RO system+Ice Maker+Ice Box= Efficient?

[drousy88]

im having trouble researching a hypothesis as to whether my idea of having an RO system and an ice maker to keep my ice box and food cold. i want to eventually be able to store cold food for up to a couple weeks. like hamburger meet, bacon, eggs, milk, milk, milk, cold water, sandwich meet, etc. i dont have a clue if i can keep hamburger meet on icy salty water in vacuum bags or something. but the real question im after....does anyone have this setup?

[Sailmonkey]

I call mine a refrigerator

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

I call mine a refrigerator

That's want I call mine also! Like most things boat, the real question is normally about power! I've spent $1200 tis week on solar stuff and expect to spend a couple hundred more, all in search of having cold beer whenever I show up at the boat (out on the mooring)!

[Sailmonkey]

If you're really serious about this approach, it's not efficient. It is however effective.
Shrimp boats use a brine solution in a tank chilled to roughly 0°F to flash freeze the catch.

[drousy88]

i know i know. and thats what i have right now while stuck on shore power... a refridgerator. but dont they use like 100amp/hr a day? isnt that way more than an ice system? even on shore power i feel like my fridge is sucking up unused energy. i.e. i have a pack of hamburgers a gallon of milk some other stuff and a whole lot of energy usage....

[Sailmonkey]

When I say refrigerator I mean an icebox conversion. Ours uses in the area of 60AH per day in the tropics. I can leave it on indefinitely with 130W of solar. We're using this

Isotherm Compact 2501 Refrigeration System

The more insulation provided the better the results

[sailorboy1]

Doesn't matter how you cool something a BTU is a BTU and will take pretty much the same energy. Cooling water in order to cool something else is just 1 more heat transfer efficiency loss to cost more power.

Doesn't really matter what, if anything, is in the box. Once it is cold it is still the same amount of heat lost across the walls. It will use a lot less in the long run if you load it up and then keep it cold.

[Roy M]

You might look at how efficient your box is at keeping out the heat and retaining the cold. Many folks tend to ignore efficient insulation, especially vacuum insulated panels. The less the cooling needs to work, the fewer amps get consumed.

[The Boat Galley]

Definitely not efficient. Refrigerators are much better. The Engel portable and drop in units get really high marks for both efficiency and dependability from all my readers that have them. And while not cheap, they are definitely less expensive than a custom-built box (and way, way cheaper than that RO system).

Here's the article I wrote on the Engels and you can see what people who have them say down in the comments.

[senormechanico]

Aerogel insulation.
You can even buy it on Ebay, not like when I rebuilt our box.
You almost had to know somebody to buy it.

I'd never go back to foam insulation.

Steve