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ajriding's avatar
ajriding
Explorer II
Jul 26, 2019

Low priced Danfoss fridges

For those who have or had had an off-brand (not ARB, not Dometic, Not Engal) I am interested in feedback on the units.
For those who have never used or owned one yet with opinions please PM me instead of posting to the thread.

I have an ARB I loved in my last camper. New camper has propane fridge so I stayed with it, but have reservations. I rather have a compressor fridge. I only ever had issues in NY in the Fall when there was no sun to lite up the solar.

The high price tag of Dometic or Engal ones at over $1k are a deal breaker for me.
Others are priced 600-800 bucks I can live with.
Some might have Danfoss (waeco) compressors, but some might be china copies. Sometimes the copies are near good enough given the price.

All reviews on these on the selling pages look good, but the reviews are always written one week after purchase and not so valuable. Who has really used one and put it to the test?

Brands I see are Iceco and Costway for example.

I only interested in the ones with both a freezer and fridge compartments.

Again, I have an ARB electric fridge, so I am not asking about the one compartment units, only the ones with two compartments that can have a freezer and a fridge option at the same time. I am asking about the lower-priced brands.

16 Replies

  • In 1988 I paid 650 dollars each for my 24 volt danfoss units. 24 volt for 18 CF capacity. Upright cabinets. Foot thick insulation.
  • A friend just had the danfoss compressor go bad on his ~4 year old Novakool.
  • It's Engel btw., and it's Japanese and Waeco and Danfoss are one in the same. Waeco bought out Danfoss.
  • The Waeco compressor does appear very similar to Danfoss, but the compressor controller looks shorter and squatter. I think it is a clone of the danfoss.
    Perhaps their patent ran out.
    perhaps it is just different enough to not violate it

    Basically danfoss is the best 12vdc compressor. Though Sawafuji has its partially deaf proponents.

    So you are saying I want the cheapest and best and cheapest.and I expect a personalized private message.

    Are you a female millenial?

    I bought a vitrifrigo c51is in 2013 after my norcold de 0040 failed.

    I could have saved 150$ If i bought a TRUCKFRIDGE TF49 instead.

    I'm glad I did not.

    Good luck.

    With everything.
  • Nova kool great fridge go to there website. www.novakool.com I have had mine for I think for 3 years. Not a hiccup. I have a pretty big one with a fridge and freezer. They make smaller ones in fact they make lots of models.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    My Engal was like 800 bucks (it is a chest freezer) works great so long as it's well fed with 3 amps of 12 volt .