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Damn Fridge


Psycloud

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Whilst trying to get my head around the electrics yesterday I thought I'd switch the fridge on. All it seems to do is flash a red light at me and not appear to get cold. Bugger that, I think for the price and efficiency we'll get a 240v one and run it from the shoreline until we move about and then the inverter can deal with it as its an A+ rated unit that draws about 160kw/h a year. It also has a 4* freezer compartment as I was not looking forward to not having ice dream on board :)

Edited by Psycloud
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Whilst trying to get my head around the electrics yesterday I thought I'd switch the fridge on. All it seems to do is flash a red light at me and not appear to get cold. Bugger that, I think for the price and efficiency we'll get a 240v one and run it from the shoreline until we move about and then the inverter can deal with it as its an A+ rated unit that draws about 160kw/h a year. It also has a 4* freezer compartment as I was not looking forward to not having ice dream on board :)

 

Hi,

 

Sounds as if your batteries aren't up to it....... if you have a shoreline, get a decent multistage battery charger and run your fridge from that and charge your batteries at the same time, and perhaps get a new set of batteries, you will need them sometime.

 

Leo.

Edited by LEO
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Is this a 12v only fridge or a three way, gas, 240v, 12v one?

 

I *think" it's 12v only and here's some heft cables running into the back of it. There doesn't seem to be any model number for the fridge itself, just Lec. I tried to picture but not terribly successfully on the phone... Will see if I can get it on here.

 

David

 

Gas is best :-)

 

Is it though? The one we've ordered will cost less than £1 a week even at marina electric rates. :)

 

David

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Hi,

 

Sounds as if your batteries are up to it....... if you have a shoreline, get a decent multistage battery charger and run your fridge from that and charge your batteries at the same time, and perhaps get a new set of batteries, you will need them sometime.

 

Leo.

 

been doing same for years :cheers:

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I *think" it's 12v only and here's some heft cables running into the back of it. There doesn't seem to be any model number for the fridge itself, just Lec. I tried to picture but not terribly successfully on the phone... Will see if I can get it on here.

 

David

 

 

 

Is it though? The one we've ordered will cost less than £1 a week even at marina electric rates. :)

 

David

Its when you go off cruising away from a mains landline that gas fridges come into their own, whilst any electric fridge becomes and absolute pain.

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been doing same for years :cheers:

 

Batteries are at 100% (2 x 120A/hr) but old fridge just seems to not be doing anything. Can't hear the compressor etc. I'll stick it in storage and mess about with it when I've got time. I think £140 for a new (500m wide) fridge is reasonable though :)

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been doing same for years :cheers:

 

Hi,

 

So have I, works well until the guy next door to me overloads the installation causing it to trip out, fortunately the fridge will run for about 4 days on the batteries alone, if left unopened (boat unoccupied).

 

Leo

Edited by LEO
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Very bad pic of the rear, had trouble getting phone in there....

 

fridgerear.jpg

 

Slightly clearer one..

 

fridgerear2.jpg

 

That's a good old Danfoss unit. Salt of the Earth, go on for ever.

I think Lec made some 12/24v units for a whlie after Maurice Batts wen out of busines, so it's "well old".

BTW that negative lead looks a bit dodgy (I know you've got volts to the unit, but it might be a poor joint).

 

I can see the logic for gas units, but does a gas fridge / freeezer exist?

In the same vein can you get a decent A+ rated fridge freezer for £150 - most I've seen are about £200. I wouldn't settle for less that 1.5 cu.ft freezer compartment and 5 cu. ft. fridge

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Cost isn't the only consideration. I would pay double to have a fridge that will run 24/7 wether I am there or not. Gives constant coldness, silently and has a freezer compartment.

 

Sorry, I wasn't having a to at your choice of fuel. Cost is a consideration as we will be living aboard soon so it will be going 24/7 and I'm not going to b working hopefully :). Once we get the solar system running next spring then that should help give us enough inverter power to cruise without worrying too :)

 

David

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There's pros and cons with running a 240V fridge and inverter, vs dedicated 12V fridge. It comes down to the cost of electricity, ie p/kWh of the shoreline connection or the actual cost to you of generating it if you need to run the engine; or, the £0 cost of soler but with a high initial capital investment. I worked it all out for my circumstances, taking into account expected usage (which of course, is guesswork because you don't know what you'll do in the future, but its all you can do...) and 200W of solar power + 12V fridge worked out cheaper than the other options (we didn't have the option of shoreline).

 

So basically, 12V or 240V isn't THAT imporant because the costs, long term, are actually quite similar.

  • Greenie 1
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Do one test, does the fridge work OK with the engine running (at a little way above tickover so you can be certain the battery volts are being raised to around 14v) ? If so, you probably have a poor connection somewhere that is losing you some voltage on the way to the fridge.

 

If it does exactly the same when the engine is running as when it isn't, it's more likely that the fridge is knackered.

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That's a good old Danfoss unit. Salt of the Earth, go on for ever.

I think Lec made some 12/24v units for a whlie after Maurice Batts wen out of busines, so it's "well old".

BTW that negative lead looks a bit dodgy (I know you've got volts to the unit, but it might be a poor joint).

 

I can see the logic for gas units, but does a gas fridge / freeezer exist?

