Hi, and thanks for the response.
"David&Joan" wrote in message
news:9i4Fc.6732$151.2942@fed1read02...
Skip:
Theoretical considerations aside, my advice would be to insulate your box
to
the hilt and then install one of the many DC driven Danfoss compressor
systems with a direct evaporator coil, ie no holding plate. Alder Barbour
and others make them.
David
Ah - now we get back to the discussion of evaporators and cold plates. I've
just got this thing for cold plates - and ours is an Adler Barbour system -
but if evaporators worked well, and I felt comfortable about not having to
worry about dinging them, I suppose I'd be ok with them.
However, I'm still trying to come up with the most efficient overall
electrical plan which doesn't use internal combustion any more than
absolutely necessary. Stories of reefers running happily off the solar or
wind make me happy, because most of the time they wouldn't need the battery
during the day, which - at least in the high season - will be when we're
gone most of the time. Depending on how much they cost, a
belt-and-suspenders approach might be worthwhile to consider:
We're going to redo the reefer. It's 19CF, with cold plates added some time
along the way, with a single hatch (see URL pix in sig), as originally laid
out as an icebox by Moorings, but divided so that a freezer section would be
easy. When we redo the top to have two hatches, as it's so big, we'll add
insulation and some fancy ceramic paint which adds some amazing R value for
a coat of paint. It's plenty big to add some insulation material and leave
the current cold plates (engine and AC on one of them, both 26* units),
*and* add evaporator plates around the perimeters. I also intend micro fans
(always on, in the bottoms) to move the air to even out the temps, and mega
gaskets and way-insulated tops as well. (I recall reading that the only
notable difference in the high-insulating coolers for the
picnic/camper/RV-tailgater crowd is an insulated vs not insulated lid, and
others in these fora and various mailing lists have cited the same in their
boxes' efficiency.)
Glenn was kind enough to give me a long dissertation on the merits of cold
plates and evaporators long ago in this space, so we don't need a
repetition, though others just joining the party might enjoy it/them. I'm
still of mixed mind. In the end, I want it to stay cold in the most
efficient manner. This will be our home, all year round, in the tropics, so
doing it well is important. The specific means of achievement (cold plate,
evaporator or mix)isn't really important. Part of my challenge is, I
realize, a fetish about not running internal combustion motors if I can
avoid it, complicated by our expected lifestyle of working ashore with the
boat on a mooring for some months per year. I anticipate we'll have awnings
and shades, but we won't run A/C, so it will be warm inside...
Thanks again for the input...
L8R
Skip and Lydia
--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a
clear night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize
that you are quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to
you that in the general scheme of things you are merely an
insignificant speck on the surface of the ocean; and are not nearly
so important or as self-sufficient as you thought you were. Which is
an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one that may effect a
permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly appreciated
by your friends." - James S. Pitkin