Caravan Fridge Buying Guide

All Bushman upright fridges are designed specifically for built-in or freestanding use in off-grid and mobile situations throughout Australia, and will perform even in our extreme heat.

If you’re running off solar or battery power, you need a fridge with powerful cooling performance and genuinely low power consumption, there’s a Bushman upright 12V fridge for your situation – caravans, buses, boats, 4wds, camper trailers, RVs, cars, tiny houses, farms, beach shacks, sheds and off-grid living.

If you have any questions about our products or refrigeration in general, please contact us to talk to a fridge expert directly.

Upright fridges are the most popular choice for caravans as they provide the same convenience as your home fridge, offering easy access to your food and drinks. There’s plenty of room for storage and the added benefit of freezer capability for storing ice, meat or other items you might not want to use straight away. Upright caravan fridges are designed with a hinged door so you can easily see everything and your food and drinks are always within reach.

Some customers also choose to have a second fridge, usually a chest fridge freezer, for use as a dedicated drinks fridge or a deep freezer for long term trips. A portable chest fridge can be stored in your car, ute or caravan and can operate off-grid using battery power. Food is stored in internal stacking baskets that sit on top of each other.

Portable chest fridges are a great option for freezing and cooling when you’re on the go, if space is limited or for use as a separate freezer. They’re also helpful to have on hand if you want additional room for keeping extra items cool that you can’t store or don’t fit in your upright fridge.

This is a question we get asked every day. The answer will depend on the size of your fridge, what the average energy consumption is, and how many days you would like your fridge to operate without putting power back into your battery bank.

All Bushman fridges are designed to operate on super low power, with our most efficient caravan fridge running on average around 1.2 amps per hour.

If you’re looking to use your fridge in a remote location or off-grid, we generally recommend a battery size which will run your fridge for a minimum of 3 days and nights, before it starts getting low.

To help you calculate the right sized solar panel and battery setup, we’ve prepared a handy guide covering all the detailed information you’ll need to choose your Bushman 12V fridge and battery setup.

Yes you can, but there are some significant downsides to using a home fridge in a caravan. As you can imagine, household fridges are designed and built to be operated on a stable and level floor, with a large amount of ventilation on the sides, rear and above. They also require a steady supply of 240V AC power. These are three things you will generally not find in a caravan.

Noise
Normal household fridges can be very noisy. Whilst a 240V fridge may have extra bells and whistles, like reverse cycle, frost free, and individual fridge and freezer temperatures, these functions produce more noise. And when you are sleeping in close proximity to your fridge, you really want the quietest fridge you can find. In comparison, high quality 12V compressor fridges are quieter.

Mobile use
Most household fridges are not built to withstand the rigours of mobile use and we have seen this first hand. Many customers have dropped in to see us with broken cooling systems and failed compressors. On the other hand, caravan fridges use compressors that are internally sprung and made specifically for the demands of mobile use.

Ventilation
A household fridge uses the rear and / or sides of the fridge cabinet to remove heat. For built in installations, this is not a good layout for heat transfer and results in more power usage. A well designed caravan fridge will use an external, fan assisted heat exchanger to create more air flow and heat transfer.

240V Power
A 240V fridge will need an inverter that operates non stop. Depending on the inverter you choose, the constant current it uses will be around 0.5A every hour, 24 hours a day.

Warranty
Is your home fridge covered under warranty for use in a caravan? Probably not. Most appliance manufacturers exclude warranty for any fridge which have been used in anything mobile; caravans, vans, buses, boats and everything that moves.