Refrigeration

Delezynski · Aug 4, 2012

Styx,

Take a look at the Engel units. They are just like the Waeco units but use less power to deliver the same cooling ability!

See them at; http://www.engel-usa.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=59&vmcchk=1&Itemid=59

I had a Waeco AND an Engel unit about the same size in our aft cabin at the same time. Watt for Watt of power the Engel used just a tad over half as much power, both running and overall for a few days. The Waeco is now in our van and the Engel is on the boat.

You might check out our reefer install page on our web site at; http://www.svguenevere.com/prep/proj/freezer/

Greg

DeniseO30 · Aug 4, 2012

for the almost the same cost of the portable you could get a norcold system for your existing box from defender. (got mine on sale for just under $600)

Engel and Norcold use a "swing motor" compressor, which why they have a lower amp draw.
http://www.sawafuji.co.jp/english/tech/shindou.html

Michael D · Aug 4, 2012

Two choices. One that looks like a refridgerator freezer or the chest style. I have the second choice and use the Engel MT40. Amongst other things it freezes blue ice the imitation ice that can be refrozen. They rotate in and out of a Coleman Xtreme which then serves as the refridgerator unit. I put mine on the unused settee which in my boat layout works rather well. The Engel has been running pretty much nonstop now for two years. Added tip. There are sheets of flexible pockets that can be frozen. Sorry forgot the name. Also the white flexible cutting boards. All of that can be acquired in an Ace Hardware or Orchard if you are in California. Once loaded place the frozen sheets over the top of everything and then the flexible cutting boards. Keeps everything colder longer. Two sets one in the freezer on top and one in the Xtreme icechest on top. The Coleman Xtreme claiims one week but that must be up in Canada. Depending on location one to three days possibly four is more accurate but the extra sheets help a lot. The regular ice chests are junk. Igloo also makes an extreme version you want the one with the thicker than normal walls. I started at Port Townsend WA and am currently in 100F plus heat in Mexico. On electricity I have two six volt banks at 225amphours each with wind, solar and engine to charge. Short of a bigger solar panel can't think of anything I'd change.

Michael
SV Se Langt
Marina Real
San Carlos, Sonoma, Mexico

Bill Roosa · Aug 4, 2012

I'd note that both the previous poster mentioned power draw. How big a battery bank do you have?
You can expect to have reefer power usage DOMINATE your energy budget. It is not unusual to see 3 amps continuous for a reefer. That would be 72 amp hours a day!!!!!

I suspect that you will find you are trading refrigeration for battery charging. If you are going ashore daily ice is pretty easy to get and cheap. FWIW

Sumner · Aug 4, 2012

We bought an EdgeStar...

http://www.compactappliance.com/FP6...le-Refrigerator-Freezer/FP630,default,pd.html

...63 quart and love it for the Mac and on the road. 110/12 volt. We used it on our two FL trips of about 1 month and 2 months and it performed very well. Seemed to use a little over 5 amps for a few minutes and then settled in on about 3.5 amps. A couple years ago it was on sale at Christmas for a little over $400 with freight. All of these units seemed to of gone up since then.

In FL with daytime temps of around 90 we would let it cool down to about 34 and shut if off for the night. It would be about 44 in the morning and take about 8 hours to get back down to 34, so ran between 30%-40% of the time in a 24 hour period. It might of done better if we would of left it on at night. We will do that next trip. We also added warm pop to it each day as we were out all of the time.

The frig is one of the best things...

...that we did for the boat. No more need to plan going in every 3-6 days for ice and no more water logged food. The install is here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/inside-22.html

... and here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/inside-23.html

Now saying that if you have the space already and can do the work getting a unit from Defender as mentioned above is a great addition to the boat.

I made a frig/freezer combo...

..for the Endeavour and it is about a cubic foot larger than the EdgeStar and ...

...has a freezer section and is using quite a bit less overall elect. than the EdgeStar, but that is mainly due to the 8 inches of insulation under it, 6 inches on the hull side and 4 inches front, back and top and the 3 inch lids. We used it for 2 months recently and it worked great. I used the Waeco/Adler Barbour Coolmatic 84...

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|406|10789|86418&id=86577

... and the Waeco VD-09 ....

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|406|10789|86418&id=1554195

... evaporator.

