Buying a cool box to make a fridge out of

Doubt it's insulation would be up to it and you would end up drawing a lot of current, can't you make one and maximise the insulation.
 
I was going to suggest a CF 25 which I have, but now discontinued, then looked at their other offerings which are ridiculously expensive. They must use unobtamium in their manufacturing. There are cheaper well insulated cold boxes such as igloo, as you are going to be hacking it about with no guarantee of its effectiveness. I'm sure you can do as you want with a bit of ingenuity.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Doubt it's insulation would be up to it and you would end up drawing a lot of current, can't you make one and maximise the insulation.
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It says it keeps ice for 10 days... And I would be using a compressor suitable for up to 80l.

I don't have the skill to fibreglass/gelcoat a custom made enclosure, let alone make a decent lid.

This already has a drain plug which would make an easy route in for the piping to the evaporator plate.

- W
 
webcraft said:
It says it keeps ice for 10 days... And I would be using a compressor suitable for up to 80l.

I don't have the skill to fibreglass/gelcoat a custom made enclosure, let alone make a decent lid.

This already has a drain plug which would make an easy route in for the piping to the evaporator plate.

- W
Click to expand...

Go for it then, if it really keeps ice for 10 days, before buying the compressor buy a bag of ice and see just how long it lasts if you can get a few days out of it then it should be worth a go.
A bit late in the day but you really have to up your maintenance / DIY skills ;)
Hope you have a decent time on the boat it's been a bit of a struggle.
 
webcraft said:
Also found this
Indel Webasto: Built-In Box BI 40

Power consumption is given as 270W in 24 hours. How much solar would I need to support that? I thought these things were measured in amp hours.

- W
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By no means an expert but it depends on the duty cycle of the compressor, I guess it is going to cycle on and off several times drawing about say 4 to 6 amps.
 
webcraft said:
Also found this
Indel Webasto: Built-In Box BI 40

Power consumption is given as 270W in 24 hours. How much solar would I need to support that? I thought these things were measured in amp hours.

- W
Click to expand...
That could mean several things or nothing. Domestic fridges give a rating in Wh per year.
this little one is 100kWh per year, or about 273 Wh per day:
Russell Hobbs RHTTLF1B 45L Tabletop Fridge - Black

Coincidentally, a lot of mains fridge motor units are about 270W when running.

Back last century I did a few cruises with some friends, we'd get a couple of bags of ice from Tesco, put them in the so-called coolbox of a Beneteau and probably have the last ice cube in a G&T about 3 days later, English Channel, August.
 
I always quite fancied the idea of buying a mini ice-cube maker. Takes about 100w, cost about £100. Run it when it's sunny or when motoring, bank up a few bags of ice cubes and pop them in the coolbox. Also handy for the G&T. Never got round to trying it out of course.
 
webcraft said:
Because it doesn't fit in the available space. Max space available is 430x430x450
Click to expand...

Are you still sailing a Vega? I'm sure I still have - somewhere? - the details of a very successful fridge that I built within the locker immediately astern of the galley sink - that lift-out lid in the galley worktop became the fridge's lid.

Whilst not addressing your available space problem, I can advise - based on several years of real world usage - that the modern all in one compressor fridge boxes work very well indeed and aren't especially power hungry; the better of the two that we had was a Dometic, but I suspect that most are similar, just differently badged.
 
If you are planning on having the refrigerator on for long periods and want to conserve energy consumption I would recommend you consider a keel cooler. This means you effectively do away with the condenser and fan so you'll just have the pump consuming power which will reduce energy consumption considerably.
 
webcraft said:
So would 200W of solar for 9 hours a day keep up with that?

Domestic batteries are 230AH

- W
Click to expand...
If they mean 270Wh, and I think they do, then that's a bit over 20Ah per day, which looks OK.
I know someone who powers a freezer here on the South Coast using a big panel left over from a Solar Farm, which is between 250 and 300 Watts peak. Great in the Summer, not enough in the winter, what with also having the heating on...
 
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