The EcoFlow Glacier is a 38L portable dual zone fridge freezer with a built-in ice cube maker that can make ice cubes in just 12 minutes. It can run entirely off a 298Wh Li-ion battery, solar panels, a 12 or 24V car outlet or mains. The removable battery can also be used standalone as a compact battery pack with 100W USB-C charging. The Glacier can be controlled and monitored via its large LCD screen or a smart app that works over both Bluetooth and WiFi.
It looks to be a very impressive unit that comes under EcoFlow’s new Smart Devices subdivision that includes its Blade robot lawn mower I looked at recently and complements its comprehensive range of portable power stations and solar panels.
I’ll run through all its features and thoroughly test all of EcoFlow’s marketing claims to find out if this might be the perfect portable cooler for you. So let’s take a closer look.
Overview
The EcoFlow Glacier has a few optional accessories that I’ll discuss shortly but the fridge freezer itself comes well packaged in a large box – a little bigger than I was expecting.
Included with the Glacier is a mains charging cable, a car charging cable, an ice shovel and a quick start guide. You can download the complete user manual from EcoFlow.
I couldn’t see any mention of it in the manual but you should really let the Glacier sit for at least a few hours to allow the compressor oil to settle. Just in case it’s been stored on its side or upside down in transportation.
This is quite a large fridge considering its fairly modest 38L maximum capacity. You can see its dimensions above. That’s partly due to the ice cube maker, but also the large carry handles either side. It’s quite difficult moving this fridge without the carry handles but they are removable for tight spaces – there’s a bolt behind a plastic cover on either side of each handle. It weighs 23kg (50.7lbs) without anything inside, but gets heavy pretty quickly once you start loading it up.
There’s a removable basket in the fridge compartment, so you can move the EcoFlow without the basket and its contents and then carry the basket across to the fridge. It’s very well built and feels like it could take a few knocks. The lid opens and closes securely although it doesn’t self close. So if you don’t let it fall from a height or push down on it it can remain open. The lid has no flex when it’s fully open. EcoFlow does give the Glacier an IPX4 rating so it is splash proof but shouldn’t be left outdoors.
There’s not really any setup, you can just plug it into mains, or a DC output like your car’s 12V socket and press the power button to turn it on. You do need to be aware of a few limitations if you’re running it off a 12V output though that I’ll cover shortly.
By default the Glacier is split into two compartments – a slightly larger 23L fridge on the left and a 15L freezer on the right. There’s a removable temperature zone divider that you can slide out if you want just one large fridge or freezer. The divider can be neatly stored in the lid.
In the default dual zone setup EcoFlow recommends the left compartment is set as fridge mode and the right as freezer mode. The left zone can be 25°C (77°F)higher than the right, but the right zone can only be 15°C (59°F) higher than the left. So if you set this up the other way around either your fridge would be a bit too cold or your freezer would be too warm.
You can set the temperature of both zones with the large buttons on the front of the unit or via the app which connects via Bluetooth and WiFi. There’s a huge clear display that shows the current temperature of both compartments. The temperature button switches between each zone and you can use the + and – minus buttons to set the desired temperature. Hold the buttons down for larger temperature changes. The fridge mode can be set from 0°C to 10°C (32°F to 50°F) and the freezer from -25°C to 0°C (-13°F to 32°F). The freezer is capable of getting down to -25°C (-13°F), around 3-5°C lower than many competitors including the Anker Everfrost. If you try to set the right side more than 25°C lower than the right, the left compartment’s temperature will be automatically adjusted. Similarly it’ll hold the 15°C difference limit between the right and left compartment.
The large buttons are great, but I found it a little too easy to inadvertently turn the fridge off a couple of times with an accidental long press of the power button (something resting against the button). Perhaps a confirmation after the long press might help avoid this. One time I ended up with melted ice cream dripping into the freezer compartment!
If you remove the temperature zone divider the fridge automatically switches across to one zone on the display and you can set the temperature for the single 38L large compartment.
It’s even easier using EcoFlow’s app to set the fridge and freezer temperatures. You can see the current temperatures and adjust each zone individually. If you tap on the temperature of each zone, you can use your finger to slide up and down to reach your desired temperature and you’ll even get some recommended temperature ranges from EcoFlow for fruit, vegetables and meat.
In settings you can toggle Eco mode and beeps, configure the screen timeout from 10 seconds to never, turn on car battery protection, change the temperature unit and update the firmware. The car battery protection is useful if you’re running off your car’s 12V output to ensure there’s still enough voltage to start the car. But you can turn it off the rest of the time.
