Does anyone use one of these on a sailing boat? Is it worthwhile? Does it knacker the battery? One I'm looking at says DC 46 watts for cooling. Any other comments - please?
I have a Waeco 35 l which runs on 240v and 12 v . Brilliant bit of kit: can chill, freeze. If you are near the S coast, their head office will sell them direct (large range of sizes).
Low power consumption, too.
On the other hand, I have just bought a HalfLords one for 50 squid, which takes an AGE to bring the temp down a few degrees. Maybe the difference is that it lives in the car in the sunshine.
We use one in our camper it works quite well but is power hungry (5amps) .... no real problem it works from the leisure battery when we are driving and we have mains charging at most sites at night. On a boat things are different and power will be a real issue. We are looking at compressor type boxes for this or you can go really basic and use dessert coolers as featured some weeks ago.... Latent heat of evaporation of water being 72 cals per gram if I recall from 50 misspent years ago!
You can get a little battery saver to avoid flattening and ruining your battery... well worth it!!
Our opinion is that they are not much use in Greece!
They say they reduce temperature to 20deg below ambient but doubtful! Find a well insulated 'esky, cool box' and fill with some cool cans or frozen water, it saves the batteries.
Charles in Greece - 30deg
Funnily enough it was the Waeco 35 and 45 I was looking at ... can't make up my mind which one to get now you say they don't use much power! I plug into the mains in marinas and have a 12 volt power connector both on the boat and in the boot of the car .... only other thing I need to know is - are they a pain to lug around?
edit:- Just seen other replies - so, they do use a lot of power. How about if I just run it on 12 volt when the engine's on and shore power when tied up? We usually run the engine for a while going up Beaulieu/Medina etc.
Very substantial handles located in the right places. Easy to lift, but the 45 is quite bulky.
I got the coolmat which is an insulated cover which fits around the plastic box. Keeps the interior 2 C cooler according to the blurb.
Power use. It says 50 watts. In the car no problem while the engine is running (my cigarette light socket switches off with the ignition). On board (240v, liveaboard) I don't notice the drain on the mains.
Don't mount it on a table, as the hum of the fan can be a bit noticeable; also keep the fan area clear. No internal drain, so you'll need to keep an eye on any condensation in the deep compartment.
I think confusion is reigning here, have the replies seem to be about peltier ellement boxes (cheap but use lots of power as they are on continuosly) and the other halve about the Weco compressor cool boxes which are the same as a built in fridge but with lighter insulation than a good installed cold box, hence will use a little more power. In UK you probably wont notice the diference but in hot climates where insulation becomes critical a good cold box with 4"-6" insulation is going to use less power.
DON'T use cheap peltier element cool boxes of a battery unless you are happy to replace batteries at least anually they can eisily suck 100ah/day compared to 12-24 for compressor driven units of a similar size
The type that halfords and other such places sell are power hungry and use 5 - 7 amps steady. The temp reduction inside is supposed to be 15 - 20 degrees lower than ambient ... maybe sometimes but not when weather is hot.
I have a large Rubbermaid job and its only run when engine is on or shore power transformer is plugged in. I would never use mine without auxiliary power to batterys etc. (another says about annual change of batterys - poppycock !! Sorry but sensible use and batterys will last just same as others ....)
The other is the Fridge box - Waeco etc. - these are much better - but significantly more expensive. Generally use less power than Peltier type above. I would still limit when they are connected though.
Whatever type you get ... they are worth it and if you help the box by loading up with frozen items ... eg Freezer blocks, frozen bread loaves, frozen bottles of water, literally anything that can freeze and you can still eat / use when it thaws later ...
we have used a Tropicool Classic for a couple of years and this has a set of led's to indicate the heating or cooling level. Subscribe to other comments that these sort of coolers are very good but power hungry - 5A with a duty cycle of about 50% when maintaining 5/6 degrees C.
We use our box to maintain my wife's medicines (injections) between 3-6 degrees, monitored with a digital temp gauge and the box on occasion has run for weeks continuously.
I think with some added insulation this will use less power, which is my only reservation about it.
Tropicool do a big range and cheaper than Waeco, as I recall, worth a look.
Cool boxes which work on the peltier effect (ie can be used for heating as well as cooling) are useless in any real heat. Only a compressor type fridge/freezer is worth buying and they are expensive. And become the major power user on your boat but not as bad as the peltier (electronic) type.
If you want cold and will accept the miserable performance of a cool box then you would be far better off just using frozern bottles of water in an insulated box. With no flat battery worries.
With good insulation ice will last for 4 days or more.
olewill
I use a Waeco 18 litre on my 23 foot boat. It uses very little power.
I usually switch it on, I'm on shore power, the day before a trip to get it's temp down to about 5 degrees. Then it runs happily on battery without taking much out of the battery. It has a battery protection set up, in that if the battery goes below a certain level, then the fridge stops running. That level certainly leaves enough power for engine start.
I have 2x85Ah batteries (combined start and leisure) which I alternate on a daily basis.
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I use a Waeco 18 litre on my 23 foot boat. It uses very little power.
I have 2x85Ah batteries (combined start and leisure) which I alternate on a daily basis.
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Very similar to my experience with the same Waeco 18 litre compressor based coolbox. On a British summer warm day I measured the consumption over a 24 hour period, and it used 10.5 Amp hours in the 24 hour period. That is replaced by a 30 Watt solar panel in a UK summer situation.
Great piece of kit for a small boat when combined with a solar panel, but costs lots of ££££.
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I use a Waeco 18 litre on my 23 foot boat. It uses very little power.
I usually switch it on, I'm on shore power, the day before a trip to get it's temp down to about 5 degrees. Then it runs happily on battery without taking much out of the battery. It has a battery protection set up, in that if the battery goes below a certain level, then the fridge stops running. That level certainly leaves enough power for engine start.
I have 2x85Ah batteries (combined start and leisure) which I alternate on a daily basis.
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I can certainly vouch for Malcb Waeco box ... he froze my beer in it !! His was not only one that I saw that happen - Tom who crewed with me had similar box ... he froze my beer as well !