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12v Fridge - Isotherm or Waeco?

Willber G

By Willber G
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Willber G Community Regular

Willber G

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Well, after much research (including on here) I have decided to buy one of the following 12v fridges for my nb:

 

Isotherm Cruise 65L

Waeco CR-65

 

I have discounted using gas beacuse of the BSC issue (this would be a new installation and I wouldn't want to rip it all out at the next inspection in 2013). Also I will not be running an inverter.

 

I would really appreciate a steer on which would be better based on your personal experience, technical expertise, whatever.

 

Cheers,

Will

Edited by Willber G
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Justme Experienced

Justme

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For that cost & size I feel that they still use to much power. Your first one is low at 0.2kWh (but then its very small) per day but the second one is outrageous at 0.48kWh per day.

 

My much larger larder sized mains fridge uses 0.3kWh per day. Yet cost about £200 & not the £500 ish they cost. Ok they have small cool box / freezer compartments but you are paying a huge premium for it.

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WotEver Veteran II

WotEverDonate to Canal World

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Hopefully my experience is unusual, but it's still on-going so here goes.

 

We bought a Waeco/Dometic fridge about 2 years ago (the 80l I believe, but it might be the 65l) from our marina.

 

When I installed it, it didn't work. So I reported such to the engineer at our marina and he checked it out and agreed. He removed it, put it on his test bench and checked it again. It still didn't work, so he returned it to Dometic.

 

2 weeks later it returned, "No fault found", but it was now working.

 

He put it back in the boat and it worked flawlessly for about a year. Then, over a 3 month period where we were unable to visit the boat last winter it decided to work flat out 24 hours a day. When it froze up solid it burst all the bottles and cans that were in it, and (because we're on shore-power for battery charger) also ran us up an electric bill of over £300 in excess of what it usually is.

 

It's now out of warranty.

 

Engineer checked it out, discussed it with Dometic, and they sent a FOC thermostat. He fitted the stat and it didn't cure the problem. He's now shipping it back to Dometic.

 

So, to date it's cost us in excess of £300 electric, 2 hours (probably 3 in total) Engineer's time, plus shipping costs to and from Dometic.

 

I get the impression (I could be wrong) that Dometic won't be charging us for the repair, but it's still an expensive faulty lump of uselessness, and the engineer's time and shipping still have to be paid for. If a new one wasn't so expensive I'd have cut my losses and junked it by now.

 

However, hopefully my experience is not the norm.

 

Tony

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Phil Ambrose Veteran II

Phil Ambrose

Posted
Posted

Well, after much research (including on here) I have decided to buy one of the following 12v fridges for my nb:

 

Isotherm Cruise 65L

Waeco CR-65

 

I have discounted using gas beacuse of the BSC issue (this would be a new installation and I wouldn't want to rip it all out at the next inspection in 2013). Also I will not be running an inverter.

 

I would really appreciate a steer on which would be better based on your personal experience, technical expertise, whatever.

 

Cheers,

Will

 

We have a Shoreline 100litre fridge and also a Shoreline 80litre freezer, in use 24/7 as we live aboard and I cannot fault them, average consumption is less than 4amps an hour for the pair. Never had a problem in the 3 years that we have had them. (touch wood)

 

Phil

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sebrof Rising Star

sebrof

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I second the inverter suggestion.

 

By going 230V you will have a huge choice of fridges to choose from, including many which should be significantly cheaper to run than any 12V model.

 

Admittedly inverters are not 100% efficient themselves, but I suspect any losses there would be more than offset by gains from having a more efficient fridge. And if not, it would still take many years to recover the considerable extra cost of a 12V fridge.

 

My fridge at the moment is a cheap old Shoreline. When it packs up or falls apart I shall install a 230V model.

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Jim Batty Proficient

Jim Batty

Posted
Posted

Thanks for all your suggestions. Although I wanted to keep things simple with 12v I am going to look at the inverter route. I have solar which will help to power the fridge at least!

We are getting a larder Shoreline 115 litre 12v. The quoted spec is AVG 0.8A/hr x 24 = 19.2A/day

 

The 100w Hinari +/- 110 litre 230v fridge we have draws about 100A/day.

 

(If you would like the Hinari and can collect if from Uxbridge in the next week or so, you can have it gratis. Contact me.)

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Willber G Community Regular

Willber G

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We are getting a larder Shoreline 115 litre 12v. The quoted spec is AVG 0.8A/hr x 24 = 19.2A/day

 

The 100w Hinari +/- 110 litre 230v fridge we have draws about 100A/day.

 

(If you would like the Hinari and can collect if from Uxbridge in the next week or so, you can have it gratis. Contact me.)

Thanks for the offer Jim, and Batchworth is pretty close to you, but I'm limited to ~60 litres in the space I've got.

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Willber G Community Regular

Willber G

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I have found a 240V fridge which has a stated power use figure of 117 kWh/y. I make this about an average of 300 Wh/d. I have 80W solar which should produce 640Wh/d (assuming 8h effective sunlight) which would more than cover the use of the fridge. Have I got this right?

 

Also, what size inverter would I need? Would 500W be enough or should I go for 1kW or higher? The fridge is the only appliance that I'm planning to run at 240V.

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WotEver Veteran II

WotEverDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

I have found a 240V fridge which has a stated power use figure of 117 kWh/y. I make this about an average of 300 Wh/d. I have 80W solar which should produce 640Wh/d (assuming 8h effective sunlight) which would more than cover the use of the fridge. Have I got this right?

 

Also, what size inverter would I need? Would 500W be enough or should I go for 1kW or higher? The fridge is the only appliance that I'm planning to run at 240V.

With inverter innefficiencies considered, that works out at about 33Ah/day which is just about identical to the Waeco.

 

To know the inverter size, you'd need to know the instantaneous startup draw of the fridge. You'd probably have to ask the manufacturers for that figure as it's unlikely to be in the printed literature.

 

Tony

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Pretty Funked Up Rising Star

Pretty Funked Up

Posted
Posted (edited)

With inverters you have to pays the money for a good one. Even the good ones fail quite often though. Do some reading on the forum about inverters. Victron seem to be the favoured choice but when youve seen the price, and got back up off the floor, I would then check out the Ergal 12v fridges, the 1A (12w) power consumption on those is nigh on impossible to beat.

Edited by Pretty Funked Up
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Willber G Community Regular

Willber G

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With inverter innefficiencies considered, that works out at about 33Ah/day which is just about identical to the Waeco.

 

To know the inverter size, you'd need to know the instantaneous startup draw of the fridge. You'd probably have to ask the manufacturers for that figure as it's unlikely to be in the printed literature.

 

Tony

But the Waeco is x6 more expensive than this one...

 

I shall try to track down the manufacturers figures, hopefully I can save money overall.

 

Will the inverter need to be pure sine wave or will modified do?

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