Cooling the fridge motor

[pcatterall]

We are considering fitting a cooling plate in our existing ice box. The motor package would have to be mounted behind the box between it and the hull.
We recognise that we will have to deal with the generated heat and ( being in the Med) want to be sure that the heat does not contribute to the saloon heat.
Will some sort of extractor fan with 100mm vent pipes clear the heat or does it have to be something more complicated ( and expensive).?

 

[ribrage]

Can you not go water cooled ? our unit is in the upper saloon and kicked out a fair bit of heat when it was air cooled , original fitment was an engine blower motor as used in power boats which was vented externally (3 amp motor) , but the latent heat was way more than we wanted so switched to water cooling , other than blockages and not being able to run it when on the hard its much better

 

[pvb]

Will some sort of extractor fan with 100mm vent pipes clear the heat or does it have to be something more complicated ( and expensive).?

A major consideration is the current draw of the fan. Something like a cheap computer cooling fan would give reasonable airflow at a very low current draw. Wire it to the fridge motor, so it operates whenever the compressor is running.

 

[Dougal]

Something like a cheap computer cooling fan would give reasonable airflow at a very low current draw. Wire it to the fridge motor, so it operates whenever the compressor is running.

I've done exactly that, and can confirm they do exceptionally well, even the cheapo eBay fans. All I did was to make up a small mounting bracket, but to be honest, if its out of sight, just 'tack' glue it place with a little hot glue.

 

[BobnLesley]

...fitting a cooling plate in our existing ice box. The motor package would have to be mounted behind the box between it and the hull...?

We fitted a fridge on our last boat and did exactly that; even with an additional fan, we just couldn't get enough heat out of the fairly restricted void and only cured the problem when we built a small shelf at the front and near the top of the cockpit locker (it was only a couple of feet away) and relocated the fridge's motor to that, it worked much better and transferred no heat into the living space either. I built ours from scratch, even with good quality and lots of insulation, it was still power-hungry in the Med, I suspect that your original ice-box is likely to be fairly poorly insulated (6" of dense foam is not too much) so anticipate the installation burning a lot of amps.

 

[duncan99210]

I've done exactly that, and can confirm they do exceptionally well, even the cheapo eBay fans. All I did was to make up a small mounting bracket, but to be honest, if its out of sight, just 'tack' glue it place with a little hot glue.

+1. The space our fridge compressor lives in is vented to the saloon and we've put a computer fan on the louvered door. Doesn't seem to make any noticeable difference to cabin temps even in the Med. However, the void is large and under the waterline so is as cool as possible already.

 

[William_H]

12v fans can be very cheap and effective. They come in a variety of sizes. Try to get a proper air flow from cabin out through a duct to outside. Note it is not just the condensor coils but the motor itself that needs cooling. The concept of locating the compresser /condensor outside is an excellent one though still needs an air flow. but this may not be practical for you. Heres a selection from our loocal electronics shop. http://www.altronics.com.au/search/all/?sr=12v+Fan good luck olewill