They all use the Danfoss except the Engel. My new ARB fridge has the Danfoss. Even the National Luna has it.
EdgeStar Fridge/Freezer 43 qt
- Thread starter Rock Dog
- Start date
They all use the Danfoss except the Engel. My new ARB fridge has the Danfoss. Even the National Luna has it.
DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
As far as a gamble, I don't think it's any more or less a gamble than anything else mechanical. It's all about the quality of manufacturing and everything can fail. To me the gamble part is the company itself. A warranty is only as good as the company backing it. Engel, ARB, National Luna, etc. have proven track records and an established dealer network, which is goes into the higher cost as those people and parts are not free to keep around. But if you never need support or spare parts, then it's unnecessary expense. OTOH, if my Engel takes a dive I just have to call Christo and ask what I need to do.
To the ice block issue, that is not so far fetched. Fridge manufactures recommend that you keep the fridge full because cooling objects is more efficient than cooling air and once cool all that thermal mass keeps the temp stable inside, which leads to less energy drawn. We keep a carton of Coke or water bottles to put into the fridge as we take stuff out on the road. So when you are driving and producing lots of energy the fridge can be cooling something. This reduces the cycling while parked quite a bit. Plus you have a constant supply of cold water to drink.
Personally we have an Engel MT45 that has not been shut off in 3 years now and it's full of either beer or water in the basement. Move it upstairs, take out enough water (funny that the beer never leaves) to pack what we need and then into the truck. I've also run our Engel empty (I don't ALWAYS have 100% beer saturation) and the temp stays pretty stable, but I have a transit bag on it and that helps a ton.
To the ice block issue, that is not so far fetched. Fridge manufactures recommend that you keep the fridge full because cooling objects is more efficient than cooling air and once cool all that thermal mass keeps the temp stable inside, which leads to less energy drawn. We keep a carton of Coke or water bottles to put into the fridge as we take stuff out on the road. So when you are driving and producing lots of energy the fridge can be cooling something. This reduces the cycling while parked quite a bit. Plus you have a constant supply of cold water to drink.
Personally we have an Engel MT45 that has not been shut off in 3 years now and it's full of either beer or water in the basement. Move it upstairs, take out enough water (funny that the beer never leaves) to pack what we need and then into the truck. I've also run our Engel empty (I don't ALWAYS have 100% beer saturation) and the temp stays pretty stable, but I have a transit bag on it and that helps a ton.
My wife is picking up the ARB this afternoon from Slee. I don't want another gamble, so if you guys think it is still a gamble for me to buy the ARB over the Engel then let me know that it is an inferior product and I will have her get the Engel, but I feel the consensus is that they are comparable.
Edit: Just to be clear, I'm sure the back of my truck gets upwards of 150 degrees sometimes and I want the cooler to be able to keep freezing temps plugged in all the time. If this isn't realistic with the ARB either then please let me know before I end up buying another one that I can't use. If something breaks then I'm not that concerned as there is a warranty on it, but I want to make sure that it can handle those temps and constant running when nothing is broken.
Edit: Just to be clear, I'm sure the back of my truck gets upwards of 150 degrees sometimes and I want the cooler to be able to keep freezing temps plugged in all the time. If this isn't realistic with the ARB either then please let me know before I end up buying another one that I can't use. If something breaks then I'm not that concerned as there is a warranty on it, but I want to make sure that it can handle those temps and constant running when nothing is broken.
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wesintl
Moderator
I'm sure it's fine. The new arb are made under license from waeco and use the danfoss (as noted before) compressor. The old arb was the engel with sawafuji
Probably best to ask Christo
This description is from the ebay link UB posted up:
Not sure if you can expect the ARB to maintain sub freezing temps at 150F+ but if the stuff is already frozen then I'm thinking it won't thaw out quickly even if the ARB can only maintain 30-40F temps or whatever it can maintain. Don't most of these have a max temp from ambient that they can cool? Like 60F cooler than ambient or whatever? Just have to find the specs if the company lists them...We've already determined that Edgestar doesn't
I talked with Christo for a while yesterday. What I took from the conversation was that he has never heard of an Engel breaking, there have been some very rare circumstances where the ARB did not work right out of the box. The Engel is 1 year warranty for the big one and 2 year warranty for the small one and the ARB is 3 year warranty. My personal feeling is that they are pretty comparable and I should be happy with either and I would think that either would keep anything at sub freezing temps while in the back of the truck, but I could be wrong. I decided to go with the ARB because of aesthetics and size for price.
