My Fridge is Dead

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I bought this fridge in 1998 for $700.00 it ran 24/7 only time it was turned off was when I took it from the house to the truck
Or from the truck to the house

The big question is what do I replace it with
I am thinking another Engel maybe a 60 l dual zone
What are your thoughts ????
 
Nanjim said:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...5774_e87d1042-daab-4db3-ae03-19cc1681773c.jpg

I bought this fridge in 1998 for $700.00 it ran 24/7 only time it was turned off was when I took it from the house to the truck
Or from the truck to the house

The big question is what do I replace it with
I am thinking another Engel maybe a 60 l dual zone
What are your thoughts ????

Sorry to hear that,

I read a lot of posts on another forum where a lot of people were not happy with the Engel Duel Zone models, Mainly because the Cold Air seeps from the Area being used as a freezer and the food etc that is stored in the warmer side either does not get cold enough or it freezes completely which could lead to exploding Beers,

If it must be an Engel then I would be going for a normal one, If you want a duel zone then I would get one of the ARB's, because in the ARB you can set it to -10/-12*c and the stuff in the Dairy area will be close to 0*c,

Don't bother with the new Dometic CFX3 series because there is a design fault where you can't plug in both leads at the same time and if you do it fries the circuit boards,

Hope that helps.
 
Nanjim said:
Thanks RR
I never thought of that
I might bite the bullet and buy 2 x 40 l and run one as a fridge and the other as a freezer might be easier

Yeah I was really surprized about the Engel Duel Zones, Your best bet is 2x 40's because that gives you a lot of options as in double fridge, Double Freezer or Fridge and Freezer, Plus if one goes down you always have a backup AY :Y:

I bought 2 of the little Dometic for when its just me which gives me 2x 18L which is more than enough for a week on me own Ay.
 
RR, Totally disagree with your Engel Combo findings. Bought our 60 litre Engel Combo back in 2008 and it hasn't missed a beat. Frozens stay frozen and fridge section hovers around 3C. Always run on 12V while prospecting**Never run on 240V from generator**
Nanjim, Also have "Old Yella" 1983 model still running. We use it soley as a freezer, when the food runs out we shut it down and then carry on with the frozen meat in the 60 litre. Would never buy any other fridge than an Engel. Give Engel Midland a call and talk to "Uncle Graham"(not my Uncle) he can probably get your oldy up and running if you haven't been running it with your generator?

Back to RR, have mentioned somewhere on this forum, between my two mates they have gone through 7 fridges since 2008 not one of them an Engel. "Whinge whinge, Engels are too dear!" ROFPMSL.
 
I would say it is a tad out of warranty.

Isn't there some thing about them blowing a capacitor or some thing. ?

Might be worth investigating as they are a very tough, Reliable unit.

Nanjim said:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...5774_e87d1042-daab-4db3-ae03-19cc1681773c.jpg

I bought this fridge in 1998 for $700.00 it ran 24/7 only time it was turned off was when I took it from the house to the truck
Or from the truck to the house

The big question is what do I replace it with
I am thinking another Engel maybe a 60 l dual zone
What are your thoughts ????
 
Nightjar
The fridge has never been run on a genny
Yep I have delt with uncle Graham
I think it is time for a new fridge

Tathradj
I didnt think to have a look into the bowels of the fridge
It was turned on and not running it may have been that way for a month or so
As I have been out wide working

Mudgie Hunter

I think I got my moneys worth
The case needs a full rebuild
Time for a new fridge
 
Nightjar said:
RR, Totally disagree with your Engel Combo findings. Bought our 60 litre Engel Combo back in 2008 and it hasn't missed a beat. Frozens stay frozen and fridge section hovers around 3C. Always run on 12V while prospecting**Never run on 240V from generator**
Nanjim, Also have "Old Yella" 1983 model still running. We use it soley as a freezer, when the food runs out we shut it down and then carry on with the frozen meat in the 60 litre. Would never buy any other fridge than an Engel. Give Engel Midland a call and talk to "Uncle Graham"(not my Uncle) he can probably get your oldy up and running if you haven't been running it with your generator?

Back to RR, have mentioned somewhere on this forum, between my two mates they have gone through 7 fridges since 2008 not one of them an Engel. "Whinge whinge, Engels are too dear!" ROFPMSL.

