Thermoelectric

[David]

I would like to hear about anyone's experience with one of the portable thermoelectric coolers.

 

[Don Evans]

My Main Source of Refridgeration

Cheap to buy, and nothing to maintain. Only drawback is power consumption. The bi-metallic strip and cooling fan draw about 4 amps, so you need fairly big batts, or a large charging system. Helps to precool or freeze some foods ahead of time. Based on the Peltier effect, these units draw down inside temperature about 40 degrees F below ambient air temps. Origo Marine has their cooling unit mounted external to the box, usually on the keel, in much cooler water rather than air to allow lower temperature variations, but is a very expensive unit relative to the cheaper Koolatron portable units. All in all a lot of bang for your buck, but has limitations.Don

 

[Jack Gilmour]

Coleman experience

We used a coleman unit as liveaboards for two summers. Current was 4 amps continuous. We needed to replace the fan motor after the second summer but it only costs $11. Unit did a good job although our high temperatures seldom reach 90 degrees. We used a 125 A.H. battery which gave 17 hours service to half discharge. At the dock we used the Coleman inverter which, by the way, creats some interferece in the TV.

 

[Bob Camarena]

Check the Archives

Check the archives, there was an extensive thread on this topic a few months ago. As I recall, satisfaction seemed to depend on the usual ambient air temp. The cooler the air temp, the more satisfied the user. I decided it wasn't for me where our summer temps avg in the 90s and 100s.