Fridges.

[ccscott49]

OK, peeps, I have a mains freezer onboard, which runs on an inverter when I'm offshore sailing/motoring. In the galley a fridge, marine 24 volt type.
What I intend to do, is buy a narrow fridge/freezer domestic one, run it from my inverter, dump the marine fridge, (its tiny anyway, for liveaboard) dump the big old freezer, which gives me more room in the forward cabin.
I can fit one of those, freezer on the bottom, big fridge on the top, about 1.7m high in my galley, so is this a sound idea? I also have a marine fridge in the wheelhouse for beer/emergency.
In my experience, in the meddy, you do not need water cooled fridges.
They say the insulation on a domestic fridge is not as good as a marine fridge, this is rubbish.
Any informed/experienced input here would be appreciated, is there any REAL reason not to go this way? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Talbot]

Can they cope wth operating at an angle?

 

[jeremyshaw]

I know someone who has his entire (65') boat kitted out with domestic kitchen equipment and it works fine.

The power consumption when both fridge and freezer are working from an inverter would freak me out, but I'm sure you've done the maths....

 

[orizaba]

did adelivery on boat kitted out with domestic gear ,seprate big fridge and freezer,all worked ok,and we got thrown about quite alot,(enough to split starboard water tank) we had engine on tho most of the way and it had a 3000 watt invertor,when engine not on or shorepower not on the frezer and fridge seemed ok for about 24-36 hrs,battery bank was quite small about 400 amps if i remember right,biggest drain hot water heater,calorifier.electric side had to be off when engine not running/no shore power drained the lot in about 6-8 hours.

 

[ParaHandy]

only thought is the door catch. if the unit is intended for integrated (inside a fitteed kitchen carcass and thus without a locking door catch) then the door might fractionally open. so, i'd get one with proper door catch. that aside, i'd be concerned at how stable it is - unless it can be nailed to the wall?

 

[pappaecho]

Dont entirely agree with levels of insulation being the same on domestic and marine fridges.
Have just trashed an old domestic fridge which had 1inch and quarter of insulation.
Have also just converted an old electrolux gas ( ammonia) fridge to electrickery. It had 2 inch insulation.
Assuming the U value of the old electrolux is about 0.3 watts per degree C per sq metre, the domestic must be in the order of a bout 0.55 watts per degree C per sq metre, and so assuming a temperature differential of say 20 degrees between the inside and ambient, then we can assume the domestic will lose nearly twice as much as the Marine fridge which actually came from a caravan

 

[ccscott49]

I know for sure the marine fridge (waeco) has no more insulation, than a big domestic I checked. They will operate at an angle. The power consumption, when the fridge I have and the freezer I have switch on is already frightening!

Thanks everybody, seems there is no real reason to not go this way.