Refrigeration - Evaporator vs. Holding Plate

[hikersailor]

I have 1080 watts of solar that charge my 400 ah battery bank by 1 pm each day. Why would I want to run my diesel, burn the fuel & polute air and use my diesel fuel when I can use free clean solar?

[OzePete]

Originally Posted by hikersailor

I have 1080 watts of solar that charge my 400 ah battery bank by 1 pm each day. Why would I want to run my diesel, burn the fuel & polute air and use my diesel fuel when I can use free clean solar?

Hiker, the systems being discussed are not engine driven, they are 12 / 24VDC battery powered.
Actually your situation is perfect for a eutectic system. The ECO2 power manager would cause the refrigeration unit to start once your battery bank is satisfied, and run on to refreeze the eutectic mass leaving it able to hold over your fridge if sized correctly, and most likely without using any of your battery storage except when in extreme conditions. Suggest you study our web site page regards Eutectic Systems as I'm sure the energy issues would appeal to you.

Cheers, OzePete Ozefridge | 12 Volt Refrigeration Systems

[Richard Kollmann]

Pete, I am sorry I continue to strike a nerve with my knowledge and experience of boat refrigeration. I know of no one who has given me advice as you say and the only insults I have received in the refrigeration industry are yours. As far as hands on I spent 25 years in service calls troubleshooting and repairing boat refrigeration, after I retired. I will also will point out I never charged for a service call. I think I have worked on every manufactures boat refrigeration system out there except an Ozefreeze. With out any available hardware information or first hand experience with your products I assume they are a welcome improvement in Ice box conversion refrigeration for the right applications.

Why don’t we leave it up to the experienced boater and technician who have read the back and forth comments made in the last few months to decide for them selves what to believe.

[Richard Kollmann]

Originally Posted by OzePete

More misleading information or perhaps misunderstood. We do control super heat by having our systems thermostatically maintain condenser temperatures within engineered parameters avoiding under or over condensing. If you don't understand this and its benefits Richard, I would be happy to explain further for you.

Cheers OzePete

Pete, I understand the principle of changing evaporator super heat with control over condenser cooling air in a stationary application or a test area. From the pictures of the condensing unit and where it will have to be located in most boats not every one will be happy with units performance in warm weather. I know you do not respect my experience with 12volt systems and eutectic plates with Capillary tube limitations in warm climates. You may want to see how Technautics Cold Blue unit copes condenser cooling and evaporator refrigerant Super Heat.

[sailcrazy]

Let me suggest.....enough already! you do NOT need to have the last word all the time! If you 2, both of whom I respect, want to keep picking at each other-do it off line! enough!

[Richard Kollmann]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

Let me suggest.....enough already! you do NOT need to have the last word all the time! If you 2, both of whom I respect, want to keep picking at each other-do it off line! enough!

Thanks sailcrazy for your good advice.

[SV THIRD DAY]

The Good:
The Pacific Sail and Power Boat Show is over and I'm flying back home to La Paz, Mexico.

The Bad:
There was a mudwrestling party on Cruisers Forum but I was too busy taking orders to play in the mud pit and missed the fun.....damn....

[Exile]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

The Good:
The Pacific Sail and Power Boat Show is over and I'm flying back home to La Paz, Mexico.

The Bad:
There was a mudwrestling party on Cruisers Forum but I was too busy taking orders to play in the mud pit and missed the fun.....damn....

Yeah, I figured you ran outta tacos, the ice cream melted, you forgot to pick up more beer . . . you know . . . something critical to justify your absence. Still time to have some fun over at the latest CC . . . errrr . . . I mean NW Passage thread.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Exile

Still time to have some fun over at the latest CC . . . errrr . . . I mean NW Passage thread.

I've already been banned from that thread...ha ha ha....

[Exile]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

I've already been banned from that thread...ha ha ha....

Too funny. Some of our good shipmates take themselves a bit too seriously over certain issues I'm afraid. Unlike marine refrigeration, of course, which is actually complicated!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Exile

Too funny. Some of our good shipmates take themselves a bit too seriously over certain issues I'm afraid. Unlike marine refrigeration, of course, which is actually complicated!

the only complicated part of refrigeration for me is convincing myself to spend 3k on it for a boat I paid 500 for.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by newhaul

the only complicated part of refrigeration for me is convincing myself to spend 3k on it for a boat I paid 500 for.

