Questions for Folks with Freezers Onboard

[colemj]

We have a top-loading spillover system made by Adler-Barbour. It has a 4cf freezer and a 6cf fridge - both with 6" of polyurethane poured foam insulation. The freezer compartment is surrounded with a thin evaporator plate and its thermostat controls the Danfoss BD50 air cooled compressor. The fridge thermostat only controls a fan that moves air from the freezer into the fridge when it wants cooling.

The freezer is set for 10F and the fridge for 37F. The system runs 10-12hrs/day and consumes 50-60Ahr/day here in Panama, where both the air and water temps are close to 90F all day and night. We need to defrost it every 6-8 weeks.

Back in Connecticut USA, the system ran 4hrs/day and used <30Ahr/day.

Mark

[Cotemar]

WOW, I want one of those ICEERs. Wish they sold them on this side of the pond.
Very nice. Looks like its very well insulated.

[Jane.Joy]

Regarding specific freezer temperature, here's what I've gleaned so far:

Dennis. G. 0 F at bottom, warmer at top
Cotemar. 27 F, short term storage
Pblais. 27 F, short term storage
aclmck. -22 C - seriously? that's -7 F? Is that to freeze food or to keep it frozen? But your warmest spot keeps ice cream hard, which is about 5 F, I believe?
colemj. 10 F - do you freeze for the long haul at that temp?

Thanks for all the responses so far. Anyone else want to chime in? I am assuming that most folks with freezers have some way to keep an eye on the temperature. (Cotemar recommended a good remote sensor thermometer on the thread link he shared.)

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

WOW, I want one of those ICEERs. Wish they sold them on this side of the pond.
Very nice. Looks like its very well insulated.

But you have these there now for a fraction of the price of the iceer.

Sunfrost Refrigerator Models

Wish they sold them on this side of the pond for what you pay for them there.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Jane.Joy

Regarding specific freezer temperature, here's what I've gleaned so far:

Dennis. G. 0 F at bottom, warmer at top
Cotemar. 27 F, short term storage
Pblais. 27 F, short term storage
aclmck. -22 C - seriously? that's -7 F? Is that to freeze food or to keep it frozen? But your warmest spot keeps ice cream hard, which is about 5 F, I believe?
colemj. 10 F - do you freeze for the long haul at that temp?

Thanks for all the responses so far. Anyone else want to chime in? I am assuming that most folks with freezers have some way to keep an eye on the temperature. (Cotemar recommended a good remote sensor thermometer on the thread link he shared.)

We live on board cruising full time, so "long haul" is relative since it is in constant use. At most, probably 6 months storage for the longest item before turnover. On average, probably 2-3 months. The 10F is the setpoint for the thermometer control. The sensor is mid-height in the box, so the bottom of the box is probably way colder.

Mark

[foolishsailor]

Similar systems in size as what is said here. We keep our freezer at -4c and fridge at 4c.

The thermometer for the freezer is in the middle vertically and opposite from the condensor.

The bottom keeps our water balast frozen solid and the top is still below freezing as well. You get a nice mist when you open the lid.

We find we need to defrost about every 4 to 6 weeks.

Running on 170watts of solar. In the tropics with approx 12 hour days we can run off the panel but one squally day starts to eat into the amp hours. We tend to run the enigne every couple of days on average.

We will be doubling our solar when we are next on the boat and that should take us fully off diesel even in moderate sun

Edit: both fridge and freezer self install with 6" insulation all round

[Teeto]

Originally Posted by cat man do

That it be
Front load fridge top load freeze and they do cost several thousand dollars.

But they are the best and worth every cent.

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Does anybody do this to help keep the cycling times to a minimum? Freeze those little plastic icepacks and then put them in the fridge to help keep the temp down. When they're nearly thawed put them back in the freezer and take a couple of frozen ones out. Seems to work quite well on our aging Nova Kool system

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Teeto

But they are the best

Have you tried them all?
If not how do you know they are the best?

and worth every cent.

The styling and configuration does not get close to what I require so for me they are next to worthless and they cost a hell of a lot more than that.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Factor

The brand is a ICEER, its what Seawind uses on all its boats and its a company based in Brisbane. Its a 12 volt eutectic system.

see link here to discussion on CF CF ICEER FRIDGES/FREEZERS

I agree with the people in that thread, definitely the best bit of boat gear I have ever owned. When I dont have anything for the freezer, i.e. when we are not cruising just day sailing, I always leave a 10 litre water bottle in there to act as a cold sink. In summer that also means when we go for the day that we take it out first and have ice cold water all day.

Solar is 2 by 125watt panels, insulation is lots, (we are an australian company - we understand hot) on my boat the fridge and freezer are both custom cabinets, ie built into the boat. Roughly speaking there is around 100mm. On the larger boats the fridge is an upright type but the freezers remain custom in built with lots of insulation. I would not think an upright combined fridge and freezer is going to work well in our climate on 12 volt (fine on 240)

Chartered an old Seawind 1000 for a week in Whitsundays earlier this year.

Fridge/freezer worked very well taking left over frozen food home.

[Albro359]

We have a stainless steel cabinet that is a freezer at the bottom and spill over frig at the top.
The engine driven compressor can drive this down to -24degC in an hour here in Fiji.
We have a 12v electric system also with plates inside the freezer compartment and this on its own with a fair volume of rock hard frozen stuff in the freezer, can maintain it at about -10 for days on end...the 12v unit draws 5 Amps, we have 2 x 130 W solar panels and as ong as the sun shines and nothing else is being used, they can keep the 440Ah battery bank charged up and run the freezer system.
A couple of overcast days and we have to run the genset to gewt everything backup.
but at -10 no one has ever got sick..or anything melted in the freezer..
So the FDA rules might be subject to Frank Zappa's "Dangerous Kitchen" description.. ie overly cautious.....

[SV Maclas]

This doesn't help with the tempature question but we are really loving the Engel Freezer we purchased. It has been the best purchase! No more trying to find ice, no large fridge plate taking up valuable space in our ice box, and it only draws between 2 and 3 amps which our solar panels have no problem keeping up with.

Mmmm cold drinks the easy way | maclas

[wingNwing]

We've got a Frigoboat and we love it. Shoebox-size freezer and a fridge large enough that, when we moved ashore for 3 weeks to redo the galley, we *filled* an average-size home fridge in the place we were staying. Freezer is at setting #3, about 25F; and fridge at about 40F, tho the temp varies from top to bottom and side to side of the box. We insulated the heck out of it, and now use about 30 amp-hours/day in 70-75 degree water. Easy to make that with solar.

[feelsgood]

Originally Posted by Jane.Joy

FDA recommends 0 degrees F (-18 C) for freezers. But freezers use a lot of energy.... If you have a freezer on board: at what temperature do you keep it? Do you adjust the temperature according to what kind of cruising you're doing (e.g. lots of meat for long passages or stays in remote areas, versus shorter cruises where you're keeping ice and stuff that you'll be eating within a week or two)?

We have a Waeco 25 lt freezer that werun off our 35watt solar panel even in the winter here in Brittany France.we run it at -18c andkeep meat forone month with no problems. We find the best way is to buy fresh meat and wrap it in cling film in portions then stack itin well. as we use a pressure cooker most of the time in the winter for stews, soups and the like it saves us a load of hard earned cash.