Dual Voltage refrigerators

[Donmystic1]

What are people using for dual voltage refrigerators in 28 ft Bertram.
Do the new ones fit in the existing hole or are they too big or smaller?

Don

[SteveM]

Don

I believe Isotherm is popular.

Does anyone USE their fridge a lot? If so, what are you putting into it.
I don't want to run the generator JUST to run the fridge while running. So we use it as a cupboard for dry goods, bread, etc. with no refrigeration an no humidity.
I sometimes think it's a waste of space.
Would love to hear from those that use it, so I know what I'm missing.

[Tony Meola]

Steve

Mine stopped working years ago. I have thought about replacing it, but from what everyone has said here is that the replacements don't fit through the cabin door. LOL

So the boat was built around the refrigerator.

If I use it, I put a bag of ice in it and use it as a cooler to hold food and drinks.

[Carl]

My boat had an ice box...which the prior stewart used as an Oil Cooler.
He had a fine selection of several premium grades of motor oil and filters in there.

I decided that was not the route I wanted to take...I prefer my oils room temp, not chilled.

I was going with dual voltage fridge...but then thought back on dads boat there was the need to crank up motors every so often to make sure the batteries kept charged...a few times power went out at his dock and batteries drained. AC/DC Fridge was Very expensive...the one that may have fit was not in stock...so I did a temporary solution.

I went to Sears and bought a small AC fridge for $79.00, for an additional $20 I got the 5 year replacement warranty.
I removed the old Ice Cooler, leaving the original door in place, put the fridge right inside, plugged in, secured in place with a couple HD bungee cords over the top, filled with water, soda and maybe a beer or two, some ice trays in the freezer portion, closed the door, the original door in front secured the fridge door closed and I was good. Figured a year or two if I didn't get the AC/DC fridge I could get a replacement fridge on warranty. Well its 25 years later and that Sears fridge is still going strong...wasted that $20 bucks on the warranty.

Anyway...I like a fridge on the boat. I can go down anytime during the summer and have something cold to drink, I can offer something cold to drink.

AC fridge...If well stocked I can leave dock for a good 6 hours before things start loosing there chill. 8-10 hrs stuff is still cool, but not cold. However with a small inverter on the boat...run the fridge for 15-20 minutes makes a big difference. If fishing, just run between drifts. Or at the beach...crank up motor while everyone is at beach, sit back have a cold one letting motors charge batteries, put a chill back in the fridge.

[Donmystic1]

Any brands that are popular in the ac /dc models?

[Yannis]

Guys,

For those of you in the south, with the sun providing free constant energy, I wonder why you do not ever consider a custom made open top fridge AND freezer, that will work 365 days without any cables, inverters, generators, engine runs...
What’s so difficult to install one or two 100-130w panels over the Bimini ?
Also, if you keep your fridge runinng all winter on #1 you have a constant circulation in your batteries that prolongs their life, and you always have cold drinks when you go to work on the boat.
Now, if you do not need a fridge thats another story, but if you do, I can show you my sun made ice cubes!
Additionally, if you do not have an air conditioning, you can satisfy ALL your needs for electricity with these two panels so that you NEVER have to even carry cables onboard.
Needless to say that all bilge pumps will be operational without the fear of shortages or battery depletion, without any necessity to be connected to the marina mains.

[SteveM]

Tony
I think you can huck it through one of the front windows. I believe I read that somewhere here. I've never measured...

Carl,
Good to hear that it stays cold for a while. I may have to upgrade someday. I still have the original one, it works, but surely is not very efficient being 45 years old.

[Dug]

I have used my fridge for years. I replaced the old 110 one when I got the boat, and yes, it came in and went out through the forward windows. Or window. Fun will be when the fridge I have dies, which it will someday. I have no windows anymore and will likely either live with it or cut it in half with a sawzall... But I won’t worry about that until I have to.

I pack the freezer with cold packs and that helps it last longer. I fill it with beer, water and soda and it is a great source to grab a beverage anytime I or anyone else on board is thirsty. Keeps the drinks from getting all covered in fish blood too which is nice. Though I have not had to worry about that for a couple years due to the kiddo and the project. Hopefully that will change this year.

