Isotherm vs Dometic Portable Cooler Reliability

[deluxe68]

Originally Posted by Moontide

Bought a 95 liter Dometic 16 months ago and have been happy with it. Will bring both sides down to under 0 F with cabin temps in the mid to high 80's. Orignally ran off 110 via an inverter then ran a 12 line to it presuming that it would use less power. Did add another 260 watts of solar ($120 in Miami) to cover the extra electrical usage. Using my math I figured that was a lot cheaper than the extra $1,000 for the Engel.



I would not get a thermoelectric unit. I have always heard they are not very efficient and deal killer if it can only drop temp 20 degrees from ambient (assuming F and not C).




Bill

Thanks, that is why I posted that I was looking at a compressor cooler.

[deluxe68]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Or you can do it incorrectly but conveniently and just vent the old gas to the atmosphere.

But you still need to worry about contaminants, I do not know if you can add a filter in front of the vacuum pump.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by deluxe68

But you still need to worry about contaminants, I do not know if you can add a filter in front of the vacuum pump.

?? Vacuum pump pulls from the system and vents to the atmosphere, why would you want a filter? Where would you put it?

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by redhead

We just bought an Isotherm fridge/freezer combo last month.

I was surprised to see that it's just a refrigerator bolted on top of a freezer requiring two separate AC plugs, but so far that's the only downside, it'll also run off the the batteries.

I'm very pleased with all the features, the quality of the build and the power consumption. I've never had an Engle, so I can't compare.

But a big thumbs up for Isotherm!

I have an Isotherm combo freezer / fridge unit in my Uniflite. It replaced an older Dometic unit. This is a two door permanently installed unit. It uses 2 Danfoss compressors, one for the fridge and a second for the freezer. It holds its set internal temperatures across any air temperature I have encountered, is very efficient in 12V mode as well as 110V, and the freezer can be turned off for even greater efficiency if desired. The installation works great and I am pleased with it.

This idea of making ice in a portable fridge/freezer and then using the ice in a built-in icebox seems like a particularly ineffective way to provide refrigeration. I'd suggest removing the old Adler-Barbour unit and replacing it with Isotherm component refrigeration or similar.

[deluxe68]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

?? Vacuum pump pulls from the system and vents to the atmosphere, why would you want a filter? Where would you put it?

The other poster wrote to just release the gas. This would leave contaminants such as oil/acid/moisture in the system. You could put this between the vacuum pump and the unit.

The little time I helped HVAC techs they always recovered the old refrigerant first and either cleaned it or used fresh refrigerant. I used to have a CFC Universal card, if I purposely vented freon I could have been fined big bucks.

[scottgledhill]

I looked at both the isotherm and Engle portable units. The energy consumption and features are very similar. I chose the Isotherm because of its larger capacity. I also added 200 watts of solar to power the unit. It has worked flawlessly since its installation and the solar allows us to be away from the dock for days without shore power or a generator. I think you will be pleased with either brand.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by deluxe68

Thanks, that is why I posted that I was looking at a compressor cooler.

On a previous rib we had a CF18 running on the 24v supply, though it did also take 12v. My wiring wasn't heavy enough initially, so once sorted we chucked in the picnic stuff and set off for a beach BBQ. Didn't realise quite what "max" meant so 40 minutes later we arrived with frozen sandwiches and bulging solid tin cans, oops

That little fridge freezer went everywhere every summer on and off to the beach etc and dumped in the garage each winter for 6 years without a problem. Sold it for 2/3rds of the price and regret doing that now. We should have kept it as a freezer. Since you don't open and close the freezer as much as the fridge and some models come with a fancy silver quilted cover to increase the efficiency the power requirements are quite small.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by deluxe68

The other poster wrote to just release the gas. This would leave contaminants such as oil/acid/moisture in the system. You could put this between the vacuum pump and the unit.

The little time I helped HVAC techs they always recovered the old refrigerant first and either cleaned it or used fresh refrigerant. I used to have a CFC Universal card, if I purposely vented freon I could have been fined big bucks.

Moisture is of course the reason to vacuum, moisture and oil combine to form the acid.
Once you have acid, the only remediation is to change the oil, not always an easy task.
But there is no reason to have a filter / drier between the pump and the system, it would serve no purpose
You legally must recover the refrigerant, it really gets more important if your Commercial, meaning getting paid to do the job.
Recovery equipment is outside the realistic ability for a DIY person to afford due to cost.
Then what are you going to do with a few ounces of refrigerant once you recover it?

I'm licensed too, but I bet a strange license as its a DOD license.Mine is type II, high and very high pressure

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Moisture is of course the reason to vacuum, moisture and oil combine to form the acid.
Once you have acid, the only remediation is to change the oil, not always an easy task.
But there is no reason to have a filter / drier between the pump and the system, it would serve no purpose
You legally must recover the refrigerant, it really gets more important if your Commercial, meaning getting paid to do the job.
Recovery equipment is outside the realistic ability for a DIY person to afford due to cost.
Then what are you going to do with a few ounces of refrigerant once you recover it?

I'm licensed too, but I bet a strange license as its a DOD license.Mine is type II, high and very high pressure

Unless one lives in the middle of nowhere or on a boat it's generally fairly trivial to get a properly equipped and/or properly licensed/registered refrigeration technician. However, in my case, I finally became incensed with them because of the problems with getting them to work on boats and often poor quality of workmanship and purchased the equipment to allow me to do the work myself.

I am aware of the environmental implications of dumping refrigerants to the atmosphere but tend to rationalize it with a couple of facts:

The common refrigerants today are either R134 or hydrocarbon based and
don't have the ozone depleting effect of the chlorofluorocarbon gasses.

If I am doing harm why did they put us all to the inconvenience of changing
from Freon 12.

According to New Scientist, the Chinese are still manufacturing, and dumping
to the atmosphere, about 10,000 tons of Freon 12 every year in spite of the
Montreal protocol.

I notice that when I use aerosols in my galley it sets my gas alarm off. So
whilst we have discontinued charging aerosols with chlorofluorocarbon we
now appear to be dumping powerful greenhouse gasses in their place. I'll
give up dumping refrigerants when the urban rabble gives up underarm and
oils their skillet using a hand pump rather than aerosols..

Whilst I am aware of the environmental issues and not easy about ignoring them necessity has pretty well obliged me to become refrigeration work independent to where I can at least keep my equipment running.

However this has necessitated the acquisition, storage and maintenance of a number of pieces of equipment not particularly suited to the marine environment and safely storing them on a small boat with limited space available.

To extend this arrangement to refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment I consider an unreasonable impost upon the lifestyle I pursue and consequently I'm obliged to go rogue on the refrigeration gas dumping issue.

[Maka]

Good info here. Thanks

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by Moontide

Bought a 95 liter Dometic 16 months ago and have been happy with it. Will bring both sides down to under 0 F with cabin temps in the mid to high 80's. Orignally ran off 110 via an inverter then ran a 12 line to it presuming that it would use less power. Did add another 260 watts of solar ($120 in Miami) to cover the extra electrical usage. Using my math I figured that was a lot cheaper than the extra $1,000 for the Engel.



I would not get a thermoelectric unit. I have always heard they are not very efficient and deal killer if it can only drop temp 20 degrees from ambient (assuming F and not C).


Bill

Mine is running 24ah/day at 33F and 85f ambient.

About 3x -4x higher if freezing at 0f