Its that time of year again - Waeco Coolboxes

[Mark M]

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I am thinking of buying a the WAECO TropiCool TC-35FL, coolbox which cost around 200.00

I have a twin engined cruiser on the thames with 2 engiune batteries, which are only for the engine use, once the engines are started the charger switches over to the two 110AH house batteries after 5-10 minutes, all my lighting is led so i dont use much of the house batteries,

I am not sure what my alternators output are i will have to check them (The boat is a Birchwood 33 with what looks like the origional alternators)

I was just wondering if 2 batteries would be enough for running the fridge over a weekend, we dont have 240volt shore power so the only charging the batteries get are through the alternators, we use the boat every weekend but as we have a newborn baby we might only have the engines running for an hour, until we moor up somewhere nice for the weekend, i was just wondering if anyone had any views on the Waeco, do they hold the temp well until the morning when switched of at night to conserve the power, i didnthink about a gas fridge but the BSS regs are quite complex with them, and if possible i would like to keep gas appliances within the cabin to a minimum of the cooker only

Or can anyone recommend a diiferent coolbox/arternative

Cheers

 

[Phill]

We explored this a few years ago. We had a twin engined Princess 33 with a similar battery bank to yours and had the same concerns about battery drain.
At that time we opted to go with Waeco but spent a little more and bought a CF35. The reason for this was that with a Danfoss compressor, the cooler only needs to run for about 20% of the time its switched on, making it a whole lot more economical with the batteries. Our CF35 has been fantastic and outperformed the fitted fridge in the galley. If temp turned down too much, our milk would freeze. Our Waeco came with UK, European mains leads and a 12v cigarette lighter lead which was used whilst in the car, travelling to the boat. I bought an additional 12v lead which was fitted with a plug suitable for our boat. Even if moored for a few days, we never drained the batteries and the fridge was permantly on. Fairly sure it has a current sensing feature to avoid total drain.

As we sold the boat last year (miss it sooo much) we now have the cooler at home which is invaluable as an extra drinks fridge this weather.

Link is here http://www.jacksons-camping.co.uk/waeco/compressor-coolers.htm

Hope thats of use.