Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
posted to rec.boats.building,rec.boats.cruising
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jan 2007
Posts: 148
Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

On 7 Feb 2007 17:43:07 -0800, wrote:

I'm building a 26 foot pilothouse sloop and the plans call for a large
icebox. My experience doing the kind of cruising I expect to do on
this boat is that finding ice consumes a lot of time, it doesn't last
long, it takes up a lot of space, and the food items can get soggy if
I am doing any hard sailing. I have noticed that Fisheries Supply in
Seattle sells "conversion kits" for converting ice boxes to 12 VDC
refrigerator. This seems like a sensible choice, and might even be
good to build in right from the start. Does anyone have experience
with these kits or any kind of application other than a drop in box?
I am thinking that with 4" polyurethane foam that I'll be able to
handle the power consumption with a pair of Grp 31 batteries. Does
this seem reasonable?

Al Gunther Kingston, WA ---- 47° 48.1'N, 122° 30.0'W
http://homepage.mac.com/agunther/.Public/index.html

Al, I agree 100% with Larry's response. We cruised for 2-1/2 years
with an Adler-Barbour Cold Machine conversion. Everything Larry said,
including the Amp-Hours is absolutely correct. Also about the radio
interference. That has changed some. Adler-Barbour sent a newer
version of the controller that was a lot better, but still not cleared
up. We had to switch it off when using HF Ham radio for email, but no
more problem on the VHF.

You might want to look at the Norcold SCQT4407. It's about half the
price of the Adler-Barbour. We're planning on getting one for our
current boat, a Morgan 302. A friend has one in is S2 and it seems to
work well. Any comments, anyone, on the Norcold?

Rick


  #2   Report Post  
posted to rec.boats.building,rec.boats.cruising
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 10,492
Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

On Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:00:57 -0600, Rick Morel
wrote:

Al, I agree 100% with Larry's response. We cruised for 2-1/2 years
with an Adler-Barbour Cold Machine conversion. Everything Larry said,
including the Amp-Hours is absolutely correct. Also about the radio
interference. That has changed some. Adler-Barbour sent a newer
version of the controller that was a lot better, but still not cleared
up. We had to switch it off when using HF Ham radio for email, but no
more problem on the VHF.


There is another option worth considering on a 26 footer:

http://www.bigfrogmountain.com/engel_products.htm

I have not personally owned one of these Engels but have heard good
things about them. They should not be confused with the smaller,
cheaper chests which use a solid state cooling device. The Engels
have a real compressor in them, and power draw is supposedly
reasonable.

  #3   Report Post  
posted to rec.boats.cruising
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jan 2007
Posts: 6
Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Everyone I know with an Engel raves about them. Not one has a complaint.
Their claims on power usage seems unreal, but they all insist it is
really as low as they say.


There is another option worth considering on a 26 footer:

http://www.bigfrogmountain.com/engel_products.htm

I have not personally owned one of these Engels but have heard good
things about them. They should not be confused with the smaller,
cheaper chests which use a solid state cooling device. The Engels
have a real compressor in them, and power draw is supposedly
reasonable.


  #4   Report Post  
posted to rec.boats.building,rec.boats.cruising
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 5,275
Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Rick Morel wrote in
:

Al, I agree 100% with Larry's response.


Thanks.

I have another solution for that small boat that might make sense if you
can find one.....

I have a little 2.2 cuft "dorm fridge" that's quite old, but I wouldn't
trade it for a brand new one. It, too, is a Norcold, but I'm sure many
were sold under different names like this one.

What's different about this neat little fridge is IT ONLY DRAWS 40 WATTS
and has NO STARTING CURRENT, unlike other compressors. Its compressor
doesn't "rotate". It's a linear vibrator. They're not made, or at least
not sent to the USA, any more because it uses the much-more-economical-
to-operate, forbidden R-12 refridgerant. R-12 uses lots lower pressures
which are easier to pump...with vibrator compressors, I'd guess.

To identify these units is quite easy. Instead of the compressor being a
fat little low-profile, almost spherical unit, these vibrator units are a
long cylinder approximately 3-4" in diameter and about 8-10" long. They
have only ONE wire coming out of them for power. The case of the
compressor is the other conductor for the coil inside. Mine runs on
40VAC. Each fridge has a little transformer that converts what ever
country's power line voltage it's to run on into 40VAC on the secondary
to run the compressor. Just follow the wire. It's easy to find. This
made world distribution easy. 240V country, 240V transformer....115V
country, 115V transformer. The transformer is about the size of a door
bell transformer, maybe a little larger...only 40 watts, remember.

This would be ideal for a small boat fridge running off the smallest
inverter you can find. When I go on a car trip, I run it off a little
Vector inverter thats nothing but a large cigarette lighter plug with a
115VAC outlet on the back of the plug. My cars are diesel so have a
battery that can easily provide overnight power to the tiny inverter
without going dead. In a boat, that's not an issue, of course.

Be on the lookout for one of these little vibrator compressor fridges.
All the ones I've seen have an EXTERNAL condensor sticking out the back
for better cooling and lower head pressure. You can hardly hear it
running. It makes just a very low hum. It freezes ice cubes as fast as
my other small fridges that have heavy starting current and draw lots
more power driving rotary compressors on R-134a or R-22.

It doesn't run a lot, either, saving AHs. The Norcold box is nicely
insulated. I swapped the broken door off it with a Korean 2.2 cuft
fridge because the door that was on it was rusted nearly off it. It's
really worth the restoration. I've even run it at ham radio events off a
12V gelcell all day with the same little inverter.

No, you can't have mine....(c;

Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Sailboat project links - Mic Mic Cruising 3 April 19th 06 03:03 PM
The Sailboat Manufacturer’s - sales, profits, etc Mic Cruising 4 August 26th 05 10:33 PM
Sailboat Market - type of boats Mic Cruising 0 August 26th 05 09:58 PM
Sailboat as powered cruiser? BllFs6 General 14 November 16th 04 04:15 PM
Repost - this is so good it deserves to be read more than once Simple Simon ASA 12 October 20th 03 10:33 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:08 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2025 BoatBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Boats"

 

Copyright © 2017