These will all use power of course and would recommend at least 100 watts of solar with one. We had 180 watts of solar on the Mac during the trips and in 7+ weeks in the spring ran a gen-set about 3-4 hours total and the solar took care of the rest of the time and we had a lot of computer use also,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]============================[/FONT]

Our Endeavour 37

Our MacGregor 26-S Pages

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

DannyS · Aug 5, 2012

We have a Waeco CF-50 that we like a lot. I built a slide out shelf for it in the footwell of the nave station where it fits perfectly. I never sat at the nav station so it was not a major loss. My only complaint is the lid. you have to get it on just right for it to latch. It desperately need a redesign, perhaps that's been remedied by now. We've owned it for about 4 years now and that's our only complaint.

zeehag · Aug 5, 2012

sumner--please tell me the measurements of that beautiful fridge i can almost afford!!!!! i hope it will fit into my defunct iceboxused to be fridge hole after i destroy it and begin again.....

Sumner · Aug 5, 2012

zeehag said:
sumner--please tell me the measurements of that beautiful fridge i can almost afford!!!!! i hope it will fit into my defunct iceboxused to be fridge hole after i destroy it and begin again.....

Are you interested in the new frig measurements or the compressor measurements or the portable Edgestar?

Here is a picture...

...of where the old upright 12/120 frig was that came with the boat and...

...here is the picture of the new in the same area. It now gives us more counter space also than before. The frig/freezer is all one unit under the counter tops. It is smaller and not as deep under the new wood counter top extension where one of the two hatch openings are. That area is for items we get to more often. I cut out the old counter top for an opening into the larger part of the box and the freezer section. The two openings are where the ...

... double bottom arrows are.

It has worked really well and even better than we hoped for. We had daytime inside boat temps of 85-87 the last couple weeks we were on the boat and the compressor is hardly ever on.

We are still on the road (in CA) and should be finally home in Utah end of the coming week. I'll try and get the build up then with measurements and such,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]============================[/FONT]

Our Endeavour 37

Our MacGregor 26-S Pages

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

zeehag · Aug 5, 2012

i was thinking the edgestar--i have a large under cabinet befoulment to correct and replace and structural changes to make-so i might be able to build a cabinet for around it with existing teak and space....

onecoolair · Aug 5, 2012

Sumner said:
We bought an EdgeStar...

http://www.compactappliance.com/FP6...le-Refrigerator-Freezer/FP630,default,pd.html

...63 quart and love it for the Mac and on the road. 110/12 volt. We used it on our two FL trips of about 1 month and 2 months and it performed very well. Seemed to use a little over 5 amps for a few minutes and then settled in on about 3.5 amps. A couple years ago it was on sale at Christmas for a little over $400 with freight. All of these units seemed to of gone up since then.

In FL with daytime temps of around 90 we would let it cool down to about 34 and shut if off for the night. It would be about 44 in the morning and take about 8 hours to get back down to 34, so ran between 30%-40% of the time in a 24 hour period. It might of done better if we would of left it on at night. We will do that next trip. We also added warm pop to it each day as we were out all of the time.

The frig is one of the best things...

...that we did for the boat. No more need to plan going in every 3-6 days for ice and no more water logged food. The install is here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/inside-22.html

... and here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/inside-23.html

Now saying that if you have the space already and can do the work getting a unit from Defender as mentioned above is a great addition to the boat.

I made a frig/freezer combo...

..for the Endeavour and it is about a cubic foot larger than the EdgeStar and ...

...has a freezer section and is using quite a bit less overall elect. than the EdgeStar, but that is mainly due to the 8 inches of insulation under it, 6 inches on the hull side and 4 inches front, back and top and the 3 inch lids. We used it for 2 months recently and it worked great. I used the Waeco/Adler Barbour Coolmatic 84...

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|406|10789|86418&id=86577

... and the Waeco VD-09 ....

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|406|10789|86418&id=1554195

... evaporator.

These will all use power of course and would recommend at least 100 watts of solar with one. We had 180 watts of solar on the Mac during the trips and in 7+ weeks in the spring ran a gen-set about 3-4 hours total and the solar took care of the rest of the time and we had a lot of computer use also,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]============================[/FONT]

Our Endeavour 37

Our MacGregor 26-S Pages

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

I still have my old igloo 3 way 12v/dc...120v/ac...propane. Back when I had my Mac-26c It used to sit in the exact same spot. During the day when the boat was opened up with precations we would let it run on a small coleman canister. While we cruised the intercoastal between galveston and pa. Tough little unit. Just a few scares. Survived a boat fire one night it , cause by a blackendecker cordless dustbuster that was mount to bulk head to the right of that speaker shown in picture...

Okay I know what your thinking.....And no the unit was on 120v/ac when it happened no propane was on board

Refrigeration

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