Fridge freezer 12 v

[Steve Manc]

We have a shoreline fridge freezer. We believe it is coming to the end of its life. Bottom of the fridge the temp goes down to 6 degrees and the freezer box freezes the product within. At the top of the door the temp is around 14 degrees which isn't good.

 

We are now looking for a new 12v  fridge freezer and a Shoreline replacement is £589 product code SKU: SL-RR298 .

 

Is anyone aware of a similar 12 v under the counter fridge freezer which doesn't cost so much? 

 

Cheers 

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, Steve Manc said:

We have a shoreline fridge freezer. We believe it is coming to the end of its life. Bottom of the fridge the temp goes down to 6 degrees and the freezer box freezes the product within. At the top of the door the temp is around 14 degrees which isn't good.

 

We are now looking for a new 12v  fridge freezer and a Shoreline replacement is £589 product code SKU: SL-RR298 .

 

Is anyone aware of a similar 12 v under the counter fridge freezer which doesn't cost so much? 

 

Cheers 

 

 

Sadly, £589 is bloody cheap for a proper compressor 12v fridge freezer. Yours sounds as though it is running low on refrigerant. You might find a local air con servicing company will re-charge it for two or three hundred quid. Especially if you take the fridge to them. 

 

 

[Steve Manc]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Sadly, £589 is bloody cheap for a proper compressor 12v fridge freezer. Yours sounds as though it is running low on refrigerant. You might find a local air con servicing company will re-charge it for two or three hundred quid. Especially if you take the fridge to them. 

 

 

Ok thanks 

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, Steve Manc said:

Ok thanks 

 

 

There is one possibility you can rule out, the fridge thermostat might be failing. It is just an on/off switch that operates with temperature. Disconnect the thermostat and join the two wires together. This will make the compressor run 24/7. Run it for a couple of hours and see if it gets proper cold. It probably won't but if it does, you just need a new £25 thermostat. 

 

 

[Phoenix_V]

We had 2 Shoreline fridges fail due to loss of refrigerant.

You cannot deal with the leak as pipes are buried inside the fridge. Regassing  lasts a few days until it has all leaked out again.

For the 3rd one we bought a cheap mains fridge and run off the inverter. All good so far, you need an inverter that draws low current when fridge is not powered.

Alternatively this or similar is another option

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpicool-Refrigerator-Portable-Campervan-Electric/dp/B091KYMC5G/ref=asc_df_B091KYMC5G/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=534912619392&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14564681097908294048&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006598&hvtargid=pla-1394919885969&th=1

[blackrose]

32 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

We had 2 Shoreline fridges fail due to loss of refrigerant.

You cannot deal with the leak as pipes are buried inside the fridge. Regassing  lasts a few days until it has all leaked out again.

 

So far the reviews of expensive Shoreline 12v fridges on this thread aren't sounding very positive.

[Tony Brooks]

11 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

So far the reviews of expensive Shoreline 12v fridges on this thread aren't sounding very positive.

 

Absolutely, and the Waeco I replaced mine with was better - even if it did not have a proper external case.

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Steve Manc said:

We have a shoreline fridge freezer. We believe it is coming to the end of its life.

 

How old is it, out of interest?

 

Mine was 15 years at least and still working well when I sold the boat. 

 

 

[Steve Manc]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

How old is it, out of interest?

 

Mine was 15 years at least and still working well when I sold the boat. 

 

 

The fridge purchased 2010. It came with the boat. 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Steve Manc said:

The fridge purchased 2010. It came with the boat. 

 

Ok thanks. So another Shoreline that's given a good decade of use.

 

Did you try shorting out the thermostat?

 

 

[johnmck]

Our shoreline fridge is now 12 years old. It still works, but perhaps not as well as it once did. We have replaced the thermostat and a door seal, but think the odd times in the last few years when temperatures exceeded 30 degrees, pushed it over the edge. Can't really complain at that though.

The original fitting was in a virtual sealed box, with little ventilation.  Whilst i have improved this, I'm sure it stressed the fridge initially. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by johnmck

[Steve Manc]

11 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Ok thanks. So another Shoreline that's given a good decade of use.

 

Did you try shorting out the thermostat?

 

 

Re thermostat, not yet. I will at the end of our cruise just in case things go wrong 😞

Thanks 

[MtB]

13 minutes ago, Steve Manc said:

Re thermostat, not yet. I will at the end of our cruise just in case things go wrong 😞

Thanks 

 

I'll be interested in the result if yout get around to it. I saved one of my 12v fridges with a new thermostat a few months ago but annoyingly, I can't accurately remember the symptoms. But I think it was like yours, the fridge seemed to run sometimes but not often, and got a bit cold but not properly cold.

 

[cheesegas]

It's worth looking second hand - I have an Indel CR130 with a fan cooled compressor which is around 20 years old. Works perfectly, new it's still selling for £800 but it cost me £100 on Facebook Marketplace. Just make sure the door seals are still good.

 

Avoid the 240v fridges (some are used as base models to convert to 12v) which have an evaporator coil built into one of the side panels rather than an exposed on at the back. Unless you have plenty of room around it, they have trouble shedding heat in hot weather.

[Sea Dog]

18 hours ago, MtB said:

......you just need a new £25 thermostat. 

A quick Googling found me "universal" fridge thermostats available for a little more than a fiver. Do you have any idea whether this brand of "universality" extends to Shoreline models? 

I've long wondered whether my own fridge is performing quite as optimally as it should and throwing a fiver at a new stat is definitely a reasonable first step check. However, when Shoreline themselves want £48.90 plus p&p for a specific stat for the RR47 fridge, that purchase really needs to be as a result of accurate diagnosis.

[MtB]

12 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

A quick Googling found me "universal" fridge thermostats available for a little more than a fiver. Do you have any idea whether this brand of "universality" extends to Shoreline models? 

I've long wondered whether my own fridge is performing quite as optimally as it should and throwing a fiver at a new stat is definitely a reasonable first step check. However, when Shoreline themselves want £48.90 plus p&p for a specific stat for the RR47 fridge, that purchase really needs to be as a result of accurate diagnosis.

 

My own fridge that needed a thermostat was "Inlander" brand, and on the back was the 240Vac donor fridge data plate, modified with a felt tip pen to the 12Vdc spec. This allowed me to look up the right stat for the 240Vac version which fascinatingly, was £25! 

 

The universal ones probably work fine but you have to rig up your own method of fixing the control dial end in place as it is highly unlikely to fit into the plastic mouldings inside your particular fridge design.

 

 

 

[blackrose]

15 hours ago, MtB said:

Ok thanks. So another Shoreline that's given a good decade of use.

 

Is 10 years deemed acceptable for something so expensive? I don't think most consumers would be happy with a mains fridge that started to go wrong after 10 years. When you think about how frequently most households have to buy a new fridge it's probably between 15 - 20 years.

Edited August 14, 2023 by blackrose

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

The universal ones probably work fine but you have to rig up your own method of fixing the control dial end in place as it is highly unlikely to fit into the plastic mouldings inside your particular fridge design.

Yep, I wondered how there could possibly be an agreed universal standard for that. Thanks Mike.