[Carren]

Is there any solar system that can provide enough power to run a caravan fridge and heat water, or it just impossible?

[Neddy]

It takes very little power to run a modern 12 volt compressor fridge (less than an Amp) so running one from solar power is easily accomplished.
Heating water is something else altogether, taking such a lot of power that running an electric water heater from solar panels is not really a practical proposition.

Neville.

[Nut17]

Our current caravan - (about to be sold) has 800 watts solar and a 300 ah LiFePO4 lithium battery. Over the months October to March we were able to heat our water using the 230 volt element (900 watt) and run the 3 way fridge on 230 volts using our 2000 watt PSW inverter. We only operated the fridge during daylight hours using this system and reverted to gas overnight and indevoured to have the battery full or close to full at sundown. So yes it can be done, and would be much easier with a modern compressor fridge. The hot water system in our Elddis has a small 8 litre tank and would take about 35 AH from the battery to heat to 70 deg. The solar would put that back in in less than an hour in the middle of the day.

[divxmaster]

As Chris has said, it can be done, but takes a serious system.
I am using only solar, but I have 600w of solar and 560AH of lithium.
Running a new efficient compressor fridge and a 10L 240v water heater.

Cheers,
Mike.

[scubadoo]

As Chris and Mike mentioned you will need some serious solar to achieve successful water heating.
Our 12V 600W heating element assists in warming our water reservoir during full sunshine summer days once the battery is full. About 1.5 hours to c70°C on a good day.
Fortunately the diesel heater keeps the water hot while heating the cabin during winter.

[Carren]

Thanks for the replies. I live in my caravan full time in a holiday park in South Canterbury. Was hoping this might be an option but doesn’t seem so. Camp is putting our rent up from $150/week to $180 is the New Year (power included) but if I was able to go onto an unpowered site it would only be $126/week. I could run fridge and hot water on gas but really don’t want to. I use gas for cooking only, and turn it off under the sink when finished. I hate the idea of having gas on all the time - scares me.

[Skiwi]

Thanks for the replies. I live in my caravan full time in a holiday park in South Canterbury. Was hoping this might be an option but doesn’t seem so. Camp is putting our rent up from $150/week to $180 is the New Year (power included) but if I was able to go onto an unpowered site it would only be $126/week. I could run fridge and hot water on gas but really don’t want to. I use gas for cooking only, and turn it off under the sink when finished. I hate the idea of having gas on all the time - scares me.

You could meet your goals with only a modest investment in solar if you swap out your gas fridge for an electric one.

With 500W we can run everything in our bus (microwave, induction cook top, TV Fridge and lights) - except our hot water.

For the hot water we use gas and turn it on for an hour in the morning when we get up, this covers showers and breakfast dishes. It remains warm enough to do the lunch dishes. It's then turned off until dinner time when we switch it on for half an hour for dinner dishes. (That way you wouldn't need to have the gas on all the time alleviating your fears of constantly on gas)

We use a diesel for heating.

Cheers
Skiwi

[Carren]

Many thanks!