Sibir Fridges

[skyguy]

Does anybody have any experience of them, im looking to buy the RC1100 3 way, Do they eat up your leisure battery, are they any good?
THANKS GARY

[Pete H]

Ive heard that Sibir 3 way fridges are the dogs of all fridges,
we aint got one yet,but ive looked at them and they do look the best for the money....£135 00.

I dont know too much about how much battery power one would use,but if i needed to power one i would use the gas option on site and 12v on the move.:)

Pete :)

[simon_g]

AS far as I can remember, they draw about 4 amps, so unless you have a really big leisure battery, use gas when you can - they are also more efficient (colder) on gas!!

IF you are REALLY sad - thie is how it works - http://www.cam.net.uk/home/StKilda/electrolux.html

Simon.

[Pete H]

Gary,
Here is a link to a site that sells them for £135.00 :)
Rrp is £150.00
http://www.cccoutdoors.com/products.asp?recnumber=3668

Pete.

[Slime101]

Thats pretty cheap...make you wonder why the Engel fridges and the other ones are £450+

Is this the same as the other makes, is it just as capable?

[Slime101]

One other thing, becaus of the flame arent these going to be dangerous to run on gas when used in a confined sleepiong/working space like the back of a landy?

[skyguy]

Good point Slime
Thats why im interested in the power drain via 12v. I have a 85 amp leisure battery, when running the cheapo 15 l fridge i have, the battery only lasts a day, the same battery would run all of the 12v systems in my caravan for a couple of days, including lighting/refridgeration. I have just fitted the battery with a split charge system to my disco, so hopefully would not need to rely on the gas option, as long as the sibir fridges behave the same as the more expensive engel models, with relatively low power drain.
GARY

[Slime101]

Hmm...bit jubious isnt it.

Do Sibir and Engel produce datasheets for comparison.

[Pete H]

As far as im aware Sibir is a top notch company,there main products include making vaccine incubators,also on that frigde in question,the system used was patented by Electrolux,now sibir also now use the same system,

Im still trying to find out about how safe they are,im also looking into how much power they use.....:)

[Slime101]

I dont doubt they are top notch, but i'd like to wake up in the morning without CO poisoning, or a flat Aux battery :)

[Pete H]

I dont doubt they are top notch, but i'd like to wake up in the morning without CO poisoning, or a flat Aux battery :)

He he he .
Im told run time is 10 hours on a 85 amp bat :)

[Pete H]

Here is the Sibir web site,i think if wanna be 100% sure on what the data is, contact them:)

http://www.sibir.com/

Hope ive been help :) :)
Pete:)

[Slime101]

He he he .
Im told run time is 10 hours on a 85 amp bat :)

Hmm, doesnt seem like much - that could mean a totally flat batt every day, which means a good 10-12 hours charge to get it ready to be run flat again over night....

Thanks for the info tho Pete - i shall keep digging about and keep you guys posted if i find anything of use :)

[skyguy]

Ive emailed customer support (cheers for the link pete) shall see what they say, if you can get more than 48 hours I shall buy, if not will have to look into ENGEL
GARY

[Slime101]

Looking around the Engel fridges use approx 48W and the Waeco's use between 35-45W...thats quite a lot less than the Sibir ones.

Coincidentally, Waeco are only about 20 miles from me :)

[Pete H]

Ive found this site,it sells fridges aswell as coolers
http://www.camping-online.co.uk/12%20VOLT%20COOLERS.htm

The Igloo ones sound good

pete

[Slime101]

They do except they are thermoelectric, so basically a Peltier - which are very inefficient and thus are very inefficent and suck power like theres no tomorrow - they are esentially cool boxes rather than fridges.

I found the Waeco CF35 (31l fridge) for £464inc VAT and delivery from www.outdooraccessories.co.uk which is a very good price and a very very good fridge.

[skyguy]

Ive just received a email from Sibir, The fridge uses 150amps over 24 hours, so in my case the battery will be flat in just over 12 hours. Has anybody got any info for Engel/Waeco
GARY

[Slime101]

Well the Engel and Waecos draw about 45W, which is 3.75Amps.

3.75 x 24 = 90amps over 24hrs.

Half as much used as the Sibir fridges, and no pilot light problems with petrol filling stations, gas fumes or anything.

[Astbury]

Well the Engel and Waecos draw about 45W, which is 3.75Amps.

3.75 x 24 = 90amps over 24hrs.

Half as much used as the Sibir fridges, and no pilot light problems with petrol filling stations, gas fumes or anything.

I would say that the Engle uses a lot less than 90 amps in a 24hr period. this is because it runs a little like a normal home fridge i.e. as soon as the fridge gets the inside to set temp it turns of the compressor until the thermostat clicks back in to turn it back on.

so at a guess I would say from looking at the way my Engle runs it would be about half of your guess or even less.

Just buy an Engle, it is built like a tank will run at almost any angle, does not need to settle like most fridges, uses a swing motor, can run on 240 V so its great for keeping your beer in the office at home. one thing to look out for is not to turn it up too high!! we took it with us camping to italy once not long after we got it and arrived at a nice spot, put the roof tent up, started cooking the meal.....only to find the beer was frozen :(

C

[Slime101]

I agree completely Astbury, but without knowing its cooling cycle over 24hrs i'm not going to be able to calculate its actul useage - but if it was running full pelt it would use approx 90amps in 24hours.

Like you say tho - they dont, and if you add a thermal transport jacket thingy then itll be even better :)

What size/model have you got m8?

[Astbury]

It is about 45L, and the only time I run it flat out is is when I am driving for the first hour or so and only if the items in the fridge were warm when we put them in then its gets turned down to just cool. you get a real good very cold beer that way. it holds more than me and my wife can drink together and she is Polish ;)

with limited space to work on the landy here in Zürich I worked in the drive way to build the hard top back and used the fridge as a workbench to cut the ally sheets with a jigsaw.

The only plastic part on the fridge is the knob to turn it up or down.

On the negative side it is a little heavy. I leave mine in the Landy all the time just take the contents out in the basket that comes with it

C

[skyguy]

Thanks for the info Chris, due you know of any cheap suppliers? what was the cost of your 45l unit?
GARY

[Astbury]

I dont sorry, I live in Switzerland and everything costs an arm, leg, foot and toes here! I think I paid about 1100 Swiss francs for my engle, at a rough calculation into British pounds that is about £450.00. But worth every penny.

We know a guy who rolled his Toyota 2 and a half times, the engle was not secure in the back, the Toyota was trashed but he still has the Engle (And now a Td5 Landy)

My wife and I always say when out with camping friends that you can buy all sorts of camping gadgets and other cr*p but the Engle has to be one of the best things we ever got after the roof tent and Landy ;) So good infact that if you cant afford to shell out for one now then save up for it!

[Slime101]

Itll cost you more than £450 over here for one, for the big Engel its about £650 iirc, the smaller ones can be found for that sort of money but there arent a mssive ammount of stockists unfortunatly so no real bargains to be had :(