Converting a cool box to a freezer

Whitelighter

Whitelighter

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I have a cool box att he back of the galley with a wooden lid on it. It is about 25cm square by a guess 50 cm deep.

Some previous idiot has put a gas line through it - now removed. Is it an easy job to convert it into a freezer or should I be looking at buying a top loading unit of similar dimensions and just dropping it in?

Not going to be the biggest freezer in the world I accept but If I can keep some crap for the kids in there plus pehaps some basic provisions its better than nothing.

Do I need to buy a marine one - or is a camper/caravan option going to be the same but cheaper?
 
Dead easy job Evaporator plate will fit and the hole the idiot put in the cool box will probably take the pipe from it to the compressor unit that should be mounted below the water line in a cool spot..

http://www.penguinfrigo.co.uk/assets/assets/Westerley_Storm_Fridge_install.pdf.

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/...waeco-cu55-vd07-cooling-kit.html#.V58zTBUrLcs.

Make sure your cool box is well lined with as much insulation as you can get around it and size the evaporator and compressor for freezing rather than cooling.

We sized ours for refrigeration bit find that we can freeze most of the contents when set to maximum.......

I used the waeco kit which comes pregassed just make sure you follow the instructions!
 
Excellent thanks. As its a cool box I guess it's already insulated but I can get to it pretty easily to add more.
The other advantage is our galley hangs in the engine bay so I can easily place the mechanics in there.

Looks like another winter job added to the list
 
Jez

I know this is stating the bleedin obvious, but.........if the unit "hangs in the engine bay" and is effectively "in" the ER, then you are gonna need a load of insulation to keep the contents at -20 deg C sitting above/in an ER that will, from time to time be +50 deg C.
 
I used the Waco kit to convert a cool box. It is easy to do and you can install the compressor a few feet away from the cool box. I also added the 12v/240volt kit so that it can run off shorepower without the domestic batts on and I could leave the fridge on and keep beer and wine cool while away from the boat.
 
Pinnacle said:
Jez

I know this is stating the bleedin obvious, but.........if the unit "hangs in the engine bay" and is effectively "in" the ER, then you are gonna need a load of insulation to keep the contents at -20 deg C sitting above/in an ER that will, from time to time be +50 deg C.
Click to expand...

The unit doesn't hang, the whole galley hangs in the engine bay. Along with my current fridges etc etc.
 
Whiteligter,
Our cool box on the flybridge has a small unit in there. Designed to just cool bottles etc but as I found out, turned up it freezes everything, including tins of g+t! I'll take some pics when I'm down this weekend.
 
Whiteligter,
Our cool box on the flybridge has a small unit in there. Designed to just cool bottles etc but as I found out, turned up it freezes everything, including tins of g+t! I'll take some pics when I'm down this weekend.
 
Effective insulation means a material with a high R value, such as dense closed cell foam, but it is essential to have even the smallest gap in the insulation filled with a foam based sealant. There is a limit to how thick insulation can become and the boundary temperature will affect the heat transfer.

The colder you go the higher the thermal transfer across the insulation barrier, and this means the harder you have to run the fridge unit, but conversely less energy is transferred as the product / space becomes colder. So having the fridge box sitting in air that is cooled by the boat's AC system will help, but do not use the AC cooled air to cool the condenser.

Attaining -18oC in the cold UK is a lot simpler than the same in a hot Mediterranean. You need to try to get to at least -10oC for the freeze to be effective, and ideally -15oC.

A well insulated space will not rise more than 5oC in 24 hours if the power is off.

Be wary of holding a really cold temperature in a hot climate with a Peltier effect cooler, as used upon most portable caravan style cold boxes. Similar with an absorption unit, which will struggle to get much below 0oC.

The vapour compression systems will eat the job for breakfast, but you must be careful to follow strict refrigeration procedures and if there is any breach of the self sealing couplings on a pre-charged system you will need to get a fridge engineer to sort this for you (evacuate and re-charge). For this job R134a is the best refrigerant.

How's the steering pump behaving ?
 
Little update on this:

Box is actually much bigger than I remembered - it's 600mm X 400mm X 500mm so actually a useful amount of space - over 100 litres. This is its badly insulated on three sides with no insulation on the hull side (just the grp hull liner).

So I need to insulate it on the inside. Is there a product with a 'face' which will protect the insulation from the moisture in the fridge - I guess grp or plastic
 
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