I have a 2002 Familia 320GT and I am wondering whether to replace my current 3-way Electrolux fridge with a 2-way compressor fridge, as often found in campervans.

Have any of you gone down this route, and if so how did you get on? Did you need to fit a second leisure battery? Did you find a fridge which fits in the hole vacated by the current fridge?

I understand they are more efficient on 12v compared to 3-way absorption fridges. My leisure battery is always full thanks to the 100w solar system fitted by John England last year, so it seems silly not to use this free energy instead of gas. I have switched from Calor to Safefill already, but even Autogas stations are in short supply across the UK.

This is a very timely question as I have been researching the same thing due to the impending withdrawal of my gas bottle size.

Steve

I had 12v compressor fridges in both of our Horizons Unlmited PVC's. They're much easier to live with than the absorption type, just switch on and go. They can be noisy, especially noticeable in the quiet of night. It seems to be the luck of the draw whether you get a quiet or noisy one. The fully charged 80 a/h battery in our vans lasted about 1.5 days before the voltage went below the fridges minimal operating voltage. That was without a solar panel. HTH

I've got a troll 535 with a thetford compressor fridge and a single 95Ah agm battery fitted.
The fridge draws about 4amps, but not continuously. It depends on the ambient temperature and the temperature the fridge is set to, so it draws 4amp maybe 3 or 4 times per hour and then only for a few minutes.

I've made a portable solar panel (230 Watts) and have an mppt solar regulator.

I'm using it as I type this from a campsite and can say the panel is more than capable of keeping the fridge running 24/7. I turn the panel at night to face the early morning sun and find the battery is fully charged and getting a float/trickle charge when I get up. As soon as the fridge powers up the panel supplies what power is needed.

I should add I have a spare battery in my vehicle but have never needed to use it in the Eriba.

Totally ignorant on all this. We have the standard Eriba fridge. When we were away in June one site had us on metered electric, eating a pound at a time. We seemed to use a lot of electric, the fridge (the only thing running) used 70p overnight. Question is, is my fridge faulty or was the site charging too much for the electric? Or is that question the equivalent of “how long is a piece of string”?