Fridge in a Competition Trailer?

Bourbon Barrel BBQ

Bourbon Barrel BBQ

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I'm debating putting a fridge in our competition trailer but I'm not sure it is worth it at this point. The trailer isn't stored near power so it would never have time to get cool between comps. Coolers have worked fine in the past and they weigh a lot less than a fridge. Any suggestions from those that have them in their trailers?
 
I love my fridge. ice and coolers are a pain. digging through ice to get the meats then putting them back under. draining the water. I just plug my fridge in on Thursday morning and it is cool be the evening.
 
Wondering if anyone has considered a propane fired fridge?

Minimal 12 volt needed for firing ignitor, running control panel, and the light inside.

Jeff S
 
I put a frig in ours last year and I'm not sure it was that great of an idea. We have to travel a few hours to a contest and are thinking of doing one about 8 hours away, potentially stopping overnight to visit family on the way. I'm guessing I'll pull it out and use coolers for that one. Besides, alot of time power is less than good and all I need is to constantly be resetting breakers and gfci's.
 
Put this one in the trailer last year - http://www.danby.com/product/DAR1102WE/1 and have been thrilled with it. I keep the trailer in storage and try to get it Thursday night, plugging it in when I get home. Even if not then, Friday morning with a couple hours to cool will do wonders. We can load it with all our meats and any other items we want cooled, and not worry about it until we get there. If we have a long trip, we'll throw a bag of ice in the top and it won't even be close to melting even on a 4 hr drive. Think about it - a fridge is basically just a cooler so if you put the ice in it and get it down in temp, its going to hold as well as an ice chest
 
Gerrit_Boys said:
I put a frig in ours last year and I'm not sure it was that great of an idea. We have to travel a few hours to a contest and are thinking of doing one about 8 hours away, potentially stopping overnight to visit family on the way. I'm guessing I'll pull it out and use coolers for that one. Besides, alot of time power is less than good and all I need is to constantly be resetting breakers and gfci's.
Click to expand...

The power at the comps is certainly a concern. We don't have a generator yet so the power going out at a comp would be a headache if we didn't have any coolers with ice. The fridge would not be plugged in until we were on site Friday afternoons. I'm just not convinced that it would get cool enough to justify it's space/weight in the trailer at this point. I think we are still going to run an outlet for it in case we decide to vend out of the trailer down the road.
 
Bourbon Barrel BBQ said:
The power at the comps is certainly a concern. We don't have a generator yet so the power going out at a comp would be a headache if we didn't have any coolers with ice. The fridge would not be plugged in until we were on site Friday afternoons. I'm just not convinced that it would get cool enough to justify it's space/weight in the trailer at this point. I think we are still going to run an outlet for it in case we decide to vend out of the trailer down the road.
Click to expand...

If you won't have the fridge plugged in / cooled down until onsite, I would skip the fridge, but still run the power for future considerations. You've got to get it cold for transport somehow and if you can't quite get there, definately go the cooler route
 
While you're running electric, run an outlet to the outside on the side you plan on setting up.
 
If you get a commercial grade NSF fridge, it will get cold very quickly once plugged in. I have Frigidaire commercial fridge that was about the same cost as a home fridge, and it will get cold in 30-45 minutes.
 
I going to try a fridge this season in my 6 x 12. I was going to take crd26a's advice and get the Danby but ran in to some serious customer issues with the stores around me that sell them. I ended up with a small apt fridge from Sears that was about $300 after taxes and will fit a full size aluminum pan with the edges rolled up a bit. This fridge has a power chart that shows 115 volts and 1.4 amps so i am going to try running it on a marine battery and seeing what happens.
 
I have both abpropane and also a NSF (Coke fridge ) in my RV. The cook fridge runs off of shoreline, unless I am going down the road and it's on 12 volt. It does take some big marine batteries for that! My recommendation is to find a used RV fridge. So you can run it off of propane or shore power. They use no propane and have been told by Quau that they work better off of propane... I sure wouldn't want comp trust power at a comp.
 
I have a worktop NSF fridge. Love it, but I have a big honda on front of my catering trailer. My contest trailer has a propane fridge.
 
Fridge

I have a 22' cargo trailer and I picked up a fridge from a used appliance store for $125.00 it's 18 cft, (pulls about 8amp when cooling about 2 when the compressor is off. I have tried a couple of things what seems to work best is I plug into my house on Thrusday night and then Friday throw a piece of tape on the doors and head out, seems to hold temp for several hours. I have thought about hooking it up to a deep cycle with an inverter but hasn't been needed yet. I have also thrown a big bag of ice in the fridge and freezer in a bus tub and it helps keep it cold for a 2-3 hour road trip.

Remember to tape the doors...:doh:
 
velcro works better than tape to hold the door shut...
 
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