Inverter and Freezer sharing space

[Doubleh]

My wife and I live aboard our 65ft wide beam boat. We have a built in fridge, but want to install a 12 volt freezer for various reasons. The best space available is underneath a cabinet that also houses our inverter (Sterling Combi). Based on the model of freezer (Shoreline 12 Volt) we want to get and the space available we will still have some airflow in the space (as required by the inverter). However we are concerned that the freezer may generate extra heat and harm the inverter. The corners of the two pieces of equipment might be touching but they will both be putting hot air into the same space. We are hoping for a little expert guidance from folks more experienced than us. Can we put our freezer in the same 'compartment' as the inverter or will this be catastrophic to the care of the inverter?

 

Thanks,

DoubleH

[Keith M]

Both unit will generate heat

 

A 230-volts freeze would be a lot cheap to buy and not a lot of extra DC power used

 

I would not be happy with both units touching there may be vibration from both units

 

Have you work out how to get rid of the heat from both units

[Keeping Up]

How hard does your inverter have to work? Or to put it more precisely, what is it's rated power output in watts, and how much power in watts are you taking from it? If it is only lightly loaded it might not be a problem because it will be running fairly cool and will therefore be ok, but it will inevitably run a little warmer and this will also reduce the efficiency of the fridge. If on the other hand it is sometimes running close to its limit then it could overheat and would presumably shut itself down.

 

Could you ensure a good supply of cooling air by the use of a small fan, such as a computer fan bringing cool air from under the floor?

[b0atman]

try amazon usb fans less than £3 delivered feed from 12v socket or 230v socket with adaptors my next project is to use one as kitchen extractor through mushroom vent.

[Phil Ambrose]

try amazon usb fans less than £3 delivered feed from 12v socket or 230v socket with adaptors my next project is to use one as kitchen extractor through mushroom vent.

I have one of these myself and it works quite well, during the winter it emitted steam/vapour when kettle was boiled and when Chris is cooking it delivers delicious aromas to the outside world. Worth doing IMHO as it cuts down on the amount of moisture ladened air in the boat.

Phil

[costalot]

Both devices produce heat which you need to remove for them to work efficiently. Is the compartment located at floor level and can you drill holes in the floor to allow cool air from the bilge to rise into the compartment? Is the compartment well ventilated? Adding one or more 12v computer fans to suck in cold air and expel the hot will improve the efficiency.

[Phil Ambrose]

Both devices produce heat which you need to remove for them to work efficiently. Is the compartment located at floor level and can you drill holes in the floor to allow cool air from the bilge to rise into the compartment? Is the compartment well ventilated? Adding one or more 12v computer fans to suck in cold air and expel the hot will improve the efficiency.

Er isn't this what Keepingup just posted?

Phil

[Theo]

Is the compartment located at floor level and can you drill holes in the floor to allow cool air from the bilge to rise into the compartment?

 

Hm...

 

Cool air in bilge is more dense than warm air in boat so it won't rise without a push from a fan or a windsail or summat.

 

N

[ditchcrawler]

 

Hm...

 

Cool air in bilge is more dense than warm air in boat so it won't rise without a push from a fan or a windsail or summa

N

Did you miss the bit where he said put a couple of fans in?

[Scholar Gypsy]

 

Hm...

 

Cool air in bilge is more dense than warm air in boat so it won't rise without a push from a fan or a windsail or summat.

 

N

 

 

Did you miss the bit where he said put a couple of fans in?

 

On Theo's post, if the compartment has a grille at the top and holes at the bottom, then the warmer air inside the space (being of lower density than the ambient atmosphere) will create a lower pressure at the bottom and suck air in. After all that's the same principle which causes a chimney full of hot air to suck in cold air at the bottom of the stove.

 

As others have noted a fan will improve the flow - one could have one controlled by the inverter and one controlled by the fridge

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

.

 

As others have noted a fan will improve the flow - one could have one controlled by the inverter and one controlled by the fridge

As the fans are noisier than the fridge I decided to run them 24/7 rather than switching on and off, at the end of the day we don't notice them. but I think we would if they started and stopped every half an hour.

[Keeping Up]

I used an old wall-mounted central-heating thermostat, fixed to the wall behind the fridge, so the fan only comes on when the temperature reaches 25 degrees C. That means that it doesn't keep switching on and off, being used only when it is needed even when the fridge is working hard (it is also controlled by the fridge motor controller) and I find that it never switches on during the night which was one thing that would really annoy me.