It’s a very nicely designed app with cooling animations to boot. And if the fridge is connected via WiFI, you don’t even need to be nearby to control it – you can use a cellular connection. But I’d love to see some information on power consumption for a device like this that you usually leave on constantly, often off a finite supply of energy.
I ran various power consumption tests that I’ll discuss shortly which might help, but a real time display of current and historic power consumption would be even better.
Power options
You can run the Glacer off mains, DC like a 12V car outlet or the optional battery. With the optional battery in place you can also run the fridge freezer off a solar panel.
This battery slides into the back of the unit and clicks into place protected with a hinged door. It’s a 298Wh battery using NCM (Nickel Cobalt Manganese) rather than the longer lasting LFP (LiFePO4) battery technology. NCM batteries are lighter which may explain EcoFlow’s choice.
It weighs 1.9kg (4.2lbs) and is still rated for 800 cycles before it reaches 80% capacity.
The battery can be charged in the Glacier – a battery level icon is displayed on the LCD screen.
But it can also be charged via its 100W USB-C port when it’s out of the unit.
And this is a two-way USB-C port with Power Delivery so you can also use it to charge your tech including many laptops, at up to 100W which is very useful.
This works whether the battery’s in or out of the unit. Inside the fridge with the unit on, the USB is already active. With the fridge off or when the battery is out of the unit, you can press the power button to turn it on. Four white LEDs show the battery status.
Although the battery is an optional accessory, I’d consider it almost essential for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, if you want to run the Glacier off your car’s 12V outlet you need the battery for the ice maker to work. The ice maker requires too much power to run off a 12V outlet alone. I’ll come back to this shortly.
Also as I just mentioned, you need the battery in place to run the Glacier off solar panels. The solar panels effectively charge the battery, and the unit then runs off the battery. The output from solar panels alone wouldn’t be reliable enough.
It is also incredibly convenient being able to unplug the fridge freezer and put it in the back of the car for day trips without having to think about power. EcoFlow claims 40 hours usage off the battery but I’ll come back to that in a minute.
It is also very useful as a giant power pack, although an extra port or two would have been nice, and it could do with a little protective flap for the exposed charging terminals if you’re using it detached from the fridge.
And when it’s in place, it’s around the back of the fridge which is often difficult to access depending on where you place the fridge.
It’s worth mentioning that the Glacier will also run off 24V DC if your car or van has this. And in that case you can also use the ice maker and charge the battery.
Something I confirmed with 12V outputs from two portable power stations connected in series. Off the 24V supply it peaked at around 180W when making ice.
If you’re running the Glacier indoors or at a campsite with mains hook up you’ll probably run it off the supplied 180W, 29V, 6.2A, mains adapter connected to the Glacier’s XT60 socket. This will let you run the ice maker and charge the battery if you have it.
The battery charges in around 2.5 hours off the mains adapter, or in around 4 hours if you charge it with USB-C out of the fridge.
If you don’t have the battery and still want to use the ice maker camping or on the road, you could use the mains adapter with a portable power station like the EcoFlow Delta 2.
If you have the battery, or don’t need to make ice, it’s slightly more efficient to run the Glacier with its DC compressor off DC for example from your car’s 12V outlet.
But even if you’re running it off a portable power station with AC outlets I’d still recommend using the 12V DC output. A fridge like this doesn’t run continuously – the compressor kicks in as required to keep the fridge at the desired temperature depending on the ambient temperature. The inverters running the AC outlets on these portable power stations have a certain amount of parasitic drain that will consume battery even when the compressor isn’t running which would be wasteful. And some power stations will shut off their AC outlets when they’re not in use which you obviously don’t want.
With the battery in place I also tried running it off solar with Bluetti’s PV350 350W solar panel using a MC4 to XT-60 cable that isn’t supplied.
The Glacier supports from 11-60V at up to 13A with a 240W maximum input via its XT60 input. On a sunny afternoon in September I got around 175W with this setup. I was able to keep the battery topped up even while making ice which needs a fair bit of power.
If you don’t have the built in battery you could charge a portable power station like this Delta 2 off solar and run the fridge off mains, or DC if you don’t need to make ice.
Performance
I’ve been using this fridge pretty much non-stop for well over a month, including on a sunny camping trip with the family where it proved very popular. I’ve been using it mainly in dual zone mode which works very well. I typically have the fridge compartment set to 4°C and the freezer to -18°C.
I’ve been constantly checking temperatures with some Bluetooth and WiFi sensors that provide historical data and a more traditional thermometer with an LCD display.
