230 V fridge

[Onewheeler]

Just sharing my experience of fitting a 230 V fridge to a boat in which I have a share, in case it's helpful to anyone.

 

After much debate I bought a Indesit TFAA10 Fridge with Freezer Compartment, A+ Energy Rating from John Lewis (available earlier this year from several suppliers including Tescos and the Co-op). It is fitted to a 24 V battery system with a Sunshine Power 1 kW continuous / 2 kW peak PSW invertor (http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/prodshow/1000W___24V_Pure_Sine_Wave_Sunshine_Power_Inverter/VP100024.html) which draws a quiescent current (not checked) of 0.375 A.

 

The fridge operates very well, is very quiet and very frugal on power. Mean consumption at 230 V in warm - hot French weather is 330 - 400 Wh / day, i.e. a mean consumption of up to ~ 16 W (plus of course the standing invertor current), and an "on" consumption of about 65 - 70 W. That's with the thermostat set to its mid setting, which is fine for ice for G&T / pastis, and keeping the contents cool. Ambient temperatures in the galley were in the range 20 - 35 C most of the time.

 

The boat runs on two 100 W solar panels in series when not connected to shore power or sailing. In practice the panels easily keep pace with the current consumption, basically invertor, fridge, lighting and charging of small devices. Over five days tied up the batteries were easily charged by mid morning, even when the weather was cloudy. Panels are semi-flexible type bought from Photonic Universe (http://www.photonicuniverse.com), not the cheapest but they had good reviews and seem well-constructed. They also arrived very quickly (in UK) after ordering. MPPT controller is a Victron 75/15 which gives us capacity to double up with two more panels in series / parallel if we need the extra power (we won't). The panels are mounted flat on the wheelhouse roof.

 

Martin/

 

nb Boden + 1/6 oil tanker L'Héritage.

Edited August 8, 2016 by Onewheeler

[Phil Ambrose]

I went the easy way and have both a 12v under counter larder fridge plus a 12v under counter freezer, 300w solar, job done.

Phil

[Jennifer McM]

I went the easy way and have both a 12v under counter larder fridge plus a 12v under counter freezer, 300w solar, job done.

Phil

 

The boat we hope to buy in 2 weeks (waiting for survey) has a small 12v fridge freezer, which is probably 6 years old like the boat. I'd like an under the counter fridge, and an under the counter freezer, but the costs appears to be around £600 each for 12v versions = £1,200

 

Looking at AO.com; for £400 we'd be able to pick up 240v versions. Saving us £800 to put towards a good set of solar panels.

 

This looks like a win / win to me.... or am I missing something?

[ditchcrawler]

 

The boat we hope to buy in 2 weeks (waiting for survey) has a small 12v fridge freezer, which is probably 6 years old like the boat. I'd like an under the counter fridge, and an under the counter freezer, but the costs appears to be around £600 each for 12v versions = £1,200

 

Looking at AO.com; for £400 we'd be able to pick up 240v versions. Saving us £800 to put towards a good set of solar panels.

 

This looks like a win / win to me.... or am I missing something?

Do you have an inverter

[Jennifer McM]

Do you have an inverter

 

Yes, there's a Victron 3000

[Guest]

The 12V versus 240V fridge freezer argument is a bit like pump out versus cassette. A lot depends on personal requirements.

We have 240V fridge freezer/inverter running largely off 200W solar very well. The inverter is set to "standby" which means it uses very little energy until the fridge kicks in. This is our first summer with solar and I am very impressed even with a cheapo regulator.

Then again we only live aboard in summer, so maybe we would see a big difference with 12V fridges in winter?

We need an inverter for the washer and power tools etc, anyway so there would be no saving there.

Maybe when the fridge dies I will consider a 12V one, but until then I shan't be dashing out to buy one.

[ditchcrawler]

My 240 volt fridge is getting long in the tooth, door seal gone, cant move the temperature regulator knob so is soon due to leave us, I think I will get another mains one when I replace it. I did wire for a low voltage one when I wired the boat but I would rather save the £400

[Guest]

My 240 volt fridge is getting long in the tooth, door seal gone, cant move the temperature regulator knob so is soon due to leave us, I think I will get another mains one when I replace it. I did wire for a low voltage one when I wired the boat but I would rather save the £400

Not sure what I would do TBH. Last year I would have said 12V, but since installing solar I am thinking there wouldn't be much in it power wise. Biggest advantage of 12V is I would still have a fridge/freezer if the inverter died. If my boat saw much shore power use, I would go for 240V without doubt, but we rarely have shore power. Our F/F runs nicely directly off our little genny though whilst battery charging, which is an advantage. Sorry, thinking aloud really...

