Cooler not Frreezer

[Maine]

I'm looking at replacing my old Norcold NRF 30. I've looked at Dometic and Engel. I don't see when I am going to need the freezer. Is there a company that makes a AC/DC cooler only?

[jlrftype7]

While probably NOT what you're looking for, Coolers that use the simple Pelter Effect assembly/mechanism for dropping the temp inside the cooler body are available, but draw some electrical power to do that[ power hungry]. They have limits on how cold they can get your stuff inside the cooler, but don't have the complexity of a true Refrig.
I used one for a year or two with short off-roading trips- You need to chill cans and other items to lower the effort of the Cooler before putting them in for best efficiency.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Howesight]

If you want to have a compressor fridge, which your Norcold is/was, then it's going to have an evaporator that chills well below 32F degrees. Most 12V units incorporate that evaporator into a 4-sided or 3-sided enclosure that acts as a freezer, but in marine applications, where custom-made fridges and freezers are common, some folks use a flat or two-sided evaporator for use solely as a fridge.

Here is a link to an example:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/dometic--coolmatic-...cordNum=17

You can see how the example above is designed to stand off from the fridge wall against which it will be mounted, to encourage air flow behind the evaporator.

In our rig, if we don't have food items or ice in the freezer, then we put a large cold pack in there which cools when we drive and helps keep the fridge cold later through its thermal mass. Win-win.

There are a lot of cheaper compressor fridges now on the market, so you will have a lot of choice.
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'86 Syncro Westy SVX