Refrigerator Replacement

shaw520

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
634
We all know how expensive it is to replace the frig in our boat,..most range from 900-1200 dollars,.. but a search on ebay turns up these absorption units for just over $200,...some are listed and 'marine" frigs... These are absorption frigs,.. not compressor. It works on a heating element to evaporate and re condense. Is there a reason these wont work in our boats ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Smeta-Lock...320&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100752.m1982
 

bchaney

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Messages
246
I don't see why it wouldn't work but like anything there is a tradeoff. I don't know much about absorption fridges but it looks like most RVs run them with propane. If you run it off electricity I'd guess it'd require more power than an equivalent compressor driven fridge. Do they get as cold? I don't have answers to these questions but these are things you may want to look into.

I work for a heavy duty truck company and we put 12v compressor fridges in our trucks at the factory. I don't think they are very expensive but may not stand up to a marine environment depending on where you plan to install it.

You could also get a standard residential mini fridge and install a power inverter.
 

carburated

Cadet
Joined
Jun 22, 2019
Messages
16
The specs say that will pull around 5a at 12v. Even at a 50% duty cycle you're talking about 60 amp-hours per day. Can your battery system support that for any length of time? If you've got a big lithium bank and solar, then go for it. If you've got a few lead acid deep cycles and rely on the alternator to charge, probably not the best plan.
 

matt167

Captain
Joined
Sep 27, 2012
Messages
3,630
IIRC, this is how very early refrigeration worked. It just happens to still work for some things.. Keep in mind you can legally use propane if you have the bottle in a marked cabinet outside of the cabin according to ABYC standards

Depending on how much cooling you really need, a thermoelectric cooler might be the thing to have. They cost $70-150 these days and will cool to 40*. My experience is they take about a day to cool down
 

JASinIL2006

Vice Admiral
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
5,525
We have a propane fridge in our cabin in Ontario, Canada. Takes at least 5-6 hours for things to start feeling cool, and then another 10-15 before you really have a cold freezer. If you load it with a bunch of warm stuff (e.g., a case of beer) it takes a while before the temperature recovers. Much slower than a compressor-driven fridge.
 

shaw520

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
634
The frig in my camper is 3 phase, AC, DC, and propane absorption type (no compressor),..they work very well but like some have suggested are slow to cool and to recover. I just scored a used Norcold Marine frig on ebay for a little over $200,... fingers crossed !!
 
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