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Old 27-01-2012, 13:37   #1
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Home Refrigeration

Hello, sorry if this is in the wrong topic. My idea was to take a home fridge and put it in a monohull sailboat. I know the compressor will not work if it tilts more than 5ish degrees (i dont know why), so could you take a marine compressor and attach it to the refrigerator? Or could you gimbal either the compressor on a counter balance, or just the whole fridge (on a very heft gimble? The goal is to get a large amount of cold storage with out paying as much as a marine fridge. for the sake of argument im assuming power is not a major issue, (wind solar genny)

-jake
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Old 27-01-2012, 20:34   #2
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Re: home refrigeration

Actually as someone who uses a 3.5 CF 120V fridge from home depot, well the idea works fine. Oh that home compressor not working on the boat thing, well mine has been working 5 years. I live aboard and cruise a bit. I've had it healed over to 25-30 degrees for hours and no problems. OK Most of the time I like the heal 10-15 degrees max as I'm not in that much of a rush

Really there is not that much difference between a 12V compressor and 120v compressor. I find that my 120V compressor uses about the same power as a 12V compressor. The difference is the 12V compressor runs 30-40 minutes an hour and the 120 volt compressor runs about 10-14 minutes an hour, in 2 to 2-1/2 minute chunks.

Oh I do have the fridge bolted down and added a stainless clamp thingy to hold the door closed when healed.

Now a bigger fridge would use more power and for a really large one the amp load at 120V might get excessive. Not sure a Danfoss 80 unit would be big enough for a larger home fridge. This as the insulation in the home units really are not up to marine use.

If you get a 120V fridge, look for one with the external condenser tubing on the back of the fridge or maybe bottom. That way you could add more insulation around the box. My little fridge incorporates the condenser in the side panels so no insulation can be added....

Still all in all it works well as is and saved me a chunk of 12v change
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Old 30-01-2012, 19:36   #3
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Re: Home Refrigeration

Sailorchic - What type of battery bank set up do you have to power that and do you know the wattage or amp hours for the fridge?

thanks!
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Old 30-01-2012, 19:52   #4
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Re: Home Refrigeration

My little fridge pulls slightly less then 1.4 amps at 120V, measured. That with inverter loss is 15 amps per hour at 12V. Then divide by run time per hour at 1/6th of an hour and you get 2.5 amps an hour. That goes up to maybe 2.75-3 amps/hr in hot 95 degree F heat.

I have 4 group 27 deep cycle batteries split in to two banks. Group 27 cause thats the biggest battery I can girl handle. So a total of about 220 amps usable. If I had unlimited funds, I would add two more batteries for the cloudy days. A 700W inverter ($43) powers the fridge on the hook.
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Old 30-01-2012, 19:59   #5
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Re: Home Refrigeration

speaking of inverter im curious what brand you have? Im planning on running a much larger fridge and will need in the 2000 watt range (including all other AC pumps and such) and found some "off brand" inverters for really much better prices than the popular brands?
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