Here are 10 easy and helpful tips that’ll make your high efficiency Adventure Kings Fridge/Freezer run cooler and use less battery power for longer trips away!

Adventure Kings offers a handful of reliable and energy efficient fridges that are not only excellent at keeping your chilled goods frosty cold in the bush but are renowned for doing this effectively on a tight budget!

The internal components found in the range are already incredibly efficient thanks to their legendary Secop compressors and internal componentry. Coupled with high quality copper plumbing and high efficiency polyurethane insulation but there isnt a lot of room for improvement when we are looking at enhancing energy efficiency, there are still a couple of simple techniques you can take advantage of to help make your Adventure Kings Fridge Freezer run cooler (these will work for any portable fridge freezer).

So here are 10 Easy Tips and tricks that will help your fridge run cooler and more efficiently:

Run Dual Batteries to prevent over discharging your crank battery!

Whilst Kings Fridges have a low draw when running, if you are planning on staying put at camp for longer trips away, you would be extremely wise to invest a little bit of money into a reliable dual battery system. This is an article unto itself this will Adventure Kings Fridge/Freezer longer without damaging your main battery – a deep cycle battery set up correctly is the best way to go, not only will it extend your range at camp, but also has the ability to drain deeper every cycle without any damage!

Pre chill food and drinks

Before you leave home, you should make sure you pack your food and drinks into your normal kitchen fridge so they can chill down to the ideal temperature, once everything is chilled you are ready to transfer it to your portable camping fridge before you leave, this means the fridge doesn’t have to work as hard to get to temperature.

Use your resources to your advantage

The whole range of Adventure Kings Fridge/Freezers are able to be plugged into mains 240v power at home, this means smarter campers can prechill their fridge down to operational temperature. Thanks to the ability to run on 12v, 24v and 240 volt power you can run your fridge freezer anywhere you are with any power you have access too.

By pre-chilling your fridge, you save your battery capacity and reduce the load on your vehicles power system resulting in much more range, and less work for your camping power system.

SHUT THE LID

You probably heard it for half your childhood, mum yelling at you to shut the fridge door– By reducing the amount of time your fridge freezer is open you reduce the amount of energy your fridge needs to use to chill back down to the temperature you set earlier.

To add to the reduction in time your fridge is open, be a good mate and ask if any of your mates needs a top up whilst you are up, (don’t forget to ask your better half too, or you’ll regret it) – it seems like good Karma but by grabbing more than one drink you reduce the amount of times your fridge needs to be opened.

Plus, your mates will then owe you for the next round, reducing the amount of time yet again!

Night time resupply

If you need to restock the fridge on your trip away, do it just before you head to bed – the cooler overnight temperatures will mean that not only will your beers be cooler to begin with, the ambient temperature that your fridge is fighting against will be a few degrees lower.

When everyone has hit the sack there is also no one constantly opening it up for a solid chunk of time meaning everything has a chance to cool down properly.

PRO TIP: even after a few beers before bed, it’s a great idea to remember to shut your fridge lid, and make sure it is properly latched, we’ve seen it done before where someone stumbled around repacking their fridge and left the lid ajar resulting in everything being sweaty and warm in the morning, along with much less 12v power left in the battery.

Don’t crowd the vents.

Every fridge requires room to breathe, with your fridge at home, this is the whole back side, but in your portable fridge, there is a handful of small vents around the base that require adequate ventilation to remove surplus heat from the system.

It is important that you don’t pack everything in around it too tightly, and pack your fridge in a location where it has as much breathing room as possible.

Shade and shelter

Shade and shelter through the warmer months is important, not just for you and the family, but also for your 12v fridge freezer. It is a great idea to keep your Adventure Kings Fridge/Freezer out of direct sunlight.

As you know the sun is hot and extra heat will warm up the outside of your fridge and even with excellent insulation transfer that surplus heat directly through the fridge insulation and into the fridge itself massively reducing the efficiency of your fridge.

So aim to place your fridge in the shade whenever you can – if you fridge always lives in the back of your car, consider opening the windows wide and fitting a rear awning to give it as much shade as it needs!

Ventilation… its really important!

During summer in particular, the interior of your car can reach an insane temperature in an incredibly quick period of time. With an outside temperature of just 35°C in under an hour you can expect the temperature inside the vehicle to reach a staggering 75°C which is enough to kill salmonella in a cooking chicken, and is well beyond sterilizing the trichinella parasite known to cause illness in uncooked pork.

This scorching heat is no good for kids, certainly not great for pets, and deserves some consideration for your poor little fridge freezer as well.

By cracking all of your windows a couple of inches and placing a sunshade on the windows to reduce the amount of heat inside your vehicle will dramatically improve the performance of your portable camping fridge when you are leaving it inside the vehicle, however pulling the fridge out and placing it under your Adventure Kings Awning will improve its performance dramatically.

Layer up

Just like when the bushmen on tele when you were younger headed out bush, and dressed in long flowing shirts, and loose trousers, adding another layer of insulation with a fridge cover allows the fridge to essentially improve its insulation from the heat, the purpose made insulation bags are made to specifically fit each model of fridge, and improve the insulation properties instantly!

SOAK UP THE RAYS!

Solar technology has advanced in leaps and bounds over recent years and is the perfect way to extend your range when camping!

Even a simple 12v solar panel setup like the Kings 120W Solar Blanket offers campers plenty of surplus power when setting up for a summer session, and when coupled with a deep cycle battery can power and charge all of your 12v accessories at camp!

If you’re using your fridge on a regular basis it’s a great idea to invest in a 12v solar panel. These are a virtually cost-free upgrade to your system and the perfect way to recharge your deep cycle batteries and keeping your fridge running 24/7 – and they couldn’t be easier to use. Simply set it up and forget it!

To find out more aout the fridge freezer range available from Adventure Kings visit www.4WDSupacentre.com.au call us on 1800 88 39 64 or drop in and visit one of our camping stores to see the full range in person and to talk to an expert about the best possible setup for your camping requirements.