Check your engine driven or 12 volt system now.
You don’t really give any thought as to your fridge temperature at home, open the door and everything is cold.
On a boat, if your fridge system works off the motor, then you will have to run the engine at least twice a day to try to maintain a stable temperature.
On a hot day with the engine driven compressor not running, the temperature in the fridge quickly increases to a point of food spoilage and warm drinks. Modern marine electric DC refrigeration changes everything, it keeps the fridge or freezer at a maintained stable temperature. Your only job now is to maintain battery capacity, with advancements in solar panels, alternators and battery technology, the amount of engine running required for an engine driven system should be the same if not less for battery charging. While the engine driven systems are powerful, they need regular maintenance and that generally is not a cheap exercise. The cost of older ozone depleting refrigerant, parts/service time every year or so starts to really mount add up. With the electric systems the general yearly service is a thing of the past.
You don’t service your fridge at home and this is the same technology supplied with the marine refrigeration but run off a different power source.
Around 25 years ago the introduction of the DC battery powered refrigeration systems started to show up in some of the cruising yachts visiting our shore, now they are a standard item fitted to almost all production boats worldwide.
So, if you have been wondering about your existing engine driven system and what could be done to improve it, there is a solution. The choice of out of the box ready to go refrigeration packages is very large. With a little help in selection, you could install yourself or get your local fridge expert to install for you.
These electric refrigeration systems are now commonly retrofitted into the older custommade cabinets. Generally, the custom cabinets are too hard to remove or the timber/rebuild work makes it just too expensive to just rip the old system out. If the engine driven system is still in good working order, you have the option of retro fitting an electric system to help maintain a stable temperature. However, if the system has stopped and the cost of rebuilding is eye watering then electric is the only way to go. With the price of a couple of kitsets and install costs, the changeover is normally cheaper than rebuilding the old system. The other upside of electric refrigeration is the ability to leave the systems running on the marina via shore power supply or sitting in a location for extended periods of time without running the motor. This has become a very popular solution thanks to the solar charging, so if this article has captured your interest and would like to know more about the products or some help with options with your current system, contact the experts in DC refrigeration. We are happy to work with you or your local fridge company to get great results.
When thinking about a kitset, the normal rule of thumb is to allow around $1200 for a fridge and $1800 for a freezer inc gst for the kits.
The kits come complete ready to go in two sections separated with self-sealing couplings, pre-charged with refrigerant, complete with control thermostat.
While there are other options such as water cooling, larger capacity compressors, and shore power/genset power feed, these are the details that we can help with once you have some basic volume measurements.
Visit our website and view the DC refrigeration options, feel free to email us with your sketches and photos so we can help you decide what is the best refrigeration option for you.
