fridges

[nbfiresprite]

Is that the formula for working out what power a fridge consumes?

 

No that`s the formula used by mp`s for their expenses claims

 

Firesprite

[Chalky]

Buy a cheap 240V fridge and spend the savings,maybe £300, on some decent wet battery's and an alternator charge controller.

My LEC fridge with a freezer compartment, pulls about 7A including the inverter loss's

 

Alex

 

I've got a LEC fridge and 600W Sterling inverter and it draws about 6.5 A when the motor's running and about 500ma when its not. Don't know the duty cycle so can't give an ah rating. We tend to turn it off at night so to some extent it's always playing catch up. The batteries are usually at about 12.6 / 12.7 V after 6 hours running. Not a problem when cruising, just when SWMBO wants to stop for a few days. I've got a few mods that I've researched that should help - biggest improvement seems to be to improve the cooling and airflow over the condensor at the back of the fridge. A 2 level themostat that changes set points when the engines running/not running is the other main one.

[Ally]

I hear what you are saying but I consider an inverter to be part of any 12V system. You are denying yourself the opportunity to save money by taking advantage of the low cost convenience of 240V appliances.

ignoring the TV and fridge. My inverter runs the ignition on the gas hob, various appliance chargers, (phone - toothbrush - torch - shaver - etc) . At minimal cost and minimal 12V battery load.

 

Alex

The majority of which can be charged by 12v if desired, but really....toothbrush? ....have thumbs, will brush!...saves leccy!!

Station...your thought about the underfloor storage will work a treat, we always build 'cellar boxes' into all our boats! Have one on my own, and it's a great little chiller. (pics on website if wanted)

[sueb]

Does a gas fridge consume a lot of gas? I have never noticed but it does provide a freezer box and a cold fridge whether I am on the boat or not.

Sue

[BlueStringPudding]

The only comparable figure that will mean anything is the number of amp hours consumed in a 24 hour period.

 

I think our Waeco cost around £500 but we were persuaded "it was worth it in the long run" - so far so good, but I'll let you know in 20 years...

 

The current Waeco 65 litre fridges use about 15 aH per day, according to the spec.... although that will increase with lots of opening / closing of the door.

 

Isotherm Cruise 65 fridge - 65 Litres

 

SAVE £70.04RRP £669.99Only £599.95

(€ 713.94)

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Product information

Cruise 65 fridge • 65 Litres • H535x W450x D500mm - If you've got the space in the galley, then these buit in, stand alone fridges with small freezer compartment, are efficient and user friendly. Both have fan cooled, built in 12/24Volt compressors drawing 0.65amp average/2.5amp max, interior light and are equipped with installation frame. Hinged on the right as standard, but it is possible to convert to left hand hinged.

 

 

 

 

 

Nick

 

That's the Isotherm fridge I have. Jolly expensive but very quiet and does the job. The freezer compartment door broke off pretty quick, as they're want to do, though

[churchward]

Our Weaco 12V fridge is a CR50 it does seem to be one of the major consumers of power on the boat. The spec on the manufacturers website is as follows:

 

Average power consumption: approx. 40 watts

Current consumption: 1.4 Ah/h at +25°C ambient temperature,

1.7 Ah/h at +32°C ambient temperature,

both at +5°C interior temperature

 

Assuming they do mean 1.7 amps per hour of use then over 24 hours that will be around 41amps or 33amps at the lower amps per hour value.

[Tiny]

Having fitted an ammeter I now know the shoreline fridge draws 3.8 amps when on, the mikuni 22 on start and 5.6 when running, the water pump about 8.

[steelaway]

The majority of which can be charged by 12v if desired, but really....toothbrush? ....have thumbs, will brush!...saves leccy!!

Station...your thought about the underfloor storage will work a treat, we always build 'cellar boxes' into all our boats! Have one on my own, and it's a great little chiller. (pics on website if wanted)

 

Hi

 

I really wouldn't want my life (or my battery's) to be ruled by a saving of '1% of sod all', by not having an inverter and the convenience it brings with having 240V always available.

 

 

Alex

[station tug]

The majority of which can be charged by 12v if desired, but really....toothbrush? ....have thumbs, will brush!...saves leccy!!

Station...your thought about the underfloor storage will work a treat, we always build 'cellar boxes' into all our boats! Have one on my own, and it's a great little chiller. (pics on website if wanted)

 

hi ally...if you could send me a link to the website that would be great thanks......

 

alex....im against having an inverter as they drink power from the batteries...i knew nothing about battery banks etc until i started reading on this forum.i came from a hire fleet back ground and spent most summer's carrying a pair of 110ah batteries miles up a tow path because of inverters..when i need 240v i dont see it as a problem firing up the generator..the boats a trad and iv made the engine room 7 feet long and the bulkheads are 6mm steel with 50 x 50 angle frames which i intend isulating so i can run a inboard generator without it transmitting the noise or vibration through the rest of the boat...

[sueb]

An inverter only uses power when it is switched on so ours doesn't drain the batteries. Are you allowed to run generators after 8pm?

Sue

[mrsmelly]

An inverter only uses power when it is switched on so ours doesn't drain the batteries. Are you allowed to run generators after 8pm?

Sue

 

Now Sue you know the answer to that question its just a great pity an increasing number of boaters dont seem to understand it !!

[station tug]

Now Sue you know the answer to that question its just a great pity an increasing number of boaters dont seem to understand it !!

 

 

i well understand the 8pm rule...and we make a point of never mooring up next to other boats...we are always in the middle of know were.....our working dogs dont really like neighbours ;)

[Androo]

Anything less would imply insufficient cable size between the batteries and fridge (a common problem).

