Freezer Power Use Issue

[Bmarler]

another factor in bulk charging with xantrex inverter/chargers is breaker size and the setting for that. That setting will throttle back the charge amps if it’s installed on a small breaker.

 

[Ken E.]

I found this

You can contact Frostline Marine Refrigeration at frostlinemarine.com or call 360-303-4912

Apparently, the technician wasn’t ready to retire and started up his own service buisness. I would bet he is the best source for any technical help.

I haven’t talked to my NL friends for a while. I am very suspicious of them taking over Sea Freeze. I’ll try to stop by and get a read on what is going on.

I have two Sea Freeze units, both custom built for me, 12 volt only. The galley fridge is 12 cu ft and the freezer, in a salon cabinet, is 6 cu ft with 4" insulation. Both have served me well and stay very cold.

Regarding Frostline, this was started by a technician of Sea Freeze, first name McClane. He installed both of my units and is very knowledgeable. Located in Bellingham.

 

[lwarden]

Thanks Ken, I will reach out to McClane and see if he has any suggestions. Still no word back from Sea Freeze/Northern Lights on my inquiry for help. I really like the quality of the Sea Freeze units, I'd hate to tear them out.

Ted, when charging on the generator I stop short of the float phase. Typically, I start charging at 55% SOC and stop around 90%.

@Bmarler I've seen the charging amps going into the batteries above 100A so the breaker shouldn't be an issue. I will double check the setup in the Xantrex unit and see if anything is off.

 

[lwarden]

Follow-up on this. I just spoke to McClane at Frostline, super helpful guy. He was familiar with the design of this system and said it really wasn't great. He said this unit works better as a fridge and has to work hard to get to freezing temps. He also suggested it be run at 10-12F degrees and if I were running it at temps to keep ice cream cold it would be working very hard. I haven't checked it lately but suspect I have it set closer to 0F so there is something to try there. Other suggestions were to add an inch of pink foam to the underside of the lid, check the seals and increase the insulation on the accessible areas in the engine room.

We talked about tearing it out and building one with 4" of insulation and switching to the 12VDC 50-series Danfoss compressor with internal cold plates, he thinks that would work well. But as I mentioned, this probably isn't worth the effort.

I'll give a few of his suggestions a try which are easy to do and report back.

And a final shoutout to McClane and Frostline. Since he's in Bellingham I can't use him, but if any of you need a refrigeration guy please look him up, he really seems to know his stuff.

 

[Delta Riverat]

@Delta Riverat , do you find the size of that drawer to be reasonable? My wife thought it was so small it wouldn't be worth it.

It's not real tall, but it is deep. Fits those new tall skinny 12 cans perfect, regular 12 oz don't use all the space and half liter water bottles have to be on their side. We use it for drinks only, but since what it replaced was a non-op wine cooler, it works well for intended purpose ie not having to go down 8 steps and back up again for a cold drink.