davidrainsbury
regular
Reged: 28/03/2008
Posts: 34
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I converted an existing cool box on Kate to a proper fridge using an Isotherm Compact 80 kit. It was dead easy and it is very efficient, partly because the cooling compartment is very much smaller than the capacity of the unit (30 litres for a max of 80) and it is very well insulated. Remember, you only have to pump out the amount of heat that can get in.
The cool beer is wonderful, so is the fresh milk and if I catch a big fish I can save a fillet for tomorrow. 
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David Rainsbury
Vancouver 274 "Kate"
You tell me alcohol isn't the answer, but what was the question?
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nickrj
regular
Reged: 21/07/2006
Posts: 321
Loc: Caribbean, heading to New York
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Thanks everyone - That's actually quite a good idea to convert a normal cool box (in Australia we call it an 'Eski'...) to a fridge. The Isotherm stuff is still pricey though. When I say 'peanuts'... I mean like $50!!
Maybe I should be looking at 'auto fridges', since anything boat related has an instant 50% markup? Surely in the caravanning arena you can get a secondhand fridge pump for next to nothing?
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My Blog, singlehanded from Europe to Australia http://www.bigoceans.com
Low cost environmentally conscious web hosting http://www.serversaurus.com
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Rogershaw
regular
Reged: 03/11/2001
Posts: 1192
Loc: Me: Johannesburg South Africa ...
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If you are building your own box put as much insulation around it as possible. This will reduce the power consumption. On my previous boat I had 50 mm of polyurethane foam. This was OK but on my new boat I am increasing this to 150mm with through hull condenser. Previous boat has internal heat exchanger with pumped sea water. Seawater pump was the noisyest part of system. As far as I know all kits use the danfoss compressor.
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geem
regular
Reged: 27/04/2006
Posts: 35
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I have the frigoboat water cooled unit. We use it on the lowest compressor speed which uses 2.5 amps when running. It runs less than 50% of the time as we have a very well insulated box. Generally works on about 1 amp average consumption. It struggles on the low speed if we fill it with warm food so I usually up the speed until it has cooled every thing down then back to the lowest setting
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