Anyone have any experience with Dometic..

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Sumner

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
...........CF Series Portable Refrigerators/Freezers?

If we want to keep things cold with our coolers we have to find ice every 5-8 days right now and would like to get rid of that pain. Without the need for ice we could stay out for up to 30 days.

Has anyone bought and used their portable units...

http://www.dometic.com/6c1abca3-b39a-4cf3-ab4b-a710ea904899.fodoc

We are looking at the......



....... CF-50 and the ...........




.........CF-80....

http://www.smallspacesappliances.com/compactportablerefrigeratorfreezers-coolfreezeseries.aspx

Thanks for any info anyone has good or bad about these units,

Sum and Ruth

Our Trips to Lake Powell, UT - Kootenay Lake, Canada - Priest Lake, ID
Our Mac Pages

Mac Links
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dserrell

dserrell

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Sep 8, 2009
171
Island Packet 31 Cutter/Centerboard Federal Point Yacht Club, Carolina Beach, NC
1
 
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Vision36

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Mar 3, 2005
15
Hunter Vision-36 Lake Arthur, La.
I have one and love it. I have no problem with the batteries. Once it cools down (I turn it on intially on shore power) it cycles about 40% so the actual power consumption is not as high as the specs sheet says.
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Home canning greatly reduces the need for ice box space. freezing water in jugs keeps the cold longer and provides melt water for drinking. I haven't yet tried it but some day I will ask a grocery store manager if he will freeze five jugs for me if I buy them in his store.
 
DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
We have a cf-50 and love it as well. I looked into adding refrigeration to the icebox on our boat but it would have cost twice as much. I love that I can load up the fridge at home and keep it cold all the way to our boat and for us, that's a four hour drive. I did add a battery to our house bank but I would have done that either way but we've never had a problem with power since buying the fridge. The one downside is the weight. The cf-50 weighs about 40 pounds unloaded but we had a bit of a list to port so I store it under the nav station on the starboard side.
 
Jentine

Jentine

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Jun 1, 2004
227
Beneteau 393 Newport
I have had one for two years as a cooler for drinks only. It uses very little power but we found that it runs much cooler at lower settings if operated on ac via an inverter. We manage to keep the main refrigerator and freezer for food.

Jim
 
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jackhartjr

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Dec 9, 2006
694
Oday 22 Hickory, NC
Are these true refrigerators...or the type that stays about 35 to 40 degrees cooler than the surrounding air? I have one of the latter in my truck and it keeps stuff pretty cool, however I keep the inside of the truck pretty cool, ablut 75 degrees or so so it works fine. I would imagine on a 90 to 100 degree day it would not be worth it. Plut it runs all of the time.

Ross, the guy at the store will probably be glad to freeze your water.
I am told that jugs frozen at zero last much longer than those a little higher. Same for food you are taking.
Jack
 
sailingdog

sailingdog

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Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
If you're looking for a portable refrigerator, I'd recommend the Engel or NorCold over the Dometic units. The Engel and Norcold (built in the same factory under different labels IIRC) are highly regarded and rated as best by Practical Sailor magazine. I have an Engel MT27 and it is low enough on power usage that I can keep it running 24/7 and keep the batteries up with a single solar panel.
 
DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
These are true refrigerator/freezers. I saw the Practical Sailor article after having bought the cf-50. While I value their opinions, I have no regrets buying this unit and have turned a few others onto going this route and they love theirs as well. I don't think you'd go wrong with any of these units, Norcold, Engel or Dometic. I think they are a great alternative to installing refrigeration to your boat as well as being more versatile.
 
B

Big Windy

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Jun 2, 2004
1,077
Several Catalinas C25/C320 USA
Dometic is a good brand, they are one of the primary providers of refrig/freezers in RVs. Normally powered by either propane or normal AC current. I have a 10 cu ft model that does a fine job.
 
Sumner

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
DannyS said:
These are true refrigerator/freezers. I saw the Practical Sailor article after having bought the cf-50. While I value their opinions, I have no regrets buying this unit and have turned a few others onto going this route and they love theirs as well. I don't think you'd go wrong with any of these units, Norcold, Engel or Dometic. I think they are a great alternative to installing refrigeration to your boat as well as being more versatile.
Click to expand
Thanks guys. Sounds like any of these three are good. We are kind of down to ......



Dometic Waeco AC/DC CF 50 CoolFreeze Portable Fridge Freezer

or the......



Engel MT45F-U1 Portable AC/DC Fridge Freezer Travel Cooler 43 Quart

The Dometic is 3.75 amps and the Engel is 2.5 amps., but that doesn't really tell you how much electricity they use. They say the Dometic operates 15% of the time if the cooler is in an ambient temperature of 86 degrees and you want to keep the interior of the frig at 41 deg.. I can't find the same type of info on the Engel, so while it draws less current when running it might run more, the same or less under the same temperature conditions. Anyone see that info?

The Dometic is .2 cu. ft. bigger, that isn't that much. The way the lid opens on the Engle is less convenient where it will be located, but we would overlook that if it consumed sufficiently less electricity.

I have sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine every night so we have had to account for that now. To take care of those needs we have two batteries and..............



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor/outside-22.html

........this 40 watt solar panel and I'll add one more of these for a total of 80 watts solar. But our real backup is............



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor/outside-13.html

........this 12 volt generator I made from a Honda engine and a GM alternator.



We used it exclusively for our power needs during our 24 days on the water in Idaho and Canada last summer. Then I installed the solar panel before we went to Lake Powell for that 18 day trip. It drastically cut down on the generator time. I suspect we will still have to run it 30 minutes or so every day or so if we add the frig. My CPAP machine uses 6 amps, so that is about 36 to 48 amp hours every night. All of our interior lights are LED with their own batteries and the anchor light is a 3 watt LED. Other than that we run the depth finder and the radio occasionally.

We will still like to hear from anyone who has anything to add about the Norcold, Dometic or Engle.

Thanks,

Sum and Ruth

Our Trips to Lake Powell, UT - Kootenay Lake, Canada - Priest Lake, ID
Our Mac Pages

Mac Links
 
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B

Benny

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Sep 27, 2008
1,149
Hunter 320 Tampa, FL
Precool the refrigerator before a trip with shore power and remeber a full refrigerator works more efficiently than an empty one.
 
B

Big Windy

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Jun 2, 2004
1,077
Several Catalinas C25/C320 USA
Benny said:
Precool the refrigerator before a trip with shore power and remeber a full refrigerator works more efficiently than an empty one.
Click to expand
Precool it for sure, then load it with items are have aready been cooled in the house refrig. A precooled refrig loaded with items that are already cold, means it works much less.
 
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