Vitrifrigo C51i Fridge Freezer Review (Vitrifrigo VF51)

This review covers the pros and cons of the Vitrifrigo C51i 12v Fridge Freezer (Vitrifrigo VF51).  There seems to be very little information about this fridge online, so I am going to provide the most comprehensive review anywhere on the web.  We bought this fridge with our own money.

Our Vitrifrigo VF51 fridge freezer is installed in our campervan kitchen.  We use it 24/7 running on 12v DC from our campervan electrical system.  We thinks it’s a really great value fridge for vanlife or mobile living (RV’s, boats, trucking, etc.)  This review comes over a year and a half of full-time living with two people using this fridge daily.

Vitrifrigo C51i vs Vitrifrigo VF51 Confusion?

This fridge gets listed with two different names online, which is somewhat confusing.  On the Vitrifrigo website, it is listed as Vitrifrigo C51i, but in the manual it says “Model: VF51”.  So you may see it under either name depending on the seller.  But to be clear, they are the same fridge.  I am going to use both names to ensure that people searching for info about this fridge will find it no matter which name they use.

This post may contain affiliate links. Disclosure policy.

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Vitrifrigo C51i Fridge (Vitrifrigo VF51)

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Price

The price is the primary reason that we purchased the Virtrifrigo VF51.  Pricing seems to be between $500 and $700.  That price is a great value for what you get.  A Danfoss compressor fridge with a freezer, made by a reputable company.

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Features | Vitrifrigo C51i Fridge

High-tech “bells and whistles” are probably one area that Vitrifrigo cuts costs.  The Vitrifrigo C51i is relatively simple in design.  The compressor is built into the upper rear edge of the fridge.

The total internal volume is 50.9 liters (1.8 cubic feet).

And then the freezer compartment is just a metal shell that is not insulated from the rest of the fridge.  Because that is precisely how the fridge works.  The freezer shell is the evaporator that actually cools the entire fridge.  The freezer section itself is pretty small.  But most fridge/freezers are significantly more expensive, so we don’t complain.

There is a single knob inside the fridge that controls the temperature.  You cannot set to a specific temperature, but just a “Min” > “Max” range (Max = coldest).  Some more expensive brands have a digital display that allows users to set a specific temperature (41F).  However, some reviews report that their fridges don’t hold their set temperature perfectly anyway.

So a simple temperature knob is sufficient, once you get a feel for the resulting temperatures.  We usually just keep the knob set right in the middle between “Min” and “Max” (maybe turn it up a little in the Summer).

And while all that looks good on paper, it’s just talk.  So how durable and reliable is this fridge?

Durability And Reliability

There are generally two areas of durability/reliability to worry about; the compressor itself, and everything else.

The “everything else” category includes the fridge compartment itself, latches, handles, shelves, etc.  We find that the materials used are of adequate quality.  Most of the fridge is made of plastic, with metal components in a few key places.  The middle shelf, door railing, freezer compartment, hinges, and door latch mechanism are all made of metal.

The one weak spot is the freezer door.  It’s a very thin piece of plastic, and the nubs that “latch” to keep the fridge closed are not very durable (though gravity keeps the door closed anyway).  And the freezer door does not provide any kind of seal.  And actually, the rear of the freezer has some separation from the back wall, where air can transfer.  But the fact the the freezer compartment isn’t completely sealed from the fridge section and the freezer door has no insulation prevents the fridge and freezer from achieving a greater separation of temperatures.

However, it may be that this is simply part of the design, since the metal shell of the freezer is what cools the entire unit.  I can’t say for sure.  However, we do find that this fridge does a fine job of keeping the freezer and fridge at proper temperatures.  With the one exception of the top shelf (right next to the freezer) being a little too cold for some items.

As for the compressor, it’s obviously the most important part.  The Secoup Danfoss compressor is a benchmark product that is used by many of the most respected fridge brands.  It works as advertised with decent energy efficiency.  However our fridge did break one time.

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Warranty

Vitrifrigo has a 2-year warranty on their fridges.  Not the longest in the industry, but definitely better than the 1 year or less warranty from the cheap Chinese fridge companies.  And we can vouch for their warranty, because we had to use it when our fridge broke.  Here’s the story.

One Bad Break

In May 2020, our fridge broke and stopped working about one year after purchase.  HOWEVER, there are some crucial pieces of evidence to properly tell the story.  The part of the fridge that broke was the copper condenser coil.  It snapped from driving an exceptionally rough dirt road.

But not just any rough dirt road, I’m talking about Hole-In-The-Rock-Road in Utah.  It’s a 55-mile dirt road with what can only be described as RELENTLESS WASHBOARD.  Not the shallow kind of washboard that if travelled at the right speed results in a gentle hum.  It’s the deep, bone-shattering washboard that rattles nearly any vehicle to death that drives faster than 10mph.  Every 100-yards on this road is slow and hard fought.

