Fridge compressor in cockpit locker?

[Barton Seagoon]

I am looking for advice on where to install the compressor for a fridge in a Westerly Fulmar (I have also posted this question on the WOA forum). Several people have said they installed it on a shelf in the cockpit locker, but we have also heard that the compressor will suffer a lot of corrosion from the relatively harsh environment in the locker. Have any forumites seen this kind of corrosion or damage happen on a compressor installed in the locker? After how many years? Or are the warnings of damage unfounded?

Thanks,
Barton.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

We have ours in the cockpit locker. It’s fine so long as you spray it with WD40 every few months.

 

[Cspirit]

I had a compressor installed in my Westerly Corsair’s cockpit locker. No problems in 18 years

Bob

 

[Graham376]

Our BD50F compressor has lived in the cockpit locker for about 15 years without any problems.

 

[laika]

Compressor on my oceanlord has been in the cockpit locker for the 13 years I've owned it and I suspect a good chunk of the boat's previous 20 years of life

 

[john_morris_uk]

Our compressor was in the cockpit locker when we bought Serendipity and when I updated the fridge/freezer I put the new compressor in there too.

It’s inside a box that protects it a bit.



The side is obviously off the box in the photo…

No corrosion but the systems playing up atm. Hence my photo which I’d taken to send to Penguin who supplied it.

 

[johnalison]

Although I use a dehumidifier in the boat during winter, I also put a granule-type one in the cockpit locker since my battery charger is there, and I would do the same if my fridge unit were there too.

 

[Barton Seagoon]

Our compressor was in the cockpit locker when we bought Serendipity and when I updated the fridge/freezer I put the new compressor in there too.

It’s inside a box that protects it a bit.

View attachment 155366

The side is obviously off the box in the photo…

No corrosion but the systems playing up atm. Hence my photo which I’d taken to send to Penguin who supplied it.

Edit: I’ve only just noticed tgat tge forum software has turned the picture upside down.

Are the cooling fins integrated with that unit, but hidden from this view? Or are they a separate unit somewhere else?

 

[seumask]

Ours was fine in the cockpit locker. Hardley ever had any water in the locker despite some failry challenging passages. Water only ever got into the locker when loading a wet rolled up inflateable into the locker.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Are the cooling fins integrated with that unit, but hidden from this view? Or are they a separate unit somewhere else?

It’s a water cooled system. Sometimes described as a keel cooled? The red pipe disappears to the through hull fitting with the cooling loop in it. In cooler waters it’s very very efficient (so long as you’ve got lots of insulation round thd fridge/freezer). If we knock the thermostat by accident it freezes everything in the fridge.

However ambient air temperature here is 28-30C. In the cockpit locker it might rise to 40C plus? Seawater temperature is 25C plus or minus so it’s still more efficient but has to work harder.