Danfoss fridges...

RobertMartin

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I have seen a few people complain about the so called" amazing" Danfoss 12v fridge. As I was thinking of buying one soon, what problems are people having??

Also if one use's a small 75watt domestic fridge as some seem to, does this not put a huge draw on the batteries??

Bobby aka Seawolf..
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stephen_warby

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Hi Bobby,

I don't own one but I live in the Whitsunday's (Great Barrier Reef) in Australia where it is pretty warm and a great number of people use them here with great success under pretty demanding conditions (30 degree water / 30 degreee ambient temp 24 hrs a day etc).

Cheers
Stephen
 

dickh

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I have the Waeco 12v portable fridge which is fitted with the Danfoss compressor and so far have been impressed. I only have it on a low setting and it is fine, if I turn it up a little everything freezes! My only (minor)complaint is that the temp regulation is trial and error, but it was the cheapest proper fridge at the time. We took it to France with us 3 weeks ago in the boot of the car and it worked well.


dickh
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colvic

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When they are working i have to say they are brilliant. However, when they go wrong, and its normally the control box for the compressor, then you'll be asked to stump up over £150 even if only 367 days old!

The compressor is basically still the mains one and the "control box" is a mini inverter. A domestic fridge (mains) using the same compressor doen't have the "control box" just the thermo couple from the fridge thermostat. On the 12/24v model the thermostat is a switch inside the fridge cabinet breaking the supply inside the control box.

The biggest problem is with WAECO who want to pass the buck all the time and tell you that they don't supply private customers so can't be of help;

In our case:
Ist fridge didn't work.
2nd one the light switch didn't work and the bulb was on all the time and when the chandlers contacted them to point out the problem and state the cost of finding out the cause of flat batteries every day they cheerfully said "Oh it's the light switch, we'll send you a new type", within 7 days of purchasing a £600 fridge I was a bit miffed.
New switch gave up so we've used it without a light ever since.

Now been replaced with small domestic which has travelled almost 1000 miles at sea this summer with no problems.

Turns out WAECO buy in the complete fridge, turn back the plastic cover on the door panel and stick on a WAECO lable and double the price. FACT! The cut out for the light switch is done by someone using a knife, not moulded in manufacture as it is fitted by WAECO and not the manufacturer.

They paid me £50 to cover my out of pocket expenses, but never ever again £600 on a fridge that costs only coppers more than a domestic one to make.

Phil
 

howardclark

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When you say ' a small domestic' does that mean one for a house? If so isn't there supposed to be a problem with angle of tilt & movement?
 

RobertMartin

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Thanks for that,

With the domestic fridge, is it just a standard front opening fridge?
And how about draw on the batteries, is it not drawing amps all the time. have you worked out the amps over 24 hrs.
Sorry to ask so many question, but i do not want to buy the wrong thing. I have always thought a normal fridge would be fine, but never heard anyone else say so.

Bobby aka Seawolf..
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jtwebb

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I fitted a Waeco (Danfoss compressor) in my previous boat and also a neighbours boat at the same time and used holding plates. The present boat has a front opening fridge with a Danfoss compressor and a holding plate/freezer compartment. The controller in the neighbours boat failed early and Waeco replaced it without argument. The controller failed on my present boat at 9 years old and was replaced for £144 in Guernsey. The holding plate with a 'TEC' controller is important as it takes advantage of available power such as the engine running and boosts it quickly. If the fridge is not too large then the compressor will not run again for up to 10 hours unless you stand there with the door opening contemplating what to eat! The fridge makes no impact on our batteries (400Ah) in 48 hours.

J Webb
 

ccscott49

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A domestic fridge of 75watts is drawing the same current as a 12volt fridge of 75wattts, with a little loss for the inverter. I used domestic fridges for years, no problems and no more power hungry than a 12 volt one, the same BTU's is the same. Domestic fridges are used on all the ships I've been on, including supply boats, and they al;l rock and roll, without any problems, we are just getting ripped off, for the "marine" fridges, again! a small domestic, sited properly with an inverter is just as good. When you are running your engine, trun the fridge up to high, then turn it back to normal when the engine/shorepower etc. is off. Works for me in the med. Holding plate fridges are probably the best for marine use, but I still swear buy domestic ones and they are half the price and you can get them repaired cheaply.
 

HaraldS

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Have three WAECO boxes (top loading) in my boat, all with the 35W Danfoss compressors. I have mixed feelings about them:

One of them gave problems since installation and it turned out it was leaking at a tube that was probably overbent during installation. The real bad news is that it is virtually unfixable, as they use an aluminum coax tube to the evaporator.

I had to give up on the built in evaprator of the box and a very skilled guy in Horta (Azores) bend me a new one from simply a coil of copper tube. It was a whole days work and I only paid 190 Euros for the masterpiece.

All three are now working fine, one is run as a frezzer and reaches about -17 C.

Having had a closer look at the Danfoss compressor, I thought it was actually better than a domestic one with inverter, since it seems create a three phase AC and adjusts the frequency and this way probably has a significantly better efficiency. I hardly notice the three fridges as they run about a 30% duty cycle averaging 30 to 40 watts, when my overall consumption is closer to 250.

Certainly I wouldn't have known how to fit household fridges in my boat.

So all in all, mixed feelings about them, as I said.
 
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