Can a refrigerator replace a built-in weekend cooler

Update:2022-02-07

Summary:This cooler is a 12V portable refrigerator unit powered by the auxiliary battery. It is turned on by plugging its cable into the receptacle at the bac...

This cooler is a 12V portable refrigerator unit powered by the auxiliary battery. It is turned on by plugging its cable into the receptacle at the back of the driver’s seat. Once plugged in, the cooler runs all the time, regardless of whether the engine is running or not. We’ve never used the builtin cooler box. It is way too small for our road trips and it is cumbersome to open and close.When we first got ourWe wanted a better solution and started looking for a 12 volt refrigerator. We settled on a Dometic quart unit that is one of the smallest in their line. We chose it because it was big enough to store our stuff for road trips and small enough to carry in and out of the cabin area. Plus, being a refrigerator, we can set it to keep the interior at a constant temperature and it only runs when it need to cool.

The electrical consumption is also much less than our old cooler. It uses 0.75 amp-hours per hour, which means that our 61 amp hour auxiliary battery could run it for over 3 days without recharging. It will also run off of AC as well as DC, giving us more flexibility in camping areas with electricity.The biggest challenge we had with the Dometic was figuring where to plug it in while camping. There are three 12 volt outlets powered by the auxiliary battery. Two in the cabin area under the rear bench seat – one on the left and one on the right. We use the one on the right for when we are driving. There is also one at the rear of the van on the right side.

This one is perfect for when we are camping because we clear out the cabin area to pull out the bed. You can close the rear door over the power cable without any problem, so you can leave the refrigerator running while you’re sleeping. we already had a portable 12 volt cooler that we had been using with our previous vehicle. We stored this in the cabin area while driving and outside when we were camped. Because it was a cooler, it worked like the built-in cooler: it ran all the time and it cooled the interior to a fixed amount below the ambient temperature.

If it was really hot outside this meant the interior contents were barely cool; if it was really cold outside the interior contents could be frozen that actually happened to us. One other issue with the cooler was that it consumed a ton of electricity from the auxiliary battery because it ran all the time.There was one big lesson we learned while trying out the Dometic refrigeator: can’t use 12 volt extension cords with it. The voltage drop from one of these extension cords was enough to cause problems with the Dometic. When we use the power cord that came with the refrigerator and plug that into any of the three outlets in the van, the unit works flawlessly. We really appreciate having the Dometic when we are camping at a site without power.

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Can a refrigerator replace a built-in weekend cooler

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