Waeco Refrigerator / Freezer

[marc2012]

I am in the process of purchasing a different boat w/o refrig.I hope this is not like hooking a battery to a motor to run a generator to charge the bat. guestion.Could you use a waeco cf-50 to freeze small water bottles to use in existing ice box.Might also have to accommodate a six pack occasionally.Thanks in advance.marc

[Euro Cruiser]

Possible? Yes. Efficient? No. An option while plugged in? Yes. Viable away from the Big Yellow Cord? Not really.

Jack

[marc2012]

Not even with wind gen?Not eff I know but that much less than frideg?

[Fishspearit]

This is a rare occasion when I will have to disagree with Jack. We have a Waeco 40 which we got to supplement our Adler Barbor top loading fridge/freezer, because we found that our solar panels were producing more electricity than we needed for just the AB and rest of the boat even in the FL summer. We got the Waeco for making ice and for beer storage. Although not insulated as well as the main fridge, the Waeco draws a little less, 3.5-4 Amps, so the daily electrical load is not as much as many people expect. The Waeco also has a 'boost' feature which speeds up the compressor and draws about 7 amps. We use these ice trays, No-Spill Ice Tray - Item - Camping World . With the boost we can freeze 9 of the ice trays in about 7-8 hours, or 56 Amp-hours, easily done on a windy day with a wind generator. Off topic, but I'd always take solar panels over a wind generator if I had a choice.
For normal keeping beer and food cold usage, we found the Waeco to draw 40-50 Amp hours a day even in summer, while our bigger fridge/freezer needed 60-80 depending on how often we went in.

[marc2012]

Appreciate all opinions was hoping to hear from some people who have used them.Thanks marc

[iiii]

We have the CF-50 and find it to be very good for use on the baot.
There was a thread on this a week or two ago, do a search for more info.

[Islandmike]

We have a Waeco that we use to freeze ice trays to put into our ice box. Amp draw is around 4. We have found it to be very effiecent, we have not had to purchase ice since we purchased the Waeco. We have solar panels to keep our batteries charged. The other big thing is no electric pumps for our fresh water and proably the biggest this is all LED lights. We have little draw on our batteries.

[tomperanteau]

We just bought an inexpensive ice maker ($139). I'm going to try it out on our trip to Mexico next week and will report back as to how it works for us.

So far while using it here at the office, it has produced as advertised, which is around 26 pounds in 24 hours. It should run well off of our inverter, as it only draws around 228 watts (1.9 amps).

[marc2012]

Appreciate feed back.What kind & where please.marc

[tomperanteau]

We bought the Emerson from Target. It seems to be working well. So far we have about 8 pounds of ice. If you want to get the full 26 pounds in 24 hours, you would have to empty the tray about every hour and then fill it with water about every 3 trays. It sure beats buying ice and then running our when underway.

[marc2012]

Thanks sounds good will go get one.marc

[ka4wja]

Tom,
Please forgive me if you've already figured this.....but, your wording makes me think not....

Originally Posted by tomperanteau

We just bought an inexpensive ice maker ($139). I'm going to try it out on our trip to Mexico next week and will report back as to how it works for us.

So far while using it here at the office, it has produced as advertised, which is around 26 pounds in 24 hours. It should run well off of our inverter, as it only draws around 228 watts (1.9 amps).

If the ice maker uses 228 watts (indoors, in a controlled environ), realize it will use just as much (actually a little more) on board your boat....
So, even without the inverter conversion loss (~ 10% or more), that's about 19 amps at 12 volts dc.....

If you figure in lower efficiency on board a hot boat in Mexico, and inverter loss, you're probably looking at 22 - 23 amps draw....
And, if you want to make ice, from a warm start, I suspect you'll be running it a bit longer than that ~8 hours for that 8 pounds of ice.....
And, that's over 160 A/H of battery power.....
While you may not need 8 lbs of ice a day it's likely to be a bigger draw on your weekly energy budget than you imagined....

Just wanted to clarify this....

Good luck.
John

[tomperanteau]

Ka: Yes, thanks for elaborating on the metrics. Being an EE myself, I understand the losses and inefficiencies, but you worded it well.

The icemaker performed really well for us. The problem that we ran into that negated a proper test, was that our inverter could not handle the startup amperage of the compressor. While on shore power it produced enough ice for us to have a three-day supply. Going to invest in a better inverter, and hopefully the icemaker will be able to handle the "dirty" sine wave that inverters tend to put out.

[marc2012]

Could not add start capacitor?marc

[savoir]

I had a Waeco CF50 for a while and used it as a cheaper alternative to getting a new built in freezer. It was used to store frozen food not for making ice cubes. The ice cube usage certainly would require something like 3 hours running at max to make a few trays of cubes.

If you get one, there are 3 factors to wach out for

1. Mount it high. The 12v function of mine was knocked out by the water from a pile of wet clothes dumped beside it. For some strange reason the 110v function survived. I then removed a cushion from the settee and tied it down there with a little string and had no more trouble.

2. The lid is not very well insulated. You will need to supplement it with the soft cover that comes as an option.

3. Filling the unit with room temperature food and trying to freeze it only works if you have an inverter. It would probably take about 5-6 hours turned up to max cold and using 110/220. 12v would take 2 days. Once the food is frozen 12v can keep it there.

I still agree with the basic idea of a portable fridge/freezer for any boat that doesn't have one built in. It would also work well on a smaller boat or so with no fridge. Cool everything down (or freeze it) at home and then plug in to a cigarette lighter adapter on board. That would work just fine for a long weekend aboard and not drain too much power.

Were I to buy a new one it would be the Isotherm TB50 because I don't think the Waeco is well enough insulated. When set to freeze, the outside of mine was often wet and cold. OK, for just cooling drinks.