Christo, feel free to step in if I missed something here.
"The all-new 50 qt model is able to maintain sub-freezing temperatures in 90° F heat" That is interesting... Anyone that has the new ARB able to tell me about extremes where the truck was like 150 degrees and you still had frozen ice cream in this thing? Just to put my mind at ease that it can handle these temps if all is in working order.
Christo, feel free to step in if I missed something here.
"The all-new 50 qt model is able to maintain sub-freezing temperatures in 90° F heat" That is interesting... Anyone that has the new ARB able to tell me about extremes where the truck was like 150 degrees and you still had frozen ice cream in this thing? Just to put my mind at ease that it can handle these temps if all is in working order.
Is a transit bag available for the ARB? Those really do seem to make a difference from what I've read and based on Dave's response. You wouldn't think wrapping something in a bag/jacket/whatever would insulate but IIRC Mythbusters did and episode where they proved a snowman melts slower with a down coat on it than it does without. I know at least one guy did a test on an 80 and found lower IA (intake air) temps when the air filter can was wrapped in a coat.
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No experience with the fridges, yet, but my only experience with ARB is they stand behind their products... same goes for Christo, for that matter.
Can't say the same for Compact Appliance and Edge Star unfortunately, and I'm about to have a really heavy and expensive cooler, or a really expensive fridge for my office.. pending the outcome of this repair. I'm closer to finding someone local to repair these though, will post that up once I have made more progress.
Can't say the same for Compact Appliance and Edge Star unfortunately, and I'm about to have a really heavy and expensive cooler, or a really expensive fridge for my office.. pending the outcome of this repair. I'm closer to finding someone local to repair these though, will post that up once I have made more progress.
Any updates? I just ordered the 43 qt one Friday before reading these latest posts. I was going off the positive views here and on Expo several months ago. On Expo the issue mainly seemed to be power requirements and replacing the plug and making sure there is adequate wire size to power it. Hmmm....
I couldn't find anyone local to repair it, and kind of ran out of time/interest.. I ended up plugging it back in a couple weekends ago and it's working again, so maybe a few weeks in time out was what it needed to behave again. I brought it to work where it's been plugged in for 2 weeks and running well, it's going to be the fridge for a "new mother" room that I had to equip...
After that, I'll probably drag it down to my office, may try to take it out in the 100 once I get dual batts set up, we'll see... FWIW I think the smaller one performs a little better so hopefully you have good luck with yours.
After that, I'll probably drag it down to my office, may try to take it out in the 100 once I get dual batts set up, we'll see... FWIW I think the smaller one performs a little better so hopefully you have good luck with yours.
I plugged my edgestar back in before shipping it off and it had been sitting powered off for about 2 weeks before that. Left it running all night set at 25 and it never got below 50. I shipped it back for about $180, but compactappliance.com gave me back my money (not the $180 shipping charge though). As for my new fridge, my wife picked up the Engel and it's been running in the back of my truck since labor day and I love it. Seems so much more sturdy and well built and there have been no temp issues.
The 43 quart Edgestar is currently on sale for $399 shipped.
http://www.compactappliance.com/FP4...le-Refrigerator-Freezer/FP430,default,pd.html
http://www.compactappliance.com/FP4...le-Refrigerator-Freezer/FP430,default,pd.html
Wow that's cheap. I notice the "good" brands keep getting more expensive, too. And FWIW, my Edge Star has been a champ in my office here.. I realize it's been running for 15 months now on AC power. I have cold spicy hot V8's and waters in there usually.
Caribou Sandstorm
Hard Core 4+
My Edgestar is still running strong, fwiw.