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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: traveling on a ferry
    Posted: 14 Oct 2019 at 5:10am
If you want to add insulation to a cooler or refrigerator then its best to use a high r value foam insulation material like polyurethane and make it as thick as you have space for. The Reflectix type materials' insulation values are highly overrated for this kind of application because they depend on reducing radiation losses across a dead air cavity like an attic space. You don't have a cavity like that in a fridge or a cooler.  

So Reflectix foam is only about R 3 per inch and its about 1/3 inch thick so around R 3 for three wraps. Closed cell urethane is about R 6 per inch so a 2 inch space would give you R 12. To get that you can buy a cooler which already has 2 inches or more of foam in  it. Ignore the fancy brand name, look for the foam, and don't forget to check that the lid also contains foam. Or, here's a DIY way to do it LOL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC7UcJZFZvk

When it comes to insulation, like they say in the automotive world, there ain't no substitute for cubic inches. 
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 8:09pm
A couple years ago we bought a Lifetime 55 quart ice chest to take on a trip to AZ anticipating boondocking for most of the trip.  Though we didn't really boondock as much as we anticipated due to our friends' camping preferences, I really appreciated the cooler.  I have put drinks and ice blocks in it and it keeps everything nice and cold for a surprisingly long time.  I usually fill big Costco plastic jars, like for nuts, with water and freeze it.  I've had that ice stick around for as long as a week.

The ices chest performs every bit as well as the high priced brands that cost over $200 or $300.  Here's a link I found for it today.  https://sunnypetra.com/index.php/lifetime-55-quart-high-performance-cooler-grey.html?utm_campaign=gs-2019-07-05&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign  Lifetime products, if I'm not mistaken, are made in Utah, which I think is still part of the USA.
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Posts: 1067 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 6:05pm
I started the earlier mention of using a cooler.   Olddawgsrule is correct --insulation is the key.
I said that we used a quality cooler-it is an Engel , but the best part is that I made an insulated cover for it. I used REflectix roll insulation
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-R-21-33-3-sq-ft-Unfaced-Reflective-Roll-Insulation-16-in-W-x-25-ft-L/1014123
which is available at Lowe's. It is 1/4" bubble wrap that is faced with reflective foil.  I used three thickness of the wrap.  Lowe's also has a special foil tape for joints at the seams.  The top can be taken off and leave the bottom in place.
We have kept ice as long as 9 days-we freeze it in gallon jugs and put i jug at each end. Makes good cold drinking water also.


 


hope this helps
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Olddawgsrule View Drop Down
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Posts: 1014 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 3:56pm
Originally posted by Ben Herman

Worst case if you don't want to carry a cooler with you for the whole trip - or don't have room in your fridge for ice - go to WalMart or equivalent, get an inexpensive styrofoam cooler and a block of ice, load your food into it for the passage. Give the cooler away on the other end.

That, on it's self, is a good idea to get through the passage. I like!

As much s everyone is talking about technology and what could be better.. I go back to basic's. Insulation of the unit. 

Every style, type, cycles according to how well it is insulated. Loss of cold and retaining. What do you wish to give up in looks to keep things cold? 

In another group folks have build coolers from HD/Lowes structural foam that far out perform even the YETI coolers. 

Though it would be difficult to line our existing units with such, making smaller boxes to fit within is not. 

My mind goes further, as you now expect from me, and look at building my own frig and using the parts available. 

What I say is not just think of system, yet think of insulation as well. 

I'm attempting to figure out my Wife's dream of a draw frig and how to implement. Would require 3 different draws of 3 different temps.... Yes, she does challenge me! 
And I do so love a challenge!
 
Insulation... My 2 cents. 
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Ben Herman View Drop Down
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Posts: 355 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 3:27pm
Worst case if you don't want to carry a cooler with you for the whole trip - or don't have room in your fridge for ice - go to WalMart or equivalent, get an inexpensive styrofoam cooler and a block of ice, load your food into it for the passage. Give the cooler away on the other end.
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 1:29pm
You might want to check out this video for a detailed discussion of retrofitting an absorption RV fridge with an electric vapor compression refrigeration kit. The company the Mortons got theirs from apparently does not make a kit for the smaller rPod fridge model but it might for the 195.
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 12:25pm
They are a pretty good deal for a picnic or tailgaiting, but their capacity is not real functional for 4 or 5 days of boondocking.  They measure capacity in "quarts" not cubic feet.  1 cubic foot is just a tad under 30 quarts, so for a 25 quart box, you're not getting much storage capacity.  You'd have to take 3 or 4 of these puppies along to duplicate the storage capacity of the refrigerator in your r-Pod.  And at 40 to 50 watts each, that's a lot of juice to feed them.  
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Posts: 2629 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 10:37am
I've did a little poking around and those free piston coolers (smaller ones anyway) only use about 40-45 watts. That is less than half what the standard Dometic refrigerator uses. Too bad they don't come in a refrigerator shape so you can swap out the one in the R-pod kitchen.
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Posts: 155 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 10:16pm
For camp trailers (caravans) in Australia most of the trailers have the Piston cooler.  I don't know if it the sterling but it does run on 220 volt AC 50 cycles.  From what I have see they work very well, better than propane even.
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Posts: 6288 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 9:20pm
A pricey option for times like that is a Free Piston Sterling Cooler. Ours was a different brand but looks the same as the one in the link except for the end caps which are blue. These are very efficient and will operate on 12V a long time without running down the battery. The one we have came from our local ReSTORE. It was donated by a drug company (I don't know which one) and was used to transport medications (no biological/radiological ones)by drug company representatives. It cools to 4C, even in 90F weather. It isn't silent, but it isn't really noisy either. Unfortunately, the Coleman model is not available and I could not find any others that specified FPSC or FPSE except for a FreeBird model which is a deep freezer and priced way beyond anything I could or would pay.
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