Sailorchic34's new Fridge

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

If that happens, maybe some of those Hollywood people who said they'd leave the country might ACTUALLY do it.

Only for a 'Luvies Fest' like Cannes etc.. then they'll be right back where they belong..
La La Land..

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by toodleoo

Took a look at the owners manual and am wondering how the compressor will operate when the boat is heeled over or rocking at anchor? The manual is pretty specific about leveling the unit. It seems like a great deal.

Actually the leveling aspect is critical to the self closing of the doors .
The compressor will happily chug along at up.to 30° out of level just like the same compressor design that is in the marine units.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

On ac is draws 0.6 amps (ac). Actially saw it drop to below 0.5 amp after a while. One drawback, it does not like my cheap 7 year old MSW inverter. On inverter it ran at 1.0 amp and after minute, jumped to 1.2 amps. I suspect this is a variable speed compressor. I don't think the speed controller likes MSW inverters. Drat.

So I will be buying a pure sine wave inverter.

I picked the edgestar for it very low power usage.

I don't think she has a pure sine yet, but will soon.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I don't think she has a pure sine yet, but will soon.

I assumed she had rectified the issue of a PSW vs MSW issue when I read her power usage numbers in post 38

Here is the excerpt quote:
My old fridge was not too bad on the ah a day usage. But when it ran it pulled 15 amps (Ugh) Peukert effect did not help either. The new fridge is about 5.5 amps at 12.4v (via psw inverter) so pretty close to a standard.
End quote

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by newhaul

I assumed she had rectified the issue of a PSW vs MSW issue when I read her power usage numbers in post 38

Here is the excerpt quote:
My old fridge was not too bad on the ah a day usage. But when it ran it pulled 15 amps (Ugh) Peukert effect did not help either. The new fridge is about 5.5 amps at 12.4v (via psw inverter) so pretty close to a standard.
End quote

OPP's....My bad.

I should have said 5.5 amps a/c or PSW. I just got the PSW inverter today, but have to figure out how to mount it as it's 4 times the size of my dinky msw inverter. The MSW inverter was running at 10-11 amps dc based on the 1 to 1.2 amp A/C load on msw inverter.

Mind you the old fridge ran about the same amp load, no real difference between shore power and msw. Though I suspect using a MSW inverter hastened the demise of the old fridge. Mind you there was some corrosion on the copper inline filter so it was probably getting time anyway.

One down side of a psw inverter is idle losses are two to three times a msw inverter. (far more complex circuit). I need to do some calc's to see which is overall more efficient in 24 hours. Of course I need to wait till summer to factor longer run times on the inverter. Winter and spring are too mild to give it a real test.

Though I suspect that any savings in ah with the more efficient compressor will be loss to idle load on the inverter.

Hum.. just got out the hp 50g calculator. Looks like the new fridge and psw inverter, on paper anyway, will use 2.2 ah ish in an hour. Where the old fridge and msw used 2.5 ah ish in the same time. So still looks like a net savings on energy. though hard wiring the inverter to the new fridge would save maybe 15 ah (in idle losses) in a day, which is a fair amount. Down side is I would need two 15 foot #2 conductors to run the 12v to the fridge location.... As my piggy bank is once again flat, that's going to be a while.

[sailorchic34]

Ok, finally got the 1000 watt PSW inverter mounted and tested today. On inverter which is dead quiet with the fridge running the fridge pull 0.6 amp @120V or 5.7 amps on 12V. Pretty close to the 12V fridges. Plus the cost for the 120V fridge and PSW inverter is only $440 which is near about a 1/3 the price of a 12V marine fridge.

The freezer has a evaporator on the top and both sides behind the plastic inside liner. I suspect that there s a bottom part that is at the ceiling of the fridge section again behind the liner. but have not verified. The 3.1 cf edge star is physically a bit larger in all three dimensions then the old 3.5 cf magic chef I had for near about 10 years. The extra space being taken up with insulation between the fridge and freezer. Wall thickness is 1.5 inches, which is not all that much but i'm use to it. Evaporator takes another 1/2" on each side of freezer (slopping inward from the door.

I have verified that the freezer section never rises above 25 degrees F and runs down to -5 degrees F when the compressor kicks off/ t-stat set mid way. So a pretty wide dead band.

I'll have to wait till summer to test the run times as it just does not run that much right now.