But the fridge is used all summer long. Since I have shore power and an inverter it is all good. Or I just kill the breaker and it lasts as long as it needs too.

[mike ohlstein]

Front window is the ticket, but you have to remove the window and remove the door from the fridge. The box should never go bad.... When you settle on one, buy a spare set of electronics and a spare compressor and stick them in the garage.

[Dug]

Mike thats a good idea. Might be a bit late, as its been over 10 years. But worth looking into!

[Amberjack]

Don--

I'll make the argument for low tech. Amberjack goes out for up to six days without seeing a marina or a grocery so we need more cold storage than we can get from a built in reefer. We put an 80 gallon cooler in the cockpit back against the transom with tie downs to keep it from moving around.

The night before leaving Seattle we put in seven blocks of wet ice and two pounds of dry ice, then add a week's worth of groceries and cold beverages. The ice lasts for a week except I keep chipping off chunks for our drinks--and we replenish it when we do stop at a marina. No worries about generators or running down the batteries at anchor.

Use the old refrigerator space for pantry storage or in our case a diesel range because it gets so cool up here.

Once I figured out to tape aluminum foil over the top of the cooler it worked even better.

[SteveM]

Doug
Is the aluminum foil on the cooler there to deflect sunlight?
I've never heard of that trick.

[Tony Meola]

Don--

I'll make the argument for low tech. Amberjack goes out for up to six days without seeing a marina or a grocery so we need more cold storage than we can get from a built in reefer. We put an 80 gallon cooler in the cockpit back against the transom with tie downs to keep it from moving around.

The night before leaving Seattle we put in seven blocks of wet ice and two pounds of dry ice, then add a week's worth of groceries and cold beverages. The ice lasts for a week except I keep chipping off chunks for our drinks--and we replenish it when we do stop at a marina. No worries about generators or running down the batteries at anchor.

Use the old refrigerator space for pantry storage or in our case a diesel range because it gets so cool up here.

Once I figured out to tape aluminum foil over the top of the cooler it worked even better.

Instead of aluminum foil try a Space Blanket.

One question, doesn't the dry ice make everything freeze up? I like the idea.

We used to pack the old style fish box, with the teak cover, with both block and crushed ice and it easily held ice ofshore for two days, even in 90 degree weather sun beating on it. Once these things get cold and are packed with ice, they hold a surprising amount of time.

[Tony Meola]

Front window is the ticket, but you have to remove the window and remove the door from the fridge. The box should never go bad.... When you settle on one, buy a spare set of electronics and a spare compressor and stick them in the garage.

Mike

You mean the curved window correct?

My refrigerator had the compressor on the port side with the lines to cool the unit running to the unit on the starboard side. I was thinking about seeing if they made a conversion unit so I could rebuild the set up or convert the fridge some way.

[Pete Fallon]

I used to have the original Trend ice Box (Blue Plastic) that came with the 1961 Express. For 20 years I used 4 -1 gallon jugs that were frozen in my garage fridge kept thing cold all day and when you got thirsty before it was time for a beer there was always cold water in those jugs. When I move to Florida I bought on of those $80.00 under the bar refrigerator's from Best Buy it worked great while it was plugged in. I left the old Formica covered door in place and secured the unit with large L brackets to the inside of the plywood bulkhead under the sink/countertop. Had a double door set up be it worked great, I also kept a Igloo 180 qt cooler under the helm seat for large parties and bait on a lift out tray for easy cleaning. The new 110 unit must go into the cabin via one of the front windows If you still have them, otherwise you have to have spare parts for the unit. the cabin door on most 31's is only 19" wide. The front windows are easy to remove just take the opening arms off and lift the window upward and then forward it comes right out. Helps to spray the top seam of the window with WD-40 if it hasn't been out for a long time.
The new drawer style units are easy to install and work great if you have a gen set or an inverter, but they are costly and the freezer drawer ice maker is poorly designed and won't last very long on a 31 with all the pounding that happens on our little boats.

Pete Fallon

[Carl]

hmmm...my 110 unit fit through the door.


Coolers are great...but you need to know your going to boat before you get there.


Dry Ice---too much and yes all will freeze. But just enough insulated in the frozen will add a real sub chill making it last all that much longer.
We do the ice chests when we go away. Food in one, drinks in the other.
In those times we put the warm drinks into the fridge to get a good chill before moving them into cooler.

