On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:41:19 +0000, Larry wrote:

Herodotus wrote in
:

The idea of a holding plate is that I could utilise periods of greater
charge whereas a conventional fridge runs off and on over the entire
day.



I wonder how one of these little $100 fridges would work with their useless
little freezers filled with blocks of aluminum as holding plates so you
could flip them on when you crank the engine (or install a simple relay to
do it automatically). Btu is Btu. It's not rocket science. The more you
open it, the more it draws. The cheap one's R-value could be easily
increased with some sheet styrofoam to pack it in with or glued to its
sides.

I have some big aluminum heat sinks I got from somewhere. I think I'll
play a little with them stuffed into the little freezer and see how that
works as a holding plate....hmmm...(c;


The problem with the "household" type of fridge is the lack of
insulation. I just looked at one in a 45 ft. boat and it looks like
the compressor is running much longer then a "built in" with thick
insulation.

However, I am in the process of rebuilding an old motor cruiser and
plan to install a small house fridge as the boat will generally either
have the engines running or be tapped into a marina.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)