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We have a long list of NEEDS and WANTS for our Overland rig, as I'm sure everyone has, and one of these items was buying a fridge/freezer unit. However, this item is not in our modest budget, so I improvised. The following article describes how I made a cheap DIY fridge with mini freezer for about $40 CDN, which we have been using for the past three years. This fridge keeps our supplies cold for up to three days without having to run the truck engine to recharge the batteries.
Vehicle fridges and freezers have come a long way in the last few years. With increasing popularity, necessity and competition, the number of options has been increasing and the cost decreasing. However, when three years ago we needed a fridge for our long-distance travels, we simply could not afford to purchase one. There were limited alternatives at the time and used fridges didn't seem to exist.
 Classic ARB fridges have been around for years. |  Sno Master gaining popularity with great value. |
After countless hours of researching how to build a fridge/freezer, I stumbled upon a website that discussed a simple way for making a conventional fridge more energy efficient. I was shocked to learn that modern 120 volt fridges rely on heavy electrical consumption (paid for by the end user) rather than better design (paid for by the manufacturer). The site showed examples of traditional refrigerators with new insulation and charted their power savings and efficiency. A modest sized home refrigerator with 1" foam insulation was running on two 12 Volt deep cycle batteries and an 750 Watt inverter for up to five days. "This can't be right" I thought. Our Tacoma already had two deep cycle batteries and a 1000 Watt inverter in the back. With nothing to lose, I thought I would give it a try.
On Kijiji, I quickly found a 24" x 24" x 24" Danby 120 Volt bar fridge that was built in the 80's. My daughter and I took a look at it and found that it was a bit dented, but otherwise in perfect working order. These little fridges have a 'floating compressor' which makes them ideal for withstanding the bumps and jars while driving on trails. After paying only $20 for the little fridge, we then drove to Home Depot where I bought one sheet of 1/2" pink high-density foam, white silicon caulking and a roll of white Mactac®. $20 dollars in supplies later, we headed home for our experiment.
On Kijiji, I quickly found a 24" x 24" x 24" Danby 120 Volt bar fridge that was built in the 80's. My daughter and I took a look at it and found that it was a bit dented, but otherwise in perfect working order. These little fridges have a 'floating compressor' which makes them ideal for withstanding the bumps and jars while driving on trails. After paying only $20 for the little fridge, we then drove to Home Depot where I bought one sheet of 1/2" pink high-density foam, white silicon caulking and a roll of white Mactac®. $20 dollars in supplies later, we headed home for our experiment.
 This is similar to the mini fridge we bought. |  Here is the poorly insulated back of a mini fridge. |
Re-insulating a mini fridge is not rocket science, this is one of the easiest DIY projects I have ever done. My daughter and I used the silicone to apply a thin coating to the fridge's metal exterior and stuck the carefully measured foam panels to it. The tricky part was insulating between the condenser coils (the network of bars on the back) and the back of the fridge. It is necessary to carefully glue foam between the compressor (black tank) and the back of the fridge, and do not forget the bottom and the door!
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We did not make any mechanical changes to the fridge. I did add a digital temperature gauge to the front door, which I purchased on EBay for one dollar. After gluing the panels in place, we wrapped the fridge in white Mactac to make it look "nice" and to keep it cool when in direct sunlight. (In this case, "nice" means as good as I can make it look given it is wrapped in Mactac. I did say this is a $40 project.)
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This project cost under $40, so it would be easy to toss this fridge to the recycling curb if it did not work. With this in mind, I was very surprised on our first trip with this little fridge when it ran like a top. It worked so well in fact, that we never set the temperature gauge to over three or it would freeze our food. We can run the fridge for three to four days, depending on outside temperature, on two 12 Volt batteries without charging them. Adding a solar panel to the truck would make this even more efficient. This little fridge was only supposed to keep us going for one summer, but we are now into our third year. The money saved by not purchasing a conventional 12 Volt fridge/freezer unit has been wisely invested in other gear. I would love to upgrade from this fridge one day, but for now we see no reason whatsoever to do so.
This fridge will not win any slick or cool gear awards. Instead, this solution might be useful for someone who is just starting to get equipped for overland travel or for those with a small budget. Saving some money here has certainly helped us to gear up with other things!
Article by Len Toelke
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