The Glacier does a good job of maintaining temperatures, even with the outside temperature getting unusually hot here in the UK – sometimes in the high twenties. I’ve mostly been running the fridge in Eco mode and even in this mode temperature fluctuations are usually within a couple of degrees either side of the set temperature. If you’re trying to quickly get the fridge and freezer down to the set temperatures then EcoFlow suggests turning Eco mode off, but otherwise Eco mode works just fine.
The Glacier has a 120W compressor and EcoFlow quotes 15 minutes to cool the fridge from 30°C to 0°C. I tried cooling it from a room temperature of around 21°C to 4°C and -18°C in dual zone mode for the fridge and freezer respectively.
According to the display it did manage to reach those set temperatures in under 15 minutes. But I found all my thermometers took over an hour to confirm the set temperatures. This will depend on ambient temperatures and what you have in the fridge and freezer compartments. But I’d leave it on for a couple of hours before using it for a trip to be safe.
I did try removing the zone divider and running the 38L single compartment as a fridge. Here I did find the temperatures were a little off. After some experimentation using a thermal imaging camera, I found there is a temperature gradient from the right side of the single compartment right next to the compressor to the left, with the left up to a few degrees warmer. As long as you’re aware of this you can use it to your advantage, keeping items you want cooler nearer the compressor.
The Glacier comes with a EU energy certification which I wasn’t expecting for a portable fridge. It has a rating of F with an annual consumption of 85 kWh. At current energy prices here in the UK that would be around £26 per year. It’s at the lower end of the scale but not bad for a unit like this. The manual has slightly lower values. They quote 0.18kWh per 24 hours or 66kWh per year for the fridge at 4°C and 0.38kWh per 24 hours or 139kWh for the freezer at -18°C. They don’t provide a dual zone figure.
I conducted my own measurements with Eco mode on with the fridge setup in dual zone mode with the fridge at 4°C and the freezer at -18°C. I had both compartments moderately full and I let the fridge settle with its contents for a good few hours. I removed the plug-in battery for the tests. The ambient temperature was around 21°C.
Running off the mains charger the Glacier consumed 259Wh in 12 hours which equates to 0.52kWh per 24 hours and 189kWh per year.
Running off DC connected to the 12V output from my EcoFlow Delta 2 it consumed 216Wh in 12 hours which equates to 0.43kWh per 24 hours and 158kWh per year.
EcoFlow claims the Glacier can run for 40 hours off the optional 298Wh plug-in battery. Based on my measurements in dual zone mode you’ll get around 12 hours. In practice I had it fully loaded in the boot of the van on a hot door and it had around 50% capacity remaining after around 4 hours. If you look closely, EcoFlow’s 40 hours is in single fridge mode, with the fridge empty.
The energy label also has a value for noise of 59dB – the highest D level in their scale. This will be at its loudest. I only got close to this value when I was making ice. All my measurements were one metre away from the front of the unit. You can hear how noisy the Glacier is in the accompanying video.
Making ice it peaked at 57dB but most of the time with the compressor off it’s silent. There is just the occasional crackling sound. If you’re setting the initial temperature with Eco mode off the compressor runs at full whack and I measured the noise at around 48dB. That was 10dB over background noise – you can definitely hear it but it’s not too bad. Typically when the compressor comes on it’s quieter, just 2 or 3 dB above background noise level again one metre away.
Making ice is a rather unique and fun feature of the Glacier. You simply fill the ice cube compartment to at least the minimum fill level with water and press the ice making button. You can press it again to toggle the ice cube size between large and small. It then goes to work making bullets of ice that form around the rounded metal rods. This can take from around 12 minutes to over 20 minutes depending on the chosen size of ice cube and temperature of the water.
You can track progress in the app as well as on the LCD screen. You can start the ice making process on the app as well. After it’s made the ice cubes it automatically activates the ice detaching mode which counts down in seconds. I assume this warms the metal rods slightly to release the ice. You can manually activate this mode with the farthest right ice detaching button.
The fridge pings until you remove the ice tray.
It still takes a little jiggling to remove the ice tray but you’ll have 18 perfectly formed ice cubes that you use the supplied ice shovel or your fingers to fully release from the tray and pour into your drinks. There’s a hole in the corner of the tray to assist you.
Small ice cubes took around 17 minutes for the first batch and 12 minutes for the second batch once the water had cooled down slightly.
As I’ve mentioned previously this is the noisiest function of the Glacier, and also consumes the most power. I measured 18Wh to make small ice cubes in just over 13 minutes. The ice cube function typically consumes around 100W peaking to 180W briefly. Which is why it won’t run off a 12V supply which at 8A is under 100W. I made small ice cubes off the battery alone and the battery dropped from 98% to 92% in around 12 minutes. So you probably wouldn’t want to be making lots of ice cubes if power is limited.
