PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
Both systems use R134a, but the stuff from Halfords etc has added oil and isn't suitable for fridges.
New fridge for squadron 58
- Thread starter jrudge
- Start date
Both systems use R134a, but the stuff from Halfords etc has added oil and isn't suitable for fridges.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
OK - understood
When I did my fridge, I bought some R134A from a proper source.
I also bought some from Ebay so I will check what it says on the bottle before using it.
PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
Yep, that's what i said in post
#9Repairability depends on where the leak is and if you can find someone to economically make the repair, but more often than not it's dead, as you suspect.
Common causes for leaks in domestic fridges was always someone digging a hole in the evaporator, in a hurry to defrost, that's be terminal.
Sometimes, a soldered joint would crack, those could be re-soldered/brazed and re gassed, if you could find someone that was sensible with pricing. You can often spot leaky joints, as they will be oily.
ChromeDome
Well-Known Member
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
In my experience, all marine fridge manufacturers are several times more expensive than domestic fridges.
And the technology is often more advanced in a domestic machine.
For motor boats, the marine units are often dual supply so just add a cheap inverter (or use an existing inverter) and you are still "in pocket".
As an example, to replace my main fridge with the original it was going to cost £1800.
I picked up a brand new (unused) Bosch on Ebay for £400.
The new fridge is way more economical and much nicer modern design than the old Dometic unit.
I treated myself to a cheap sinewave inverter for less than £200.
And wired it so that the ice maker can also run from the inverter - so an extra benefit from the replacement.
However, I cant find a domestic replacement for my saloon marine drinks fridge.
The space for it is too small for most "under counter" fridges.
So, fixing it was the most economical route.
But, if I could find a sensible sized and priced domestic fridge, I would replace that fridge as well.
ChromeDome
Well-Known Member
Agreed - boat, caravan, motorhome and truck appliances tend to be less sophisticated (read: simpler and therefore more robust), built not to match home appliances' dimensions.
Unfortunately, boat design tends to have spaces precisely adapted to certain 'marine' fridges - ours take an Isoterm CR 85 ( just!) in a bespoke cabinet.
On more than one occasion we have contemplated a conversion project to accommodate a standard unit.
Not too complicated to run a 240v fridge off a 12 volt system, btw.
Unfortunately, boat design tends to have spaces precisely adapted to certain 'marine' fridges - ours take an Isoterm CR 85 ( just!) in a bespoke cabinet.
On more than one occasion we have contemplated a conversion project to accommodate a standard unit.
Not too complicated to run a 240v fridge off a 12 volt system, btw.
Fire99
Well-Known Member
This is an interesting thread. I've a Marvel under-counter fridge on mine which is basically a domestic fridge +50% wide and I can't see any for sale that are anything like as wide. I'm not sure if I was reading correctly but replacement Marvel fridges are eye-wateringly expensive.
Elessar
Well-Known Member
Struggled to find a fridge for my Sealine. 1360 high. I tried the domestic plus inverter idea too but couldn’t find the right size.
found an exact fit here 2-way Fridges for Campervan & Caravan - 12v, 24v & 230v
Worth a look Jeremy.
found an exact fit here 2-way Fridges for Campervan & Caravan - 12v, 24v & 230v
Worth a look Jeremy.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
Interesting link, Mark.
If Jeremy's fridge is like mine, there really is only one option.
The Dometic CRX110
All the others fail the first requirement/test - height - either far too small or (the under counter models) too tall.
My situation is compounded further in that Princess seem to have removed the top of the fridge so that it will fit into the wooden cabinet.
That site seems to be the cheapest but they are all stupid money.
Elessar
Well-Known Member
There’s only one on here that fits mine and it’s £1400. Pricey but I’ve seen worse!
jrudge
Well-Known Member
SJ-LF134M1X-EN | Sharp Larder Fridge | White | ao.com
I bought this in the end. Same size and an integrated door panel. Will add an inverter for 24v use but the boat is either on shore power or gen running anyway.
has no freezer but the freezer in the original was too small so I will fit a portable freezer in theutility which will Be much bigger anyway.
