How long will a residential chest freezer keep food safe while traveling?

[scottkeen]

My question: How long will frozen meat stay frozen or safe to eat in a disconnected residential chest freezer while traveling?


I have a 5.0 cu ft residential chest freezer (15A) and would like to take it with me (and the 120 lbs of meat) when I move 1,500 miles away with my RV from Virginia to Texas.



My Montana Mountaineer 347THT has a 3,410 lbs cargo capacity and it has a garage in which I plan to put both my residential chest freezer and motorcycle. The chest freezer weighs 70 lbs empty plus 120 lbs meat, the motorcycle weigh 426 lbs wet.


I drew everything to scale to see if it would fit, and yes, it would all fit!


I built my own motorcycle wheel chock to fit, so this should work fine.


I plan to stop every day on my trip at a campground and plug-in to electricity for 2 days. I'm figuring about 250 miles per day of travel, about 5-6 hours.


Perhaps I could also get a 12volt battery and a inverter just for the freezer to plug in to.


Edit: Just looked at the back of the freezer for electrical rating. It says "1.5 Amps, 115 Volts". A 400W inverter on a 12V battery should be able to run it, shouldn't it? It doesn't run continuously, cycles on for a short time, then cycles off for awhile.

[Carl n Susan]

I have a 3.5 cubic foot one I take in the summer. I plug it in every night and the freezer is fine. My friend has a 5 cubic foot he runs off of solar all winter while boondocking. He turns his off at night and then back on once the sun comes up. I have camped with him for 15 years and he has had no problem keeping it cold. It was his success that encouraged me to carry a residential freezer.

[beeje]

The same as it does at home when the power goes out. If you do not open it, I would not start to worry until after 48 hours. It should still be plenty cold and will refreeze once power has returned. The stuff in there may be stuck together though.

[Snowwolfe]

I moved a bunch of Buffalo meat from CO to TN when we moved. Outside temperatures were in the 70’s and the meat stayed in the freezer for 3 days with no power. Once we stood up the freezer and opened the door all the meat was rock hard. Plugged in the freezer and all was good.

[mhs4771]

We have a residential fridge running off a 1000 Watt inverter. To increase freezer space we bought on of the Dometic Portable Fridge/Freezer that will run on 12/24 VDC or 120 VAC. Was going to hook it up to the 12 VDC side, then changed my mind, add a new Duplex outlet in the Basement off the inverter and now run both fridge and freezer off the inverter when traveling.
But I do agree as long as everything is already frozen and if you don't open your freezer everything should be fine.

[scottkeen]

Thanks everyone. This is good news, sounds like as long as the meat is frozen already, that driving 6 hours between campgrounds should not be a problem -- even 2 days it sounds like!


I was looking into getting a 12V battery and 400W inverter to keep the freezer running, but sounds like I don't have to. In my searches, I ran across the DeWalt DCB1800B Power Station. Since I already have tons of DeWalt tools and batteries, I was looking into this. It takes four DeWalt 20V or 60V batteries and inverts them up to 1800 Watts 15 Amps AC (with 60V 9.0A batteries).


Someone with a camper did a review of using this with the DeWalt tool batteries to power his camper appliances.
https://youtu.be/6SQclaPAwcc

But it sounds like I don't really need this for the chest freezer.... but... I might not be able to resist getting it.

[Rondo]

Scott-- I wouldn't worry at all about carrying the freezer and meat and the bike in your unit. If you have the freezer plugged in for a day or two before you put the meat in it that is frozen and have it plugged into a regular 120 plug when you stop each night to run that meat will be as solid as when you left Virginia. If you really want to make sure you keep the unit cold and frozen you could purchase some Dry Ice and put it in the freezer when you put the meat in it but I frankly don't think you would need it. Good luck and safe travels.

[RMcNeal]

I have a 5 cu. ft. freezer that I used to carry to WV for hunting season. Drove straight home without plugging in, 16 hours. No problem with anything thawing. Just make sure it's all good and frozen before you leave and keep the lid closed. Should be fine.

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by scottkeen

My question: How long will frozen meat stay frozen or safe to eat in a disconnected residential chest freezer while traveling?


I have a 5.0 cu ft residential chest freezer (15A) and would like to take it with me (and the 120 lbs of meat) when I move 1,500 miles away with my RV from Virginia to Texas.

My Montana Mountaineer 347THT has a 3,410 lbs cargo capacity and it has a garage in which I plan to put both my residential chest freezer and motorcycle. The chest freezer weighs 70 lbs empty plus 120 lbs meat, the motorcycle weigh 426 lbs wet.


I drew everything to scale to see if it would fit, and yes, it would all fit!


I built my own motorcycle wheel chock to fit, so this should work fine.


I plan to stop every day on my trip at a campground and plug-in to electricity for 2 days. I'm figuring about 250 miles per day of travel, about 5-6 hours.


Perhaps I could also get a 12volt battery and a inverter just for the freezer to plug in to.


Edit: Just looked at the back of the freezer for electrical rating. It says "1.5 Amps, 115 Volts". A 400W inverter on a 12V battery should be able to run it, shouldn't it? It doesn't run continuously, cycles on for a short time, then cycles off for awhile.

You should be fine. That meat will take hours and hours to thaw. If you will be on shore power at night you have no worries what so ever. Just keep it closed until you are plugged in.