Coolers ... ?
 

What are you guys using for a cooler to keep your food in ?

I have a Coleman with the little 12v heat exchanger in it....it was perfect for

about 45 days and now its useless...it hardly even cools now.

What to do ?... really like carrying my own food while OTR

Re: Coolers ... ?
 

see if the fan on top stopped running, that's what happened to mine, I'm taking it back to walmart today.

.

If I melt dry ice, can I swim without getting wet?

LOL...you sound like the driver I heard on the CB down in LA the other day say "I'm so good at lovemaking I scream my own name when I'm done..."

Re: Coolers ... ?
 

Zip it is probably the fan. They carry replacements at Wally Mart if it is not under warranty. Very easy to replace. 5 minutes tops. You'll have your beer ice cold again in no time. Oooooopsss, sorry Zip, I mean your Pepsi.
I drifted for a second and thought that I was conversing with golfhobo. :twisted:

I also use the Coleman. Someone told me it seems to have a longer life if you stand it on end w/the fan at the top...

7 months and it still cools great!

Yep....i took the light and looked in there...the fan is barely moving

Thanks for the help....guess i'll have to spring for a new fan

Zip, I went over to the Coleman web-site and although I didn't have your particular model #, all of the replacement fans ran around $23-25. Like I said earlier Wally Mart has them and I have also seen the fans at many truck stops. Petro comes to mind. Good luck. I'm sure your wanting to get it back up to speed.

Walmart gave me a new one, it has a one year warranty

My Coleman did the same thing but it lasted about 6 months, I sent it back to Coleman and they sent me a new one. You coulld call that number on thier website.


I guess rule #1 whenever you buy a cooler or anything to use in your truck is to keep the recipt and packaging.

Are you guys talking about the gray Coleman cooler that opens like a mini fridge?

Fridg....
 

Yeah I, too, had a couple of those Coleman 12volt coolers. I eventually got sick of them not keeping drinks and food cold in the summer so I bought a 12v REFRIGERATOR. truckfridge.com One for a Century class costs $550. It is a great investment. Even keeps ice cream frozen.

If I end up buying the truck I'm driving from my company, I'll go the way of a 12v refrigerator as well.

I've got a Coleman too that the fan bearings went out on. I looked everywhere for a replacement. Finally went to BestBuy and got a 80mm computer cooling fan, it was just a little smaller than the original, but it still fit OK with just 2 screws and the cooler will still freeze the moisture that accumulates in there.

I am getting ready to buy a fridge. I have an APU/GEN so I can run 120v. I woul really have a hard time forking over $600 for a 2.5cf fridge when you can get a 5.0 cubic foot and run a dedicated inline invertor for less than $200.

If you can not do the invertor thing then your choices are greatly reduced.

Not a problem Creek. CAD resident DOT/FMCSA/CMV beverage specialist Golfhobo should be able to answer any questions that you may have.

In the meantime, for interim guidance............see below

Good stuff, Gary...keep it coming!

Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of what Hobo says...but I have issues with people who refuse to admit they were wrong about something....:popcorn:

My first Coleman 12v cooler lasted about 3 months. I took it back and got a new one at Walmart. Another driver told me to blow the fan out with air about once a month. I have done this and the one I have now has lasted about 18 months, still cools just as good as it did when new. When I blow it out I get a LOT of dust and dirt. I always take it out of the truck to do so.

I have a coleman and the fan went out after a few months, Radioshack sells the fans 15-30 dollars and only took about 20 minutes to install.

I used to buy the coleman coolers until the plug on mine got so hot it melted. The fuse in it didnt blow until it was melted into the plastic. I threw the cooler outta the truck and said the heck with it. the next time I was home I got a small fridge and microwave at sears and a invertor and the wiring and such and installed it all for around 500 bucks. It made everything a lot simpler.

I have had a coleman I bought at walmart now since 1998. And the only thing to go wrong with it was the plug had to replace it.

