Truck fridge

[Waterloo]

(01-23-2021 )JimT Wrote:  Well, guess I should update my experience too.

The Dometic fridge (see earlier posts) I had was great for over 2 years... except sometimes it would read the wrong internal temp. Set for 32F sometimes after being jarred it would get stuck on that temp or read -12 or 20 or something random. Wasn't just the display as the compressor would react to whatever the reading was. There were a few times that I parked to find it reading 12F and after a tap in the right place it would jump up to 45F or more. The final straw was after a weekend parked at home. Went inside on Friday with it working normally, came out Monday morning and the display said 30F... gave it a tap and it changed to 54F. Truck hadn't moved.

The Dometic and many others (including some ARB, Alpicool and ICECO) are all very similar to each other to the point that it's probably some base design licenced out to various companies who tweak it for their own branding.

So, because of that one and only issue and a desire to go slightly bigger, I went back to Amazon and settled on this Alpicool unit. This one has an LG compressor (previous units had the Danfoss) which in operation is slightly louder then the Danfoss, but also seems to run smoother. In practice it's not loud enough to bother me as I sleep with my head about 1 foot away from the compressor.

Compared to the Dometic this Alpicool unit is less thermally efficient. Side-by-side comparison reveals slightly thinner walls meaning less internal insulation. Also the rubber strip along the lid seems too thin and probably doesn't seal as well as the Dometic. I plan to pick up some thin weather stripping and add it to the top where the lid sits. I'm also thinking about building a box of foam insulation around the unit. Since it's bigger it's less convenient to move in and out of the truck, even empty, so I'm planning to build a permanent base. Right now I have a big bungee cord through the handles holding it down and it's working great.

As for cooling, I left it at the factory setting of 32F and it seems to work fine. It will actively run the compressor until the temp drops to around 28F then wait until about 34F to start the cooling cycle again. Internally the food is kept cold but never actually freezes at this setting.

I've only had this unit for about 2 months with only about 1 month of active usage. This one supposedly works with bluetooth and an app to display stats and allow remote control from the app, but I haven't tried it as it's some Chinese app and there's been too many problem apps found on the Play store recently. Plus I just haven't seen a need for it.

So far I'm happy with it's performance. I'm thinking about taking the Dometic apart to search for the problem now that I have another unit.

I have never heard my compressor run, it is silent even with the truck off, and it holds the temp at 38*, I have my own internal thermometer. I take that back, it did just turn on, barely audible, not even as loud as a computer fan. I am sitting here at the Love's in Salt Lake City, truck is off, nothing running inside the cab making noise, solar panels running silently as usual keeping the batteries charged... In my book, this fridge is silent. The yacht fans in my cab are louder, and I can barely hear those when they are on, not loud enough for me to lose sleep over, and quieter than most computer fans, which are annoying.

Back to the ICECO, the three selling features on the ICECO are the US based office, the 5 year warranty, along with construction. In regards to the construction, I just went through Moab Utah, and the ICECO units are a big hit with the 4x4 crowd due to the military grade construction and insulation, along with the cost vs the popular ARB unit. And I have owned ARB equipment and parts, they make great stuff.

The other selling point, are the heavy duty handles. I looked at the units like you have, and the ARB, and the plastic build turned me off, as there were one too many reviews regarding the plastic breaking. I wanted something I could bolt down to the floor that would hold up to an accident. A 100 pound+ projectile in the cab is something I do not want to experience. I have nylon straps ran through the handles attached to two eyebolts that run directly through the cab floor with fender washers and lock nuts securing everything to the actual structure of the cab. If I am in an accident, and this fridge breaks loose, I would not have survived that one, projectile or not.

In hind site, I should have gone with the ICECO VL60S, that extra bit of height would come in handy. But, I fitted mine for the countertops I installed in the sleeper, so it is what it is. I'm keeping what I have, the extra room would be nice, but not a deal breaker.