Or at least I should have been going slow.  This was our very first excursion after COVID lockdown.  I was a little to brazen and drove fast over certain sections of the road, hoping to “make good time”.  I am nearly certain that the violent vibration is what snapped the copper tube on the back of the fridge.

So, I know it sounds like I’m making excuses for the fridge, but even I have to admit that the conditions were bordering on extreme.  And don’t ignore the previous 12 months where this fridge had survived hundreds of miles on dirt roads, plenty of them quite rugged.  So the Vitrifrigo C51i didn’t just crap out the first time the going got tough.

But alas, we were about 40 miles down this remote and arduous road and just returned from an overnight backpacking trip when we first discovered that the fridge was broken.  Imagine hiking 18 miles in the hot desert, while fixed on having a cold drink when you get back to your campervan, only to find that it is broken.  

We were devastated.

Luckily the fridge was still cool, acting as just a poorly insulated cooler now.  But even a cool beer was pure joy.

But then the reality set in of having a broken fridge in the desert in maybe the worst possible location.

This gave us a chance to test out the Vitrifrigo warranty.  When we got back to civilization we had to dig around a little bit to find warranty information.  Eventually we got in touch the right person (warranty representative / claims analyst).  She was very responsive and professional.  The warranty claim required a couple photos of the damage, and short explanation.  Once the claim was accepted, Vitrifrigo was willing to send us a replacement fridge.

I pleaded with them to pay for repair somewhere locally.  With only a single (seemingly) minor piece broken, I hoped that we could just have the fridge repaired by someone.  It would seem that soldering the copper tube back together may be an easy solution.  But the gasses in the system probably needed refilling.  I considered trying it myself, but didn’t want to void the warranty, and I wasn’t totally confident in my understanding of how to fix it.

And, no offense, but the Vitrifrigo warranty rep. probably doesn’t know how easy or difficult it would be to fix either.  Her job is fixing customers problems not fixing refrigerators.  And sending us out a brand new replacement fridge certainly did “fix” our problem.

But we live in a campervan on the move, so disposing of the original fridge would likely mean ending up in a landfill.  A real shame since the unit was like 90% intact.  It really pains me to add to a landfill.  But what were we to do? Carry a spare fridge in the living area of our campervan, while waiting for the right stranger on craigslist ready to buy a broken fridge (during a pandemic with social unrest riots in cities).

So anyway, we agreed to receive a replacement fridge.  Our new Vitrifrigo C51i was sent out in a timely manner via FedEX and held for us at a FedEx location in Salt Lake City, Utah (we don’t have a traditional mailing address).  We started the warranty process on May 27th as soon as we got back to cell service.  The new fridge arrived in SLC on June 2nd (just 7 days).  We were thrilled and impressed with how quickly it was resolved.

The new fridge had zip ties added to secure the copper coil that had broken on the previous fridge.  A somewhat low-tech attempt to avoid a repeat problem, but makes you wonder why all units don’t just have this feature from the beginning.  If you plan on using this fridge for off-roading, I would highly suggest adding zip ties in this manner.

We paid a SLC dump $20 to “dispose” of the fridge, it was sad. You ever seen The Brave Little Toaster? or Wall-E?

TL/DR (too long/didn’t read) – A copper tube on the back of the fridge broke from driving very rough roads. The warranty service sent us a new fridge within 7 days during a pandemic.

Efficiency

Vitrifrigo doesn’t appear to report how much power this fridge uses, at least not that I can find.

So I ran some of my own tests.

A few notes about testing conditions.

We installed our fridge with 1″ polyiso foam board on all sides of the fridge, except for the front and around the compressor. No idea how much it helps, but we had extra foam board and figured it couldn’t hurt.

The fridge is installed in a kitchen counter, but the back of the cabinet is just framing, and not enclosed at all.  This is more that adequate airflow as prescribed by the manual.

I estimate the fridge volume was about 50% full of groceries when the test was completed.

Continuous Amperage: 38 Watts (when compressor is running)

But for how often it cycles on/off, I’m sorry I haven’t taken the time to study it over the course of a day.  That would be very tedious.  I can tell you that with our 200Ah of lithium battery storage, it has never been a problem to keep the fridge running.

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User Experience | Vitrifrigo C51i

This fridge is rather well designed for life on the road.  Here are the ways it works well and some places that it falls short.

Storage Capacity

This fridge is small 50.9 liters (1.8 cubic feet), but acceptable for two people living full-time.  We have to be a little selective about what we buy, avoiding really large bulky items.  But we can usually stock up and eat fresh food for about 1.5 – 2 weeks.

