Truckfridge TF130 Refrigerator.

[MtnDon]

At 4.2 cu ft of interior space ( 29.5" high x 20.5" wide x 20.75" deep ) this is not going to find room in most teardrops. Cargo trailers are another matter though. I got around to hooking up my regulated 12 VDC power supply to it today and ran it for a couple of hours. It made ice. We got it from truckfridge.com; $599 + $100 shipping.

Photos below. Interior is nicely finished. The door is reversible but it appears there will be two holes in the door face that will need to be filled with a couple of "cosmetic" screws.

[MtnDon]

My plan is to use an addition 2 inches of rigid XPS foam under and on both sides of the build in space. An extra 2 to 3" behind in addition to the wall insulation and 2 to 4 inches on top. I'll have to leave channels of sufficient size to permit ventilating the compressor / condenser. I have some exterior venting; a door and a fixed panel.

[bdosborn]

Here's a long thread on 12V refrigerator installation and efficiency.

Linky

You'll like that fridge, no more ice to worry about.

Bruce

[MtnDon]

.... no more ice .....

Bruce

[rowerwet]

and I thought my TF51 was huge! When I took it out of the box, my first thought was, "how will i fit that into my galley?" Of course for that size mine is only 2 cf of storage.
It will be nice to not have to worry about the ice issue, I plan on using the TF51 to make ice to keep the cooler cold as well as having a real freezer for camping.

[bdosborn]

I think you'll find that you can put a lot more things iin the fridge than you can the same size ice chest - you might not need the ice chest anymore. It's amazing how much room the ice takes up.

Bruce

[eamarquardt]

I think you'll find that you can put a lot more things iin the fridge than you can the same size ice chest - you might not need the ice chest anymore. It's amazing how much room the ice takes up.

Bruce

True but with a "fridge" you can't cram as much stuff in the space as you can in a chest. If I had the energy I'd make my own chest with lots of insulation using one of these units to provide the "cold":

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... tllihDTnIU

or

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... tlmBhDTnIU

and a small or large matching vertical evaporator unit.

Cheers,

Gus

[MtnDon]

Chest vs upright is a whole other topic. We chose the fridge option after having grown tired, years ago, of rummaging through chests.

Interesting back & forth on that topic link bdosborn.

The cooling fan moves air from the back of the fridge forward, thru the condenser portion at the rear, over the compressor and the control module then out the side. So I have to figure how to best baffle and channel the air flow out the trailer wall. I don't want to simply circulate the hot air from the compressor / condenser into the trailer interior, although that would be simple. Not in warm weather anyhow. It would be nice to save that heat to the interior in cold weather though although it likely won't add up to a lot of BTU's.

[MtnDon]

Chicken / egg kind of question..... sorta

Okay, the fan blows from the open back area to the front over the compressor and control unit. Why does it do it in that direction and not blow out the back instead? Out the back would make for a much simpler venting out the side of the trailer wall. Now the instruction manual shows the venting in a manner that has the room air flow under the front edge of the fridge bottom, up the back and out the space above the front of the fridge. That makes sense with the fan blowing to the front. So what came first? The compressor / condenser was designed with that air flow because it works best for the refrigeration process and so the fridge maker states to vent it as described? Or did the fridge maker want to keep the venting all inside the space/vehicle in order to do away with cutting holes in the exterior body, and so the compressor was designed or built with the fan blowing as it does?

The linky bdosborn pointed to started out as a discussion to redirect the fan, but that fell to the wayside as it progressed.

I'm also trying to keep the width incl any extra insulation to 24 - 25" and to fit this under a counter with a height of 36 to 40".

[bdosborn]

How to set up my venting was easy for me, I replaced an absorption fridge with the compressor fridge so the venting was already in place. I did a lot of reading on what works for venting and I don't think it's nearly as critical to have the vents placed on a compressor fridge as it is with an absorption type. My impression was that just about any arrangement for venting was good as long as you don't place the the compressor/fan in a dead air space. My guess is that the reason your fridge shows the air flow over the top isn't because of the way the fan is positioned on the fridge but because most people don't want to vent compressor fridges to the outside, especially in a truck. The manufacturer doesn't want the compressor in a dead air space so they show venting out the front.

My fridge fan blows the air off to the side so the assist fan I installed just helps the air outside. However, the air is noticeably warm when I put my hand in front of it. I bet a vent to the outside that is about the same level as your fridge fan with an assist fan opposite of the fridge would work . Something like this:



I blocked off the bottom vent on mine by lining the access door with bubble insulation, all the air moves in and out of the top vent:



Bruce

[MtnDon]

I have a surplus RV fridge vent/door and am planning on using it as it would make it easy to check & clean if the condenser / compressor area had cobwebs, blown in dirt etc.


Off topic... how's the ground snow in your mtns? Ours is nearly non existent around us. So little snow the forest service hasn't closed the forest road we use yet. We're about 4 weeks past the latest we've been able to drive to the cabin door. We can drive to our cabin still which we will do this weekend. No chains required and I probably do not even need 4wd. But I have it so I use it; snowshoes still in the truck too.

[bdosborn]

We haven't been up to our cabin since early December. However, the snow looks pretty patchy up there:

Web Cam

Bruce

[MtnDon]

I got my DC amp/watt meter back and ran the fridge for a few days measuring the power used. The fridge was in a room that would run up to 74 -75 F during the day and cool off after 10 PM to a low of 65 F. The internal temperature of the fridge was 36 to 38 F.

The TF130 used an average of 350 watt hours in 24 hours. Or, another way to look at that, it used 26 amp-hours running off a nominal 12 VDC. At that rate a pair of 6 volt 220 amp-hour batteries in series would last slightly over 4 days, with a maximum discharge of 50%, with no recharging at. I figure that is pretty good.

With 2 inches of extra foam both sides, rear, top & bottom the TF should get better.

A new fan(s) is planned as well; lower noise, lower power use, more $$.