[Keith M]

I have worked for more than 30 years with Inland water ways craft electrical systems

For the last 15 years I have not designed or installed a system which incorporates a DC fridge

Spending nearly £1200 on two DC items will almost cover the cost of an Inverter or Inverter / Charger then there is the DC cable to consider normally 10 mm² not cheap

 

Always an AC fridge

 

Keith

[Stormbringer]

 

Yes, there's a Victron 3000

 

Big quiescent losses there - about 70Ah / day !

I turn my Victron 3000 on / off as required - but wouldn't want to have to run it 24/7 just for a fridge !!!

[Jennifer McM]

I have worked for more than 30 years with Inland water ways craft electrical systems

For the last 15 years I have not designed or installed a system which incorporates a DC fridge

Spending nearly £1200 on two DC items will almost cover the cost of an Inverter or Inverter / Charger then there is the DC cable to consider normally 10 mm² not cheap

 

Always an AC fridge

 

Keith

Thanks Keith that's reassuring!

[Phil Ambrose]

I have worked for more than 30 years with Inland water ways craft electrical systems

For the last 15 years I have not designed or installed a system which incorporates a DC fridge

Spending nearly £1200 on two DC items will almost cover the cost of an Inverter or Inverter / Charger then there is the DC cable to consider normally 10 mm² not cheap

 

Always an AC fridge

 

Keith

But if your inverter goes down so does your fridge and also your freezer, even worse with a combi, 15 years living aboard so not a novice.

Phil

[Keith M]

Yes I have to agreed

 

But if the system has a good design and is well executed there is no problem

 

If it can work well within a hire boat surely there is no cause for concern in the hands of a private boater

 

Surely the same applies to a set of batteries going down?

 

Keith

[Phil Ambrose]

Can't speak for others but I did care for my batteries, yes once I had a single battery go down but just isolated it, and , well you know the rest

Phil

Edited August 9, 2016 by Phil Ambrose

[boathunter]

Mine came with inverter/240v fridge. Admittedly badly installed with little air flow it guzzled 100ah/24 hours, that's 4x as much as the 12v fridge I replaced it with. I find it difficult to believe that even a well installed 240v could come close.

[Sea Dog]

 

If it can work well within a hire boat surely there is no cause for concern in the hands of a private boater

 

Quite the reverse, I think. Most hire boats cruise many hours a day. I had a friendly chat with a hire boater who was running his engine past 10pm as he was told he should run the engine for 9 hours a day to keep the batteries topped up and he was "burning the midnight oil" as he'd only picked the boat up at 4pm. Most of us don't put anything like that daily amount of charge in our batteries.

[Guest]

Quite the reverse, I think. Most hire boats cruise many hours a day. I had a friendly chat with a hire boater who was running his engine past 10pm as he was told he should run the engine for 9 hours a day to keep the batteries topped up and he was "burning the midnight oil" as he'd only picked the boat up at 4pm. Most of us don't put anything like that daily amount of charge in our batteries.

True regarding hours run, but I think it is fair to say that private owners are more likely to have solar panels than a hire boat?

Don't know how we would go on in winter with a 240V F/F though. We tend to do other things in winter so don't spend much time aboard. I suspect a 12V fridge would prove more efficient than a 240V/inverter setup in winter.

[GUMPY]

One of the reasons I will always go 230v is that when on the moorings, which is more time than cruising its run off the shore power so no battery drain.

[Guest]

One of the reasons I will always go 230v is that when on the moorings, which is more time than cruising its run off the shore power so no battery drain.

If that were the case for us,it would be 240V without doubt.

[Sea Dog]

One of the reasons I will always go 230v is that when on the moorings, which is more time than cruising its run off the shore power so no battery drain.

Surely anything the fridge uses is inconsequential whilst the batteries are sitting on a float charge?

[WotEver]

One of the reasons I will always go 230v is that when on the moorings, which is more time than cruising its run off the shore power so no battery drain.

If you're sat on a mooring with shore power then there's no battery drain anyway. Assuming you have a charger.

[GUMPY]

If you're sat on a mooring with shore power then there's no battery drain anyway. Assuming you have a charger.

Whilst this is true on our moorings we occasionally get power glitches and the charger doesn't always come back on, it appears to be OK but is doing nothing, cycle the power switch and its back on. When this happens the fridge being 230v doesn't drain the batteries, last week the charger was off for 4 days we only used 7% of our batteries it was only by chance that I looked at SG to see it reading 93....

[WotEver]

In fairness that's a failing with your charger; it's hardly fair to blame a (hypothetical) 12V fridge.

[Sea Dog]

Crikey, what's going on with all these moorings suffering power cuts?! Have we been transported back to the 1970s?

[Guest]

Reasons I would go for a 240V fridge (if mostly on shorepower) would be the much lesser cost, and much greater choice of make/models available.

Crikey, what's going on with all these moorings suffering power cuts?! Have we been transported back to the 1970s?

Ted Heath for PM.