Built a New Fridge

[SV Demeter]

Originally Posted by Coolruns

The April 2012 issue of Sail magazine has a good article on retrofit of a fridge.

They used an Indel Marine Isotherm box

I have not personally tried this, but thought this might be relevant to the thread.

I read that article. Only issue I have with these standalone units is they are never very big. Unless you are talking about the cabinet units which very few boats have a place to put one of those. The unit in the article was something like 1 cubic feet IIRC. No way a family of 4 is living out of that.

Indel Webasto Marine - Isotherm Built-In Boxes - Extremely Flexible in Size and Design, Optimise Space

[SV Demeter]

The one build in unit I seriously considered was this Dometic unit:

Products - Dometic

it is 110 Liters which is just under 4 cubic feet. I tried to get more info on it but no one replied to my sales inquiry. As it is we are just about finished our box. Its somewhere between 5 and 6 cubic feet and we are wishing it was a little bigger. But we are a family of 4 looking to liveaboard cruise so maybe not everyone needs that much space.

[bluetriguy]

I built my box in a manner similar to the initial post in this thread (it is actually pretty easy to do a good job - there's no rocket science involved) and used a 'Cool Blue' unit from Randy at technauticsinc.com . The compressor is about a cubic foot, the coolant lines come coiled (and measured to your specs). The cold plate comes with mounting hardware and thermostat. The entire thing pops in and then you simply join the compressor to the cold plate using the supplied copper tubing. When you screw the tubing to the compressor and cold plate the system is charged.. hook up 12 volts and the plate starts cooling in about 5 minutes (5 minutes cooling AFTER hooking the system up) the entire installation (unpacking to 'on') took me about 3 hours. I do have drill and 12vdc skills...
I think the cool blue is ok for up to 8 cubic ft...

[SV Demeter]

Getting a little closer. Got my lid and frame from R parts. Waiting on the back ordered evaporator. Then I can install the evap, finish shelves, and finish off the top. Need to get a piece of fiberglass tube to install to allow the refrigerant lines to run through. Then plan to fill the tube with spray foam. This shoudl keep any moisture from sweating fridge lines from prentrating the main insualation. Hope to find a small piece left over from someones shaft log or something as typical McMaster Carr requires a 5' min order...

[SV Demeter]

Evaporator installed, built shelving from 1/4" Acrylic, used a hole saw to create ventilation for bottom section. Intalled a fiberglass tube 1 1/2" diameter to allow fridge tubing to run to compressor. Then filled the tube with spray foam. This way any condensation that develops on the tubing wont be able to contaminate the insulation. I glued on the top of the liner and another layer of foam that is notched to accept the frame from R-parts for the lid. Covered it with a final layer of reflectix with taped seams for a radiant vapor barrier. Followed up with 3/8" ply that was epoxy coated on the bottom. Top will get 1/2" corian once I can find a place that will sell me the corian. Home Despot says they only sell corian installed and all of their installers apparently get seasick...

[Astral Blue]

Originally Posted by janders

Installed the Sea Frost (these guys are awesome by the way) freezer bin. Testing that bottles of ... refreshment... will fit next to the freezer bin.

Great job! I look forward to reconfiguring my refrigeration system one day; but I'll stick to my current AC system given the cost of a Sea Frost unit. I had no idea how expensive these systems are; and purchasing an entire 12V refrigerator can prove to be less expensive.

[Freedom45]

Demeter,
for Corian try Corian Countertops | Kitchen and Bathroom Counters | Solid Surface

[SV Demeter]

Powered up fridge tonight still cooling down some warm beer from 85* start temp. Corian counters going down. So far so good but not enough time to calc amp hour draw yet. Insulation ended up 6" foam on bottom plus vapor/radiant barrier of 1/4" reflectix taped seams 4" foam on sides and top Had only enough aerogel for one layer all around in addition to foam. Went with a frigoboat bd35 compressor air cooled and a flat plate evap. maybe add a keel cooler one day. Hot air from compressor ducted out to cockpit vent. Digital t-stat may carry mechanical as a spare but I remember reading somewhere about a jumper wire setup in case of a t-stat failure. Need to re-read my Kohlmann book. Thanks to all who here for help and tips.

[sailorchic34]

Great installation. One note on the exhaust duct, most of the fans on the air cooled condensers don't develop a whole lot of static pressure. It may reduce air flow that could reduce efficiency, if the ducting is very long.. just fyi. I like the ducting idea, just watch the air flow over time.... A dirty condenser would make that worst too...

[SV Demeter]

Once the temp got down to 39* i slowed down the compressor RPM to the slowest setting and let it run all day. Consumed 14 amp hours in about 13 hours. Granted the box was not opened and the outside air temps were not quite tropics and there wasnt much in the box besides some beer. Not an ideal first test but so far Im happy. Will keep an eye on the ducting/fan situation.

[hlev00]

We are fixing ours by replacing the coil. I wish I had your ambition as I think we would be happier in the end. Nice job!