Keel Cooler

[Andy and Lyn]

In the middle of putting in a decent fridge - gutting the old Westerly "cold" ?? box and putting in a properly insulated own version (with about 80 mm of insulation all around. (eventual box size will be about 90 litres)

Have been advised that the best system to get will be with a keel cooler!! Does anyone have any thoughts on a decent/simple type to buy and where to buy!. I have a "disused" through hull fitting which may would be useful in this excercise. (it used to be for a galley sink sea-water inlet).

In the UK for the winter but back to western Med in April onwards!

 

[Chris_Robb]

In the middle of putting in a decent fridge - gutting the old Westerly "cold" ?? box and putting in a properly insulated own version (with about 80 mm of insulation all around. (eventual box size will be about 90 litres)

Have been advised that the best system to get will be with a keel cooler!! Does anyone have any thoughts on a decent/simple type to buy and where to buy!. I have a "disused" through hull fitting which may would be useful in this excercise. (it used to be for a galley sink sea-water inlet).

In the UK for the winter but back to western Med in April onwards!

Hi Andy, glad your getting to the root of the problem! The keel kooler system as supplied by Penguin is ideal. You can mount it several meters from the fridge compartment, I beleive you can get a pipe extension so that it can be mounted even further away if necessary.

HOWEVER, if you want to use the fridge when you are ashore for long periods, then ask them to give you one with a fan cooler as well - just put a switch in the circuit to activate when out of the water.

The system is literally plug and play, and VERY easy to install. It will require a new hole in the hull, but that is easy.

My system works a treat. WHo are you getting the liner made by?

Using a system that uses an existing hull fitting may restrict you to where you mount it. However under the sink is not bad a place, and you may be able to use the same hole.

I have the name of a wire basket maker so that you can stack the fridge efficiently - need to dig it out - if you interested.

 

[Jeva]

Without a doubt water cooled fridges are more effective. We replaced our freezer with a water cooled version from Penguin and it's great. The one problem we had was the trickle noise from the water going over the side (we didn't fit a keel cooler because of the difficulty in fitting to a steel hull). After a season of putting up with the trickling, we re-plumbed the water cooling to circulate into one of the water tanks. We've used it now for 12 months in a hot Med august and it works great. Easier than cool keeling and just as efficient.

 

[Chris_Robb]

Without a doubt water cooled fridges are more effective. We replaced our freezer with a water cooled version from Penguin and it's great. The one problem we had was the trickle noise from the water going over the side (we didn't fit a keel cooler because of the difficulty in fitting to a steel hull). After a season of putting up with the trickling, we re-plumbed the water cooling to circulate into one of the water tanks. We've used it now for 12 months in a hot Med august and it works great. Easier than cool keeling and just as efficient.

How hot does the tank water get? Legionnaires disease flourishes in water over 32C if no chlorine is present. Could that not be a danger????

 

[Andy and Lyn]

not sure where the liner is going to come from - open to ideas??

Just want to get the keel cooler on soonest as she is out of the water till Jan!

 

[RobbieW]

I have the name of a wire basket maker so that you can stack the fridge efficiently - need to dig it out - if you interested.

Hamster Baskets ? You have to supply and install your own hamsters though

 

[Andy and Lyn]

Keel cooler - £300 plus VAT from Penguin??

wasn't expecting that!!

 

[Jeva]

How hot does the tank water get? Legionnaires disease flourishes in water over 32C if no chlorine is present. Could that not be a danger????

No noticable difference in fresh water temp. The tank is mounted down in the hull so at least the bottom of the tank is at sea temp. Obviously, the size of the water tank and the quantity of water in it would have a bearing. Also the run from the freezer back to the tank (about 5m) will also cool the water.
Nobody on board has noticable Legioannaires disease symtoms, that I know of

 

[beserksail]

Keel cooler - £300 plus VAT from Penguin??

wasn't expecting that!!

Full system which is keel unit, compressor unit and evaporator plate will be more like £800 but it is an efficient, quiet system and has worked well for us in a Fulmar for 4 years in Med.

 

[CharlesSwallow]

Hamster Baskets ? You have to supply and install your own hamsters though

They do very well for domestic chest freezers but we gave up and now put the different meats, fish fruit etc just into a supermarket carrier bag each and therefore get much more in. They work just as well as Hamster Baskets and cost less than the £16 each..

Fridges OTOH work better with a good circulation of air and that is why we have persevered with HBs in the boat fridge.

(Disconnected mutterings)

Chas

 

[Caladh]

Keel cooler - £300 plus VAT from Penguin??

wasn't expecting that!!

..mmm expensive but very good. Per Mr Robb I also bought a keel cooler setup from Penguin. Backup was good although I bought an evaporator that was too small MOD130H and had to swap for a MOD160H - all my fault. Tick vg. for the compressor that also has a fan for cooling when your out of the water (if you need it). However if your interested in going down the Penguin route I have the 130H for sale at a v. reasonable price. Only been used for 1 week this season. Penguin may do you a deal (they'll remember me !). If your existing hole in the hull is 38mm then the keel cooler will fit. The only issue I had was the 1.5m pipe run from the keel cooler to the compressor although I believe you can buy extension pipes. PM if interested.

 

[Chris_Robb]

not sure where the liner is going to come from - open to ideas??

Just want to get the keel cooler on soonest as she is out of the water till Jan!

Andy, liner from Tektanks, and as others have said the whole fridge set up from Penguin will be some £600 to 800 depending on the compressor.

It really is worth spending the money especially as you have gone to the trouble of starting from scratch.

Tektanks will guide you through ideas on how to design it as will penguin - both very helpfull and they talk to each other.

You can quite easily install the keel cooler before the rest, because they are just push fit connectors and the compressor is already charged.

If you want to call me to talk through some ideas, feel free as I did this 2 years ago please do - send a PM.

 

[vyv_cox]

How hot does the tank water get? Legionnaires disease flourishes in water over 32C if no chlorine is present. Could that not be a danger????

My fridge is water cooled, pumped by a Par Max 1 running on 6 volts. When we are ashore I circulate the coolant using a gallon or so of water in a bucket hanging off the transom, where the outlet is. It has run for more than a week like this, in Greece, and never gets any warmer than it started.

 

[Andy and Lyn]

thanks to all who have contributed to date!

Lots of good info as always - working on the final plan this week!!

 

[bateau57]

I also have the keel cooler on my installation and think it is excellent. Think we need to be careful with the anodes though or it would be a disaster.

My only change to my system was to also have the air cooled compressor as well as the keel cooler. This allows me to use the fridge on the hard or provide some extra cooling power if I have the amp hours to spare to drive the fan. The fan is on a separate switch.