Efficiency of Portable Fridges, Unplugged

Ed B

Ed B

Adventurist
Greetings All,

My first post but have been lurking for a while. I have a question about how efficient the portable fridges are once they are unplugged for a while? Do they maintain their temperature for a few hours? The question is prompted by some campground requirements to store food in bear lockers. Are you moving your fridges to these lockers? Using extension cords? Do you remove your fridges from your vehicles at all when at camp?

Thanks
 
They aren't super efficient. If I'm sleeping in the truck I'll unplug my Engel because the sound of it running makes it difficult for me to fall asleep. I haven't kept track of the temperature difference between shutting it down at night and then turning it back on six hours later, but I've always been satisfied that it was still cold enough to have kept anything from spoiling overnight. Ambient temperature would be a big factor and I'm usually at high altitude with overnight temps in the 60's or below. I never take mine out of either truck, but a buddy has pulled his Engel 35 out of his to put into a bear box up in Colorado.
 
Some are better than others ---- and it depends on the ambient temperatures you're in, whether you open it, if the locker is on a cool slab, etc. If the slab is warm or the locker is all steel, conductive heat loss occurs.
My ARB has a "jacket" that it wears. And I've gone on quite a few 3 or 4 day trips in cool weather where it's only cycled on a couple of times.
So, in other words, it depends.

Put some ice in ziplock bags and put it on top of your food...
 
As Bill suggested, ice in ziplocks is useful, especially if you need some for your favorite beverage :) I also like to freeze water bottles and layer the bottom of the fridge with them. I place the items that need to be coldest directly on the water bottles (frozen veggies, raw chicken, etc.). If I am going to be out for several days I'll put a piece of cardboard on top of the "frozen" items and then the rest of my items on top of that sort of creating a colder "freezer" zone underneath the cardboard.
'
 
About my same experience above... no massive decrease in temp when unplugged for 6-8 hours - maybe no more than 15 degrees. I've camped a few times going through bear country (with bears sighted in the area) and never had an encounter with food stored in the fridge (ARB). Perhaps I'm real lucky or the seal on the fridge is that snug. Or maybe they know not to mess with me; animals sense this, you know. Probably the later.
 
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