3 way fridge on boat

[Tony Brooks]

15 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Your wife has wiring to her legs? And that improved her condition?

😁

Thanks, now edited. That is the second time in the last week that the Forum software seems to have pasted parts of a previous post into another.

[TheBiscuits]

On 01/08/2022 at 13:47, Tracy D'arth said:

Factor of 2 error.  Normally I allow 1sq M for every metre distance between battery and fridge not cable run length.

 

That's thick cable ...

[Tracy D'arth]

28 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

That's thick cable ...

Heck, yes,  but no volts drop!   Nit pickers awake.  Get that in your Waco terminals

Edited August 3, 2022 by Tracy D'arth

[MtB]

21 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Heck, yes,  but no volts drop!   Nit pickers awake.  Get that in your Waco terminals

 

Shouldn't that be "nitpickers"? 

 

 

[LadyG]

I think I might replace my fridge, it's 12 volt, Coolmatic but it fills the under side space, so I thought about a smaller one, I use mine for cold beer, gin, and wine, and milk etc. I liveaboard but turn it off in winter if any sign of flagging batteries.

To be honest, saving fifty quid is immaterial, it's about size, and how it looks in situ.

 

 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

So what do you think about this for sale on Ebay

 

Now Voyager renamed from ning 3 after refurbishment and modernisation. Built by Tysol in 1993, this 32FT steel, V-hull would suit a family of 4 as a holiday boat or a single person live aboard.

Powered by Yamaha 15 hp outboard, Now Voyager has both 12V and 240V electricity for marina hookup.

Included is bedding, towels, crockery, cutlery and coolong equipment, tv, and radio. It has full gas oven and hob together with a 12V/240V/gas fridge freezer. A compact bathroom includes shower head, wash basin and cassett toilet. Heating is provided by a multi fuel burner.

The interior is in immaculate condition and is brightly decorated. This boat is ready to sail away!

Currently moored in the West London area.

[blackrose]

Just picking up this old gas fridge thread again...

 

I've bought a new mains larder fridge which draws about 4.5A/12v though the inverter. I'll soon be installing 910w of solar panels in an effort to wean myself off expensive shore power as much as I can before the impending price hike. 

 

I'm not sure what proportion of the time the fridge thermostat will reduce its power draw but I've assumed just under half the time. My power audit is about 148 Ah/day and I have a 450Ah battery bank.

 

Someone has offered me £200 for my Dometic 3 way fridge which seems to be quite inefficient on mains. It's nice to be able to run it from gas when I'm away and not worry about the batteries. I've got room for both fridges if I want, so my question is, once I've got the panels installed are there any circumstances where the gas fridge might be useful? I'm thinking about if I'm moored somewhere in winter and there's no sun. I suppose I just charge the batteries with the engine or generator.

 

These 3 way fridges are going for big money now so I don't want to get rid of it and later regret it 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by blackrose

[Tracy D'arth]

Are you indecisive or are you not sure? Its your fridge, you decide, how are we supposed to help you?

[ditchcrawler]

Make your mind up before you rip the pipe and valve out

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Are you indecisive or are you not sure? Its your fridge, you decide, how are we supposed to help you?

 

Certainly not with that sort of response. If you're not interested and you haven't got anything constructive to say please feel free to ignore the thread.

 

Others might have some more useful responses such as situations in which the gas fridge might be worth keeping, while perhaps others who've already made a similar switch might tell me to get rid of it.

 

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

Make your mind up before you rip the pipe and valve out

 

Yes for sure. But the pipe and valve are the least of my concerns. These fridges go for over £1000 new now! 😱

Edited September 13, 2022 by blackrose

[ditchcrawler]

16 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Certainly not with that sort of response. If you're not interested and you haven't got anything constructive to say please feel free to ignore the thread.

 

Others might have some more useful responses such as situations in which the gas fridge might be worth keeping, while perhaps others who've already made a similar switch might tell me to get rid of it.

 

 

Yes for sure. But the pipe and valve are the least of my concerns. These fridges go for over £1000 new now! 😱

Thats more that a 12 volt compressor fridge

[blackrose]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Thats more that a 12 volt compressor fridge

 

I know I don't understand why the price of these things has increased so dramatically. I'm sure they were about 500 quid until fairly recently. I put mine on gumtree and have had a flurry of responses. I could probably have got more for it but I don't want to be greedy. I can't see that it's worth more than 200 quid second hand.

[cheesegas]

On 01/08/2022 at 08:52, MtB said:

I think you're right. I've never seen a 12Vdc/240Vac compressor fridge. They might well exist but if they do, they are rare. I'm also not sure the OP understands the different refrigeration technologies and how much they differ in power consumption.

 

Careering off at a tangent, I'm vaguely surprised there are not 12Vdc fridges on the market from third-party companies who professionally integrate an inverter into the fridge rather than the swapping the compressor to a generic 12Vdc/24Vdc unit. Fitting an inverter must be a cheaper way to create a standalone 12Vdc compressor fridge out of a cheap 240Vac fridge than changing the compressor.

There’s a model of Danfoss control box for the BD series of compressors which has a terminal for both 12v and 120v/240v input. This is prioritised over the 12v input so it changes over automatically. 
 

Im not sure how it achieves this exactly, but I expect it has a switch mode power supply in there that converts mains to whatever voltage the compressor uses. 

 

[phantom_iv]

On 13/09/2022 at 20:43, blackrose said:

I'm thinking about if I'm moored somewhere in winter and there's no sun. I suppose I just charge the batteries with the engine or generator.

 

I found that a gas fridge really struggled to keep things actually cool in summer, but works well in the winter. An electric fridge works well in summer when there's plenty of solar, but struggles in winter unless you run your engine regularly. So I figure the way to go is an electric one, and if you run out of electricity in winter you can always put things you want to keep cool in a box outside when it's probably at fridge temperatures anyway!

[blackrose]

9 hours ago, phantom_iv said:

 

I found that a gas fridge really struggled to keep things actually cool in summer, but works well in the winter. An electric fridge works well in summer when there's plenty of solar, but struggles in winter unless you run your engine regularly. So I figure the way to go is an electric one, and if you run out of electricity in winter you can always put things you want to keep cool in a box outside when it's probably at fridge temperatures anyway!

 

Yes that's true, thanks. My gas fridge worked well in summer. However, they're not that well built and I've already replaced the mains element once as well as had the gas jet changed. So I'll get rid of it as they were never really designed for liveaboard use.