When we visit boat shows year after year it is always interesting to check out the new state of the art refrigeration equipment. After seeing and hearing creative advertising are you as interested as I am to find out how these new items really work? Did you ever notice how the so called top of the line units show up at flea markets couple of years after you see them at the boat show? In the last fifteen years we have seen many new products come alone promising more reliable and better performing refrigeration, some have worked but many do not live up to the buyer’s expectations. I keep a library of boat refrigeration equipment problems and solutions that I use for material for my books. I also have a boat refrigeration forum to answer questions on the subject. http://www.kollmann-marine.com/phpBB/ I hope by posting this it might encourage people to exchange experiences they have had with some of the new types of boat refrigeration equipment such as; Vacuum Insulating Panels, Variable speed compressors, Keel or through hull condensers, Danfoss’s new BD 80 compressors, or Glacier Bay’s new System. Danfoss has a new line of electronic modules, one with an extra external aluminum heat sink cover and another with a fan and automatic compressor speed control. If you do have time to offer your refrigeration experiences, please include how often your system is used and your cruising area. Richard Kollmann http://www.kollmann-marine.com
New Boat Refrigeration Technology
- Thread starter Richard Kollmann
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Great idea!
I will watch with interest. I know that when I finally venture from Lake Erie to warmer waters I will need to make a huge improvement. Possibly(likely) tearing out the galley and making a custom box. I have the standard air-cooled A/B in a box with very poor insulation. Most days on Erie it will run about half time. But that is because the A/C is running and the unit draws its air from inside the boat. I have insulated the inside top of the box and lid and added a good seal.
I will watch with interest. I know that when I finally venture from Lake Erie to warmer waters I will need to make a huge improvement. Possibly(likely) tearing out the galley and making a custom box. I have the standard air-cooled A/B in a box with very poor insulation. Most days on Erie it will run about half time. But that is because the A/C is running and the unit draws its air from inside the boat. I have insulated the inside top of the box and lid and added a good seal.
Fine-tuning the old-school...
Your list of high-tech stuff had me laughing because on this weekend's set of "Mythbusters" episodes on cable tv they took a crack at finding the fastest way to cool off a can of beer. They had some interesting results; the fastest way to cool off the subject was blasting it with a carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher, which brought the can from room temperature to about 38 degrees in 1 1/2 minutes. The second fastest way was to put it in a cooler with ice with water and pour lots of salt in the ice, which cooled the contents of the can to WELL BELOW 30 degrees in just a few minutes (I know, the freezing point of non-salt water is 32, but I'm not a chemist, I just report it). The salt water and ice technique has a lot of possibilities for those of use whose on-board refrigerator still consists of the icebox; with infinite free (but not necessarily sanitary) salt water around, we might get a lot more bang for our buck by pouring some over our ice as we load up. And every few years we'll have to do SOMETHING with that old fire extinguisher, may as well let it cool off some brews when the ice runs out...
Your list of high-tech stuff had me laughing because on this weekend's set of "Mythbusters" episodes on cable tv they took a crack at finding the fastest way to cool off a can of beer. They had some interesting results; the fastest way to cool off the subject was blasting it with a carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher, which brought the can from room temperature to about 38 degrees in 1 1/2 minutes. The second fastest way was to put it in a cooler with ice with water and pour lots of salt in the ice, which cooled the contents of the can to WELL BELOW 30 degrees in just a few minutes (I know, the freezing point of non-salt water is 32, but I'm not a chemist, I just report it). The salt water and ice technique has a lot of possibilities for those of use whose on-board refrigerator still consists of the icebox; with infinite free (but not necessarily sanitary) salt water around, we might get a lot more bang for our buck by pouring some over our ice as we load up. And every few years we'll have to do SOMETHING with that old fire extinguisher, may as well let it cool off some brews when the ice runs out...
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