(Thank you again to reader RH for writing this and taking photos of your unit.)
So honestly, when I think of a mini-fridge, I invariably flash back to the Bud Light commercial from 2002 and the robot fight to the death. It’s a classic in my mind, and back then Bud Light wasn’t so… umm… political, to be polite.
Anyway, I was in my Sams’ Club yesterday, and I stumbled across this version.
Plus, it was on clearance for $12 – basically half off of the original price.
Normally, I wouldn’t consider this, as I didn’t think I had a need for it, until I thought about medicine. Our son-in-law is diabetic and lives in a far away state. For them to get home to us is roughly a 27 hour drive. Additionally, as we all know, medicine degrades faster when exposed to heat. So I figured I’d give it a try for the price.
The unit overall is approximately 12” long x 8”wide x 10” high and can run on either AC or DC power. The stated power usage is very minimal, as the back panel indicates:
I know it’s hard to see, but on AC power, it pulls 48W at 0.7 amps. Slightly less on DC power, only 40W at 3.3 amps. It comes with power adapters for both AC and DC, making it easy to use in the car. This is an extremely low draw. But does it work?
We keep our house at 72℉ this time of year because the boss doesn’t like to be cold, and frankly, neither do I. I set the mini-fridge up on the kitchen counter, turned it on and went back to work. After probably 90 minutes I wandered back out to check it, felt cold inside. I placed a fridge/freezer thermometer inside and went back to work for awhile.
When I next came out to the kitchen, the fridge was down to 27℉ inside, well below the ambient temp of 72. So, it does cool pretty well. I was impressed that it was able to drop 45℉ off of ambient. Obviously, 27℉ is below freezing, so you’d have to watch for that if you’re storing medication but with some mass inside the fridge, and if you were in and out of it, that shouldn’t be a problem. The same thing applies if the ambient temperature is higher, as these types of fridges cool to approximately 40-45℉ below ambient.
So, for $12 + tax, I have an AC/DC powered small refrigerator that can keep drinks, food or medicine cold with a very low power usage. Match one of these up with an EcoFlow or similar solar generator, and you have a solid option on the go.
I will also comment that this unit is extremely quiet and is almost inaudible. You can feel a slight breeze coming out of the rear fan, but you really can’t hear anything. I think it was well worth the minor investment.
Sam’s Club shows them on their website at the clearance price but won’t ship them, so you’ll have to check your local club or check Walmart to see if they have them for the same price. I bought 2, as 1 is none and 2 is 1. I hope this is helpful to you!