Keel cooler

[Bow42]

Hi
Our fridge is one of them keel cooler types , we will be on the hard for some time and like to be able to use the fridge , is there anyway this can be done ,

Thanks
Bow

 

[macd]

As you may be aware, it is recommended that they not be used on the hard since this can overheat the compressor oil to damaging effect. That said, I know of one boat whose owners just used the fridge on the hard 'as is', without apparent ill-effects. (The owner in question is actually very tech-savvy.) I know other owners who rigged up a water bath for the keel cooler. This evidently worked to a degree but the contraption was a bit M. Mouse: no doubt something more sophisticated could be made to work well if you cared to take the time and trouble. If water's cheap and you and your neighbours didn't mind a permanent puddle under the boat, I suppose you could rig up a garden sprinkler system, wired to come on only when the compressor pump was working. Might work.

Your choice. We have one and I wouldn't use it air-cooled. We bought a cheap 12V camping fridge, instead.

The proper solution, of course, is a hybrid air/water-cooled set-up. Unless of course there are other suggestions, in which case I'm all ears.

 

[geem]

Used ours for a few days whilst out of the water and it worked fine. No ill effects

 

[macd]

No ill effects

That you know of.
(Apart from anything else, if it was still under warranty, it no longer is.)

 

[ghostlymoron]

How will the warrantors know?

That you know of.
(Apart from anything else, if it was still under warranty, it no longer is.)

 

[macd]

How will the warrantors know?

Shame on you: you're implying that the warrantee might be dishonest
Besides, describing your non-recommended practices on a public forum is scarcely the best way of keeping them secret.

 

[vyv_cox]

I don't have a keel cooler of the type being discussed but I do have a seawater cooled heat exchanger, once through with a pump. When we are on the hard I fix up a bucket beneath the discharge at the transom with a hose from the bucket back to the cooling water seacock. Surprisingly, even with the bucket only half full, so only 3-4 litres or so, it never gets warm. So a small reservoir at the keel cooler would seem to be sufficient to keep the refrigerant temperature down.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have used my keel cooled fridge while anti fouling between tides several times without any problems.

What you need to do is monitor the duty cycle of the fridge (the ratio of on time to total time and if it starts getting to a continuous on time just check how hot the outside keel cooler is getting.

I am in a much hotter ares than the UK so IMHO this is less of a issue than in hotter places.

 

[geem]

That you know of.
(Apart from anything else, if it was still under warranty, it no longer is.)

Well it was still running nine years later with never a fault when I sold the boat. The unit was a frigoboat system suppled by Penguin Refrigeration.

 

[macd]

Well it was still running nine years later with never a fault when I sold the boat. The unit was a frigoboat system suppled by Penguin Refrigeration.

Good to learn it's that robust. But I think I'll stay with Penguin's recommendations.

 

[girlofwight]

FWIW Northshore happily used to fit keel cooling to Southerly's sold, of course, on their ability to dry out.