Water cooled fridge and freezer out the water

[davethedog]

Hi all.

Just been lifted out here in la coruna as we need the rudder seals changing and they tried to do then in the water but we are too low in the water (currently on way to the Caribbean).

We have water cooled fridge and freezers that we need to keep going, as we have lots of supplies in the freezer. Any ideas how, can I put a fresh water hose in the sea water intake and leave it on to provide the water?

 

[vyv_cox]

Is this a pumped system? On ours I can push one end of a small hose into the skin fitting and tie the other end to draw water from a bucket hung below the transom. This catches the water emerging from the discharge low on the transom. Just a 2 gallon bucket will run the fridge indefinitely without warming the water.

An alternative that works well is to circulate your fresh water tank. I would do this permanently to avoid fouling but it is difficult to arrange on our boat.

 

[Bilgediver]

Hi all.

Just been lifted out here in la coruna as we need the rudder seals changing and they tried to do then in the water but we are too low in the water (currently on way to the Caribbean).

We have water cooled fridge and freezers that we need to keep going, as we have lots of supplies in the freezer. Any ideas how, can I put a fresh water hose in the sea water intake and leave it on to provide the water?

It very much depends on the system. Do you have one intake for each system and each with its own circulating pump or a common pump for both?

I would try and supply with a gravity system rather than pressure it to mains water pressure this can be accomplished by supplying the systems from a container at about deck level which is being filled by a hose. This is also my preferred way of cooling the engine when running the engine however the water pumps on most boats can lift the water from a bucket sitting on the ground next to the boat. Your freezer pumps might not do this.

In both cases the water enters the boat by the sea inlet using a hose and if the hose is slack in th inlet fitting then it can be made to seal by wrapping self amalgamating or other tape around the the hose till it is a firm fit in the sea inlet.

 

[davethedog]

Thanks and it is a pumped system with a single inlet and outlet. There is a single pump for both the fridge and freezer that has an intake and outlet seacock. The pump draws the water in via the inlet sea cock.

Think the suggestion of a bucket with 2 short hoses to the inlet and outlet is worth a try.

 

[vyv_cox]

Thanks and it is a pumped system with a single inlet and outlet. There is a single pump for both the fridge and freezer that has an intake and outlet seacock. The pump draws the water in via the inlet sea cock.

Think the suggestion of a bucket with 2 short hoses to the inlet and outlet is worth a try.

I run mine for a fortnight in the yard in Greece, just topping up a couple of pints per day because my bucket does not catch all the discharge, some runs down the rudder. It amazes me that the water temperature remains constant throughout.

 

[davethedog]

Thanks and as the water inlet has a strainer the only way I could do it is to remove the inlet and outlet hoses from the seacocks and put them in a bucket in the bilge. Only issue is the water gets warm so have to change it every 4 or 5 hours.

 

[vas]

curious, can you point to the water cooled system you have?
I'd love to get a water cooled system on my badly squeezed fridge in the galley as air cooled one doesn't cut it.
Only water cooled ones I've seen are the frigoboat ones that have the freon going down to the bronze hull fitting and getting cooled there.
Catch is they cost inxs 500euro!


cheers

V.

 

[vyv_cox]

curious, can you point to the water cooled system you have?
I'd love to get a water cooled system on my badly squeezed fridge in the galley as air cooled one doesn't cut it.
Only water cooled ones I've seen are the frigoboat ones that have the freon going down to the bronze hull fitting and getting cooled there.
Catch is they cost inxs 500euro!


cheers

V.

Mine is a custom one built by my son. He replaced the air cooled condenser with a water cooled one, just concentric copper tubes around 6 inches long. The pump is the smallest Jabsco one running on 6 volts via a standard transformer (Frigoboat or similar)

It is very efficient, runs about 30% of the time despite a not very well insulated front opening fridge. Draws 4 amps at start of cycle, reducing to 3 amps at end. In Greece, water temp normally 25 - 30 C.

 

[vas]

thanks Vyv,

so looks something like this:



Catch is the above is 1k USD!
wonder how easy it would be to do a similar conversion on mine!
Guess the copper tube where seawater goes through has the freon copper tube "stuck" welded/soldered/whatever to it all along to path to convect (sp?) heat.
Will talk to the local fridge engineers and see what they think.
Guess I could grab the tubing from an old marine aircon unit as well (maybe an overkill)

cheers

V.

 

[vyv_cox]

Yes mine looks similar to that. Easily done DIY. Have the refrigerant taken out, braze in the new copper pipe, easy if you are experienced with a hot enough burner, Owen uses oxy-propane. Then have it vacuumed down and recharged. The pump is wired to come on with the compressor.

 

[vas]

thanks haven't got the tools to take the refrigerant out, vacuum and put back on, so it's a visit to the shop, most likely during the winter season as they are now so busy that you cannot even get them on their shop to enquire...

OTOH, I wonder if you can do all that without disrupting the internals and just rip the fins out of the normal aircooled thing and wrap the freon tube around a 1/2in copper pipe
Not sure how flexible the aircooled pipe is once you remove all the ali fins all around it.

cheers

V.