I don't think anyone mentioned the cold plate option instead of a thin-wall evaporator? I went with that for lower power consumption, along with a variable speed compressor that can make the most out of charging voltages (alternator or shore power).
Tim Mojito C&C 35-3 Branford, CT On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 8:25 PM, Jake Brodersen <[email protected]> wrote: > Rick, > > No ice!!! What do you put in your Dark and Stormies??? My system has > three > vertical loading ice cube trays, with room for three more, if needed. No > shortage of ice or cold beer on my boat. > > Jake > > Jake Brodersen > C&C 35 Mk-III > Midnight Mistress > Hampton VA > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rick > Brass > Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 11:24 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Stus-List C&C 33 1985 Refrigeration Help > > I did a lot of research about refrigeration, and weighed a lot of > alternatives before I selected and installed mine. One of my considerations > was low power consumption for use while cruising full time. > > There are a lot of alternatives out there. Most use the same model of > Danfoss compressor, and the power consumption seems to be in about the same > range for the majority of systems. A water cooled system seems to have a > slight advantage over the air cooled systems when the ambient temperature > gets up in the summer. But at the cost of increased plumbing, complexity, > and maintenance. Of the water cooled systems, I was drawn to the option of > a > "keel cooler" - a bronze plate on the outside of the hull that serves as a > heat exchanger so you are not pumping raw water for cooling - and one setup > that puts a heat exchanger into your sink drain hose just above the through > hull fitting. > > One really neat system I was sold on installing, but did not use, was > called > a TropiCool 40. It used carbon dioxide for a refrigerant, and had to be > installed such that the condensed coolant was gravity fed from the > compressor to the evaporator inside the ice box. And a part of the power > for > the compressor was provide by a sort of Sterling exothermic engine that > used > the heat from the gas leaving the evaporator to generate power for the > compressor. Neat system with very low power consumption. Complex > technology, > but packaged to be a plug and play installation once you set up the proper > geometry between the evaporator and compressor. > > The key to a good installation, as Wally pointed out, is to insulate your > existing icebox. That can be a pain, but is the only real way to get the > power consumption to be reasonable and the beer cold. I have between 1 and > 4 > inches of foam around my ice box, depending on the available space. More on > the open side of the box nearest the engine, and canned foam filling the > void between the icebox and hull. I've thought about adding something like > a > space blanket to the surface facing the engine space to add to the > insulation value. > > I ended up getting a Norcold icebox conversion kit. Norcold is most > familiar > for making small refrigerators for RVs and dorm rooms. They make a kit for > installation in boat iceboxes that has an air cooled and automatically > converts from 12v to 120v when you plug into shore power. The > compressor/condenser is about 10x14x20, and is installed in the starboard > lazarette just aft of my icebox. My installation uses the cowl vents left > over from the days when my boat had an A4 to provide additional cooling air > to the condenser coils. The Norcold has no freezer capability, but will > keep > the ice box at about 40 degrees below outside air temp. And BTW, one of the > prime reasons for getting the Norcold system - in addition to a > recommendation from a cruiser I knew - was that the cost of the kit was > under $500 at the time I bought it. > > Hope this helps. > > > Rick Brass > Washington, NC > > > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > [email protected] >
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