A few years ago, I pulled out the standard, undercounter Norcold in my
boat and replaced it with a unit that provides substantially more
interior volume within the same space. The new fridge is completely
silent, in the cabin areas, when running.

The gut of the fridge are down in the engine room. That allows the
refirgeration compartment to be deeper and taller in this unit than on
a Norcold....(Norcold puts gear both below and behind the box itself,
reducing the cubic footage available).

Downwside? The thing works too well. It took a while to actually
believe that one didn't need to turn the dial up to even half in order
to maintain proper temperature. The system could probably be used as a
freezer if turned up far enough- as it ices up pretty quickly and
things near the freezer compartment start developing an icy crust.

MIne is DC only. Why pay extra for AC/DC when the AC has to be
converted to DC to run one of these refrigerators anyway? When AC is
available to run the fridge, it's also available to replenish the
batteries.

My unit was built by Sea Freeze in Bellingham, WA.

wrote:
A few years ago, I pulled out the standard, undercounter Norcold in my
boat and replaced it

We did a similar thing this winter, only we put in a drop-in 12V
refrigerator-only self contained unit. Even with the "guts" of the thing
contained in the box, we gained about 20% interior storage and that's
not broken up into tiny useless freezer (which, in the Norcold units,
isn't really much of a freezer). After hunting around considerably, I
found one that is very quiet, very efficient, and would fit in the same
space.



MIne is DC only. Why pay extra for AC/DC when the AC has to be
converted to DC to run one of these refrigerators anyway?

Because the 12V load will prevent your batteries from reaching full
charge, or being desaturated. As far as I'm concerned, when we're either
plugged into shore power or running the genset, I want all possible amps
going into the batteries.



My unit was built by Sea Freeze in Bellingham, WA.


What we're doing now is putting in a top-opening freezer under the
dinette settee. Convenient to the galley and far more cubic than
available in the under-counter unit.

I have emailed Sea Freeze to ask about their "conversion units" which,
along with the insulation and materials for the chest & lid, are all I
need to buy. Trying to decide whether to go air cooled or keel cooled.

Fair Skies
Doug King

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 18:12:24 -0400, DSK wrote:

Most Trouble free refrigeration?

I am assembling a refrigeration system and am interested in what other
folks have & have not found troublesome.

Thanks in advance.

Doug King

I have one of those stainless Philcos with digital control and a built
in LCD television. It works very well, but is very expensive.