After you’ve finished using the ice cube maker you need to drain it otherwise it may start to smell. There’s a little antibacterial silicone tube that pulls out of the side of the fridge behind a hinged door which you can let empty onto the ground outside. Inside you’ll need something to capture the water. When you’re done, the tube slips back onto its plastic plug built into the fridge. Drainage is a little primitive and definitely works better outdoors, indoors it can make a bit of a mess.
If you need to clean the main compartment you can switch the unit off, let any frozen ice defrost and any collected water can be drained via a drain hole with a removable cover. Although I generally just found it easier to wipe it with a soft microfibre cloth. After a couple of weeks in dual zone mode I did get some ice building up around the freezer compartment.
I’ve covered the optional battery but there are two additional accessories that I’ll briefly mention: the telescopic handle and the bag. The telescopic handle comes with wheels which do stick out even further than the handles but are easy to attach and detach if need be – perhaps to fit in the car. They have thumbscrews so no tools are needed.
The telescopic handle does need a phillips screwdriver to install, and has some sticky covers to hide the screws, so you’ll most likely leave it installed permanently. It’s handy being able to drag the fridge around with the handle and wheels. The wheels are large enough to move over uneven terrain but I did find the handle flexed more than I would have liked – especially when the fridge was fully loaded.
The bag offers protection and a little added insulation. It’s well made and fits the Glacier with or without the handle and wheels perfectly.
Most usefully there’s a pocket around the back to store the AC charger and cables.
Conclusions
The EcoFlow Glacier is an impressive fridge freezer for camping, boating, an RV or campervan or anywhere else where you need to keep things cool. I love the integrated battery – it makes it super convenient to quickly take it to the beach for the day without having to think about plugging it in. The battery is useful for charging your tech too and for short trips saves taking a portable power station. Although the single USB-C port is a little limiting – I keep a multiport adapter in the side pocket of the bag accessory.
I used it mainly in Dual Zone mode and both the fridge and freezer kept pretty close to their set temperatures. Only in single compartment mode did I see the temperature a little higher than set.
The ice cube maker is a great addition and works very well although it does make the Glacier quite large considering its capacity. I’d like to see EcoFlow introduce a smaller cheaper unit without an ice maker and perhaps even a similar sized unit also without an ice maker but additional capacity. That would be a great line-up.
Having said that as it stands it proved perfect for my needs on a recent trip away. I could take everything we needed including milk, butter, drinks, ice creams and everything required to make pizza including frozen dough balls, chorizo, cheese and tomatoes. The pizzas were a hit and the ice cube maker was very popular too!
On that trip it ran continuously either off the internal battery, mains hook up or an EcoFlow Delta 2 portable power station, and didn’t disturb anyone sleeping in the tent only a few metres so away. And although on this occasion we didn’t need to top it up with solar I tested its solar charging back home and it worked perfectly as I’ve already mentioned.
Although I completely understand why the battery is an optional accessory I do think it makes matters unnecessarily complicated. You’d only think a battery was necessary to run it standalone – you need to look very carefully to see that the ice maker won’t work without it if you plan to run the fridge off your 12V car outlet. Not to mention solar charging isn’t possible either without the battery.
EcoFlow does have competition from Anker who make a similar unit also battery powered and at a similar price – their 53L EverFrost. It has a larger capacity but doesn’t have an ice maker and also appears to be out of stock everywhere at least in September 2023. Dometic also offers a dual zone fridge at a similar price but without a battery option or ice cube maker. There are also far cheaper units from companies like Alpicool on Amazon but I’ve not tested them. And the Glacier comes with a 24 month warranty once you register it.
Overall the EcoFlow Glacier is easy to recommend but I’d suggest saving up a few extra pounds and purchasing it as a bundle with the battery. You can check out the current prices down below.
Don’t forget to take a look at my YouTube video at the top of the page, and subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’m releasing videos every week on the latest technology and how to get the most out of it. If you tap the bell icon when you subscribe you’ll get a notification as soon as I release a video, and there’ll be a link to my site here for the written article. YouTube is also the best place to leave a comment. I read all of them and respond to as many as I can!
If you purchase directly from EcoFlow using the links below it costs you nothing and helps support my YouTube channel and website – thank you!
EcoFlow Glacier (UK): https://tidd.ly/465Wz0p
Amazon affiliate link (global link, should direct you to your local Amazon store):
EcoFlow Glacier: https://amzn.to/3LFjS98
Leave a Reply