I probably could have replaced the cord and saved some money but, was tired of drinking hot water in the summer and frozen water in the winter. Also I carried meat and cheese in my fridge so I could cook on my grill which I also carried. The meat went bad fast without a freezer.

I have a double ball bearing fan with red LEDs waiting to ve installed at home, Imma have the baddest coleman cooler ever.

I am going to contact the mfg regarding using a $0.97 fan in an $80 cooler, they have to realize something is not right when half their coolers are being returned.

I contacted Coleman after my cooler had the wire melt down. I got the old "well we have them running in our offices 24 hours a day 7 days a week and we have never had any problems out of them here" . a very snobish answer if I do say so myself. They have them plugged into a wall through the converters that come with them. Its a little bit different from having them run in a truck.

Man thats one thing I miss, I had a factory fridge in my classic and loved that thing. I will have another one soon its the only way to go.

Coolers, Freezers, microwaves
 

I use a koolatron 18 qt thermoelectric cooler, for my refrigeration needs. Important to blow the dust out once a month with a can f compressed air, replace fan as needed.
I use a coleman 12v freezer/refrigerater for my freezer. It was about $400 but cooling down to -10 degrees keeps my chicken breast and steaks frozen untill needed.
Having added a Wavebox microwave as of late I keep a few goodies from the frozen section in the freezer to, like microwave pizza, lasagne, etc. Wavebox is painstaikingly slow when run on cig outlet but that is what company policy demands. Planning ahead and thawing out the food then nuking allows a 20 minute cook time. From frozen requires 40-60 minutes.

During winter months what do you need a cooler for with TMC and no cab heat ? lol

I must be the only one here who doesn't use a Coleman. I have a Black and Decker cooler that I got at Target last year. It's still working quite well (although I did have to replace the 12VDC plug because the one it came with wouldn't make good contact in a socket) and doesn't take up the space that the Coleman unit does...

However, I don't have the space for a truck fridge because of my APU's inverter... being placed under the desk in my Century where the fridge would go. But hopefully I'll be getting a T600 soon.

That's about average for the amount of time they last. They are junk!!!! Never kept food could enough either. Lunch meat would start getting slimy after about 2 days.

As I think I have posted before I have had both Igloo and Coleman 12 v coolers.

My Igloo lasted about 9 months before I had to replace the fan. I got about another year out of it before I sold it thinking I was done with OTR truck driving.

My Coleman is still working after about 2 1/2-3 years of use. Only thing I have ever done with it is to regularly clean the fan as well as the cooling fins.

I have kept lunch meats and hot dogs in them for 2 weeks with no problems as well as cheese and milk. Fresh, unfrozen meats have lasted about 5 days and frozen meats for 2 weeks +. Of course I always kept my cooler in the sleeper and away from heater ducts and direct sunlight and since I like it cool anyway the temp in the sleeper rarely got above 65 degrees.

One thing that does seem to shorten the life of those 12v coolers is placing warm/room temp items in them and letting the cooler chill it. The other big killer seems to be leaving them in sunlight and/or letting the warm air vents blow on them.

Hi,

There is a company that manufacture diesel engine charge air coolers, you should try Vestas Aircoil A/S in Denmark (www.vestas-aircoil.com)

I still have the same truck fridge for the last 4 years ( I have never shut it off but to defrost it). I did have to add two batteries to handle the load when I'm parked for too many days at a time. 4.2 cubic feet 12volt/120volt and $699 but no problems at all ever.

Maybe Vestas aircoil can advise, they manufacture and design charge air coolers.

You should look into using a DC-based fridge instead of AC. They can be pricey but the reduced drag on your batteries is very noticeable.

Dometic and Whynter make very good products.

This Whynter model has two compartments with separate digital temps so you can have a freezer and a fridge, or two of either. It runs on AC and DC and includes both cords: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VX01P2

Good luck,

Jim