Helia 44: Performance

[Rowy]

Cwjohm

Yes we have a front load washing machine. You only use it on sunny days as the washing has to dry. It runs happily on solar/batteries through the inverter.

Have 12v LED flat screen tele. Laptops, tablets etc. We don't go without much.

We do go without aircon. Don't feel the need myself.

[BigBeakie]

Rowy,

Good to hear about your Ozefridge consumption as that's the brand I had picked for our new boat. Do you run the AW480 compressor & do you have one for the fridge and one for the freezer, or does one AW480 do double duty?

How much freshwater do you carry for the heat sink for the water cooling, and does it heat up much between watermaking sessions?

Thanks for any additional info/feedback you might have on the Ozefridge system

[downunder]

Originally Posted by cwjohm

Rowy

Yes I completely understand your position and it makes sense.

From my perspective I asked myself:-

(1) Do I want air con

(2) Do I want a normal washing machine

(3) Do I want TV and various computers

In my case as in many cases it was yes to (1) and (3) by me and yes to (2) by the other half. As such a genny was mandatory.

Once you have a genny then this influences your thinking.

On the other hand if you do not want this extra stuff you can go about designing a low current environment and get away with solar.

I must admit though I am impressed by 30ah per day for refrig. My freezer and 2 fridges run at around 250ah per day.

I will have to look into getting a custom freezer inbuilt as that seems to be the main culprit.

Rowdy, where you come unstuck with solar is if you want to run a scuba compressor you will need a genset as most of the guys with helias have.

I know you can run it with a petrol motor, rather like a lawnmover and there is some discussion on the alternatives.

If I did not need scuba compressor going with at least 1200watts solar is the way to go on a cat.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Rowy,

Good to hear about your Ozefridge consumption as that's the brand I had picked for our new boat. Do you run the AW480 compressor & do you have one for the fridge and one for the freezer, or does one AW480 do double duty?

How much freshwater do you carry for the heat sink for the water cooling, and does it heat up much between watermaking sessions?

Thanks for any additional info/feedback you might have on the Ozefridge system

BB, I must check with a friend who recently launched a Schonning Waterline at Airlie Beach and had an icebox with the Osfridge. Looked good. I think it would be one unit per box.

[Rowy]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Rowy,

Good to hear about your Ozefridge consumption as that's the brand I had picked for our new boat. Do you run the AW480 compressor & do you have one for the fridge and one for the freezer, or does one AW480 do double duty?

How much freshwater do you carry for the heat sink for the water cooling, and does it heat up much between watermaking sessions?

Thanks for any additional info/feedback you might have on the Ozefridge system

Our compressors are the previous model which I think was the C480. Same thing as the AW480 but in a different shape box. New model has fans on the front. Just that I bought them earlier in the build to make space in the boat for them.

There is a seperate compressor for both the fridge and freezer. We have 150L fridge and 55L freezer. Freezer is top loading. Fridge is double drawer. Made our own cabinets. Simple mdf mold, then fibreglass and urethane foam to make the cabinets. Fridge uses 2 Hettich soft close drawers.

The ozefridge website has loads of good info about cabinet requirements.

We have two 160L water tanks. Tend to live out of one of them and top up with the watermaker regularly. So the fridge/freezer generally has 160L tank to use as cooling. Don't tend to notice temp rise when tank is full. When in areas water is not clear enough to run the watermaker we get into the second tank also. Try to leave about 60L in the tank for cooling if we can. Once that low water will tend to be luke warm in the tank when compressors have just run.

Been live aboard cruising the qld coast for 6 months now. No dramas at all with ozefridge units. If you beat to windward in 15-20 knots all day they will get inefficient - but all compressors do if you keep rocking them around that much.

[BigBeakie]

Rowy,

Thanks for that info. I'm glad I can tick refrigeration off my list of things to research, much appreciated.

And interesting feedback about the movement affecting the compressor efficiency, I hadn't thought about that.

[PapaLulu]

Gordon, where did you mount your Iridium Go antenna and how has your reception been?