Camping Is Always a Great Idea: A Smart Camper’s Checklist

If you spend a lot of time outdoors, whether camping, fishing, attending music festivals or sporting events, you’ll soon enough find yourself looking for an Esky to keep your drinks and food chilled. A camping refrigerator is the ideal way to keep the food and drinks cold without taking up a lot of space in your trunk. There is a wide range of portable refrigerators available – most of them are suitable to at least store a few snacks and drinks, while others can provide enough storage for meat and groceries for at least several days. A camping refrigerator often times has the same features like a regular fridge – it has an ice maker and a freezer compartment. There are many types of camping refrigerators, different in style, size and intended usage. So you, as a buyer should consider your needs and look closely at what can be stored in it, the device’s effect on energy costs and the type of power it uses. The most commonly found camping fridge is the cube refrigerator. Its dimensions are usually between 1.5 to 2 cubic meters and it weighs around 10 to 15 kilos, which makes it easily portable. Its height is somewhere around 50 cms, which will allow you to easily put it into small spaces or on top of other appliances. These are one of the most inexpensive fridges available and are a great option for people on a low budget. While the older models weren’t very economical to run, the newer ones have gradually become much more energy efficient. Most modern models feature a freezer compartment big enough to store a tray of ice cubes. Furthermore, many models have a locking mechanism that helps keeping items safe in the fridge. Depending on the type of energy power they consume, there are thermoelectric, compressor and absorption models.

• The thermoelectric models are designed for cooling food and drinks for a shorter period of time. They can be connected to the car’s cigarette lighter but will considerably drain the battery of the car and should be disconnected when the engine is not running. Even though they are usually inexpensive to purchase, they will make a lot of noise and will drain a lot of car battery.
• The compressor models on the other hand, are great at keeping food and drinks cool for longer trips. They usually work on a 12V battery or AC power. This type is usually more expensive but it doesn’t drain the car battery as quickly and it doesn’t make as much noise as the thermoelectric model.
• And last but not least, the absorption model is a type of camping refrigerator that doesn’t have to use a motor. Instead, it relies on liquid ammonia cooling and evaporating into gas to keep the drinks and food cool. This fridge requires a power source to be effective. The power source can be either gas, car battery or AC power. This fridge can be used in remote places as it doesn’t require a motor to be charged from and it makes no noise whatsoever.