Seems about like the usual upside-down finance ratio when it comes to boats. Then again sailorchic and others have been reporting satisfactory results from using inexpensive college dorm type fridges. Especially if you're starting from scratch. Notwithstanding a few hiccups, the frig systems I inherited from the previous owner are a couple of the only systems that have remained more or less reliable over the past 11 years.

[savoir]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

In a way it's funny....
We have been telling folks this for 50 Years...yep Technautics is has been in the Marine Refrigeration business for 50 years now... but there's this false assumption out there that newer is better. And by newer I'm referring to the thin rolled evaporator capillary tube systems. When in truth they're just easier to mass-produce in China, so I guess that makes them better in terms of having a lower price and larger profit margin for the companies that sell them.

But this data confirms what we've known all along when it comes to power usage the most efficient system is a eutectic based holding plate system. How many Marine businesses have been around for 50 years that's not an accident there's a reason....

Thank you for this information. I have a water cooled Seafrost 110v compressor and am thoroughly sick of all the maintenance expense. When it works it is great with plenty of grunt for my big 9cu ft box but failure is way too repetitive. Next time it craps out I'm going to trash it and install a BD50 based compressor unit.

In the four years I have owned this boat I have
- re pressured the coolant 4 times
- replaced 2 receiver/dryers, both rusted out
- replaced the water pump">raw water pump
- separately replaced the pump impeller
- acid flushed the compressor, so much black goop came out
- replaced the strainer
- cleaned the strainer basket once a month through each summer
- stripped and cleaned the through hulls twice
- winterized the compressor 4 times

Meanwhile the guy in the slip beside me has a well used Adler Barbour that is 10+ years old. During the same 4 years he has done . . . er . . . well um . . . . nothing to his compressor.

On the other hand the plates are great. They are 3" thick and allow me to only run the compressor 40 mins every 12 hours. Seafrost told me that if the compressor was replaced they would have to remove and rebuild the plates but that just didn't sound right.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Exile

Seems about like the usual upside-down finance ratio when it comes to boats. Then again sailorchic and others have been reporting satisfactory results from using inexpensive college dorm type fridges. Especially if you're starting from scratch. Notwithstanding a few hiccups, the frig systems I inherited from the previous owner are a couple of the only systems that have remained more or less reliable over the past 11 years.

the problem is on a 63 columbia defender there isn't really a place to put a dorm fridge .

[Exile]

Originally Posted by savoir

Thank you for this information. I have a water cooled Seafrost 110v compressor and am thoroughly sick of all the maintenance expense. When it works it is great with plenty of grunt for my big 9cu ft box but failure is way too repetitive. Next time it craps out I'm going to trash it and install a BD50 based compressor unit.

In the four years I have owned this boat I have
- re pressured the coolant 4 times
- replaced 2 receiver/dryers, both rusted out
- replaced the raw water pump
- separately replaced the pump impeller
- acid flushed the compressor, so much black goop came out
- replaced the strainer
- cleaned the strainer basket once a month through each summer
- stripped and cleaned the through hulls twice
- winterized the compressor 4 times

Meanwhile the guy in the slip beside me has a well used Adler Barbour that is 10+ years old. During the same 4 years he has done . . . er . . . well um . . . . nothing to his compressor.

On the other hand the plates are great. They are 3" thick and allow me to only run the compressor 40 mins every 12 hours. Seafrost told me that if the compressor was replaced they would have to remove and rebuild the plates but that just didn't sound right.

Sorry to read this, and completely inconsistent with my experience over the past 11 years with my Seafrost 110v system. Mine is the 'Shore Assist 3' fwiw, but they also make a higher capacity 110v unit that looks better suited for boats with large generators. Quality of the original installation and amount of usage are obviously big factors which may explain our different experiences. But like you, if mine starts giving me a lot of trouble I will also likely replace with a 12v BD unit. If for no other reason then less reliance on running my diesel generator when away from the dock.