Use Norcold 3163 (three-way) as a freezer?

sgkramar

Has anyone opted to just use the Norcold as a freezer? My wife and I are thinking about trying it. We would keep frozen things in the Norcold and cool things in a cooler. By swapping out ice blocks between Norcold and the cooler we wouldn't have to buy ice for the cooler any more.
Thoughts?

Grumpy_G

Interesting idea, how cold can you get the fridge turned down all the way ? From my experience the fridge temp varies quite a bit (10F or so) with the outside temperature and that's not getting better when the fridge needs to keep temps below freezing.

webers3

Don't think that will work, can't get the temp of the refrigerator less than 20-30 degrees below ambient temp, so you'll have to travel when it's pretty cold outside.

BrianZ

If you want to keep things frozen, get an ARB or similar portable frig, though you need either shore power, solar or generator/TV.

Verna

+2 on an ARB. My 50 qt ARB fridge/freezer keeps meat frozen in the bottom for as long as it is powered. It runs off of the truck during travel, or through a 15’ 10 gauge cable I have made with a SAE plug for the T@B snd a 12V plug for the ARB on the other. Between my solar and the dual AGM batteries in the T@B, it will freeze everything (be careful of fresh veggies). It’s a very good method to shop less and Boondock more. 

pthomas745

Will Prowse, my solar hero, has a blog post from a couple of years ago that says using a portable icemaker and a decent cooler is much more efficient for power use than even one of the 12V fridge/freezers, since you only have to make ice every couple of days and almost any solar power/battery setup can handle that. 

I'm not sure how my 3 way fridge can really keep cold with just the small amount of ice I can get into it, but I'm sure it can help a bit.  (PS:  I'm going with a small Alpicool.......it can make ice if I want to for the Norcold, too.)

The ice maker idea is at the bottom of this page of 12v fridge reviews.

https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/12v-fridges.html

sgkramar

Well, the Norcold is staying around 28°F, so technically freezing but not cold enough to really freeze anything very quickly. I also learned that I really like having the fridge in the camper rather than outside in a cooler, so this isn’t going to be a final solution. I think our next attempt may be to put styrofoam insulation next to the cooling fins and convert the area under the fins to a “freezer” and still have rest of unit as a fridge. I’ve seen posts by others that have done that successfully. 

We may end up buying a separate unit eventually, but we do try to keep things as minimal as possible, so will play with these options first. 

sgkramar

Well, for future reference, this model of Norcold (3163X) stayed between 25 and 30 degrees F while using shore power. It would get a bit warmer for a while if we put something in that wasn't already frozen. At that temperature it takes a very long time for anything to freeze (longer than overnight). 

Dutch061

I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly to "truly be a freezer" that the device must be able to reach zero or below in Fahrenheit. I don't believe that 25 to 30 degrees truly qualifies it as a "freezer".

Here is a link to a whirlpool website that mentions "0".

https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/kitchen/whats-the-best-freezer-temperature.html#:~:text=What%E2%80%99s%20the%20best%20freezer%20temperature%3F%20The%20recommended%20freezer,lower%20depending%20on%20its%20environment%20and%20other%20factors.

Personally, I wouldn't do it but then again I am very particular about food storage and temperatures. To the point that my wife will roll her eyes at me at times 

Brad