There’s no shortage of odds and ends, doo dad’s and what’s its we fit to our rigs, all with their own unique story and purpose. But some bits of 4X4 kit are a little more special than that. In fact, the Engel range of fridges may as well be considered family heirlooms. For a comparable price as their competitors, the Engel range of fridges have a track record 60 years long, with many of those early fridges still bouncing around the tracks in the back of 4X4s to this day. To find out what gives Engel their staying power, we sat down with tech-guru Peter from Engel, here’s what he had to say.
Dan: Righto Peter, let’s cut right to the chase, what do you do at Engel and how long have you been doing it?
Peter: I’ve been with Engel for 29 years. I’ve worn a lot of hats over the years, everything from helping set up the business to sales rep., State Manager for several states, looking after our national accounts like Kenworth, etc., I’ve worked in our customer service division and done a lot of staff training internally as well as external retail training. Yeah, just about everything.
D: For those who have been living under a rock for the last 60 years, can you give us a little bit of background info on Engel and Sawafuji?
P: We’re a wholly owned subsidiary of Sawafuji Electric Co. in Japan. Sawafuji is a very, very old Japanese company from the early 1900s. They manufacture starter motors and alternators for brands like Hino and Caterpillar and manufacture power generators large and small for many major companies throughout the world. We manufacture and are involved in the development of hybrid vehicles, currently developing hybrid trucks.
We purchased the concept of the swing motor compressor in the mid-50s. We developed that into a refrigerator, and that hit the Australian shores in early 1962 as a product now sold worldwide.
D: Let’s address the elephant in the room, what is it about Engel that has given you guys such good staying power in the market?
P: Oh, look. We tend to be very laid back with what we do. There are a lot of guys out there that really talk a big game and make a lot of noise about it. We’re not out there in what we do. I think that’s why we’re such a good fit with Pat because he’s the same. We let our product do the talking.
We hear numerous times our customers say, “Oh, I’ve got my dad’s fridge”,” I’ve got my granddad’s fridge”, or “I’ve just given my son my 1996 model because I bought an anniversary model”. This sort of comment we hear our customers talk about it. This multi-generational aim that we’ve been talking about for years is not something that is a marketing gimmick. It’s what our philosophy and mission has been over the decades.
We aren’t the cheapest fridge on the market, but I can tell you, I still believe, after all these years, that it’s still the best value for money out there because you’re going to pass it on to your children. That’s what makes us different to everything else on the market.
D: There are a lot of different style fridges on the market these days, drawer fridges, chest fridges, and even the upright front opening ones these days. Is one style better than another?
P: Gee, this is always a big question. It changes over generations. It changes over decades. Early in the 2000s and late 1990s, it was a big thing where everyone was putting in front opening uprights into 4X4s. But then it seemed to diminish and died off a bit and everyone was buying chest models. But in the last probably two or three years, it’s been all the go again.
I don’t know what drives it. Maybe it’s some of the manufacturers who put the Engel fridge in the back of a canopy, but at the moment, the 4X4 market the front opening uprights are really the flavour of the month, a lot of the guys are putting them in. We have five different models. We’ve got one that’s got a freezer in the top. Then we’ve got one that’s all freezer, but you can use that as a fridge. The ladies love the upright, they feel more at home using that than they do digging into a 40-litre or 60 litre chest type.
The draw fridge has just been re-released into the 4X4 and caravan industries too. That fridge has been the domain of trucks for quite a few years. We made it for Kenworth, and it spent a lot of time off the market because we couldn’t keep up with the truck industry. We’ve now been able to release it into the 4X4 industry at the show last weekend, it was really, very well-received. Between the upright and that draw fridge, there will be a bit of a generational change here in what we see in 4x4s.
Obviously, our chest fridge freezer is still our main fridge, and it’s still the absolute thing that’s going to last you for 20 years. But it’s not just that one chest style fridge freezer that everyone knows and loves. There are more layers to our product range than that.
All our fridges are powered by the world-famous Sawafuji swing motor. They’ve all got the same motor, and essentially the same electronics. The evaporator, which is your cold plate, is different shape. Your condenser is different as well because of the different fridge shape. But the way they work is identical. You’ve got your dial knob, you turn your knob to the right, it gets colder. You turn it to the left; it gets warmer and turns off. They all operate the same, just different configurations.
Dan: One of the things we see people talking about constantly is Engel not having a dual zone model. Are they really that important or is it just more marketing?
P: That’s a good question. I asked someone the other day, why don’t Westinghouse or Kelvinator or Samsung do a dual zone fridge? Why do they do a dedicated fridge and a freezer? I can’t turn my freezer into a fridge or my fridge into a freezer at home. The reason is, that the trade-off is efficiency and increased current draw. Our 57 litre and 75 litre Combis are super-efficient and very economical to run.
There’s always going to be a trade-off with something when you make a flexible product. And that’s the reason why at the moment our engineers are staying away from it. Because if you do it, suddenly current draw, which is 3.6 amps, will increase. I like the idea, but I’m not prepared to have to get double the size of my solar panels and double the size of my battery bank, to have the convenience of a dual zone. I’ve used our Engle 60 litre combi or 80 litre Combi for years now and I’ve never needed it. I think they’re a good idea, but I just think there are too many negatives, not in the product itself, but negatives in the power consumption and efficiency.
Dan: You mentioned before the compressors, or swing motor, in the Engel which are known as your secret weapon. What is it exactly about them that makes them so special?
P: It’s only got one moving part. The piston vibrates up and down 50 times a second and compresses the gases through the evaporator. The evaporator doesn’t make things cold. It draws the heat out of the food or the drink you’ve got in there, goes around the back of the fridge, that heat disperses, and it all circulates again.
So, it’s a very simple system and a very complex system. Many have tried to copy with zero success.
And because of one moving part, it uses minimal power. We’re talking an 80-litre fridge that draws less power than some of the smaller, cheaper fridges on the market.
So yeah, that’s what makes it number one. It’s got one moving part and that’s what sets it apart. There is very little to fail and it uses minimal power. 3.6amp maximum current draw on an 80L fridge? Geez, no one else can do that.
Dan: Let’s end things on a slightly more controversial note. What’s one big misconception you see in the 4X4 industry and how would you like to address it?
P: Honestly, I hear some of the biggest fibs, I suppose, or misconceptions or whatever you want to call it out there. Oh, so-and-so said their fridge only draws 1A, or their fridge only draws 1.2A on average. The compliance plate on a refrigerator is what the fridge draws. The compliance plate is your friend when you calculate what battery and solar you will need.
You can talk all the averages you like, but are the averages worked out in Tasmania or in Darwin? You fill a fridge with freshly caught barramundi that’s come out of the water in Tinnaroo and that barramundi’s 22 degrees as it comes out of the water, and you stick it in the fridge, you’ve got to pull that down to freezing, that fridge is possibly going to run for 24hrs.
When someone says it draws 1A, you go, oh, that’s pretty good. I need a smaller solar system. I need a smaller battery. I don’t have to go with 4 solar panels or 150Ah battery. I can do what I want to do if my fridge only draws 1A. And then they get stuck, or their food goes off or their car battery goes flat. It’s important that people understand, read the compliance plate. That’s what it’ll tell you. Don’t listen to me, don’t listen to anyone else in the market, don’t listen to the spin that’s put on it by others. Read the compliance plate.
