Refrigeration

[jrbrein]

I have owned sailboats all of my boating life and they were either DC or engine driven with large cold plates.

I am new to Hatteras's and my wife and I are starting to look at the 53 MY and the 58 Yacht Fisherman. I notice the nice large refrigerators that you might put in your own kitchen at home (on land). So did my wife!!! First rule...keep the wife happy.

What is the power management for these in other words are they 120v and going through an inverter?
What kind of amp draw do they use and aren't they a big drain on the batteries when not running the engines or the generator?

I have seen DC powered upright, front loading refrigerators in the 18 - 20 cubic foot range but they are expensive!

Jonathan

 

[Boatsb]

They can be pretty efficient especially when it's nice and cool with the air conditioner running.

Yes they are 120 volt. Genny, shore power or inverter will run them. It depends on how you use the boat.

 

[oscarvan]

What is the power management for these in other words are they 120v and going through an inverter?
What kind of amp draw do they use and aren't they a big drain on the batteries when not running the engines or the generator?

Yes they are 120V Preferably shore or Genny power..... if you want to go quiet on the hook.....

Wattage..... 5-700 ish........ So at 12V (inverter input) 60A....... run time..... depends on how hot it is in the boat, and how much "stuff" is in there, and how often you open the door......

Say......50%? 30Ah.... so if you want to do that for 10 hours...... you need a 600ah bank. (50% discharge)

And there's much more that goes into that.... ie doing it on a principally 32V boat.... separate inverter bank? 32V inverter? Lots of discussion here.....

 

[magnawake]

My 120V refrigerator tag states 1.8 amp A/C. My inverter (690 amp hr bank, 6 GC batteries) runs the frig great. The inverter remote says the load is 18 amps D/C. The first summer the frig ran non stop til 3:00 am then it would start cycling a little. I slept in the V-berth and could hear it cycling. Its so quit on the hook you can hear a pin drop. The second summer I installed insulation in the form of styrofoam I bought at Lowes. I think I put about 1/2"-1" where I could fit it. Keep in mind like said bofore it depends on how hot the boat is. Its normally in the low 80's during the day maybe higher. At night mid 70's. Now it cycles all day. I prolly cut the usage by 40%. Even if it did stay on 100% of the time for 10 hours it would still only be 180 amp hrs. I run my genset 1.5 hrs in the morning and 1.5 hrs in the evening to keep the house bank charged. Prolly dont need that much though. We also have a portable ice maker too. A D/C refrigerator would be awesome to have but not an absolute. BTW, the wife is happy. Sitting on the sundeck, in the shade with a nice breeze blowing with her feet propped up drinking large glass of ice tea. Life is good.

 

[jrbrein]

BTW, the wife is happy. Sitting on the sundeck, in the shade with a nice breeze blowing with her feet propped up drinking large glass of ice tea. Life is good.

Now that is what I would call knowing what you are doing!

Jonathan

 

[oscarvan]

My 120V refrigerator tag states 1.8 amp A/C. My inverter (690 amp hr bank, 6 GC batteries) runs the frig great. The inverter remote says the load is 18 amps D/C. The first summer the frig ran non stop til 3:00 am then it would start cycling a little. I slept in the V-berth and could hear it cycling. Its so quit on the hook you can hear a pin drop. The second summer I installed insulation in the form of styrofoam I bought at Lowes. I think I put about 1/2"-1" where I could fit it. Keep in mind like said bofore it depends on how hot the boat is. Its normally in the low 80's during the day maybe higher. At night mid 70's. Now it cycles all day. I prolly cut the usage by 40%. Even if it did stay on 100% of the time for 10 hours it would still only be 180 amp hrs. I run my genset 1.5 hrs in the morning and 1.5 hrs in the evening to keep the house bank charged. Prolly dont need that much though. We also have a portable ice maker too. A D/C refrigerator would be awesome to have but not an absolute. BTW, the wife is happy. Sitting on the sundeck, in the shade with a nice breeze blowing with her feet propped up drinking large glass of ice tea. Life is good.

How many cubic feet is this fridge?

 

[magnawake]

How many cubic feet is this fridge?

I want to say a 10 or 11. Its a full size but not a real big size. More than adequate though.

 

[Pascal]

While there are some decent size 12v/120v fridges they are usually still smallish and expensive

Most larger boats like the 53 have regular full size him style fridge that will either require the generator to run or an inverted with decent size bank.

You need to the exacts math but typically a 600 amp hr bank will run the average full size Fridge on inverter for almost a day and recharge the bank on generator for a few hours, usually in the evening when you need power to cook etc

 

[MikeP]

The OEM battery banks on our 53MY running our 2005 23.5 cuFt side-by side fridge (installed in 2005 - there is a thread about it on the site) through the Outback 3232 inverter once powered the fridge for 36 hours while the boat was having the bottom painted and the batts still started the main engines with no trouble at all when it was dropped back in the water.

Again, this was with the standard 8 batteries (Deka 819s at the time) in the OEM battery boxes, no additional banks or added batts to power the inverter. I combined the two OEM Hatt (house and start) banks years ago as one single bank and they were in that status at the time, as they still are.

 

[bobk]

Modern refrigerators have become very efficient. My condo 24 cu. ft. self defroster has a tag indicating 6.5 amp 'full load' in line with the previous post. On board the 20 cu. ft. refrigerator/freezer is handled by an inverter bank with 6 GC batteries with no issue. We do not have an ice maker on board, just frige with trays. More than enough for us as I keep the bourbon and sweet vermouth in the frige so just need one ice cube for a Manhattan and Gayle prefers warm bottled water.

X2 on the sundeck. With an enclosure, it becomes an all weather extra room.... the largest on the boat.

Suggest you also look at the 48' series I MY, but I'm prejudiced

Bobk

 

[kjcampos]

hi bobk...we have a BIG SUB-ZERO side by side on our boat ....it came with it when we bought it...we have a 4000W MAGNUM 24 Volt Inverter ...so we don't have to run our Genny while we are cruising and we have done 10-12 HR. days and never had any issues ...our Inverter runs most of the 120V on the boat...by the way go look at the 56' MY you guys will just fall in love with the wide beam and the privacy of the Aft Cabin...we were origionally looking to buy a 53' MY but when the wife saw the 56' MY with the wide beam there was no changing her mind and I'm glad for it.....we LOVE our boat


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II