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To freeze that amount of water takes a lot of energy.

I used to do it before I obtained a fridge myself.

I purchase every thing from the nearest shop when I go
out and about. Frozens on the bottom, unfrozens next.
Beer on top then run the fridge at -5.

It takes about 2 days before the milk starts to freeze up.

Majority of fridges are zone because the coolant enters
from the bottom exiting out the top. Plus, Hot air rises
cold air sinks.
 
Digger58 said:
I know my Engel can freeze a dozen 2litre blocks overnight. No idea really what size it is, either 80 or 90 litres, but the motor freezes down to -27 degrees C if the measuring gauge the fridgie/electrician used to measure it was accurate, which I assume it was as he uses it for work daily.

I don't use it for freezing though, just as a fridge and it stays at 3 degrees. It is two-compartment but not a split system as these new ones can do, mine is either freezer or fridge. I thought about the esky idea with ice blocks, but the power consumption would kill my batteries and also the bloody thing is so big it takes up half the cargo area so no room for an esky.

Do you really need that many 2litre bottles though? I reckon four bottles, two in the freezer and two in the esky and rotate. Four litres of ice in an esky would keep things cold every 24 hours.

The Cooling elements get mega Cold
 
Generally I take 2 or 3 50ltrs eskies with me.
2 will have 3x 2ltr frozen milk contains in them.
1 x50ltr for drinks, usually I pre-pack the beers in ice 24hrs before I go, and top up as I leave. As a lot of the ice gets taxed in the first 10hrs.
Catering for up to 3+ good beer drinkers in 38deg +.
Hoping a small freezer 10ltrs( ?) would allow me rotate 3 or 4 frozen bricks out of it, and swap 3 or 4 half melted (whilst still basically cold).
Keeping the freezer shut and only opening once a day, and only putting in still cold bricks would be less taxing on it, compared to putting in warm beers , opening and closing it all the time is the biggest tax on any refrigeration .
If this is possible,... it could be a bit more independent of bulk chilling. Without everything in one fridge.
 
mudgee hunter said:
Generally I take 2 or 3 50ltrs eskies with me.
2 will have 3x 2ltr frozen milk contains in them.
1 x50ltr for drinks, usually I pre-pack the beers in ice 24hrs before I go, and top up as I leave. As a lot of the ice gets taxed in the first 10hrs.
Catering for up to 3+ good beer drinkers in 38deg +.
Hoping a small freezer 10ltrs( ?) would allow me rotate 3 or 4 frozen bricks out of it, and swap 3 or 4 half melted (whilst still basically cold).
Keeping the freezer shut and only opening once a day, and only putting in still cold bricks would be less taxing on it, compared to putting in warm beers , opening and closing it all the time is the biggest tax on any refrigeration .
I do the same and rotate 2ltr plastic bottles from the engel
 
I did the Freeze test and the little Dometic did the job and the only downside to the test was ME, purely because I don't know the fridge well enough, Unlike most fridges of this style they have the cooling plates all around the bottom of the Bin, where this one doesn't in the low section of the fridge area that is made out of the white plastic material and the cooling plates run all the way round the top half of the inside, So when I put the 1.2L of water in there it took longer to freeze and the water temp when I put it in there was 14*c, So sorry about that,

If the water had been chilled like it would be when taken out of an esky then it would of done the job a lot quicker, And If I had of had other frozen things in there it would of frozen the Water in just a few hours, As it was it turned the water to Slush within 3 to 4 hours,

So to answer the question will it do the job then that is a Yes and any short comings were down to Operator Error,

Again Sorry about that.
 
provari said:
ctxkid said:
mudgee hunter said:
Hey savage, what size engal/ type can you do that with

my 17lt takes 2lt bottles

Hey CTX, im looking at buying an Engel MT17 15l fridge to use as a freezer, what are your thoughts as to their use as a freezer. Thanks

mine freezes things if i turned it over 2 :power: (nothing the matter with iced beer , lmao) so yes it would be a great option as a dedicated freezer :perfect:
 
That's cheap :)

I luv my old 30lt. The only comment I could make re the new Engels is the fixed lid. With the drawer system incorporated fridge slide in my 4x4, the lid can't open fully within the height of the storage area. I can remove my lid for loading/unloading the fridge and that's real handy.

