Ferry travel
Hi we're of on our first trip to Europe soon all sites etc booked but just wanted to know what most caravaners do regarding leaving the fridge switched on and connected to the car whilst onboard, does it drain the car battery much of should i disconnect, any advice would be helpful. Thanks
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Your fridge will only work from the car battery when the engine is running. Otherwise, it would soon drain the battery.
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A fridge will draw 10 amps which would flatten a leisure battery very quickly if it was allowed to still be drawing current from it even when the engine was not running.
Just keep the fridge door shut & it'll stay cold enough till you start up to drive off the ferry. 😊
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Hi, As said so long as your 12v wiring is correctly connected the relays cuts off the supply when the engine is turned off.
However, if you would feel more relaxed by disconnecting then just remember to reconnect before disembarking!
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Most experienced travellers leave their fridge plugged in - but make sure they fill all the spaces in the fridge with useful stuff which is frozen - such as bacon, small packs of orange, apple, or other juices, a plastic bottle of milk, some butter, cheese, sausages - all of which freeze without spoling. These can be packed into all the small spaces left and help to keep everything else cold whilst the fridge is switched off. As they defrost you can leave them in the fridge to use up during the course of the holiday. Put a few sheets of paper towel on each shelf to absorb any excess moisture. I always line my fridge shelves with paper towel anyway to help keep it clean and stain free, but a few extra sheets whilst travelling keeps it dry too.
Obviously this is more important on longer crossings where the fridge is switched off for longer, but it's equally useful to do it to keep things cold whilst you're travelling and the fridge is running from the battery rather than from the hook-up.2 -
ValDa has given an excellent answer for those who really want to take food to France - but I take next to nothing as it seems to me like taking coals to Newcastle - though I do bring quite a lot of food from France back home with me.
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Still puzzled !
Tens of thousands of people fly on package holidays without taking frozen food - even though many will be self catering in apartments, campsites or holiday houses - but it beats me why folk with caravans and motorhomes always want to take frozen food with them.
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Simply, because we can. We love trying all the local food but we do prefer British bacon and a particular brand of sausages for the barbecue. In six weeks we like a change from barbecuing sometimes and then a home cooked bolognaise or roast chicken makes a change, and as David says, if you are doing long days travelling it is very nice to take a ready prepared meal out of the fridge.
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We usually eat in, rather than out in Cafés and Restaurants, and cook our own meals.
If you've ever bought food from Supermarkets abroad you'd know there is a vast difference in the products they sell to our own.
Bacon, chicken, orange drinks, most sausage and even milk taste completely different.
We also stock up our fridge/freezer to avoid shopping for as long as possible as we head deep into France.
At least a few days of salad, vegetables and milk are on-board until we find the time to spend shopping.
We don't use Campsites and are often in places miles from shops so having supplies with us is essential in the earlier days of our holiday.
We carry other items such as our favourite teabags, Weetabix for breakfast in case we can't find a boulangerie early in the morning and decent British cheese.
A full tank of fresh water, a topped up gas system and a full fridge/freezer and we can merge into France and be lost from the crowds for as long as we like.
Everyone likes a different type of holiday and the way we do it suits us fine - it may not be what you like but that's not my worry.
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Back to question. On short crossing/tunnel don't disconnect anything. However, on any crossing over a couple of hours I unplug the electrics - I know the power to the fridge should be off, but just in case
. Try not to open the fridge door before the crossing. Yes, essential you reconnect but as I check that the lights etc are working before I leave the ferry I would realise if I had forgotten to connect! Even on the 6 hr crossing the fridge stays cool enough. On a 24 hour crossing a few frozen bottles and a frozen first night meal ensure fridge is kept cool enough.2 -
Hi everyone and thanks if the fantastic replies, just shows what a great caravanning community there is out there. We're actually of to Germany and Austria home of the wurst but will have some norfolk chipilatos and bacon will us for our first couple of breakfasts then it's onto the local food. Thanks to everyone.
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I hear there is an extremely viscious shark called Tom married to Sue who patrols the Atlantic
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Whilst it is very embarrassing, yes it did happen to me, if your vehicle wont start you will find that the crew are more than keen to help you and get you off so they can start loading!
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I always used to unplug the grey socket just to be on the safe side.
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I always wound the jockey wheel down to take a bit of the load off the tower and make it all a bit more rigid in case it got choppy.
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