Question about what type of fridge to use while tent camping

[mauicat]

We are planning a trip to tent camp at FW in April/May 2012. My question is...what is y'alls experience with using either a dorm type mini fridge or a thermoelectric cooler/fridge while tent camping. we will have a screen enclosure for our cooking area. I know the thermoelectrics only cool to 40deg below ambient temp but pros/cons of just a dorm fridge? THanks

 

[2goofycampers]

We have a dorm frig without a freezer. Works great, even in hot weather. We love the fact of not messing with ice or coolers. Our frig even has a built in lock.

 

[bama_ed]

We use the plug-in cooler with our pop-up fridge as well. It holds the drinks and water bottles that won't fit in the pup fridge. Like you say, it pulls the inside about 30-40F lower than the outside temp (ours gets opened quite a bit too).

Given your springtime trip either will work for you, I would say. The cooler is a whole lot less heavy than the fridge but either will do the job IMO.

Bama ED

 

[mauicat]

Thanks for all the feedback! Appreciate it!

 

[cbcrockett]

A little late, but we were at the Fort in April a couple years back in our teardrop camper and had a screen tent set up as our living area/kitchen. We used a dorm fridge for the whole week and it was perfect. We actually had a small freezer in the top too and in April, was able to keep cool enough to make us a few ice cubes/freeze a few ice packs to take in the parks.

Should work great for you!

 

[mauicat]

great to know! was wondering about that!...Thanks

 

[jonimce]

We also have the dorm fridge with freezer. We didn't cook much but froze water bottles each night to take into the parks. They froze solid and this was in August.

 

[KristinU]

When we had our PUP we used a thermoelectric cooler and it served us well. The nice thing about the cooler is that you can use it en route for lunches and snacks etc. Ours did just fine keeping stuff cool enough (and sometimes too cold overnight) for the times we used it. WDW in November and February, Washington DC in late May, New Hampshire in July. Nothing wicked hot to put it to the test...but I remember turning the AC on in the camper a couple of times on a few of those trips...so it did get a bit warm.

 

[suzicute20]

We used my dorm fridge and it worked great! So nice to have things that were cold a the campsite. We turned it off the day before we left to defrost it. Have a great time!

 

[mauicat]

Yeah, I was starting to think thru the defrost thing. Didn't want it leaking all in the car on the way home

 

[Betty Rohrer]

our small,larger than a dorm, defrosts in about 20 minutes after turning it off. we move everything to ice chest and trun of while we break camp and hook up trailor. dump out water last and store in trailor as we are ready to leave.