[Amberjack]

Steve--Yes, the foil is there to reflect sunlight and it makes a difference. If I hold my hand over the ice box on a sunny day the amount of heat reflected back is surprising.

Tony--The dry ice is an old fisherman's trick from back in the day and you are right, it will freeze everything if you don't manage it. Put the dry ice toward one end of the ice box and the things you don't want frozen like milk and produce on the other end. The dry ice will be gone by the second day but it gives the wet ice a good head start.

Hadn't thought about a space blanket--good idea.

[Tony Meola]

hmmm...my 110 unit fit through the door.

Carl

Looking at the online dimensions, I was thinking if the door is off of it should go. I have to take a good hard look this spring when I uncover the boat. I was thinking my door is 20 inches but I need to double check.

[mike ohlstein]

Not the curved window. The opening front window.

Mike wouldn't fit through the door under any circumstances.

[David Davidson]

I am in the process of installing a Frigoboat K35F 12/24v unit with a keel cooler. No cooling pump to run. Uses only 2 amps, and cools 20cu/ft. Anyone had any experience of these?

I have installed a top loading cool box into the galley worktop, with plenty of insulation around it.

[Yannis]

David,

A friend of mine with a rental 43” sailboat had installed a keel cooler, but he also kept the cooling fan inside the boat.
He was telling me that this combination was very economical on amps BUT that the fan was indispensible, otherwise his fridge would not be as cold as he would want it to be, especially in a rental sailboat where everyone opens it constantly.
Perhaps in the UK where it’s not as hot, and with less people onboard, the keel cooler alone might suffice.

[Jeff]

Don,
I have a 3.9 cu ft dual volts made by Waeco on my 1979 28 . It was installed by the previous owner in 2005 just forward of the head port side and is a great fit.
West Marine has one that looks identical to it but it’s now a 3.8 and listed under Dometic.

[Tooeez]

Don, I have one of those $120 undercounter 120v fridges you see in every big box store in my 28. If fits perfectly into the hole the original dual voltage unit was in. Even thought the instructions say it can't be installed under a counter, there is so much space under the galley in a 28 there has never been an issue with ventilation. I have a 2,000 watt inverter and 3 group 31 deep cycle batteries, and I often sat on the hook for 30+ hours with the fridge running and had no problem starting the engine. It only takes about 20 watts of a/c to run the unit.

[Pete Fallon]

Dave Davidson,
Is that the unit that has a thru hull keel cooler that is about as big as a large bronze transducer, I saw that unit about 10 years ago at Ft Lauderdale Boat Show. I never saw one actually work in our boats, I was wondering with the speed of our Bertram's if it has the cooling capacity as a slow moving sail boat which I think they were originally designed for. I will be interested in how it works after you finish the install keep us posted.
Pete Fallon

[Bill Fuller]

I use a Norcold dual voltage refer much as Jeff described (West Marine).
I believe the current model number is
DE-0041/EV-0041
My unit has been operating continuously for 15-20 years, can not remeber exactly.
I'm set up so that when shore power is atached it automatically runs on 110 volts, as soon as shore power is removed it switches to 12 volts.
To get through the door of the 28, the door of the refer needs to be reomved. No big deal.
I am very happy with setup. The refer pulls less amperage than you would think when operating on 12 volts.
Hope this helps,
Bill

[Rawleigh]

Amberjack: The foil covered bubble wrap insulation they use on AC ducts would work even better. It is also more durable.

[QUOTA2]

I replaced mine 2 years ago with just a 110 and took off the fridge door and cabin door to get in. I'm in NJ and for most of a day trip will keep everything cold to cool, beers goes on ice anyway. Don't remember the brand but can take a look under the cover. It fit under the std counter with no issues.

[Tony Meola]

Amberjack: The foil covered bubble wrap insulation they use on AC ducts would work even better. It is also more durable.

Raleigh

It is called Reflectix and you can get it at Lowes.

[SteveM]

I started looking up this stuff. Radiant foil is another option, attic foil. From what I read it's strong and less expensive than the bubble. The more I read the more I think I may end up putting it in my attic!