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Old 12-08-2016, 10:23   #1
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House hold refrigerator off inverter

I looked thru the searches but couldn't find anything. I was wondering if on a 45' sailboat with 2-8D batteries as the house bank that had a wind generator and a few solar panels if it would be able to run an apartment size 110V refrigerator off an inverter? has anyone done this with success?
or does the inverter just burn too much juice?
also are 2-8D batteries a sufficient battery bank for normal gear?

TNX.
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Old 12-08-2016, 10:46   #2
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House hold refrigerator off inverter

Sailor Chic I think has done it for years, it is not as efficient as a several thousand dollar boat fridge, but it is thousands of dollars less costly. Efficiency difference is about one good sized Solar panel would be my guess, meaning add a panel and your even.
But that is a guess, she has measured the current draw.
For just a generic answer, yes 2 8Ds are enough, impossible to say without an energy audit, but just as an average, yes.
When they die consider golf cart batteries as the replacement, probably cheaper and a whole lot easier to carry, and should last longer too.

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Old 12-08-2016, 11:21   #3
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Lightbulb Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

Quote:
Originally Posted by fishsail18 View Post
I looked thru the searches but couldn't find anything. I was wondering if on a 45' sailboat with 2-8D batteries as the house bank that had a wind generator and a few solar panels if it would be able to run an apartment size 110V refrigerator off an inverter? has anyone done this with success?
or does the inverter just burn too much juice?
also are 2-8D batteries a sufficient battery bank for normal gear?

TNX.

I don't know, but with the improvements in solar and an ongoing energy star program it may very well evolve into a promising option.
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Old 12-08-2016, 11:30   #4
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

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Originally Posted by fishsail18 View Post
I looked thru the searches but couldn't find anything. I was wondering if on a 45' sailboat with 2-8D batteries as the house bank that had a wind generator and a few solar panels if it would be able to run an apartment size 110V refrigerator off an inverter? has anyone done this with success?
or does the inverter just burn too much juice?
also are 2-8D batteries a sufficient battery bank for normal gear?

TNX.
Absolutely...
When we bought our current boat it came with the standard Dorm Refrigerator and for about 2yrs ran it through our inverter. But it's not the most efficient way to go. What I would recommend is taking the standard dorm refrigerator and replacing the 120v AC compressor with a more efficient 12c DC compressor. Then you can run it directly from your battery bank and not have to deal with the extra power loss of the inverter always running in the back ground.

What would a conversion like this cost?
Well once you have the dorm refrigerator, you would be looking at about $300 plus you would need to find someone to solder and vacuum it down and then add refrigerant.
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Old 12-08-2016, 12:22   #5
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

It works. My $120 3.5 CF magic chef dorm fridge with a cheap 700 watt MSW inverter has been running well for 8 years. The load is higher with 110V (15 amps DC), but the duty cycle is much shorter, so only use about 2.5 ah per hour. I use about 50-60 ah a day. That's with the fridge turned down enough to keep meat frozen in the tiny freezer section.

I added a latch to the door to keep it closed when the boat heels over and of course bolted it in to the boat.

I like Rick's (ThirdDays) idea of converting to 12V. I figure the inverter costs me about 5-8 amps a day or so. But I have enough batteries and solar to deal with minor in efficiency's.

One think to watch out for is the condenser is in the sides of the fridge. So both sides need good ventilation and do not drill into the side panels for mounting.
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Old 12-08-2016, 13:11   #6
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

You just know somebody is going to jump on that 2.5 ah per hour don't you?
Wonder who is the AH police?


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Old 12-08-2016, 13:12   #7
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

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You just know somebody is going to jump on that 2.5 ah per hour don't you?
Wonder who is the AH police?
That's called Troll Bail...
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Old 12-08-2016, 14:21   #8
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

I run a double door house type refrigerator and a small freezer off my inverter and 8dd batteries. I have 2-2 battery banks and can run 48 hours+ depending on how many ac lights and tv is used. Inverter will start a generator if necessary to recharge. I've been planning to ad solar, maybe wind.
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Old 12-08-2016, 19:20   #9
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

I run my kegerator (dorm size refrigerator) off the inverter at anchor backed up with a solar array. It is not power efficient, but works.

I have a household refrigerator in the galley. It required 400 amp hours a day on the invertor for compressor, evaporator fan, and the defrost heater. I did a 12 V conversion in 2012 on it using a danfoss compressor, a DC fan on the existing evaporator in the back of the freezer, and an auto defrost curcuit utilizing a 12v ceramic windshield defrost heater that runs for 45 minutes every 12 hours on a programmable relay. The daily power consumption dropped to 100 amp hours.

The kegerator 12v conversion is on the list, but not of high importance at the moment.

I recommend the 12V conversion of the fridge for the power savings. Mathematically, the cost is outrageous, but when you're sitting at anchor making ice in the freezer for cocktail hour utilizing a quiet solar array, it is well worth the cost.


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Old 12-08-2016, 22:30   #10
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

I ran a standard household fridge for several years off the inverter, located right next to my typical hand-made top loading deep freeze with the danfoss. Energy hog but it was old technology.

However, the new digital inverter fridges are incredibly efficient. Being household units, they are much more dependable than a marine fridge and a small percentage of the cost.

Danfoss... eutetic plates... plywood, fiberglass, foam... personally I'll never go back that way again. Just my opinion.
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Old 13-08-2016, 08:18   #11
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

It will work..but imho it will kill your battery..

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Old 13-08-2016, 08:52   #12
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

We have a domestic 130l refrigerator. I fitted a Danfoss BD 35. They are more efficient. A 120v compressor does not like a square wave or MSW inverter, they like SWave.
Ours works wonderfully, and it is efficient. Our freezer is a 220v 1.5 Hp and run once a day for an hour on the generator if it is in use.
Some rewiring required on the fridge to take a 24v light bulb, and we fitted an AKO digital thermostat, which further improves efficiency by having programmable histerisys etc...
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Old 13-08-2016, 09:16   #13
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

Yes I know sailorchic prefers the cheap fridges.

Houshold fridges are front loaders.
On board you should have a top loader to prevent the cold air falling out!
You have a wind generator and solar.

I built my own top loader fridge with 140 liters and
a WAECO cooling machine for around 600 Euros.

Result:
that thing consumes with 50% Fridge and 50% freezer about 1,6 Ah when it is cooled down.

Sailorchic is a marvelous technician so she certainly will post her consumtions.
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Old 13-08-2016, 09:22   #14
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

I've found that the issue using household refers is that they run too often because of the lack of box insulation. I purchased a Grape Solar 3.8cu ft. 12v /120v fridge and hooked it up through a 12v timer so that at night it only runs 20 minutes every three hours which solved my overnight battery drain. I too use two 8D's for my house bank but know from experience that I need them to stay out of the 11 volt range overnight if I'm going to get maximum life out of them. BTW, the Grape Solar fridge cost me $379.00. Uses 5.4 amps 12v so it's fairly effect entry to run. Please don't come at me with needing to switch to T 105's. I've already been there and done that, and get more bang for my buck from the 8D's, because I get the Deka's cheap. I also like having extra cranking amps if I need them which the T105's just don't have. My best mate owns Caribbean Battery.
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Old 13-08-2016, 09:26   #15
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Re: House hold refrigerator off inverter

BTW, Has anyone ever pulled the tin off of a household fridge and isolated the compressor / condenser unit to allow for adding proper insulation to the box? I've been thinking that this could be done to make a household refer "keep it's cool better".
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