C30 Fridge/ice chest

[ontherocks83]

Can anyone tellme if the Reefer unit in the ice chest of a C30 is 120V AC, 12V DV or both?

Also if it does run off 12V DC how many amp hours it draws either when running or per hour?

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Garbone]

Depends , a lot of them are aftermarket and as such are case by case. If factory installed you could call Catalina about your specific hull and they may have a record of the unit installed. What year boat?

 

[ontherocks83]

It's a 1984

 

[kloudie1]

I don't think they were even an option in '84, Rocks.. best to find the compressor module and get the Make/model of the aftermarket unit that was installed... Depending on how old the unit is, it could be 12V or 12/110V.. Most of the older ones were 12V and folks would have (should?) put a 120V-12V converter to run it while at dockside.
Depending on the box insulation, the unit can draw very different amounts of power.. most older ones drew about 5-7 amperes when running, but depending on box insulation might have to run anywhere from 20% of the time to 70% of the time..
Some "think about" numbers .. a unit drawing 6 amperes when running and running 20% of the time to keep cool with good insulation consumes 29 ampere hours per day.. a unit drawing same 6 amperes, with marginal insulation that has to run 70% of the time to keep cool, will consume 101 ampere hours per day..

 

[Benny17441]

I depends, but aftermarket conversions for boats your size are usually 12V and the power consumption depends on the geographical ambient temperatures for your location and the condition of the unit perhaps 3.5 to 5 Ah on the average. There are some tricks to increase efficiency like pre-cool on shorepower for 24 hours before using, pre-freeze some prepared foods and meats and a full refrigerator will operate more efficiently than a partially full one. Try not open the lid or door very frequently to help it maintain temperature. We keep drinks in a 4-5 days ice cooler. When traveling the refrigerator can be shut off for 1 hour of every 3; for the 2nd hour the engine can be ran and motor sail while bringing the fridge back to temperature and for the third hour it can run on the battery. This way the power draw from the batteries is reduced to about 1/3 of the usual. Although we sometimes practice this last protocol we mostly rely on a generator to recharge batteries when needed.