoelectric, absorption or compressor.

Thermoelectric

The biggest advantages of thermoelectric coolers are that they are compact, lightweight, durable and portable. Generally they will run off both mains power and the cigarette lighter in your vehicle and you have access to a large range, from soft shell exterior coolers to hard shell family sized coolers.

Thermoelectric coolers run between 15 and 30 degrees below the ambient temperature and are quiet, environmentally friendly and some will even enable you to heat food.

The disadvantages are that they do not refrigerate as well as the other fridges, as they cannot get cooler than one degree Celsius and in hot weather where it may be 40 degrees the best the fridge will perform is at 10 degrees Celsius. Another disadvantage of the cheaper models is that because of their design, when the power is off, the fridge will actually draw heat into the fridge.

Prices range $50 to $500

Absorption

Absorption fridges are also called 3 way fridges because they can be run on gas as well as 12V or 24V, making them extremely flexible. They work by heating a concentrated ammonia solution and have the advantage that they are very quiet to run. The cooling is effective allowing you to achieve up to 35-40 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature.

The key advantage to absorption fridges is you can power them from the car while you are driving and then switch to power at a campsite or hotel, or switch to gas in remote locations.

However, there is a safety warning when using absorption fridges. If you power your fridge with gas, then it is essential that you provide adequate ventilation. Effectively you should never use gas to power the fridge within a motor vehicle, caravan or tent. In addition to this serious warning, absorption fridges are also power hungry using up battery capacity quickly and are designed to operate on a level surface (so no parking on slopes!)

Prices range from $350 – $1300

Compressor

The best thing about the compressor type of fridge is that it is superior at cooling allowing you to cool or freeze and in the more expensive models to segment compartments thereby achieving both. They operate on 12V but accessories can usually be purchased to switch to 24V if required. The power drawn is significantly less than an absorption fridge and allows ‘fast cooling’, a feature lacking in the other two models.

Unfortunately the compressor is a little noisier to run, but then it doesn’t put out heat, is not dependent on level surfaces and is safer to operate.

The biggest disadvantage however with the compressor is that is usually more expensive.

Prices range from $500 – $1800