Waeco & Engel fridge capacities

Ok guys, Ive got a quick question that nobody in my local stores can seem to answer confidently.
Does the internal capacity rating of the Waeco's (e.g 80ltrs) include the compressor ect??
I have a feeling that it might...as the inside of the 80ltr waeco is only marginally larger than the Engel 60ltr....which of course has the compressor on the outside.
If i cant get an answer, I may go to a store with a tape measure & calculate the capacity myself.

Mate pretty sure it's the usable capacity has nothing to do with the space where the compressor is located. So look bigger then other due to the different designs.

yeah thats what i thought, but when i looked inside the 80lt Waeco it didnt look anywhere near 30% bigger than the inside of the 60l Engel.
One sales rep was telling me the Waeco's space included the compressor, but he also told me a few things i knew where wrong so i didnt trust his advice.

I wouldnt worry about the capacity of a waeco there a piece of crap. Buy something else and save your self the heartache down the track. I work out the back of a camping store all there warranty items get stored in my shed. Ive seen quiet a few waecos over the past 3-4yrs.

I have a waco cf 110. it is a 100l frifge so i guess the 10l in its name is the compressor.

Yeah I'm leaning towards the Engel, even though it's smaller & costs an extra $400 than the Waeco

Have you looked st the Evakool range. It's capacity is purely useable space as it'd an esky with a quality danfross compressor added on. Mines been faultless for 2 years and love it

+1 on the Evakool, plus it has thicker insulation.

nah didnt look at the evakool actually.. someone told me that they weren't in the same class as Waeco or Engel when it comes to efficency when running on 12v

boostin_7 said:

nah didnt look at the evakool actually.. someone told me that they weren't in the same class as Waeco or Engel when it comes to efficency when running on 12v

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My Evakool 60l fridge gets 2-2.5amps perhour. Which is right on par with waeco and Evakool. I had my 60 running as fridge+freezer and my mates Engel 40l running purely freezer off my battery for 3 days. Only form of charging was my solar panel which didn't get much sunlight due to parking under trees. I would highly recommend the products and if anything went wrong I would be more then happy taking it direct to Evakool to get repaired. Oh also my solar panels are 100w Evakool units

evakool are bulletproof have only ever seen one come back for warranty cause a wire fell off. Was talking to the local repairer and he said its the first one hes had to touch ever.
another good one for the price is ones in the primus range.http://www.portablefridgesonline.co...ploads/2012/06/Primus-S3-60-Popup-300x300.jpg

http://www.portablefridgesonline.co...oads/2012/06/Primus-S3-40-Popup-2-300x300.jpg

i had the steel model in a 40ltr before this one for 5+yrs not a worry and have had the stainless 60ltr for probly 2-3yrs now. the new stainless 60ltr did get repaired this week but it was a broken wire on the 12vlt plug. no biggy really. it still worked on 240vlt the whole time.
main reason i keep buying the primus fridges is i had such a good run with the first and the price. the buy price on these on special are crazy. I wont say how cheap the buy price for my 60ltr s/s one was cause it will make everyone cry hahaaha lol. But yeah worth a look

and they have a light in them when you open the door

oh and primus has 2 new model fridge out aswell
http://www.tentworld.com.au/images/Primus-Mammoth-65L-Dual-Zone-Fridge-Freezer.jpg
http://dtfdl8d42g4o8.cloudfront.net/core/media/media.nl?id=330865&c=1118808&h=3a0db23485855b9486bb
these have a different compressor to the stainless one i posted above. no idea if they any good or not.

ps I dont work for primus lol

Gonna go look at the evakool FM90 this arvo at BCF, has anyone had one of these big fellas?

boostin_7 said:

Gonna go look at the evakool FM90 this arvo at BCF, has anyone had one of these big fellas?

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Evakool have a few different model and styles. Check them all out and have a good look at comparisons. I think anything above the 60l model has the danfross bf50 compressor or whatever it is called. Still good but uses slight more power to run.

had an evacool years ago. Had nothing but problems (doubt the thing ever worked properly from day 1). Sold it and bought a Engel. Have not looked back since.

So really the choice of fridge come from your personal choice and budget. I have an evakool and love it. Brother has an Engel and can't fault it, cousin has a waeco and loves it. Get which one suits your needs etc. Also Waeco have released a new series which I have no idea on and also the ARB fridges are apparently very robust and economical etc. Remember most fridge companies all use the same compressor which is the Danfross BD35 and 50 only difference would be some are BD35F which just means they have a fixed compressor speed.

Rusty

well.......... i bit the bullet & bought an Evakool FM70 from BCF this arvo.
I was dead set on an Engel but figured id give the Evakool a shot because alot of people are happy with there's.

Now does anyone know how to measure how many amps/hr its drawing when i use it?

boostin_7 said:

nah didnt look at the evakool actually.. someone told me that they weren't in the same class as Waeco or Engel when it comes to efficency when running on 12v

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Unfortunately there is a lot of fud around.
If you are going to compare, you have to look at role, contents and ambient temperatures.

For our fortnight trip earlier this year(Easter) it was total freezer. Half frozen meat from home and the other half water bottles being frozen to become ice blocks in the large esky holding the veges. That was a 70l yellow one and it had no problem in 30 degree+ ambient temperatures with the CT out in the direct sun so the solar panels had max exposure.

At max, the temperatures were well below freezing and by using a long tail dual thermometer I was able to adjust the setting down to bring it closer to -1 to -5 under.

Note the basic one has a setting, but ABR-sidewinder claims to sell a model with a thermostat which would mean less checking time.

boostin_7 said:

well.......... i bit the bullet & bought an Evakool FM70 from BCF this arvo.
I was dead set on an Engel but figured id give the Evakool a shot because alot of people are happy with there's.

Now does anyone know how to measure how many amps/hr its drawing when i use it?

Click to expand...

Yep, that is what we got from the same place.
I also purchased two 12v tails from Evakool as spares.

2 of the 3 were converted to Anderson plugs, which just plug into the similar tails on the CT battery.

I think i did a bodge a few times with some crocodile clips to measure current, but you have just reminded me of a project I want to do. Basicaly it is an anderson plug to anderson plug extension cord with a cut in the red wire and a bannana plug on each red end. These can then plug into the 10A/20Amp sockets on a basic multimeter to give you an instant reading.

Otherwise, you can buy expensive power consumption meter (~$200?) to do the same thing that give a few more figures like amphours used and max current, etc.