Newer Hunter 33 Refrigerator Operation

[Nodak7]

We have a 2009 Hunter 33. It was purchased new a last year. The refrigerator operation has been poor, at best. At first we thought it was a bad refrigerator. The dealer had it sent back to the factory and it tested out with no problem. I reinstalled it this spring (putting a fan under it to circulate more air through the compartment) and it ran good until the weather started to warm. We just came back from 10 days out and it got so bad about consuming electricity we finally had to shut it down and put ice blocks in it to keep it relatively cool. The freezer ran fine.

Anyway it seems that the refrigerator consumes lots of power and when we run the engine to recharge the battery the heat from the engine transmits to the refrigerator which makes it work harder. The refrigerator compartment is right next to the engine compartment.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, what did you do. I want to insulate the wall between the engine and refrigerator compartments but the heat transmits thru the bilge then the refrigerator compartment and finally exits thru the lazarette.

It seems to be a catch 22. Run the engine to recharge the battery, the heat from the engine makes the refrigerator work harder which consumes the battery.......:cry:

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[seadaddler]

Wow

Something has to be very wrong some place,I have a 2007 H-36 and live in Florida and my Ref works fine.
I do keep my Ref on all the time at the dock and I did get a transformer so that it works off 110 when ever plugged into shore power and than will switch to 12 volt Auto when away out sailing,I also have a engine blower which suchs out some of the engine heat but I don't use the blower that much and don't need it but my wife likes to use it.
I also have 2 4D's and do use alot of electronics when sailing
Nick

 

[Steve Dion]

This is something that you really need to discuss with Hunter. I think you need to ask them what they may have done about the problem. My best bet would be that they have either missed your insulation or they have an upgrade to better insulate the box.

 

[Jeff]

I have a 1993 H33.5 with the A-B frig located next to the engine. We have 1" foil backed foam (presumably installed at the factory) located between the engine and frig. You may also consider putting a cork in the drain hole to keep the cold air from going down the drain. I have a 12V computer fan located next to my coils to better circulate air around them. The battery operated fan in the frig helps a bit also. We run ours all summer long. When the boat is closed up all week it maintains about 42 degrees. With the A/C on in the cabin it drops to 36. Radio Shack has a wireless remote thermometer the makes it easy to see how the frig is performing. I think it was $20 or so. Works great for us.

 

[Nodak7]

I just installed a piece of 1" Insulation between the engine compartment and the refrigerator. Jeff, what do you mean about the drain hole? I do not recall seeing anything like that. Also, does the fan blow the air in or out? I also have a remote temperature sensors in my fridge and freezer. Helps a lot to know what it is doing.

 

[Ken13559]

On my friend's 2007 H33, there is an extraction fan at stern (below skipper's seat). When he turn that on (alittle noisy) his Ref works fine.

 

[Nodak7]

Interesting that you should say that Ken. I had forgotten about that fan until a week or so ago when I was testing the charging system. So I tried that for the first time this past weekend. It is noisy and we did not keep it running very long because we were not out for an extended time. The jury is still out whether it works of not. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[btaite]

No problems with my 2007 H33. In fact I had to turn down my temp control to about 1/3 because some pop was freezing.

 

[Scott B]

Anyway it seems that the refrigerator consumes lots of power and when we run the engine to recharge the battery the heat from the engine transmits to the refrigerator which makes it work harder. The refrigerator compartment is right next to the engine compartment.

How is the frig running poor. Not keeping cold or using battery juice.

What do you have for house bank and do you actually know what the frig is drawing. Ours cycles at 3.3 amps. While we were out for two weeks and unplugged, we had to charge the batteries daily, but we only have 2 group 27's. We don't run the top load freezer. I find the freezer to be more the energy hog or both in combination will run down the batteries very quickly.

The blower is for the engine compartment for gas fumes as required but not required for deisel. It does help cool the engine compartment but noisy.

 

[Steve Dion]

I would have a refrigeration specialist or your dealer check out the system. You can either have an over charge or under charged system.

 

[roan]

I have a 2006 Hunter 33 # 327 with front loading fridge and seperate freezer. I have never had any problems in 5 years and love the fridge. As many people here said, something is wrong and probably not the fridge. Sorry cannot be more help.

 

[roan]

Agreed I have to keep my fridge on low as it works so well.

 

[Nodak7]

Well, we have had the refrigerator checked by the manufacture. no problems. We carry two 31's for house. We normally run both the freezer and refrigerator. The freezer runs like a champ. It looks like the frig takes about 3.5 amps. I have checked the charging system and the batteries, no problems there. We usually consume about 30-35% of the battery per day and unless I can charge we are exhausted in two days or so. It takes quite awhile to recharge the batteries. I have added insulation between the motor and the fridge. Added a small fan behind the fridge to help keep air over the condenser coils. We do run the fan when the motor is running. That does seem to help. We have started putting an ice block in and shutting it down at night. I cannot think of anything further that I can do. Very frustrating!!!!!!