We also save space by limiting the number of condiments we have at one time.  And use deliberate meal planning to finish items that we have opened.  That way we don’t have 1/4″ bottle of BBQ sauce  cluttering our fridge for months.

The freezer capacity is very small [10″(W), 9″(D), 3″(H)], and only leaves space for the bare essentials.  For us that means ice cream and ice cubes, pretty much exclusively.

However, most quart ice cream containers wont fit in the fridge because of the shape, and buying pints of ice cream is child’s play.  I could eat that in a sitting.

So we found one ice cream container that fits perfectly (Breyer’s Gelato), and we now use it as a reusable tupperware.  It does mean that every time we buy ice cream, we need to transfer it into our reusable container.  It’s a bit of a pain, but we never complain about getting a few bites of ice cream in the process.

And the fridge comes with an ice cube tray.  But they tray is tiny, and the ice cubes it makes are tiny as well.  We have upgraded to these two silicone ice cube trays, and the fit perfectly stacked in the freezer.  And they are great because the ratio of tray size to volume of ice created is way better than a traditional ice tray.  More ice per square inch of freezer space!

Security Of Items

The positive latching door means that the door stays shut no matter what the roads are like.  And it requires no extra input from the the user.  As long as you hear the ‘click’ when you shut the door, you know it’s latched.  And lifting up on the door handle is all it takes to disengage the latch and open the door with one hand.

The middle shelf has a small lip on the front edge, that prevents items from falling off the shelf.  And the railings on the door shelves are also good at keeping items in place.  However, both of these systems aren’t enough if items are stacked too tall (which often happens in a small fridge).  So occasionally things will fall out when opening the door, but such is the risk you take with an upright fridge on the road.

Temperature Control

Having just an analog knob for control makes setting the temperature a bit of a guessing game.  And there is just one setting for both fridge and freezer.  But we have found that (in most average climates) with the temperature knob set right in the middle between ‘Min’ and ‘Max’, the fridge and freezer maintain acceptable temperatures.

However, on this “medium” setting, the freezer isn’t very cold.  It’s cold enough to make ice over a couple hours and keeps ice cream (softly) frozen.

The top shelf (closest to the freezer) gets very cold, so you have to be careful about what you put there.  We have had some more temperamental groceries ruined by getting too cold.  So to avoid this problem, we pretty much use that top-shelf exclusively for beers.  They come out icy cold, so it’s a perfect solution for us.

Installation

Installation was probably the worst part.  I believe that this unit is designed to fit some sort of common mounting system in trucks and boats.  If you buy the Vitrifrigo VF51 as a drop-in replacement then the optional mounting hardware probably makes installation a breeze.

But since we were installing this fridge in our custom campervan, we installed in our fridge without any supplied hardware.  I designed our kitchen cabinet frame to specifically fit this fridge.  There was about a 1/4″ gap on the left, right and top.  Once the fridge was in place, I filled those gaps with foam board insulation.

Then to truly secure the fridge for the road, I had to figure out what size screws fit the holes on the side (landed on metric is think M6 or M8, sorry I don’t remember).  Then those screws were driven through wooden supports and into the fridge to hold it in place.

The fridge requires proper ventilation for the compressor to work efficiently (hot air needs to move away from the fridge).  Our kitchen cabinet is just a frame, so proper ventilation was well-exceeded.  But if you install in an enclosed cabinet the manual recommends a pair of holes at least 4.7″ tall and the width of the entire fridge.

The door hinge can be changed to open from the left or the right.  Can’t speak to how easy of difficult that process is.

Defrosting

The freezer compartment needs to be defrosted at a regular interval.  It really depends on the humidity where you are.  But we find that in the American Southwest (where we mostly travel), we need to defrost about every 1-3 months.  As you can see, it desperately needs it right now.

There is a drip tray that catches the water resulting from defrosting, but if you let enough frost build up then it needs to emptied several times.

Noise

The fridge is relatively quiet.  Didn’t do any Db measurements, but its no louder than a laptop computer fan. If the noise from this fridge is what bothers you, you might not be cut out for life on the road, haha.

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Review Conclusion | Vitrifrigo C51i

We think that the Vitrifrigo C51i Fridge Freezer is overall a great fridge.  It’s the most affordable fridge we could find that has a freezer (not including cheap Chinese fridges).

It is probably not the most rugged fridge on the market (think ARB, or Engel).  But it’s not necessarily geared towards off-roading in the first pace.  And it generally holds up just fine to travel on rough dirt roads.

The 2-year warranty is great considering the affordable price.

We would buy from Vitrifrigo again!

Thanks for reading.

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