Boy the 1000 watt PSW inverter is 4 times the size of my old el cheepo 700 watt msw inverter and 10 times heavier.

[senormechanico]

The wide dead band you are measuring is the freezer's air temp.
The food won't change much.

[newhaul]

Thats great keep us informed. .
The power usage is actually about 50% higher than our cool blue system but its a holding plate.system with the cubigel compressor running on medium high

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Thats great keep us informed. .
The power usage is actually about 50% higher than our cool blue system but its a holding plate.system with the cubigel compressor running on medium high

I should note that the 5.7 amp load is the running amps and not ah used per hour. I suspect it will be somewhere around 2.3 ah per hour. MY old fridge that pulled 14.5 amps when running only used 2.5 ah and hour in 90 degree F cabin heat.

and I can keep ice cream cold.... Big plus.

[CarinaPDX]

Very sensible installation. Good work.

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

though hard wiring the inverter to the new fridge would save maybe 15 ah (in idle losses) in a day, which is a fair amount. Down side is I would need two 15 foot #2 conductors to run the 12v to the fridge location....

If the inverter is dedicated it doesn't have to be located near the fridge - a lot easier and cheaper to mount near the batteries and run 120VAC wiring to the fridge. That would require some low voltage wiring between the thermostat and the transfer switch but it beats running a lot of #2 wire.

On the weather - Portland blew past the historical record for rainfall in February a few days ago, and it is still piling up the lead . We also have had an unusually deep and long-lasting snowfall. I'm ready for summer...

Greg

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

Very sensible installation. Good work.



If the inverter is dedicated it doesn't have to be located near the fridge - a lot easier and cheaper to mount near the batteries and run 120VAC wiring to the fridge. That would require some low voltage wiring between the thermostat and the transfer switch but it beats running a lot of #2 wire.

On the weather - Portland blew past the historical record for rainfall in February a few days ago, and it is still piling up the lead . We also have had an unusually deep and long-lasting snowfall. I'm ready for summer...

Greg

I'll probably keep the inverter back by the batteries and just use the extension cord, I've been using for 10 years. We have a bit more rain coming in the next few days. I'm hoping to leave the dock about march 6th. Noaa is indicating SF bay being mostly dry for march. We've have had tooo much rain here too. BY FAR.

[CarinaPDX]

Just reread what I wrote - meant to run control wire to the inverter switch or relay, not transfer switch, but you know what I meant.

The 14" snowfall was pretty ugly here, and with melting/refreezing and the freezing rain that followed we had quite a mess. But at least we don't have failing dams - I hope.

Lucky you if you can get out in March - a bit too early here.

Greg

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I should note that the 5.7 amp load is the running amps and not ah used per hour. I suspect it will be somewhere around 2.3 ah per hour. MY old fridge that pulled 14.5 amps when running only used 2.5 ah and hour in 90 degree F cabin heat.

and I can keep ice cream cold.... Big plus.

Our refer runs about 3.5 to 4 hours a day with 70° cabin temps so about I forget exactly but somewhere between 20 and 25 ah a day.
Hard ice cream is the main point of having a refer isnt it?

[sailorchic34]

OK Finally pushed away from the dock. I've have used the new 120v edgestar fridge and inverter for all of a day now on the hook. It's 9:30AM and batteries are already at 13.2V. With the old energy hog fridge it would have been 11am or later before the batteries were that high.

That is partly due to the completely separate freezer compartment which does a far better job of keeping frozen foods frozen then the single door fridge with the tiny un-insulated evap. freezer.

Of course the new fridge pulls less amps and runs less too. Don't have real world numbers yet. Judging by resting SOC on the batterys this morning the fridge used very little power over night. Somewhere around 1/2 what the old one did. Again, partly due to the inherent flaws of s single door fridge freezer. Partly due the low energy draw of the edgestar compressor.

Added bonus the freezer compartment looks like it will hold nearly 3 weeks of food (for single hander). I of course repackage all my frozen stuff to individual meal sizes. It holds a lot compared to what I was use too.

I highly recommend using a two door fridge freezer as it really does a far better job, all the way around. This for the poor / frugal sailor who can not afford a $1200 marine fridge.

I'll have more data after another week or two on the hook.

[newhaul]

Great glad you are keeping up on your pledge to keep us informed.
Sounds like this new fridge was just what you needed to bring your power budget under uber control. What are you going to do with the extra power?