I've been researching installing a refrigeration system in my boat. All
the the information I've read says to have 4 to 6 inches of insulation
for the refrigerator and freezer.

I've been looking at the WAECO Alder/Barbour RPD-190 refrigerator. It
only has 2 inches for the freezer, and 1 inch for the refrigerator.
Would it be effective to build an insulated cabinet to install the unit
into?

Also, has anyone had experiece with this unit?

Yes it would. I don't know what the box looks like - I've never seen one -
but you could do worse than to fasten 4" of rigid foam to the outside of the
box with a suitable adhesive.

I once had a small Norcold 12V refrigerator, which probably had no more than
an inch of styrofoam in the case. I had limited room to increase its
insulation, but was able to add just one inch of additional high-quality
insulation (1" rigid foam), which I covered with a shiny foil reflective
layer (actually, a 'space blanket'), using spray adhesive. Just that small
amount of additional insulation cut the compressor run time to better than
one-half of what it had been before. If you were to use 4" of rigid foam on
the outside of yours, it'd have a dramatically larger effect.

If you build an insulated cabinet to drop the unit into, don't leave air
pockets around the unit, since air currents will circulate vertically around
the box in the air gaps and conduct heat. Fit the insulation close.

The law of diminishing returns applies to the insulation thickness. The next
couple of inches (going from 4 to 6 inches) gets you a lot less benefit than
the first four inches. If you have tons of room then six inches would be
great, but it would probably be overkill to go any farther than that.

Tom Dacon

"Pacific Glider" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've been researching installing a refrigeration system in my boat. All
the the information I've read says to have 4 to 6 inches of insulation
for the refrigerator and freezer.

I've been looking at the WAECO Alder/Barbour RPD-190 refrigerator. It
only has 2 inches for the freezer, and 1 inch for the refrigerator.
Would it be effective to build an insulated cabinet to install the unit
into?

Also, has anyone had experiece with this unit?

I installed a NorCold RV refrig, tempararily until I could finish my built
in frig/freezer sysem... The OEM insulation is about 1" think and the door
gasket doesn't seal very well.

However I had some of that foil and foam insulation blanket material (multi
layers, in a 1/2" blanket). I wrapped the outside with this and moved the
refrig condenser coils back enough to get a layer between it and the back of
the box..

I was surprised that the run time cyles were reduced by 25% and I hadn't
done anything to the door or it's gasket seal problem..

I plan to do the same thing to a NorCold chest freezer I found at a thrift
shop. It really runs a lot if I have it set below 10 deg above zero.
(however, it really does a nice job of keeping the ice cream and meat
frozen.) Hopefully a similar wrap with this foil and foam blanket stuff will
improve performance.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions