The original Seafrost engine driven cold plate has been slowly failing. There is apparently a very slow leak. If the system was recharged at the beginning of the season it ran pretty well all season. This past season I was unable to use the boat for about 2 months mid season and the system lost most of it's charge. Recharging each season costs between $3-400. I believe it is time to replace the system.
It seems next to impossible, or lots of labor hours to determine where a leak may be.
I am considering switching to a 12V system so as not to have to run the engine to have a cold fridge. Many units seem to be fairly straightforward and easy enough to self install.
I would also consider adding a solar panel to keep the batteries charged as I do not have shore power and have been taking more extended trips.
1) Does anyone know the size (cubic feet)
of the refrigerator on the 30 Ultra?
2) recommendations for a 12V refrigerator unit? It seems Isotherm and Alder Barbor get solid reviews...
3) I was considering removing all of the old hardware... block, tubing, compressor. I am considering leaving the seawater condenser bottle so as not to mess with the raw water flow, and to have if additional cooling is needed in the future.
Or should I just leave it all alone and just remove the coldplate block and local tubing in the fridge and remove the compressor drive belt to the engine?
I was given an estimate of $3500 to have someone replace the current system. New York rates but much more than I would like to spend
Thought? Input?
Thank you!
Peter Grabow
S/V CAKEWALK III
30 Ultra 430 1987
Jersey City NJ
Peter, I replaced the refrigeration on our 30U ~6 years ago after several years with the type of issues you are having now. I self installed a 12v Adler-Barbour Cold Machine. I don’t remember the model number but it was the one that permits the compressor unit to be either air or water cooled. It works fine with air cooling at our latitude of 45N. The installation was laborious but not technically difficult. The unit comes pre-charged and the only tricky part is making the final connections between the compressor and condenser. As I remember, I purchased the unit on sale from Defender and the all-in cost was in the neighborhood of $900. Good luck.
I have a Cold Machine DCM-12 I believe on our 30 classic and it works great. It is however, far and away the most power hungry appliance on board. It is rated at 5.4A and I estimate it runs approximately 2/3 of the time so practically it is consuming about 84Ah/day so I would take a good look at your house battery capacity before making your final decision. I’m on shore power so can leave it on or at least pre-cool it before setting off on a trip. If I were on a hook, I doubt that solar could keep up with the refrigerator even in sunnier climes than NJ and would look more closely at a water/keel cooled holding plate system rather than the evaporative setup you get with the A/B or Isotherm.
You can buy a recharge kit from sea frost very inexpensively and extra refrigerant at your local automotive store, you can recharge it yourself using the sight glass to determine when it is full.
Unless you have a very old system that uses freon.
What you have is the best of the best.
I would speak to sea frost re tracking down the leak. If your refrigerant hoses are old, that may be enough to be causing your leak .
Don't give up on it so quickly
mark fagelman
Most electric refrigeration systems now use a Danfoss compressor. One exception is Norcold which uses a swing compressor built by Fujisawa. My understanding is that the swing compressor will not work at as great an angle of heel as the the rotary Danfoss.
For smaller systems theDanfoss BD35 is used and on larger systems the BD50 is used. I think less than 5 cubic feet is considered small. Most manufactures will give a recommendation based on the size of the ice box.
Your options are holding plate vs evaporator plate. Cool Blue uses a holding plate while Isotherm and most others use the evaporator plate. What i read suggest the evaporator plate tends to keep a more consistent temperature range in the fridge than the holding plate. Practical Sailor did a good report on the controller for the holding plate systems. A properly adjusted controller makes a big difference in efficiency on the holding plate systems. I believe that both Nigel Calder and Kollmann think that the evaporator plate system is the way to go if you are installing a new system.
With a properly insulated ice box the evaporator plate systems should only run about 50% of the time in northern climates. The water cooled systems are better for warm climates.
I installed a Norcold ice box conversion unit in La Reina so it is relatively simple if time consuming. I picked the Norclod because I felt the compressor would fit under the galley sink better than the Danfoss compressors. If I had to do it over I would go wit ha system using a Danfoss compressor. I installed a computer fan with the system to help push the warm are out of the area under the sink. It helps reduce the amount of time the systems runs. With the ari cooled units it is better to have a lot of air circulation to help with the heat exchange.
Mark Powers
La Reina 26C
Burrard Civic Marina
Vancouver, B.C.
The Adler Barber system on my 1984 boat is, I believe, original. The only thing I’ve done was to replace the cooling fan. It is, however, mounted behind the stove and does seem noisy when sleeping in a low ambient noise environment. I can’t imagine having a unit under the galley sink only 2 feet from my head when sleeping. All things considered, I’d rather have it placed much further away.
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
When I converted my 30U to electric propulsion any thought of fixing my failing engine driven refrigeration system became moot. I instead turned the icebox into dry storage and bought an Engel refridgerator and located it next to the port side bunk. This provides more convenient access to it’s contents and also enlarges the bunk space. Plus it provides a convenient seat that allows me to use the cabin table as a chart table when underway. I recently purchased a second Engel unit using one for refrigeration and another as a freezer. Though I find I don’t need use the freezer as much as I thought I would: WHAT WORKS! WHAT’S COOL!
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WHAT WORKS! WHAT’S COOL!Bianka had a Frigoboat 500 engine driven compressor refrigeration system when I bought her. It worked well for a…
You can buy a recharge kit from sea frost very inexpensively and extra refrigerant at your local automotive store, you can recharge it yourself using the sight glass to determine when it is full.
Unless you have a very old system that uses freon.
What you have is the best of the best.
I would speak to sea frost re tracking down the leak. If your refrigerant hoses are old, that may be enough to be causing your leak .
Don’t give up on it so quickly
mark fagelman
And THANKS! to Mark John Joe and Mike for your additional input!
My concern about tracking down the leak was so much of the tubing is hidden I didn't know if I could access all of it to thoroughly check them, or the man hours that would be spent if I had my refrigerator guy do it.
I think I will wait until Spring to try and track the leak myself and not throw away what could be a perfectly good system, that has functioned well for almost 30 years, with the exception of a small leak.
I will start with the shaft seal and work forward.
Worse comes to worse I can always replace the system in the Spring if the current system is deemed finished...
Again, many thanks to everyone for your input!!
Peter Grabow
S/V CAKEWALK III
30U 430 1987
Jersey City NJ
FYI. The compressor for the replacement Adler-Barbour I installed was placed in the same position as the old one, which, on our boat, was in the port side cockpit locker. That area is large enough to afford ample air for cooling and remote enough that there is very little noise during operation. Even on the highest setting, I am pretty sure it does not run for anywhere near 2/3 of the time but, because I can barely hear it, I could be wrong. I do know that, with our 270 amp hour house battery bank, we can spend 2-3 days off the grid and still start the engine off the house bank.
Peter,
I had the same SeaFrost engine driven system as you have when I bought Simplicity (now Toyger) a Nonsuch 30 Ultra hull # 422.
It was originally installed when the boat was new but it hadn’t been used in years it was not in working order when I bought the boat.
As part of the process of transforming Simplicity into Toyger I was going to try to bring it the original Seafrost unit back to life.
I called Cleave Horton (SeaFrost) who is located in the your neck of the woods (New Hamshire) and he was very helpful and I recommend you speaking with him.
You can see their products on line along with a price list.
He told me that a new BD 12V SeaFrost system would be cheaper than trying to rebuild my existing system. (Mine was in very bad shape)
I just checked my invoice and I paid $1792 for a new system and it works great.
I took measurements of the ice box and made a series of drawings using PowerPoint and am enclosing it in the form of a PDF file.
This should give you the info you wanted as far as size of the ice box.
I mounted a shelf in the stove cavity (up high, behind the stove under the outboard cabinet next to the ice box) and then mounted the compressor on it so the refrigerant line is short. I mounted the electronic thermostatic and speed controller just above it.
I went with the air cooled unit but they also have a water cooled unit which is more efficient if you live in warmer climate.
Since I live in a relatively temperate climate (Pacific Northwest, Washington State) the air cooled one works great for me.
Will follow this post with another and include photos of the installation.
As you can see from the inputs there are a variety of ways to go.
Wishing you the best on your project!
In your photos, it looks like you have the ancillary ice cube trays for the SeaFrost unit. I've considered getting those, but hesitated because they're pricey. Do they work well?
Thanks,
Jim
They work great!
You have to let them defrost in the sink for run a little water over them to get them out but they are nice big ice cubes.
Start from one end and once the first one comes out the rest will follow.
I harvest a tray at the same time and put them in a zip sealed, take what I need and put the bag back at the bottom of the ice box.
Works great.
Highly recommend them.
Thank you for the great input/documentation and following photos!
Very helpful!!
I will post a follow-up on how the refrigeration in S/V CAKEWALK III was fixed in the Spring…
Peter Grabow
S/V CAKEWALK III 30 Ultra 430 1987
Jersey City, NJ
