Turning the fridge off at night?

[the grinch]

simple wiring would make life easy.

 

if you wire the fridge through a relay that in turn is only active when the ignition is on you can avoid the flat battery problems associated with leaving it on

this is how we did it on my last boat.

[Keeping Up]

Here's the reality. Argue if you like....... If you do, you're wrong

Well I'm not arguing with that!

 

Because if I did I'd be disagreeing with myself.

[nb Innisfree]

Can't see the point, if batts are suffering because of normal use of appliances then your electrical generating and batts need upgrading or putting right.

[MrCJ]

So at this point you switch the fridge on, full of ice packs (and food of course), with the thermostat on full. The fridge gets far too cold. But you're using available alternator power that would have gone nowhere otherwise.

 

doesnt the food start to freeze at those temps wouldnt that effect fresh veg etc in the fridge. And I take it you put the ice packs in the freezer section or just in normal part.

[Phil Ambrose]

is it worth turning the fridge of at night to save power?

does it realy work?

dont you have to replace the loses in the morning anyway?

can you all give me the prows and cons please.

 

am sat by the switch awating the outcome

 

We live aboard and have a 100ltr fridge and a 80ltr freezer, both 12volt and we leave them both on 24/7. The overnight consumption is around 17a/h

 

Phil

[ditchcrawler]

We live aboard and have a 100ltr fridge and a 80ltr freezer, both 12volt and we leave them both on 24/7. The overnight consumption is around 17a/h

 

Phil

That is good going, my fridge uses about 18 ah in 24 hours at 24 volts

[LoneWolf]

I was having batteries v fridge problems (coupled with ignorance) & tried various methods of moving icepacks from freezer to fridge, turning the fridge down/off at night etc then i read this (from the power saving tips thread)

 

 

"Fill the ice box of the fridge with ice packs, turn the thermostat up full and only power it up when on shorepower or the engine/genny is running. They seem to stay cool for about 48 hours without using any battery power. Note: You must turn the thermostat up full.

Keep the fridge as full as possible and open the door as little as possible. "

 

It works so well that i still haven't had to work out whether it's my batteries (only 2 & of uncertain health) or the fridge (very old, sounds like an unwell dolphin sometimes) that needs replacing.

It's easy to get into the habit of switching it off & on at the fuse switch handily placed near the ignition key

 

Now it's winter lockdown noncruise time the fridge is off permanently therefore extra storage space.

 

 

doesnt the food start to freeze at those temps wouldnt that effect fresh veg etc in the fridge. And I take it you put the ice packs in the freezer section or just in normal part.

 

 

you put the beer, hard cheese & stuff like that at the top where it gets coldest (it never has frozen yet for me) & your salad type stuff at the bottom

 

yes, ice packs in the freezer, no need to move them to the fridge when switched off either.

 

I also put bottles of water in cos the fuller the fridge is the better it works

[sueb]

Oh dear what a palaver. Get a gas fridge.

Sue

[Guest]

Oh dear what a palaver. Get a gas fridge.

Sue

 

Hi Sue,

 

Which for safety reasons are becoming less common boats...

[sueb]

Hi Sue,

 

Which for safety reasons are becoming less common boats...

 

You probably won't get food poisoning though. I have had a gas fridge on a boat for 20yrs and I think it is safer than an electric fridge.

Sue

[smileypete]

Here's the reality. Argue if you like....... If you do, you're wrong

 

I'm tempted to argue a bit.

 

Is it a mains or 12V fridge, and what's it's normal duty cycle in summer?

 

cheers,

Pete.

[alan_fincher]

Hi Sue,

 

Which for safety reasons are becoming less common boats...

I know it's an old hobby horse of mine, but I really have heard of very few life threatening incidents involving the use of gas fridges on boats.

 

I believe there may have been more carbon monoxide incidents though, often caused by unwise use of generators in unwise locations, (like cabin hatches).

 

People are usually running generators to desperately try and keep batteries charged.

 

What is often usually the biggest consumer of battery power on a boat - the fridge, (if it has one, it's switched on, and it's electric, of course. ).

 

Go work it out!

[Matthew Dowson]

We always turn ours off. About 15 minutes after we switch the engine off, a light on the front of the fridge starts flashing, which I take to be a plea to turn it off, so we do. I don't know whether it would flatten the batteries if we left it on, but better safe than sorry.

Might be worth while checking the cable - our old one had so many connector blocks in it that it lost a lot of power, as well as the cable not being up to the job.

[LoneWolf]

Oh dear what a palaver. Get a gas fridge.

