On Sat, 05 Jul 2014 08:06:49 -0500, Rick Morel
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 06:36:53 +0700, wrote:


I believe that the "propane fridge" that you are talking about is the
same sort of thing as the old "kerosene fridges" that use heat to
work. If so isn't there a pilot light down in the bottom that is on
all the time.

If that is what you are referring to I saw one in a 50 ft boat in
Malaysia once. The guy that owned the boat was changing out an old one
and replacing it with another. It seems to me that he said that the
fridge needed to be gimbaled to keep it as vertical as possible other
wise the flame wasn't directed to the correct place.

A lot of guys standing on the dock and making comments but he said
that he'd had the old one for a number of years with no difficulties,
other worrying about whether he had enough LPG to last till he got to
a place to buy more.

Yes, it is. It uses ammonia plus some other things as a refrigerant.
They're standard in RV's.

The reason they have to stay level, usually with 3 degrees front to
back and 6 degrees side to side, is that the heat, from flame or
heating element, boils the mix, then it goes through an orifice to
expand and cool, then runs back down the tubing to start the process
over. If not level, the mix pools up in the tubing and ruins it. The
only choice is to replace the fridge. In RV's while driving and in
boats constantly moving, it's a good thing, sloshing the mix around
and allowing it to make its way back down. But a sailboat heeled over
is not a good thing and will trap the mix. Power boats and multihulls
are fine. In fact a cruising friend has had one for years with no
problems.

Very efficent when using propane or shore power, but at 12V, on those
that have it, the current draw is about 10 Amps.

Rick

Yup, that is the type I say being installed on the guy's boat in
Malaysia.

Years ago now a guy worked for us doing oil well exploration
construction work came in the office and asked whether they still sold
"kerosene refrigerates" in Indonesia. I didn't know and sent one of
the purchasing guys out to check and discovered that they were still
being manufactured in Indonesia. Over the years we bought quite a few
for jungle jobs".

About the same time I saw a Johnson outboard motor that was a dual
fuel engine - gasoline and kerosene. Apparently they sold pretty well
in Irian Jaya (which now has a different name :-)

--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok