Note: A cooler full of ice is all you will need to satisfy the health department in the vast majority of places, however some require “mechanical” refrigeration. Be sure to get a unit that can cool down to freezing no matter what the outside temperature is. Some units can only cool a certain amount below outside temperature. This does you no good on a ninety degree day. If you need to use a fridge, Dometic makes great cooler shaped refrigerator/freezers. Here is a link.
Hi Steve, my health department is telling me I need a refrigerator to keep the dogs at about 41 degrees.
How do you get around this or do you have a recommendation on fridges?
Hi Leo,
Most of the time you can satisfy this requirement with a cooler-size electric refrigerator. Be sure to get one that is guaranteed to keep contents below 41 degrees no matter the outside temperature. Stay away from the “thermo-electric” cooler/warmer type that only keep contents 30 or 40 degrees below the outside temperature. These will not work for your application. Dometic makes good electric freezer/refrigerators for our application. Here is a link to some on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Doutdoor-recreation&field-keywords=dometic+refrigerator
Thank you how do you recommend supplying the electricity to these? USing the lawn battery for the pump or running a generator? Do you have a page on this?
You can run it off of a deep cycle battery and a power inverter, or by using a generator. I do not have a page on this but it is very simple. The deep cycle battery and power inverter can both be purchased at any auto parts store. Much quieter and cheaper than a generator I might add.
Hi Steve
My HD is requiring me to have a “commercial grade NSF-certified refrigerator” which is both a lot bigger and a lot more expensive than a simple college or RV-type fridge. Where and how would you suggest I augment the plans to include this much more complicated requirement?
Hi Jake,
Just make the cart body longer. You can still use the same trailer frame, just let the rear stick out beyond the back of the trailer frame. As long as it balances slightly tongue down you will be fine.
Hi Steve,
San Diego County requires an ANSI or NSF refrigerator, Any Ideas where I can fit a small one on the cart, and where I can view a selection of them. Even if it means a small generator and stand alone refrigeration unit. But I much prefer it being on cart. I still want an ice cooler as well
Hi Joe,
You can build the cart body a couple of feet longer. Hang the extra length off the back of the standard trailer. The body is strong enough that you don’t need extra bracing. This will give you room to mount a small onboard refrigerator. Just make sure to arrange the fridge and your water tanks so that the cart balances slightly tongue down.
Just wanted to let everyone know that they should read the health code thouroughly in counties that say it has to be an NSF refrigerator. San Diego told me the same thing, and NSF refrigerators are like $700 and up.
But after reading the health code, its says NSF or other ANSI certifications such as CSA, ITL,or ETL. I found a very inexpensive refrigerator ($100) that wasn’t NSF but was all the other 3 CSA, ETL, and CSA even though the health code only requires one. I politely showed the Health inspector his own requirements, and poimted out that the code says NSF or CSA, ITL, ETL.The KEYWORD here is OR , not and. I also explained that an NSF refrigerator would cause some financial hardship, and asked himto k eep in mind that Im just steaming precooked hot dogs. He had no problem with it.
Hopefully this will be helpful to some of your members
Joe
Right on Joe. A good relationship with your health inspector will pay dividends for years to come. Great job!
Nothing like reading someone else’s post to save a ton of money. LOL. Good San Diego County Stuff.
1) Would you run the above refrigerator off of the deep cycle type battery/inverter?
2) Would you need more than 1 battery or a stronger, longer lasting one to accommodate it running for a full day?
You can either run it off of a generator, or a deep cycle battery/inverter setup. Here is a link to calculate run time:
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/run-refrigerator-inverter-49672.html
Oh Joe, Joe, Joe. If only you were still on this site. Being from San Diego County as well, (Vista, CA) I have spent hours trying to find what you found. The NSF one I found that would fit on the cart is $800. If only I had a way to contact you.
At least you have given me some hope. Thanks!
I have the general layout of the cart figured out but the item that’s stumping me is whether to poke the cooler thru the counter or not. I understand that it is handy to have all my dogs, etc right there but I end up wasting room inside the cooler since I need to lift it off the floor and I lose all my counter top space. I was planning on cooler mounted on a slide out shelf that I could access when I needed it and put it away when I don’t. What do the veteran slingers think?
Slide outs are great.
Love your work Steve. I was wondering what size fridge would be adequate? I see qt sizes but I really don’t know how to translate that into a full day of storage.
It all depends on how much product you need to store. A two hour lunch gig requires a lot less than a full day festival.