Sue

 

 

oh dear, you must find life very stressful if flicking a switch after switching the engine on or off is considered a palaver

 

Are you suggesting i spend money unnecessarily?!

<faints>

[PhilR]

I know it's an old hobby horse of mine, but I really have heard of very few life threatening incidents involving the use of gas fridges on boats.

 

I believe there may have been more carbon monoxide incidents though, often caused by unwise use of generators in unwise locations, (like cabin hatches).

 

People are usually running generators to desperately try and keep batteries charged.

 

What is often usually the biggest consumer of battery power on a boat - the fridge, (if it has one, it's switched on, and it's electric, of course. ).

 

Go work it out!

[PhilR]

I know it's an old hobby horse of mine, but I really have heard of very few life threatening incidents involving the use of gas fridges on boats.

 

I believe there may have been more carbon monoxide incidents though, often caused by unwise use of generators in unwise locations, (like cabin hatches).

 

People are usually running generators to desperately try and keep batteries charged.

 

What is often usually the biggest consumer of battery power on a boat - the fridge, (if it has one, it's switched on, and it's electric, of course. ).

 

Go work it out!

 

I agree.

 

Gas fridges are reliable, very cheap to run and very safe if properly installed and maintained.

 

However, I don't think anyone will convince the modern boating generation (pun unintended) that generating high electrical energy demands on board is very expensive, no safer and certainly not environmentally friendly.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Here's the reality. Argue if you like....... If you do, you're wrong

 

But you're using available alternator power that would have gone nowhere otherwise.

 

I know that this is taking my life in my hands, and that you probably didn't mean that exactly, but doesn't that contravene the First Law of Thermodynamics?

[blackrose]

I agree.

 

Gas fridges are reliable, very cheap to run and very safe if properly installed and maintained.

 

However, I don't think anyone will convince the modern boating generation (pun unintended) that generating high electrical energy demands on board is very expensive, no safer and certainly not environmentally friendly.

 

I've had gas frdges on two different boats and I'm a fan too.

 

Whenever one hears about problems of battery power demands its generally the constant draw of the 12v fridge that's responsible.

 

I prefer to save my batteries for lights, pumps and other appliances that don't require power over lengthy periods.

[Naughty Cal]

Given a proper charging regime a 12V fridge shouldnt pose too much of a problem for the battery bank. We manage fine with a 64 litre 12V fridge with freezer compartment on a 95amp battery overnight. We have never had a problem yet and probably give it some abuse by constantly refilling it with warmer bottles of beer (you have to ensure proper stock rotation). If you NB owners with huge battery banks cant manage to run a fridge overnight there is something amiss.

[RLWP]

I know that this is taking my life in my hands, and that you probably didn't mean that exactly, but doesn't that contravene the First Law of Thermodynamics?

 

No, that's OK because this is a special case. Gibbo is an electrical god....

 

Richard

[mikevye]

Turning fridge off or on is just the same as t/stat cutting in or out

 

My fault didn't allow for nit picking, please include "for long periods of time" in my original post.

[Gibbo]

I know that this is taking my life in my hands, and that you probably didn't mean that exactly, but doesn't that contravene the First Law of Thermodynamics?

 

Not really. S'pose it depends how you read it. I wrote "available alternator power" not "alternator power". Perhaps "available alternator capacity" would have been better?

 

I'm tempted to argue a bit.

 

Is it a mains or 12V fridge, and what's it's normal duty cycle in summer?

 

cheers,

Pete.

 

12 volt. I'd guess around 1/3rd duty in summer.

[casper ghost]

I agree.

 

Gas fridges are reliable, very cheap to run and very safe if properly installed and maintained.

 

However, I don't think anyone will convince the modern boating generation (pun unintended) that generating high electrical energy demands on board is very expensive, no safer and certainly not environmentally friendly.

 

We had a gas fridge in a caravan. I came back to it one night and it stank of amonia , you could hardly breath in there. Had to leave it a day with door open to clear smell and threw away the fridge..

[RLWP]

We had a gas fridge in a caravan. I came back to it one night and it stank of amonia , you could hardly breath in there. Had to leave it a day with door open to clear smell and threw away the fridge..

 

Isn't that because it died? Some fridges work on an ammonia absorption cycle, an example here. If you can smell ammonia, it's leaked and failed.

 

Richard

[deletedaccount]

If my shoreline 12v fridge ever breaks I'm going to replace it with a gas one.

 

how a gas fridge works

 

Nope, still don't get it

 

But thanks einstein!