Yacht refrigerators

[SpitfireJay1]

Hi, second post on this forum of YBW that I have newly discovered and find great. As in my previous question I stated a yearning to become as off grid as is feasible. After spending what for me was a vast amount of money on AGM batteries, victron charger and charge controller plus a few solar panels. I am trying to find a relatively cheap and low energy usage refrigerator, I don't want frozen, just refrigeration. Obviously a top opening one. I did hear about buying a small chest freezer than using a temperature probe that plugs into the freezer plug, it then allows the temperature to be in the refrigerator zone. It's supposed to be very efficient because it's top opening and freezers tend to be better insulated, especially F rated ones. But even if I lose a drawer under the map table I still can't find one that will fit. So I have been looking at the compressor car/picnic/camping ones that have an integrated battery as well. They are far cheaper than waeco or dometic ones, with 50L ones being around £250. Can be tilted over 45 degrees. If I bought one it will be permanently connected to a 12v supply. Has anyone tried one of these on a boat ? Having spent so much money on the boat of late, I just can't get to waeco prices.

 

[Irish Rover]

May be of interest
Mobicool MCF 40 portable freezer - Any opinions?

 

[V1701]

Have a look at the Alpicool coolboxes they're compressor type & very good value. I had an 18L one that worked well, switch it off at night & on again in the morning. You can augment the insulation by simply using the polystyrene from the box they come packaged in. Ordered mine direct from China but they're available on Amazon/ebay. I'd have another if I needed one for sure...

 

[noelex]

The 4WD drive compressor fridge/freezer units are great choice. They are very reliable, but if they ever do fail they can be thrown away and replaced with an new unit at less cost than a typical repair on a marine fridge unit.

We use two 40L units. They can both be used as fridge or a freezer. In our case one unit is fridge and the second unit is either a fridge or a freezer depending on our requirements.

We have always used more premium brands such as National Luna and Engel. These have been excellent, but the less expensive brands have a good reputation for excellent value for money while still delivering most of the performance and reliability.

 

[SpitfireJay1]

Have a look at the Alpicool coolboxes they're compressor type & very good value. I had an 18L one that worked well, switch it off at night & on again in the morning. You can augment the insulation by simply using the polystyrene from the box they come packaged in. Ordered mine direct from China but they're available on Amazon/ebay. I'd have another if I needed one for sure...

I have been looking at alpicool and they look and sound perfect. I will get the larger 50L one but thank you for your help, great ideas on the come with packing material, but I have loads of celotex and the flexible silver bubble wrap looking stuff. So I will compliment the units insulation by using layers of each material in the space it is going. Thanks again for taking the time to help.
Best wishes.
Jay

 

[SpitfireJay1]

The 4WD drive compressor fridge/freezer units are great choice. They are very reliable, but if they ever do fail they can be thrown away and replaced with an new unit at less cost than a typical repair on a marine fridge unit.

We use two 40L units. They can both be used as fridge or a freezer. In our case one unit is fridge and the second unit is either a fridge or a freezer depending on our requirements.

We have always used more premium brands such as National Luna and Engel. These have been excellent, but the less expensive brands have a good reputation for excellent value for money while still delivering most of the performance and reliability.

That's a great idea that I hadn't thought of, buy two medium size ones for freezer or refrigerator duties or either, rather than one large one which is what I was thinking.
Thanks for taking the time to help.
Best wishes.
Jay.

 

[Kelpie]

You can buy a kit (compressor, evaporator plate) for a little under £400. Will knock the socks off most ready made units. You can add as much insulation as you like and can fit it in to whatever space is available. Run as either a fridge or freezer depending on which thermostat you fit.

 

[SpitfireJay1]

You can buy a kit (compressor, evaporator plate) for a little under £400. Will knock the socks off most ready made units. You can add as much insulation as you like and can fit it in to whatever space is available. Run as either a fridge or freezer depending on which thermostat you fit.

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yeh I had something similar that required a hole in the hull below the water line , a pump and heat exchanger system. But as I have today taken all my old 8mm rigging (I upgraded to 10mm) to a scrap yard plus two not required aplledore reefing booms, I have now purchased an alpicoool 50L 12v fridge I'm good lol.

 

[srm]

I am trying to find a relatively cheap and low energy usage refrigerator, I don't want frozen, just refrigeration.

If you want low power consumption forget about air cooled units. In 2010 I fitted a small fridge with a water cooled sintered bronze plate (about the size of an anode) on the outside of the hull. Also, added as much extra insulation as I could around the cabinet. Cabinet, compressor and through hull cooling plate came as separate units, ready filled with gas, and the pipes snapped together. Still works well on either 12v or 240v.

Can not remember the details but got the full kit from a company on the south coast, I think it was Penguine.

Once fitted I ran it for 24hours and my battery monitor showed a drop of 18amp/hours. That was in Orkney with sea temp around 11C, it will use more power in warmer waters but still less than equivalent air cooled and without the need of providing good ventilation to the cooling coils.
It was fairly straight forward to fit replacing an air cooled unit under the chart table taking a couple of days including drilling the hull and fitting the cooling plate between tides.

It was more expensive than a simple air cooled unit but we ran it 24/7 often just using wind and solar in Scottish anchorages when living aboard for 6 months of the year without having to worry about batteries whereas the previous air cooled fridge was sometimes turned off to save power.