Fridge, 12V Cooler, Or Ice Cooler?

I have to disagree with you Diver. The Coleman I had lasted over a year with only a fuse issue. Simple fix. The igloo brand took a dive within 4 months. The heat piping stopped working. I am going back to a Coleman brand.

I have to disagree with you Diver. The Coleman I had lasted over a year with only a fuse issue. Simple fix. The igloo brand took a dive within 4 months. The heat piping stopped working. I am going back to a Coleman brand.

Happy you had good luck with it. Mine has been pretty crappy. Tax return will get me a proper fridge

My coleman died too. so i used an ice chest i got for free with rewards points and bought the ice with points. i didnt get a fridge until i got my first student.

i did learn to shop around for ice though! not all ice melts the same. who knew. the ice with holes melts faster so you need more. get a block or solid pieces and you are set for days.

now im happy with my fridge.

Susan D:

I noticed those Dometic fridges. The CF and CFX 35, 40, and 50 all look promising. Which Dometic do you have?

After going through several chep Walmart mini fridges, I bought a Dometic portable freezer and positively love it. It can be used as either a fridge or a freezer and is made to withstand the vibration of the truck, unlike be all those fridges that the compressor went out at the most inopportune times due to vibration. Mine is a 12volt, uses very little power and doesn't come close to draining batteries and is extremely quiet.

What if a company truck doesn't have an APU/EPU?

I do not have an APU....the setup I previously described works fine for me, but if the truck isn't going to be used for a few days, all has to be shut off and anything perishable removed.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

I'm using the Coleman electric cooler... works great. It says not to use it as a refrigerator, but I do anyway. I unplug it about once a day for a few hours, so the fan doesn't ice up. I lay it on its bottom, like a chest, not standing vertical. Don't have to stack things as much that way. I've had it for almost a year; I do keep a supply of spare fuses on hand... but they're cheap. Sometimes they'll go bad once a week, or last a month. The one I have in there now is going on over a month. I recently spilled the contents of my crock pot in my truck, and it splashed onto the fan/motor area of the cooler, so I took it apart and cleaned it out; I mean, really cleaned it out! There was a ton of dust and grit that had built up inside the motor/fan blades; now it's purring like brand new again. I've been meaning to buy a filter and attach it to the intake area of the grill. I've never had anything spoil. The only danger is that it can get too cold; I've had lettuce freeze, which ruins it. Less than $100 at WallyWorld.

Hello everyone,, I don't really know, to be honest with you. Some companies have the Opti idle, where the big engine will fire up if the batteries get low. I know that the systems in some trucks will shut down the peripherals (fridge, inverter, heater, etc.), leaving enough power to start the truck.

I only have experience with Prime, so I can't speak with certainty on any other companies. The fact that Prime provided inverters and APUs was actually a deciding factor for me when choosing a company.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

After going through several chep Walmart mini fridges, I bought a Dometic portable freezer and positively love it. It can be used as either a fridge or a freezer and is made to withstand the vibration of the truck, unlike be all those fridges that the compressor went out at the most inopportune times due to vibration. Mine is a 12volt, uses very little power and doesn't come close to draining batteries and is extremely quiet.

I did the same thing.

I found an SMAD(?) fridge for $250 or so and it worked fine on 110 but didn’t seem to work at all on 12v. So I sent it back and bit the bullet for a Dometic 12v fridge/freezer ($650). It has a super cold function that will eventually freeze everything inside, or you can slide the bottom of the freezer out and turn the whole thing into an actual fridge. I will freeze a couple of 20 oz bottles of water and put those on the 36 qt Koolatron cooler I also bought. I use the cooler for drinks and produce, and the fridge for food. I no longer eat food from truck stops, etc.

Both should pay for themselves fairly quickly by not spending a fortune on truck stop food. I take leftovers from home, plus I have a crock pot, and will probably get an electric skillet from home, since my induction hot plate won’t work on my inverter.

My inverter is a 3500 watt unit from Harbor Freight. I was leery of buying from them, but it is all I could find at the time. It has worked flawlessly.

I also have a Keurig for my coffee, and a microwave. I built a shelf that goes from the spot in the truck’s built in microwave spot (too small for mine) and extends under the top bunk and is held up by straps.

When I get time I am going to make a swiveling countertop to swing out from where the Keurig is, or maybe hinged to fold down.

The top bunk is food storage

I had a new fridge from the place I work in mine but it would trip the inverter some times and we could not figure if it was a frig or inverter issue, plus unless I blocked the door it would come open sometimes with pop rolling on the inside. So I bought a big igloo 12 volt that will hold 1/2 gallon milk lunch meat or meals in Tupperware plus a 6 pack of pop at the same time and it sits between seats in truck and do not believe I would go back to frig even if they solved the electric problem.

Looks like it is $100 more now. Still probably worth it.

I'll post pictures of my setup tomorrow. Need to take the pictures when it's light out.