Refrigeration
Refrigeration
An Eski or water cooler can be used
to keep food cool without a fridge when living in a car or van. This can be
as simple as a Styrofoam or polystyrene box with a lid that you can put food
and ice in to. On the face of it, this would be one of the cheapest ways to
keep food cool. However there is the ongoing cost of ice. You can put the
ice into a lunch box or a bucket in side of the Eski to prevent the ice from
melting in the bottom of the Eski. Melted ice has to be removed from the Eski
on a regular basis.
The Eski method of cooling can be
further improved a number of ways. By placing an extra cooler or a plastic
storage container inside of another Eski you can add extra insulation. Placing
a layer of crushed newspaper between the two you can dramatically increase
the effectiveness of the insulation. You can keep food cool for between five
and seven days this way. It is important to keep the access door closed as
much as possible, especially during the heat of the day. Warm air displacing
cold air is what melts the ice. If you want to keep the cooler as cool as
possible a second smaller lunch box sized cooler can be used to store drinks
in. Open the cooler in the morning, take out what you need for the day and
store it in the smaller cooler.
Experiments with
this type of cooling has shown the best results by;
Some other alternatives to using
an Eski or cooler include buying a small electric cooler. Good quality electric
coolers such as the Waeco range cost quite a bit. You can expect to pay between
$595 to over $899 Australian for a good Waeco cooler or fridge. You can generally
buy a cheaper knock off model at shops like the Warehouse. They are good if
you have a secondary back up battery of large capacity or a way of generating
electricity. Many of the heat exchanger type of electric coolers use electricity
constantly. Unlike a conventional refrigerator these heat exchanger units
require power all of the time to work.
You can buy small compressor type
refrigerators. For some reason though these are extraordinarily expensive.
Generally you would be looking at more than a thousand Australian dollars
to buy one. It's okay for planned living in your car, but not for on the spot
survival.
Any electrical refrigerator you buy
will require a secondary battery system. Refrigerators use a lot of electricity.
On my own van I have 272 watts of solar panels feeding power into two 100
amp hours of deep cycle batteries. I have a small 42 litre fridge which uses
a heat exchange system to cool the fridge. Despite the power system I don't
have much power left over, and certainly at night the power system does not
have much power left over. I can't run my television at night. I can run LED
lights, and the fluro, as well as using my Mp3 player but not the TV because
it uses the inverter to work. The inverter and fridge are my two biggest power
users.
One important consideration in any
fridge purchase is the way in which hot and cold air works. Hot air rises,
cold air sinks. If you have a fridge with a door that opens on it's front
the cold air inside of the fridge will sink out of the fridge. If you have
a chest type fridge with a lid in the top, cool air will stay inside the fridge.
In conclusion if you can afford a
small chest type fridge and the power system to keep it running this will
be one of the best choices for keeping food cool in a car or van. If you can't
afford a fridge like that then a cooler with some ice in it will probably
be the only effective way that you can keep food cool in a car or van.
