Category Archives: Coolers and Refrigerators

Removing the Factory Cooler

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Space is at a premium in a Eurovan Weekender. When you stop for the night, there is a lot of loading and unloading that happens. Right from the start we decided not to use the factory cooler. It’s located under the jump seat behind the driver. At first we used the space inside the cooler to store miscellaneous items. That proved to be problematic, because to access this area you had to raise the seat cushion and open the top of the cooler. That got me thinking about the possibility of replacing the entire cooler with something that would allow us to use it for storage more conveniently.

The first thing I found out was that the removal of the cooler was simple. In fact, it’s even documented in the VW owner’s manual (Section 3.1.1, page 91). All you had to do is unplug it (ours was already unplugged) and slide it out.

There's considerable space available after the factory cooler is removed
Factory cooler after removal

There was a surprising amount of space available without the cooler. The dimensions were 10 1/4″ H x 16 7/8″ W x  x 17 1/2″ D. I started looking for some kind of storage box that I could put in there. What I wanted was something with an open top and a handle that would make it easy to slide in and out.

After much searching on the Internet, I found a tote box at Wayfair that was a good fit and was gray in color. It’s made by Rebrilliant and is a gray plastic storage tote. Here is a link to the Wayfair listing. The tote measures in at 8.5” H x 14.75” W x 20.75” D. That’s a bit deeper than needed, but it fits fine.

Here’s a shot of the tote with some of our junk in it.

One thing that I found out was that I had to add something to keep this tote in place while driving. Just starting from a stop would send it moving backwards in the cabin. I noticed that there was a metal brace left in place on the floor at the front of the opening. I looked around my shop and found a piece of aluminum in an L shape that was 1″ in width. I cut a piece off to fit under that brace and simply slid it in place. It’s a nice snug fit and serves perfectly as a stop for the tote when driving around.

The tote slides in place and is easily removed by lifting the front and sliding it back. Here’s a photo of the tote with the bracket keeping it secure.

Refrigerator Alternative to Built-In Weekender Cooler

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The Eurovan Weekender comes with a built-in cooler box located under the seat directly behind the driver’s seat. This cooler is a 12 volt unit powered by the auxiliary battery. It is turned on by plugging its cable into the receptacle at the back of the driver’s seat. Once plugged in, the cooler runs all the time, regardless of whether the engine is running or not. We’ve never used the builtin cooler box. It is way too small for our road trips and it is cumbersome to open and close.

When we first got our Weekender we already had a portable 12 volt cooler that we had been using with our previous vehicle. We stored this in the cabin area while driving and outside when we were camped. Because it was a cooler, it worked like the built-in cooler: it ran all the time and it cooled the interior to a fixed amount below the ambient temperature. If it was really hot outside this meant the interior contents were barely cool; if it was really cold outside the interior contents could be frozen (that actually happened to us). One other issue with the cooler was that it consumed a ton of electricity from the auxiliary battery because it ran all the time.

We wanted a better solution and started looking for a 12 volt refrigerator. We settled on a Dometic CFX28 – a 28 quart unit that is one of the smallest in their line. We chose it because it was big enough to store our stuff for road trips and small enough to carry in and out of the cabin area. Plus, being a refrigerator, we can set it to keep the interior at a constant temperature and it only runs when it need to cool. The electrical consumption is also much less than our old cooler. It uses 0.75 amp-hours per hour, which means that our 61 amp hour auxiliary battery could run it for over 3 days without recharging. It will also run off of AC as well as DC, giving us more flexibility in camping areas with electricity.

Dometic CFX28 refrigerator
The Dometic CFX28 refrigerator: MUCH better than the built-in cooler box!

The biggest challenge we had with the Dometic was figuring where to plug it in while camping. There are three 12 volt outlets powered by the auxiliary battery. Two in the cabin area under the rear bench seat – one on the left and one on the right. We use the one on the right for when we are driving. There is also one at the rear of the van on the right side. This one is perfect for when we are camping because we clear out the cabin area to pull out the bed. You can close the rear door over the power cable without any problem, so you can leave the refrigerator running while you’re sleeping.

Refrigerator power cable in rear outlet
Refrigerator power cable installed in the rear 12 volt outlet

There was one big lesson we learned while trying out the Dometic refrigeator: can’t use 12 volt extension cords with it. The voltage drop from one of these extension cords was enough to cause problems with the Dometic. When we use the power cord that came with the refrigerator and plug that into any of the three outlets in the van, the unit works flawlessly. We really appreciate having the Dometic when we are camping at a site without power. It works great!

Photo of Dometic refrigerator plugged in at campsite
Refrigerator plugged in at campsite. The rear door can be closed safely over the cable.