RE: Coleman Thermoelectric Cooler

[Bren95]

 
Has anybody purchased one of these coolers.  They are an electric type cooler, that says it keeps the temperature 40 degrees lower than whereever the cooler is.  Would it really save on Ice???  Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 Walmart is having a great deal on them right now.
 
 Thanks

[kathybrj]

 Bren95
We have the Power Chill cooler. We take it on all our trips and plug it into the 12volt socket in the back of our Safari.
 
 When we have hook ups, we take the electric cord and plug it into a socket in the AAR. When we dry camp, it stays in the van with a cheap survival blanket over it, to reflect the sun (even though the van windows are tinted). I ve been putting the survival blanket over it, in the AAR also, lately, making sure not to block the side with the fan and intake.
 
 I usually plug it in, in the house, 24 hours before leaving on a trip. It MUST be packed with already chilled items. It won t cool down warm or room temp. items. While pre-cooling, I put in one of those large " blue ice"  packs to help with the cooling. I usually keep one of those in there for the trip also.
 
 I actually like it for produce. Sometimes, in our 3-way frige in the camper, my produce will freeze. So when we have hook ups, I put the produce and drinks in the Power Chill. If dry camping, I ll use it to store drinks only, because I can always add ice to the drinks if the cooler gets warm.
 
 It has, on two occassions, frosted over. All I ve done is empty it and leave it open for a while to melt the bit of frost off, drain and clean it, then I plug it in to chill again and refill the best I can. It works better when we are camping with hook ups (obviously).
 
 It doesn t hold tons, but I manage to get quite a bit into it and we ve found it to be handy. We ve never used it standing on one end, like a frige, but you can use it that way also.
 
 It s not terribly loud when it runs. Don t leave it plugged into a car when the car isn t running- you can run a battery low that way.
 
 Overall we like it.[]

[brainpause]

 Bren95
We got one at the Coleman outlet store in Pigeon Forge. We LOVE ours! It really does save on ice.
 
 We also have the transformer so we can plug it in at home or in the camper to 120 volts (although I recently installed a 12Volt outlet in the camper).
 
 There are some on here who don t like it for one reason or another, but we really have enjoyed having ours.
 
 Larry

[chasd60]

 Bren95
I got this one http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=4138&dept=4125&product_id=895623&path=0%3A4125%3A4138%3A5164 and it works great. I used it a few weeks back when I went on a tenting trip around the US. Got tent sites with electric and plugged it right in.
 
 When I am not using it for camping I have made it an addition to my bedroom and put bottles of water in it for those dry nights. In a cool environment such as my bedroom, it will actually freeze the water after several days.

[whitestar505]

 Bren95
Bren95
 
 
    If this will give you any ideas, I will sell you mine. If you want to save on ice get the extreme cooler by Coleman. It will help, and keep the food cold. The electric ones have a hard time keeping up with the heat. They keep things cool maybe. If you leave it on for eight hours on in the car, there is a chance it will not start. Some people like them but they just don t keep the stuff cold enough for me.[]

[PopupSgt]

 Bren95
We also have one that is made by Igloo (sold by Sam s Club), I like the Igloo one better than the coleman one due to the side handles slide down inside the unit and the latch to open the door is a swivel push type that is secure.  
 Here is the picture of mine from Igloo www.igloocoolers.com/products.asp?c=1 ours is the 40qt it s wonderful to place drinks in and the DW places her frozen food in the cooler & the food stays frozen.  
 I also had the transformer to plug the fridge in the house or the camper so I can pre-cool it prior to departure day as you would do w/ your RV fridge.  I also purchased a 12vdc splitter to plug the 12v plug to the cooler in and I have an additional 12v receptacle to charge my cell phone with utilization of the cooler s transformer.
 We also have an Igloo Ultra Cold 50 which is equivalent to the Coleman brand.  We have definetely used alot less ice and keep drink ice in the thermoelectric cooler for use. []

[gsm x2]

 Bren95
We use the Igloo version and consider it one of our best camping investments--especially when using a site with electricity.
 
 Just keep it plugged in when traveling, the unload some stuff into the fridge, but drinks and such remain in the unit just outside the door.
 
 We ordered two of the Coleman models, but both had loud fans before the warrenty was out, so we returned them.
 
 You have an offer for a slightly used one for sale....I suggest you check on the price and then make a choice.
 
 gsm x2

[kathybrj]

 Bren95
Our fan seemed loud this past weekend when I plugged our Power Chill in, so I removed the two Phillips head screws from that side of the cooler and adjusted the styrofoam insert. No fan noise after that.
 
 The noise ours was making wasn t mechanical. This is our second season with it and no problems- yet. Knock on wood...
 
 

[Civil_War_Buff]

 gsm x2

 

ORIGINAL:  gsm x2
 
 We ordered two of the Coleman models, but both had loud fans before the warrenty was out, so we returned them.
 
 
 gsm x2
 

 
 Funny thing about the TE coolers is you just never know....we had an Igloo before we got the Coleman and returned it for the same reason...too noisy! We switched to a Coleman and are very happy with it,  wouldn t leave home without it (going camping that is).[]

[oldmoose]

 Bren95
We ve had an Igloo for many years and are very happy with it. Sometimes it gets noisy and then I take it apart, put it back together and low and behold it s quieter. The TE coolers don t work very well in hot weather and can freeze things if too cool. We froze our eggs on one trip.

[2manytoyz]

Old thread, I know, but still one of interest to some.

Thermoelectric coolers are great in that they have no moving parts, other than a fan.  They are not attitude dependent (turn them any direction).  Since they have no moving parts, the fan is the only part that can be heard.  They are often used in Military applications as they are VERY rugid.  The work very well in mild climates.  In extreme climates, a more extreme versions are available, but their power consumption goes way up.

The downsides... They are power pigs.  Don't hook one to a car battery overnight or it'll drain your battery.  They typically only cool to 30 degrees below ambient.  40 degrees if you believe the advertisement, and never measure it yourself.      So what ambient temperature do you plan on leaving your TE cooler?  Ourside, like an ice chest?  In Florida, it runs mid 90s during the day, mid 80s at night.  That means your cooler will run between 50-60 degrees typically, or 40-50 degrees ideally.  Ice runs 32 degrees, no matter the outside temperature.

Buying ice sucks the wallet dry.  Tends to get expensive on long trips.  When you come to camp in FL, take a look at the locals, and see what we're using.  I have 2 TE coolers myself.  Neither go with us on camping trips.  Been there, done that.  Luke warm milk gets a thumbs down from the boss, even if we are saving money on ice.

In the past I had a Dometic absobsion style refrigerator.  Worked very well, but took some time to get up to operating speed (hours).  It was very attitude dependent, and if operated off level, it could burn up.  Ran on 12V on the road, propane when parked.  Excellent for long term dry camping.  Alas, this sold with my first conversion van.

I also had a Norcold refrigertor that actually had a small compressor.  It worked the best of anything I've ever owned.  It would freeze the icebox coils in a minute, and was ready to use shortly thereafter.  It could be operated off level without issues.  It ran on 12V on the road, 110VAC when camping.  Excellent for long term camping with hookups.  Alas, this sold with my last conversion van.

If I had the money, I'd buy another Norcold unit.  But at $500+, I'm hard pressed to shell out the money.  For now, I'll stick with two Xtreme coolers and ice.

If TE coolers work well for you, you probably use them up North, or strictly indoors.  Too hot here.