Portable Fridge Buying Guide

Small fridge – 15L-20L

Small fridges are often used as dedicated drinks fridges or to store lunch or other items when travelling, either for work or play. Small portable fridges are usually kept somewhere handy that can be accessed on the go and are designed to fit in a variety of easy to reach spaces, such as the centre console of a car, on the centre of the back bench seat as an armrest, in the back footwell or in the boot.

Medium fridge – 25L-50L

Medium fridges are by far the most popular options as they provide a good amount of storage space, are moderate on power use, not too heavy to carry and don’t take up a lot of space. They can be used a portable fridge or a freezer and can fit easily in a boot or under a ute cover and are great options for camping and other outdoor adventures.

Large fridge – 65L-150L

The largest fridges are for long term trips only and especially where space and weight is not an issue. Some large portable fridge models even have separate compartments for both fridge and freezer.

Find out more about portable fridges sizes and how to pick the best one for you.

Steel Fridge Cabinet

We always recommend a steel fridge cabinet.

Why? Steel is stronger and more durable than plastic, especially over the long term. How do we know this? Just look around. If plastic was better than steel for construction, we’d be making cars, planes and even your home fridge from plastic. But plastic is cheaper, not better.

Danfoss Compressor

Buy a well-known and reliable brand.

If you have to replace a broken compressor one day, it’s going to be very expensive. These days, there are plenty of new-comers to the compressor market. At Bushman we only use Secop Danfoss compressors. Why? They are the best of the best. Danfoss have been making compressors for over 80 years. Sure, they’re more expensive, but our fridges are designed for the long haul.

Extensive Ventilation

This is the key to an efficient fridge

Your compressor sucks the heat out of your fridge. So having ventilation all the way around the compressor area allows the hot air to rise, and the cooler air to be drawn in from the bottom and sides. If you want a more efficient fridge, you need more ventilation. Be sure to check the fridges you are looking at before making a purchase, but be careful, some products on the market even have fake vents.

Large Condensor

Go for the tubular style.

When the heat is sucked out of your fridge, this is where it ends up. The condensors job is to let the heat go. So the bigger it is and the more air that gets around it, the less power your fridge is going to use. The tubular style condensors (on then left) take up more space, but that’s why they work better. In comparison, the finned style (on the right) are much smaller, and are also more likely to trap dirt, dust and fluff.

Large Evaporator

This is your cooling element – the bigger the better.

Your evaporator is the cooling element inside your fridge. For a chest fridge, this should wrap all the way around the inside of the fridge cabinet. For an upright fridge, they are usually located up top. This is pretty standard these days on almost all fridge designs.

Digital Thermostat

The Thermostat should be digital for a chest fridge.

Analog thermostats are a thing of the past for chest fridges. The current day digital thermostats allow you to set your exact, desired temperature. So no more fluctuations as the temperature outside rises or falls.

Thick Insulation

Your fridge needs enough insulation to do its job.

We use Polyurethane and consider it the global standard for refrigeration. Insulation in Bushman fridges varies from 30mm to 80mm in thickness depending on their individual design and use.

External 240V

DC only fridges are simple and easy to work on.

Did you know, every portable fridge has a DC only compressor? Yep. If you buy a fridge with 240V built in, there’s a 240V to 12V transformer attached to your compressor inside the fridge. Remove the 240V transformer and your fridge will produce less heat, which means less power and faster cooling. You can still use 240V power, just use an external 240V to 12V transformer. We do. It’s simpler, and it’s better.

Long Warranty

How reliable will your portable fridge be?

A longer warranty is a sign of how much confidence a manufacturer has in their product. Warranties are often overlooked when buying appliances. But a portable fridge can have a much tougher life than a regular household fridge. We strongly recommend comparing warranties and online reviews before buying a new fridge.