Propane frig for cabin
General Topic
Anyone have any input about a small propane frig for an off-grid cabin? I see there are some options available.
Last week I was up at my Wyo cabin and built on a leanto to park my atv and have some extra space.
Having coolers kicking around for a week was cumbersome
I
Why wouldn't you. They sell them at our local appliance store. Lots of them in the UP.
Like your cabin. I never had to have one, but common in my area.
Ued a propane frig, full size, in our lake cabin for 30 years, Freezer and frig worked perfect. Takes a few hours to get cold when you first get there. We left it on quite a few times when we knew we'd be back up in a week or so.
I just put one in my cabin not far from yours Found on craigs
They are sure handy and do beat the stuffing out of coolers. We had one in our deer camp in Runnels county Texas for ages.
I guess I need to be more specific. Obviously a propane frig is good to have.
Like mentioned above I’m looking for input about ‘specifics’ on propane fridges.
This is one model I’m looking at
I think you should go bigger
That’s camper size. Bigger for sure. They work great.
I only have experience with the ones built into RVs that are 2 way (120 v or propane) or 3 way (12v/ 120 v or propane). On 12v operation it will drain batteries fast. 120 volt cools down quickly. Propane mode cools down slowly but maintains cold very well. So I usually use 120 v while loading the camper at home so it cools down fast and switch it over to propane when I leave. They don't use propane very fast. A tank lasts a long time.
Many of them need 12v (or 120 v) power even in propane mode to run the electronics and will shut down if your battery goes dead. So be sure what the requirements are for what you are buying.
I can tell you that I've never heard anyone complain that their RV fridge is too big but have often heard that it is too small. The one you are looking at is very small. I suspect you will be wishing it was bigger. The one in my camper is at least 3 times that size and I wish it was larger.
I should add though that since your cabin is stationary and propane fridges are expensive that you might want to just get a cheap used conventional 120 v fridge and run it off a small inverter generator. You might even be able to get by just running the generator for a few hours a day to keep it cool.
It better hold a lot of Busch Latte for when I come to visit!
Had one for years in our cabin. Off grid and it worked very very well.
We've had 3 different remote hunting cabins in the mountains of Colorado. Had a Servel propane/electric refrigerator in each cabin. The same exact frig is now branded as Dometic Servel RGE400. Still have 1 remote cabin and its Servel runs on propane from April till November. When we periodically visit every couple weeks or so. Food in the freezer is froze, drinks in the refrigerator are ice cold. Very dependable, never an issue. Check them out.
Had one on the FS cabin we stayed in moose hunting. It was regular sized and worked great. Don't get a camper sized one get full sized.
Anyone have an idea on how much propane these use? Does a 25lb tank last a few days, weeks, etc…?
Nick it would take a very large one to exceed a # per day. The little ones run on about a 1/2 # per day.
We have had one in our remote cabin for years. It runs 24/7/365. Not sure of the cubic inches but a little smaller than a standard home sized one. Never an issue and uses very little propane. Essentially a pilot light is all that burns.
Nice to show up and have cold beverages and ice at the ready.
Thanks for the replies. I researched the Dometic Servel fridge as specified above.
Looks great but for that price I can have electricity brought in to the cabin. ;)
Or a helluva lot of ice in coolers. Lol
Wonder if you could salvage one out of RV?
It always amazed me at how you can make things cool by lighting a fire.
On a side note pertaining to using propane to run things, anytime you use a hose that connects to a bulk tank [any size] use a propane filter at the appliance. Especially if using a Buddy Heater. The contaminants in the bulk propane really dirty things up.
Yes the contaminants will ruin your day. The gas rigs are also very expensive for sure. They've went up quite a bit in the last couple years even.