In the same vein can you get a decent A+ rated fridge freezer for £150 - most I've seen are about £200. I wouldn't settle for less that 1.5 cu.ft freezer compartment and 5 cu. ft. fridge

We had a Batts fridge. Must have been 20 yes old when it gave up the ghost. I would have fixed it but rust has also struck. Replaced with an Inlander. Nowhere near as good.

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Whilst trying to get my head around the electrics yesterday I thought I'd switch the fridge on. All it seems to do is flash a red light at me and not appear to get cold.

How many flashes at a time? The number of flashes represents a fault code that can be looked up in the manual for the Danfoss compressor.

 

If it gets switched off, there must be a wait of say 5 minutes before it switches back on or it won't start and will flash a code.

 

It could be a loose/poor connection between fridge and batts, the wires to it look reasonably chunky.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

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Gas is best :-)

 

Sue you are worse than me wiv cassettes :D You are however quite correct. After many years 24/7 living I put the order of Fridge as it where to be Gas as best, mains electric next and 12volt as the worst. I have 12volt at present :mellow: because I inherited it with the boat.

 

Tim

 

Gas is best :-)

 

Sue you are worse than me wiv cassettes :D You are however quite correct. After many years 24/7 living I put the order of Fridge as it where to be Gas as best, mains electric next and 12volt as the worst. I have 12volt at present :mellow: because I inherited it with the boat.

 

Tim

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I live on a mooring without shore power and had an old 12v fridge which started giving up the ghost. As it did it started messing about with my power and was draining my batteries which meant I had to run my engine much more. I then went for a 240v household fridge with tiny freezer compartment and ran it off my inverter. That took far too much power for my liking so I eventually shelled out for a new 12v shoreline and I love it! It takes less than 2 ampers, it is almost silent and I can keep the dial on 1 or 2 in summer and everything stays cold. It has a reasonable sized freezer compt too. Downside - it cost best part of £400. But I'll save that much diesel in less than a year.

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Is it though? The one we've ordered will cost less than £1 a week even at marina electric rates. :)

 

David

 

But I'm sure you've realised it will cost you more than that when you disconnect the shore power cable for any length of time when you move the boat? Consider fuel to charge the batteries, battery life, engine or generator servicing, etc.

 

And as Sue says, it's not just cost. If your battery management is good then there's no reason not to have a 12v or mains fridge onboard, but there are also plenty of threads on the forum about knackered batteries and 9 times out of 10 it's the constant draw of the fridge that's the cause. Gas fridges just take that element out of the equation.

 

My batteries are now 7 years old and they really should be replaced because they have less than 50% of their original a/h capacity. However I can still get by with them when I move my boat because my DC power demands are relatively small. I have a gas fridge, mainly led lighting and a small flatscreen lcd tv for when I go cruising that only draws 1amp, all of which means my batteries can last 4 or 5 days between charges. Personally I think the less one relies on a single source of power on a boat the better, but that's just my opinion.

Edited by blackrose
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But I'm sure you've realised it will cost you more than that when you disconnect the shore power cable for any length of time when you move the boat? Consider fuel to charge the batteries, battery life, engine or generator servicing, etc.

 

And as Sue says, it's not just cost. If your battery management is good then there's no reason not to have a 12v or mains fridge onboard, but there are also plenty of threads on the forum about knackered batteries and 9 times out of 10 it's the constant draw of the fridge that's the cause. Gas fridges just take that element out of the equation.

 

My batteries are now 7 years old and they really should be replaced because they have less than 50% of their original a/h capacity. However I can still get by with them when I move my boat because my DC power demands are relatively small. I have a gas fridge, mainly led lighting and a small flatscreen lcd tv for when I go cruising that only draws 1amp, all of which means my batteries can last 4 or 5 days between charges. Personally I think the less one relies on a single source of power on a boat the better, but that's just my opinion.

 

I absolutely agree with your comments. We are going to be moored at the marina for 6 months while we try living aboard. At the moment the 12v fridge seems to be playing up so we can utilise the 240v fridge over the winter and deal with the 12v one if we decide to become cc'ers. For now we just need a fridge that works.

 

David

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Ok well right now it's flashing 5 times then pause (repeats). This is even with it in the off position inside. I will research what that means later :/

 

5 flashes is...

'Thermal cut-out of electronic unit

 

(If the refrigeration system has been too hea-

vily loaded, or if the ambient temperature is

high, the electronic unit will run too hot).'

 

http://isotherm-parts.com/PDF/service_notes/Danfoss-Troubleshooting.pdf

 

The control unit is the black box all the smaller wires connect to. If the fridge is isolated from the supply for half an hour then reconnected, does it still flash the same code?

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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5 flashes is...

'Thermal cut-out of electronic unit

 

(If the refrigeration system has been too hea-

vily loaded, or if the ambient temperature is

high, the electronic unit will run too hot).'

 

http://isotherm-parts.com/PDF/service_notes/Danfoss-Troubleshooting.pdf

 

The control unit is the black box all the smaller wires connect to. If the fridge is isolated from the supply for half an hour then reconnected, does it still flash the same code?

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

 

When I left the boast on Saturday I killed all the 12v supply so when I switched it all back on today the fridge was doing it's flashing light thing again. Very peculiar.

 

Thanks for the code info!

 

David

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