The king is dead. Long live the king!
3-way fridges have been the king of caravan fridges for like ever. Until now. Compressor fridges run purely on 12V and don't use the absorption style cooling unit - so they are more like your household fridge.
Compressor fridges have always been around, but they are more popular now than ever due to the benefits they provide:
- up to 50-degree below ambient cooling - vs about 35 for 3-way fridges
- level irrelevant - 3 way fridges need to be dead level, compressor fridges will work on a substantial angle
- simpler - just one moving part, and a single power source
- price competitive - most compressor fridges are now around the same price as 3-way units
The real popularity has come about from more abundant 12v power though. 12v compressor fridges are still relatively power hungry, pulling about 6A when they run, and cycling between 30-90% of the time depending on size and ambient temperature. So while a 90L unit only draws about 50Ah per 24 hours, a larger 2-door 190L fridge can draw more like 110Ah+ (which is 2 full AGM batteries).
All this means you need a good power system to keep up with them, with a quality AC charger, DC charger/regulator and matched solar / auxillary power systems.
If you are frustrated with your current fridge, talk to us about upgrading to a caravan compressor fridge. We have options that suit most size installations.
