Refrigerators

[charlie56]

I spent a few hours last night surfing for alternatives to Norcold.
I found two potential manufacturers. Isotherm or Waeco. They appear to be more efficient both from space and energy use. The Isotherm is considerably more expensive but has a pretty ingenious energy saving system called ASU which charges a cooling plate while the engine is running and only runs the compressor when the charge on the cooling plate gets warm. Check out the Cruise 130 product.
http://www.indelmarineusa.com/
http://www.indelmarineusa.com/products/ ... lassic.htm

The Waeco units claim to have a run time of 20 – 40% compared to what I hear the Norcolds are. (50 – 65%) Perhaps it is more insulation in the Waeco, or perhaps it is a better unit. They both use the same compressor which is manufactured by Danfoss. Jeremiah, if you have your Norcold out, can you see the make and model of the compressor?
http://www.waecousa.com/page.aspx?p=productshome

I have an email into John K asking what he thinks about the two options. It would be nice if there were equal energy ratings for the units like on a residential unit.
I also found that Isotherm makes a water heater that functions like the Flatplate and runs 120v shore power. The neat things are that it has its own storage tank (4-6 gal) and built in tempering valve. Both the Isotherm water heater and refrigerators are built for the boating industry but I don’t see why they wouldn’t work in a SMB. I agree with what Ken says about how the refrigerators significantly impact the size of the solar array. I would not mind paying the extra for a high end refrigerator if I can eliminate one 130w panel.

[jage]

The tags says:
SAWAFUJI
Model: SK-511N

100% CFC Free
HCF 134a SL

40As

It's about 9" tall and 3" in diameter.

I don't see a clear way to dissemble but there is definitely space between the fridge inside and the case. With how bad these are I'm starting to wonder what's in there as insulation, and if it's air then a small drill hole and some expanding insulation might be an answer. If not, removing the fridge inside and reinsulating with some high quality salvage from a modern cooler or something from the HW store might be an option.

If anyone finds info on the Interwebs about rebuilding a Norcold I'd be interested.

[Greg In Austin]

Hhmmmm .... but are these units 12v/110v units?

Are we comparing apples and apples?

The Waeco equivalent (CR-110) looks like it would run 55%, and the Isotherm looks to be 12v only.

Would it be acceptable to switch to a 12v only unit?

[Buji]

Originally Posted by kzemach

Buji-

You're keeping the fridges turned on to keep them cold though, right? Do you ever turn them off during the day when you're not driving? That's when I find out how poor my insulation is... I can freeze stuff for sure, but it's sucking power like a hoover.

Ken

Sorry Ken, that was kinda the point I was beating around. I got extra battery capacity and will have extra solar when I get around to it specifically because I plan to leave them running.

I agree though that a much better solution could be engineered. The remote compressor unit plus a ultra efficient cooler box like the ones you were talking about earlier would be idea, but it would also cease being a fridge. One of the things I like about the fridge aspect are the door shelves etc for starbuck fraps, v8's tonic waters etc. I did buy a lot of those expanding fridge bars for restraining the items therein.

[Buji]

Originally Posted by gregmckay

Would it be acceptable to switch to a 12v only unit?

I may be confused, but I though the norcolds were 12v only as well, drawing directly from the house batteries...

[charlie56]

Buji
Boy, with all that stuff in the refrigerators, all you need is a neon sign and bam, your in the bar busness. Serving the back country (sorry, couldn't resist)

[charlie56]

Here is a comparison chart. It is tough to do a straight line comparison because they are all similar but different.


The Norcolds appear to be the only true AC / DC units. The smaller 2.7 cf used to be DC only but is now AC / DC. Waeco offers a AC/DC power unit but you would have to manually switch it back & forth or just run it off the inverter all the time. Waeco is the only one I could find actually lists that they use insulation. Both the Waeco and Isotherm use the same compressor. From reading some HVAC blogs, the Danfiss is highly rated. The blogs didn’t give much credit to the Sawafuji compressor.

I don’t know what I’ll do, heck I don’t even know what size I want now. I’m temped to use the Waeco just because its different from the Norcold. (the lack of AC doesn’t really bother me.) Then I will have either made a good decision, a bad decision, or more than likely find out it really doesn’t matter. Then again …thanks for everyone’s input.

FYI
I didn’t find any blogs about re-building or re-insulating a Norcold but I did find one project where a guy bought a Norcold from Ebay for $50 and made his own custom box.

[stiggs]

Buji I am camping near you!

Coming from the Dometic 3 way in my Old Westy, the Norcold has been a very happy upgrade. The idea of extra insulation sounds intriguing, I have a Coleman cooler than when I bought it said it would keep ice for 3 days in 90 degree heat - good insulation is key.

That reminds me I should fire mine up and put some breakfast items in it for when I get out of the water in the a.m.

[Jammyauto]

I have the isotherm cruise85 ASU in my van. It is only 12v but that is just fine with me. If I'm plugged in the charger will keep the house battery topped up anyway so why the need for 110v? Without any recharging my house batteries will run the fridge for a week. I also have an ARB portable fridge/freezer that we bring full of frozen food for longer trips. The isotherm is very quiet.

[jage]

Originally Posted by Buji

I may be confused, but I though the norcolds were 12v only as well, drawing directly from the house batteries...

No they're plugged into the 110v system as well so when you're on shore power they run on shore power. Not sure how that's managed, but it's definitly plugged in and wired.

Now I'm wondering if the 110v plug sucks power through the invertor when the invertor is on- I'm thinking that would be horribly inefficient.