Refrigerator Air Cooled vs Water Cooled

[Samwind]

My sailboat is in the Med and finished putting it back in shape. Priority is now to get a cold beer when thirsty. I want to install a refrigerating kit to the ice box. After web browsing found two major types, aircooled and water cooled. The air cooled is easier to install. However the heat generated from the fan in the saloon is not appealing and installing the unit in the cockpit is very tricky. Lets go for the water cooled system 2 through hull fittings and that's it. But i heard that it is a hard to keep working system, pipes clogging, algae builds in the system.... Feedback on this matter would be highly appreciated

[rebel heart]

I have an Engel because of the minimal power consumption, reliability, and that you don't need a refrigeration "expert" or rare materials to repair them (if you ever need to). I know it's not the list of specific answers you're hoping for, but it's what's worked for us. Especially if you have minimal needs, go with something simple. Only downside is finding the space.

[onestepcsy37]

what rebel heart says. if you can live with a smaller fridge the engel style is the best choice, imho. i'm guessing that in the med you're never more than a few days away from fresh food so a smaller fridge may work well for you. i have a 'regular' boat fridge but have reduced it's size because i also cruise in places where fresh food is widely available.

if you insist on a 'real' fridge i suggest you go with air cooling. much less complicated. i bought the adler barbour super coldmachine which is air and water, but i've never hooked up the water. just don't need it. i could have saved $100 by buying the regular coldmachine (air only) and spent it on the larger evaporator instead.

water cooling is more complicated and expensive for no great gain. as for the heat in the cabin from an air cooled system, see if you can duct the exhaust out into the engine room. with water cooling, by the way, you may need to install a water pump and raw water filter.

[sailorboy1]

my understanding is that if you install your air cooled uit correctly with the proper ducts etc, that it is as good as a water

I wouldn't worry about cabin heat

[Vasco]

I have air cooled on one boat and air/water cooled on the other. I have disabled the water cooling on the air/water boat. No appreciable advantage. Air cooling is fine and less bother. With the water cooled I was always having pump problems. I did not put in two more thruhulls. Just teed it in to water intake on engine but did put a small thru hull in for discharge.

[djmarchand]

Practical Sailer did a test of the two types many years back. They found that outside of tropical temps the air cooled was more efficient.

David

[stevensuf]

what about a keel cooler? you are not pumping sea water through the system then but get benefits.

[RabidRabbit]

I'll break from the crowd here and say totally go with water cooling, its heat transfer is much better. Put in 2 new thru hulls, maybe just 1 for exit water in you have a large intake manifold allready. Dont tee it into the engine intake, thats in not a good practice. Better to have separate strainer and thru hull. Every scrap of heat you can get outside the cabin in a warm climate will be more enjoyable inside. Its worth the extra money and hassle.

[wingNwing]

We've had keel cooled for about 8 years and been quite happy. Very quiet, has been reliable. Downside was that we needed to be out of the water to install. Upside is the efficiency ... we use a meager 25 amp-hours/day in 70 degree water.

[Rocketman]

I have to agree with Rebal heart, I installed an Engal under the counter unit and I love it, it uses around an amp/hour, it is very well insulated, simple to use,(just drop it in, and conect ground and power) I use this unit as a deep freeze.

I also have a large regrig that uses engine driven compressor to cool the frig. It works great too except I have to run the engine to cool it off, I am now concidering using the Engle compresor, and evaperator plate to at least cool half of the large refig, because it is so efficant, and I would use it primaraly when in the marrina.

What ever you get, get something that uses very little energy, the air cooled units seem to be the easiest to install, the newer ones use very little energy. The main concideration to any frig unit is having the frig as well insulated as possible. Most boat makers do not insulated the frig area well enough or at all. There are some very good threads on this forum that have pic's and directions of frig projects if you do a quick search.

[Tayzach]

I have an Adler Barbour air cooled installed under the sink on my Beneteau 473. It powers the freezer and spillover frig. While I am not in tropical waters, I am in the southeast USA and during the summer it is not uncommon to have temps in the upper 90s. I do not notice any appreciable extra heat in the cabin. If you install it in a cabinet somewhere I suggest adding a small muffin fan to either exhaust the heat or as in my case I draw cool air in and over the condenser. the unit works very well. We keep items frozen in the the freezer section and the frig keeps drinks very cold as well. It draws about 60 amps per day.

[Quique]

i bought the kit from rparts.com. it uses an air cooled danfoss compressor.Boats in the caribbean. have cold drinks and anything inside the evaporator will freeze.its installed in a very ventilated area. fan heat is not an issue.maybe the noise

[Samwind]

Great incoming info. The keel cooled option is dropped i have a lift keel. The heat exchange benefits from water cooled are obvious, water temp much lower than ambient air. However air cooled seems more of a trouble free system if i can either bring fresh air in to compressor or extract the air somehow. Need to look further where to install it and how to vent it.

[Tim R.]

Go with keel cooled. Frigoboat makes a great DIY kit. We have one and are very happy with it. Ours is setup with a freezer unit and a thermostatically controlled spill-over into the fridge. We have cold beer and cold ice cream.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

what about a keel cooler? you are not pumping sea water through the system then but get benefits.

I have had air systems and water cooled. I love my keel cooled system the best.
It's very efficient and you can't even hear it run unless there's NO sound around at all.

+1