Refrigerator Replacement

[holtcl]

Thoughts for anyone with a ~44 facing a refrigerator replacement:

The old unit likely must be cut up to be removed. The new unit likely won't go through any opening other than salon window which has 24" of clearance. A full-size unit is too large but a "counter depth" unit "should" fit. Check dimensions carefully. Ours (from Fisher & Paykel, purchased at Lowe's) measured less than 24" with doors off, however had an additional panel on the back that made for >24". SO, this means the window frame needed to be removed from the outside, which made for an easy entry. From there, no problem. And the bonus of a newly-resealed salon window. Will do the same on the STBD side when replacing the sofa!

 

[mswinea]

I just replaced the fridge on my 43 DC. What a nightmare! The old one had to have doors removed which no prob, but then I had to saw off the cooling grill off the back along with the tubing from the compressor. At this point we had it laying on it's side on top of the bar. When I cut the compressor tubing, oil spewed everywhere. Only then could we get the thing out through the cockpit entry and out the side door. Glad to have that done. Only problem now, the only fridge I could find to replace it and fit through all my openings was a 10 cu ft. Good luck & have lots of towels handy.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Why not repair and rebuild the old one? Our 36C has a Norcold marine unit. One of the two compressors went bad and I wanted to install a new refer. We found that no one makes a unit that will fit the hole and it would require a major re-do to get a newer unit in this hole. We decided to rebuild the current unit. There were some problems as the manufacturer gave us the wrong info but we got the job done and cleaned the whole unit up etc. That was 4 years ago and it is just fine.

 

[REBrueckner]

While you can always get a modern 120 volt ac updated compressor and evaporator (ice cube tray) if the old frig is (a) rusty or (b) the door seals are failing, unfortunately it's time for a replacement. Just after I bought my 1972 48 YF the original frig compressor failed; I just left it back there after one attempt at repair recharge, removed the original ice cube tray to make room, and installed a 12volt dc Adler Barbour refrigeration system....that was about nine years ago...Then I bought another used Adler Barbour on ebay and installed in in the side by side freezer portion...that's my freezer when I'm really stocked up for a long period.

While we are on the subject of frigs, anybody know where to get the FRIGIDARE brand rubber door seals, or equivalent, for 1970's vintage side by side frigs??

 

[holtcl]

Replace or rebuild: It really depends on what you start with. Ours was the original (38+ year old) GE brown unit, beginning to show rust bubbles both internally and externally. The veggie drawers no longer opened resulting in lost space. Not to mention the increased efficiency of the new unit. Repair person told us new compressor may not be available and may not be a long-term solution. So this was a no-brainer for us.