Engel MT80 Questions & Answers

Yes they have a habit of having a high duty cycle I suppose due to the fact that there is one motor. The fridge during its working cycle can be noisy and cuts in and out frequently especially if you have the fridge freezer on a low setting. I did not like the overall cooling design of the freezer cooling the fridge part. So I sold the fridge and got another dual fridge that has the two seperate cabinets with there own thermostats.

It maybe a couple of things. 1/. If the whole fridge is not cooling down, ie the freezer part as well as the fridge part then you can put this down to the control thermostat will need to be looked at and replaced. Engel have a good network of repair places around Australia. 2/. The Engel MT 80 has been designed with one motor and this principally works with the freezer part of the unit, so when it gets to its’ predetermined temp of about -2c, a small fan in the fridge partican will start to move the cold air into smaller fridge part so it can get to 3-4c. So if the freezer is not reaching it desired temp then the whole fridge will not be cooling and the motor will keep on running. It seems it’s a visit to a authorised Engel repair shop and they will be able to fix the issue.

Exactly - and this from PeterG : The fridge part in the combi will then operate between 2 and 5c..which for when you are in the Australian Outback or Tropics at and ambient of between 34 to 40c ...is still too high..so drinks will not be cold..the soft butter will suffer..vegies not cold..

2-5deg too high??? this about standard for all fridges so how much lower do you want it to go? It sounds like the freezer temp control is set wayyy to high i.e. too close to 0, rather up towards -18 which is a std freezer temp.

Nice...OK, I'll bite...laughable comment...really. When you are in the tropics, foodstuffs go off very quickly especially if fridge cabinet is not cold enough..below 2c as bacteria grows very quickly and in some cases, inadvertently it can be life threatening. The Engel NEVER got to below 2c in the fridge compartment..even when the freezer was set on its' lowest setting. The lowest the fridge cabinet got was 4c and that was at the bottom..up top 5c.. In some cases I was throwing some foodstuffs out because it was starting to deteriorate after 24 hours. So I rang Engle and had a very good conversation with one of their service technicians over a period of 30 minutes. They are aware about this problem..especially if the Freezer partician is not stacked properly and foodstuffs are hard up against the partrician fan..a gap of 10mm-15mm must be made to allow the cold air to transfer from the freezer through the partician over to the fridge cabinet. So the question has to be asked..how do you stop food moving around in the freezer so it does not get pushed up against partician fan? Then when the location has high ambient and humidity for long periods of time ..the freezer to maintain the lowest setting will cycle quite frequently thus the noise from the motor working overtime to keep the freezer cold. Engle believe in having seperate thermostats for each cabinet is not warranted and that is their decision. I will stand by my comment.. The 80ltr dual zone fridge from Engle is over priced when compared too products in the leisure market today and has a design flaw that if not managed properly could allow food not to be properly cold. There are other 12v 80ltr fridges in the leisure market that cost considerably less, have quieter running, have a better cooling design for both freezer and food cabinets for less duty cycle plus do not rely on their marketing spiel and overhyped reputation.

So.............buy one

It could be mate but problem is the fridge side will be warmer then freezer wether you can get the balance required is a good question

Gday mate the Engel combi is built to be used as a fridge on side and freezer the other the center divider cannot be removed. You could possibly adjust the freezer temp but that would ultimately increase the temp in the fridge side and may not be viable

G'day mate i had mine running for 3 days off the dual batteries in my colorado and still had plenty enough to start my engine I have two 1000cc batteries setup in my rig. So you should be fine. Providing you don't have multiple other 12 volt items continously drawing power also.

Its set to reliably deliver 2-5 deg Celsius. It is capable of maintaining the freezer and delivering beers that feel like they're off ice at high ambient temps.