The next one to tackle was the same as the mushroom farm fridge Vitrifrigo 130, but mounted next to the
stove.
It's worth mentioning at this point how these fridges are held in, there are small white plastic covers in the base and adjacent to the door inside the unit, with these removed you have access to the s/s screws that have been used to secure the base and sides to the
wood interior of the cupboard.
They are specially designed so when unscrewed they are still not long enough to be removed so they hang down under and out the side just enough to scratch up the interior as you remove fridge. If you are really lucky you may have some bent ones that just resist
removal altogether. Once I started to get the unit moving I poked around under it to
lift the screws and try to limit the scratching.
This joy I had forgotten about as the screws had been removed a year ago when I put the plastic in the base of the other unit.
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This fridge has never been out since
installation, I was expecting an easy run as we already had one of theses under our belt so to speak. No such luck.
A number of things are different compared to the Mushroom farm unit:
A: First thing is it will not come out all the way due to the length of the gas pipes.
B: The left side is hard up against the cupboard wall no room for
insulation.
C: The right side is hard up against an extra bit of
wood, no room for
insulation.
D:Same discoloration and icing evidence on back of unit but, a lot less
mold and very little evidence of
water under unit.
E: A ventilation gap across the bottom at the back mean any
water dripping down the back goes lower in the
boat and not just under the fridge.
So with all the limitations of the
installation I only managed to completely insulate the back and cover the pipe entry up like the other unit and insulate the top, I was unable to do the sides because of lack of space to fit the insulation in. To do the base I needed to get unit completely out and just was not
game to try to remove the
compressor unit and move it.
I am reasonably confident this will help as it is the main external icing and
condensation point on this unit.
Why this one is better or should that read not as bad as the other I am not sure, Steves is the same as well.
It has the larger ventilation slot at the back at floor level.
There is less air and space around the sides.
The air the outside of the fridge is exposed to comes from well within the vessel, as opposed to the mushroom farm which receives more outside air as ventilation is from the doorway area of the
boat.
I can only assume that the moisture content of the air is different because the units are the same, it just the way they are installed.
Next on the list was my non
Lagoon standard Nova Kool 100 lt
freezer. ( No I can not recommend this unit it is almost as bad as the Vitrofrigos.)
This is a free standing unit mounted adjacent to the Starboard side
helm stairs. It never gets external ice on it but is always dripping with
condensation. So this got a new insulation outside skin as well.
Last but not least, the best operating and least trouble unit we have, I felt should not be ignored so I purchased a new insulated and padded propitiatory overcoat for the Waeco CFX 65, this unit was on board as an
emergency back up, then when on
shore power we would use it to per-frezee
food prior to putting into main freezer.
Since upping the
battery bank to 1350 amp/Hours we have been leaving on all the time and only dropping SOC 15% overnight. So will be interesting to see if all this insulation has much effect on power
consumption.
Just a note if you attempting to do similar, I went with Steve's suggestion of the gel type contact
adhesive, as it is a lot easier to
work with on vertical surfaces. I used 4 lts of glue in total.
I had already removed the self opening door mechanism on the inside doors, as the units now sit aprox 10 mm forward in cupboard they will not
work.
Currently I have not reinstalled any of the screws to hold fridges in, with the added insulation they are all very tight fits, time will tell if this is an issue and need a few screws.
Looking forward to:
Colder XXXX
Drier floors
Lower power usage.
Will advise on the outcome.
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