best fridges for truck camper?

Depending on your needs you should first decide which type best suits you. If you are at CG's as suggested , then a small home fridge will work for you. As long as you keep it closed, it will keep things cold enough for a few hours while traveling. It acts like a cooler.

If you do not want to worry about power, the absorption RV refrigerator will simply run – as long as you have enough gas, regardless of being on the road, connected to AC or somewhere in the wild. However,you will a battery to run on gas for electronics of that type fridge.
EX: my 5 cu ft 3 way fridge operates on gas but uses about .35 amps per hr. while running on gas . The 12 v. source is needed to operate the electronic circuit board. At this time Im using two grp 29 deep cycle batteries . I think they are rated at 122 amps each. They run the fridge for days w/o running my Honda generator to recharge things.

If on the other hand you want to be energy independent and have a solar panel on your RV, are stationed where 110V AC is available most of the time, have a genset or large enough battery bank or do not want to keep buying gas, the compressor RV fridge is right for you.



Read here fro info :
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24598587/print/true.cfm

Don't confuse the two types of 12 volt operation. Understand that a 3 way absorbtion fridge running on 12 volts is drawing about 25 amps/ hour. It will kill your batteries before you can shower and blow dry your hair. :) Thats a lot more than a 12 v. compressor type rv fridge at a fraction of that.

RV mechanics have told me that the 2-3 amp draw on the compressor type rv fridge is only drawing 50% of the time in a 24 hr period. 12 hrs. of maybe 3 amp draw on the batteries.
You should not allow any battery to drop below 50% of its power before you recharge it. Letting it drop too low can shorten the life of a battery.
If you choose the 12 v battery route, compare your battery options before you decide.

Regards, Bob

Would recommend the old style all propane models if you can find one. As for the new ones...well last weekend my propane tanks failed to switch. This but me on 12 VDC battery power and about 1 AM when the low battery alarm went off, am outside in wind storm trying to get the Honda generator going in the dark.

If this happened with old style propane only would had to just re-light the pilot light, when I notice the liquid refreshments where getting warm.

Gary

if $$$ is a consideration & it usually is, u may want to go the dorm fridge route,especially if you will will be staying exclusively in campgrounds.

You've got a few options if talking about proper fridges (as opposed to those cooler boxes). However none of them are cheap - far more expensive than domestic fridges since they need to be able to be bounced around in a vehicle.

1) Absorption fridge, sometimes called "three way": Traditional RV fridge - can run on LPG and electricity. Good if you want to be off grid for a while as quite efficient at using LPG. Works slowly - often need to be turned on a day before you intend to use them. Tend to work on a temperature differential - i.e. will get to x degrees below ambient, so in really hot temperatures may not keep stuff frozen. Also sensitive to angle - need to be parked pretty flat to work. Pretty much silent in operation.

2) Compressor fridge: RV version of the sort of fridge you have at home. Gets cold fast, thermostatically controlled. Can work when parked at up to 30 degrees off the flat (used in yachts). May be able to hear the compressor as it cycles on and off. Can't run off LPG. If camping without electric hookup for more than a night you'll probably need a decent amount of solar to run one since the compressor requires a fair amount of amps to run (though typically less than an absorption fridge if you ran one of them on 12v instead of LPG for some reason).

The above two are traditionally upright fridges with a side door like you'll have at home and tend to be built into the camper.

3) Portable chest-fridge version of one of the above. Look like cold boxes. Built by companies such as Engel. Smaller capacity compared with the above traditional upright fridges, but very efficient and use little power. Often seen in expedition vehicles like Land Rovers and Land Cruisers with roof tents. Can be very expensive for their small capacity. Have the advantage that you can move them between vehicles.

Hope this helps,

Steve.

Back about those years fridges didn't need a source of power like modern fridges do. They didn't have all the electronics, and had a tiny old style freezer that would ice up and need defrosting. By all standards, for most users, they worked great and just kept on ticking.

Finding an older camper as a wreck with a working fridge might be the answer for you.

Or, measure out your space and put in a lovely modern fridge/freezer combo if that is your idea of doing up a reno. But be prepared to pay quite a bit or get a used one.