It will come via the U.K. so will fit it when it arrives and report back.
the price of marine fridges is silly.
I bought this in the end. Same size and an integrated door panel. Will add an inverter for 24v use but the boat is either on shore power or gen running anyway.
has no freezer but the freezer in the original was too small so I will fit a portable freezer in theutility which will Be much bigger anyway.
It will come via the U.K. so will fit it when it arrives and report back.
the price of marine fridges is silly.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
Yep - thats the way to go.
Unfortunately for me, all those under counter fridges were too tall.
Your replacement is a "no brainer" at that price.
If you are fitting an inverter for it, best to err on the higher side.
When I was researching, I couldn't find any data on how much power a fridge initially draws when it starts up.
In the end, I found a cheap 2Kw inverter on Ebay and tested it at home before taking the whole lot out to the boat.
That was about 5 years ago - since then, that inverter has been faultless but I bought an identical one as a spare - just in case.
You can never have too many spares!!
I also powered the inverter from the 24v fridge switch on the main panel (via a 24v/240v contactor).
That way, my old 24v refrigerator switch still controls the fridge.
MapisM
Well-Known Member
Absolutely.
I only just noticed this thread, also because (by sheer coincidence) I've been busy with a fridge problem too!
And while I fully agree with the general suggestion to go for an inverter powered domestic AC fridge, not least because their cost is negligible compared to boat-specific stuff, I went the opposite route.
As a premise, I'm talking of the main galley fridge, almost 20yo by now, which last summer started to get "weak": temperature barely cold enough, but nowhere near as cold as it used to be, in spite of the compressor running almost continuously.
A local fridge technician suggested to try recharging the gas, and that did improve the situation... But just for a few months.
Long story short, I managed to reach the original builder of the fridge, who explained me that these things were completely custom built for each boat model of the yard, with the evaporator plate (the part that actually gets cold) embedded behind the internal s/steel rear wall of the fridge.
As a consequence, whenever the gas circuit downstream of the compressor starts to leak, it's not even worth trying to repair it, because replacing all the embedded copper hoses, evaporator plate and internal rear wall is akin to rebuild the whole thing.
But this chap was also kind enough to confirm that they would have been available to build an identical new one according to the original drawings, which he still had in his archives!
OTOH, not only I should have waited 8+ months, but... hang on tight! ...I wouldn't have had a lot of change left out of €4k!
So, probably moved to pity by my reaction (even if just over the phone), he suggested one possible alternative, if I didn't mind losing a bit of internal space: fitting a generic internal evaporator, drilling a hole to route the gas pipes, and re-use the existing fridge box "bypassing" its own original evaporator.
Which is what I did, and I'm happy to report that the final result is beyond my most optimistic expectations.
In fact, I was lucky enough to find a boxed evaporator whose size is just about perfect to fit the upper part of the fridge, so the space wasted is negligible.
Besides, since the inner part of the evaporator is (obviously) cooler than the rest of the interior, we now have a pretty stable temp of 4°C in the whole fridge, with around 0 deg inside the box, which according to the Admiral is perfect for some stuff that she would like to keep cooler than the normal fridge temp, but without freezing it (for which, we have another -20°C freezer inside the utility nearby).
Bottom line, still a big job, and even if "generic" rather than custom built, the evaporator (and also the 24V compressor) is still ridiculously expensive compared to any domestic components.
But in our case it was worth the cost and effort, because replacing a fully recessed fridge whose wooden panels match the rest of the interiors with a free standing domestic fridge would have been awful at best, and impossible at worst (see pics below).
I thought to mention this possibility, even if not useful for jrudge anymore (and in his boots I would have gone the same route anyway), because maybe it could be worth considering for anyone else who for some reason prefer to keep the original fridge.
Hopefully the following pics of the job are self-explanatory enough, and believe it or not the removal and re-installation of the thing was much harder and time consuming than the evaporator+compressor replacement, which all considered has been a relatively easy job.