 

[Scott B]

2 - 31's is 200 AH. Keeping them above 50% and not being able to charge above 80% with just the engine alt. means you're running from 100 Ah to 160 Ah or only 60 Ah of usable energy. Just the frig alone at 3.5 running 50% of the time is 42 Ah. If you're also running the freezer at 3.5? then yes you will smoke the battery juice in no time.
I don't run both for that very reason. I run the frig, and just use the little freezer in the frig. Beer goes in a cooler with 2 blocks of ice. Did that for 2 weeks and worked. Next step is more batteries i.e. 4 golf carts at 440 Ah and a bigger alt.

 

[Nodak7]

Thanks Scott. You describe exactly what I am going through. I looked at a bigger alternator but decided it would not help without more batteries which I refuse to do.

I like the way you explained it. Not being real knowledgeable about electrical things but I have a couple of questions on your calculations. Why can't I charge them above 80%? I have observed that already. Why do I have to keep them above 50%?.

 

[Scott B]

So what you're experiencing is not the frig., but just not enough batteries for the time you're away from the dock.


I'm not an expert, just info I've picked up from the forum etc.

For best performance, deep-cycle batteries should not be allowed to drop below 50% too many times. Because of thew way batteries charge and acceptance rate, the amount of battery juice you can put back in decreases as the batteries are being charged. i.e. they could start out at 30 amps but as it approached 75% will be down to 5 amps, at least thats what I've observed on my batt monitor. It would take forever to charge with engine from 80% - 100%. So, effective battery usage is from 50% - 80%.
Altenators whould not be bigger than 40% of you battery bank. i.e. 220 ah should have no more than 80 amp alt.


Some good reading from Ample Power

 

[Nodak7]

A good read! Thanks Scott!

 

[Steve Dion]

Be sure to do the dollar test on your refrigerator lids. Much of the time there is a lot of air leaking which causes you box to leak air.

Place a dollar bill under the lid and see if you can pull it out. If you can your seals are not working. I just did this on my HV36. The box has a lot of insulation, but the lid was leaking. I had to turn it down to prevent everything from freezing after I added more gasket material.

 

[Nodak7]

Great suggestion Steve. Thanks I will do that.

 

[J Hunter]

It's still a little difficult to see why your nice brandy new hunter can't keep your food cool for more than two days even when you charge via alternator daily, and other's have boats with the same set-up and do fine just by running the engine once a day when cruising.

I wouldn't let Hunter or the frig manufacturer off the hook yet, it should work as a cruising refrigerator (out indefinitely) as long as your Yanmar starts and there's diesel in the tank.

I had a dorm refrigerator that would intermittently stop cooling. The evaporator (the section inside the box) would every day get frosted just a tiny bit right at the beginning of the coil and then the box would slowly warm up, (with the compressor never cycling off) after awhile it would start cooling again but it would warm up once every day or two where the "soda" would get warm.

I figured it was a drop or two of moisture freezing in the cap tube metering device so I blew the charge (1979) brazed in a new glasspak drier, evacuated and recharged. Worked great for a week and a half then started doing the same thing, so we chucked it. Must not have got all the dirt or moisture out.

Don't know if your box could be doing the same thing but the symptoms are similar, especially since it's sucking the juice so much while not ever satisfying the thermostat. If you've got a surface or infrared thermometer take some temp readings right on the coil plate when it's OK and again when it starts to warm up. The coil temp should gradually rise maybe 8 or 12 degrees along the refrigerant flow path, and should be only slightly warmer (with the compressor on) even if the box is warmed up from an overloaded condition (inadequate insulation or refrigeration capacity for the box size). Also, since your battery's 5 or 10% voltage swings from fully charged to when you start the engine don't have any effect on the RPM of the refer compressor (only the current draw changes on most of these I think) the refer capacity shouldn't be dropping drastically enough where you'd lose the temp IMHO. Unless you had too much warm food in it, the insulation or gasketing was failing or the frig coil was undersized, any inadequate power problem would only exhibit itself as you having to run the engine more when the voltage dropped to your predetermined re-charge level more often, but the frig I would think would stay the same temp. Did the manufacturer address this? Your alternator should run your frig and charge your battery. Your frig should operate at near full capacity during this whole cycle. I think the very fact that it ever gets warm means something is malfunctioning if Hunter put in an adequately sized coil, a properly insulated box and an adequately ventilated condenser coil area.