It does not need anyone to agree with what I said, fact is a few people on another forum have had issues trying to get their duel zones to work evenly leaving them unimpressed and wishing they bought something else, There are people who have owned other brand of fridge for 10 years and more and there is no reason why they should not last 20 or 30+ years and the only reason that there are none that old is because most of those brands have not been around long enough, It does not mean that are not a good fridge, Fact is Dometic invented them and were making them in the 50's and 60's for the RV industry and no doubt some of them are still going to this day,

It's a fact that it is impossible to convince any Aussie Me included that life does not revolve around Engel but sadly the rest of the world does not see Engel in the same light as we do,

Fact is there are a lot of better design fridges on the market but no one brand or model is perfect regardless of who makes it,

Buy a proper Duel Zone and you will need a heck of a power supply because they can draw up to 7+ Amps, and the big single Snomaster will chew even more, The Dometic CFX3 duel zone will eat a type 27 over night, My ARB's can be set low enough to keep food frozen while still being able to use it as a fridge, National Luna are a work of Art but because of the All metal inside it is harder to use one of their singles as a fridge and a freezer Not to mention the price of them, Bottom line is none of these fridges are perfect and could all do with minor changes,

The Engel design was great when it first came out and for a good few years but then Tech moved on and peoples needs changed and they wanted other bits added and now you can control them from your phone with WiFi and Bluetooth and USB sockets etc, To me I can't take these new fridges seriously and it annoys the hell out of me why they have to involve computers and smart phone when it comes to fridges, I like Engel but due to the space I have I need a fridge that can do both jobs.
 
Could be as Tathradj says a capacitor, when plugged in and running did you have a power outage and subsequent spike in power :| if so you might have cause for a claim through your power provider worth investigating.
 
They don't like power fluctuations at all.

Mate of mine has the stainless jobby.

I had a look with a multi meter, Power sources missing every where and yes,
It was running from a Generator that run out of fuel.

I could have had a crack at it but shied away from repairing it. Told him to send it in for
repair.

3 years ago and it is still siting in the garage. LOL
 
RM Outback said:
Could be as Tathradj says a capacitor, when plugged in and running did you have a power outage and subsequent spike in power :| if so you might have cause for a claim through your power provider worth investigating.

Wouldnt have a clue would have to ask the lady
Back at work now for another few weeks I will find out then
Either way when I bought the fridge second hand I am led to believe it is a 1975 or there abouts model so I think I got my moneys worth out of it
 
I have a 45ltr Engel for unfrozen produce and the 15 ltr Brass Monkey from Jaycar for use as a freezer only. You can fit a lot of frozen meat etc. into 15 ltrs. Plus another Komodo 45 ltr fridge freezer to have inside the camper for the tinnies and wine for the missus. The Engel and Brass Monkey will work off separate 160 watt solar panels and batt's will be charged thru the day by our Qld. sunshine. The Komodo is for either freezer or cooling if necessary.
 
Nan,

I bought my Engel in 1993, last year it went into constant start/stop when moving, mainly stop. I discovered the rotary switch was stuffed, by jiggling it when on. I managed to source a replacement OEM switch, eventually. Was fiddly but easy to replace myself and cost about $70.

The switch is basically a variable potentiometer that has a wafer rotating on a coil, it was this mechanical area that failed.

The hard part with the older fridges is spare parts availability, it took several months of phone calls, emails and messages.

FYI - to assist you and or others, when sourcing this spare you don't really need to specify the exact model. The vintage of my fridge and yours used a 4 wire switch. I'm told by a repairer that in the mid 2000s that changed to a 5 wire and the current models 6 wire.

The rotary switch of this vintage is soldered to a small circuit board (4 terminals), has a some resistors on it and a wiring loom about 30-40 cm long wired to it (4 wires). There is a quick connect plug on the other end. The spare is the whole assembly, not the switch alone. I don't know the configuration of the 5 or 6 wired switches, but when sourcing a spare all you need to ask for is a 4, 5 or 6 wired switch as they remained the same across all sizes and models using each version.

$70 for a perfectly good fridge fix was a better deal than $1,400 odd for a new fridge. :)
 
Well done mike. It's a great feeling being able to repair things like that.
I organised to have the fridge seals replaced in the house. 1 large 2 door a beer fridge and a chest freezer. $340 dollars and 1 hrs work time. Must have been top quality rubber on the seals. I really feel that we have been conned.
 
Jaros said:
You can fit a lot of frozen meat etc. into 15 ltrs.

Jaros and others, we vacuum seal our meat, not absolutely necessary but we then freeze it in our home freezer then transfer it before leaving. Also by vacuuming it squeezes each package to a smaller size enabling us to pack enough meat for around 6 weeks into the 39L & 60L freezer section.
 
Well my Aldi Adventure Ridge 40l is still going strong. Not that I could recommend it over top brand names, but 3 years on I love it for $350. I'm happy. It been getting chucked about in and out of the ute down the beach , camping and even grocery shopping, back of the golf cart you name it! switching between 240v and 12v set it to -1 and it stays cold. Beers start to ice up. Must have a pretty good ambient temperature rating. Can't complain

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