 

What is the correct size cable?

 

Thanks

 

Androo

[Chalky]

What is the correct size cable?

 

Thanks

 

Androo

 

Depends on how far the fridge is from the batteries. The cable needs to be large enough to prevent an excessive volt drop from causing a degradation in the fridge performance. It's been covered on several threads in the forum - have a search and see what you can find.

I used a pair of 22mm cables but I happened to have a role available and it's larger than most people use. The alternative is to increase the voltage and overcome the problem that way. That's the solution I used and have a 240V fridge - the 12V fridge cables are a spare circuit that I how run bunk lights and a couple of 12V sockets off via a fusebox.

[sueb]

Now Sue you know the answer to that question its just a great pity an increasing number of boaters dont seem to understand it !!

Quite

Sue

[carlt]

Are you allowed to run generators after 8pm?

 

Yes you are.

[Ally]

Hi

 

I really wouldn't want my life (or my battery's) to be ruled by a saving of '1% of sod all', by not having an inverter and the convenience it brings with having 240V always available.

 

 

Alex

erm, not quite sure why you quoted me there(post#33)...I wasn't saying anything about inverters...I have one myself...what I was saying was about toothbrushes! I then went on to agree about the usefullness of cellar boxes as chilled areas...........

I certainly never mentioned anything about "1% of sod all"!!!

(By the way, a 3kw inverter charger will generally use about 11watt/1 amp approx in standby per hour.)

'puzzled of Barrow'

Edited August 27, 2011 by Ally

[Alan Saunders]

I am happy with my ancient Electrolux RM2200 but I have installed an external flue. So far as I know you can install a gas 'fridge on a new boat that is for private use.

 

Gas 'fridges are ususally <60 litres gross capacity, half the size of a typical under-counter domestic 'fridge. They do not usually have a thermostat on gas operation; to run them efficiently, and avoid the contents freezing overnight, you need to adjust the regulator to suit the expected cabin temperature. They need annual servicing and, especially when run at high settings, may stop working due to a vapour lock.

 

My RM220 claims to use 17.6gm/hr at 30C. The average ambient temperature is half that. It uses propane at <50p/day.

 

As a rule-of-thumb an electric 'fridge might use 48ah a day. Assuming you recharge the batteries once per day this will require one additional 100AH battery. Engine hours to replace the power used by the 'fridge will depend on the proportion of the total use. I guess it requires an additional hour of charging time? At a litre of diesel per hour plus engine servicing that is more than twice the cost of running a gas 'fridge.

 

It is possible to import a larger gas (or paraffin) 'fridge. If I were specifying a new-build or re-fit I would want ~100 litres with a *** freezer compartment. In addition to the enhanced cooling air from the bilge I would add additional insulation and keep the freezer compartment full of chiller blocks.

 

 

Alan

[steelaway]

erm, not quite sure why you quoted me there(post#33)...I wasn't saying anything about inverters...I have one myself...what I was saying was about toothbrushes! I then went on to agree about the usefullness of cellar boxes as chilled areas...........

I certainly never mentioned anything about "1% of sod all"!!!

(By the way, a 3kw inverter charger will generally use about 11watt/1 amp approx in standby per hour.)

'puzzled of Barrow'

 

Hi Puzz

Sorry - I shouldn't have quoted you directly, I was just continuing the thread

 

My inverter is only 1800W so probably dosn't pull as much. but one amp an hour is not massive considering all the appliances I use it for.

As we tend move along each day. My engine is run for at least 1-2 hours per day, charging at up to 50 amps, which is enough to keep on top of the discharge for the previous day.

You also get 'free' hot water and a change of scenery in that same two hours

 

Alex

Edited August 28, 2011 by steelaway

[WotEver]

My engine is run for at least 1-2 hours per day, <snip> which is enough to keep on top of the discharge for the previous day.

Oh no it isn't...

 

Tony

[ditchcrawler]

Hi Puzz

Sorry - I shouldn't have quoted you directly, I was just continuing the thread

 

My inverter is only 1800W so probably dosn't pull as much. but one amp an hour is not massive considering all the appliances I use it for.

As we tend move along each day. My engine is run for at least 1-2 hours per day, charging at up to 50 amps, which is enough to keep on top of the discharge for the previous day.

You also get 'free' hot water and a change of scenery in that same two hours

 

Alex

So you are saying your total electricity usage for the day is only 24Ah ?

[nb Innisfree]

So you are saying your total electricity usage for the day is only 24Ah ?

 

I think he is saying he uses 24ah to run the inverter which is on top of his normal usage. 50a charging for two hours daily would be in the region of 100ah.

[Tiny]

i well understand the 8pm rule...and we make a point of never mooring up next to other boats...we are always in the middle of know were.....our working dogs dont really like neighbours ;)

As has been said before my peace normally gets spoiled by boats that decide my away from it all mooring needs them to join us then run something. And some heating systems make a good bit of noise too.)

[dor]

50a charging for two hours daily would be in the region of 100ah.

 

If the 50A is maintained for the two hours. And if so the batteries are far from being fully recharged so will be subject to sulphation.

[Nickhlx]

If the 50A is maintained for the two hours. And if so the batteries are far from being fully recharged so will be subject to sulphation.

 

....as Dor says, if the charge is not tapering down to a few amps ( the end point), then the bank is not being fully charged - this will inevitably be leading to loss of capacity and sulphation, which is sadly the main reason for battery life being prematurely shortened...

 

Nick