A few years ago, when the Engel wasn't fixed in the vehicle of the day, we used it inside the house as a beer fridge in summer and as a soup freezer in winter.

My wife would cook up a huge pot of soup, ladle it into empty Ice cream containers and stack it into the Engel when it was at room temp. The soup was pretty well frozen by the next morning. (Not sure if fully frozen at that time, but well on the way :)
 
condor22 said:
That's cheap :)

I luv my old 30lt. The only comment I could make re the new Engels is the fixed lid. With the drawer system incorporated fridge slide in my 4x4, the lid can't open fully within the height of the storage area. I can remove my lid for loading/unloading the fridge and that's real handy.

A few years ago, when the Engel wasn't fixed in the vehicle of the day, we used it inside the house as a beer fridge in summer and as a soup freezer in winter.

My wife would cook up a huge pot of soup, ladle it into empty Ice cream containers and stack it into the Engel when it was at room temp. The soup was pretty well frozen by the next morning. (Not sure if fully frozen at that time, but well on the way :)

I did that and the 47L held enough for 43 days, Freezing Soup and Chilli etc is a great way of storing a lot of food in a very small space,
 
mudgee hunter said:
Honestly, I would be happy with just 4x 2ltrs frozen to swap over ever 24hrs.
Swapping the 4 half unfrozen over for 4 frozen ones.

Oh right MH thats a mission,supplyin 3+ good drinkers for days on end,your idea is probably ya best bet,i left a 1.2 or 1.5 bottle of coke i was mixing with scotch in the freezer half full of meat onight and the next day up the pilbara this year and it still wasnt frozen when we got back late that arvo,thats the fridge outside the camper maybe 35 temps miday etc,shaded though,a few 2ltr bottles of water in the real world like 38c ? like ya talking would be a task
and a half i thought,rotate em half frozen might work a charm,there good these fridges once stuff is frozen but bringin it down to freezing they are nothin like a house freezer,good luck with the plan......
 
The most powerful and fastest freezers are the Snomasters, The 2 I bought would freeze really fast, The little 35 litre leisure series was cheap enough and it has the same compressor as their big 90 Litre models, That 35L would freeze stuff faster than a House freezer,
 
I cooled down that 18L Dometic down to -18* and below and I put a Glass of water in there an hour ago and already it is very thick Slush almost solid, So I think any of these fridges once they are cooled down properly will freeze bottles of water within a few hours.
 
That's why I was thinking if only half the container is defrosted/melted. And putting it in the freezer, only open it once a day, might give it a lot better chance to freeze over again.
I would say it would struggle just with normal water in that volume and quantity.
I do like the newer style of eskies. Especially if you have them the same size.
Even if you only use them as storage boxes when camping.
Dust, water proof, Strong, stackable and lashable with ratchet straps.
Best of all my fat mate doesn't crush the lid when he sits on one like the old days!
Might have to see how hard it is too make dry ice!
Give it to your to mate lick on a hot day! :lol:
 
mudgee hunter said:
That's why I was thinking if only half the container is defrosted/melted. And putting it in the freezer, only open it once a day, might give it a lot better chance to freeze over again.
I would say it would struggle just with normal water in that volume and quantity.
I do like the newer style of eskies. Especially if you have them the same size.
Even if you only use them as storage boxes when camping.
Dust, water proof, Strong, stackable and lashable with ratchet straps.
Best of all my fat mate doesn't crush the lid when he sits on one like the old days!

That was pretty much what my original Idea was and then I got Gadget Fever and you are right it will work, I just put a 2 litre milk container in the little fridge the water was at 2*c because I took it out of the ARB and put it in the little Dometic set to -18*c and in an Hour it was part frozen inside, So I think you are on the right track, It will work.
 

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