Ready for a new refrigerator

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The leading contender is the space in the engine room along the forward bulkhead to port of the access from the day head. I virtually never use that entrance despite being optimistic about it early on.
 
HeadedToTexas said:
Finally back in the water and the digital thermostat upgrade of my Norcold DE0061 was a success. Still hoping to find a way to calibrate the display, but the new $12 thermostat holds a very tight temperature. Far cry from the original Norcold thermostat that let the temperature swing from 33° to 41°.[/QUOTE

Do you have a link to the thermostat you are using?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
Well I thought I had won the refrigerator round. The digital thermostat works great and the fridge holds both refrigerator and freezer compartments in tight control at the right temperature, but now the compressor just stops running at seemingly random times. It will pull the temperature down from 70 to 35 in a little over an hour and hold it there for hours, but at some point the compressor just fails to start. The thermostat is on and calling for it, but the compressor doesn’t start.

I could go through the troubleshooting to figure out which of the handful of components is failing, but I’m about ready to toss this Norcold POS into the dumpster and fit the cabinet for a $270 Magic Chef and move on.
 
HeadedToTexas said:
Well I thought I had won the refrigerator round. The digital thermostat works great and the fridge holds both refrigerator and freezer compartments in tight control at the right temperature, but now the compressor just stops running at seemingly random times. It will pull the temperature down from 70 to 35 in a little over an hour and hold it there for hours, but at some point the compressor just fails to start. The thermostat is on and calling for it, but the compressor doesn’t start.

I could go through the troubleshooting to figure out which of the handful of components is failing, but I’m about ready to toss this Norcold POS into the dumpster and fit the cabinet for a $270 Magic Chef and move on.
Click to expand...

I've been through this with other things. There's some stuff that just needs to work or be replaced. If you're out cruising and the fridge dies, the monetary loss and time loss will make the replacement cost insignificant.

I went through a failure scenario like this with a propane outboard. The carburetor died within a hundred hours of new. The manufacturer sent me a replacement which died within 1 hour of use. I lost faith and got rid of the outboard.

Time to buy a new fridge.

Ted
 
Yep - I finally reached that point with my Norcold. Burned through all my patience chasing around for parts and troubleshooting, with lukewarm results and ridiculous prices. Replaced it with an LG single door 7.0 cf and inverter, nearly identical cabinet size for me. I look back on it now and I'm disgusted at the time and effort I invested.
 
kthoennes said:
Yep - I finally reached that point with my Norcold. Burned through all my patience chasing around for parts and troubleshooting, with lukewarm results and ridiculous prices. Replaced it with an LG single door 7.0 cf and inverter, nearly identical cabinet size for me. I look back on it now and I'm disgusted at the time and effort I invested.
Click to expand...

I know of what you speak. I spent lots of time and little money on my NovaKool.
So many times I thought I had whipped the problem only to discover I hadn’t.
Well I returned it to almost factory standard with the exception of the thermostat.
I am NOT bragging but I will tell you, for now, it’s working. I’m not say nor advising anyone about the NovaKool.
About all I can ‘suggest’ is,
A. Add insulation board to the top and the 2 sides
B. Couple of box fans to blow air across the back of the box and out some grill
work at the back and top of the box.
C. An internal box fan to stir things up.
 
Thanks guys, I’m done. Ordering Monday. It will take some custom work to get the model I have in mind to fit. Need to create 1.3” in the cabinet. Pending my inspection of an actual unit and where the condenser airflow flows, I’ll get that 1.3” from a combination of removing the adjustable feet and routing grooves in the cabinet floor. The model is a few inches narrower than the N’ercold and that will allow plenty of air to the condenser. More as I know it.
 
HeadedToTexas said:
Thanks guys, I’m done. Ordering Monday. It will take some custom work to get the model I have in mind to fit. Need to create 1.3” in the cabinet. Pending my inspection of an actual unit and where the condenser airflow flows, I’ll get that 1.3” from a combination of removing the adjustable feet and routing grooves in the cabinet floor. The model is a few inches narrower than the N’ercold and that will allow plenty of air to the condenser. More as I know it.
Click to expand...

What model are you ordering?
 
I would also add a small draw fan to push either cool air into the cabinet or pull hot air out. The power used to run a fan will be more than offset by the savings of power cooling the unit. This is the fan I use. Got it on Amazon.

Noctua NF-F12 PWM, Premium Quiet Fan, 4-Pin (120mm, Brown),
 
Rats, wish I had found that one in my prior search. We're happy with the one we have (LG) and it does a great job and sips electricity, but all things being equal -- and fitting the cabinet that closely -- we would have preferred a separate freezer/2-doors. Oh well. Either way, I've moved on from 12v/110v dual marine fridges for a billion dollars and lots of headaches and would never go back.
 
kthoennes said:
We're happy with the one we have (LG) and it does a great job and sips electricity, but all things being equal -- and fitting the cabinet that closely -- we would have preferred a separate freezer/2-doors.
Click to expand...

Which LG model did you choose?
 
Good looking unit. Did you add a dedicated inverter to run while off shore power? I am thinking of powering a small, low overhead, inexpensive unit like the Victron Phoenix 12/250 from the Refrigerator breaker on my DC panel. The standby power draw from that little inverter is significantly less than my big Xantrex Freedom SW3000.
 
My pleasure. Believe me, a lot of that great information has flowed to me! Fingers are crossed on the new fridge. Home Depot says it will arrive Monday.
 
HeadedToTexas said:
My pleasure. Believe me, a lot of that great information has flowed to me! Fingers are crossed on the new fridge. Home Depot says it will arrive Monday.
Click to expand...

One thing to check before installation is the neutral and ground wiring on a non-marine fridge. Sometimes, these two wires are connected at the fridge. On a boat, the neutral and ground should only be combined at the power source. The power sources are a gennie, an inverter, and on the shore pedestal.

This is a common problem with non-marine appliances. It is also a problem with the power units on marine fridges when wires wear there. That happened to us on a previous boat, and the boat was putting electricity into the water around the stern. In that case, I replaced the AC DC power unit, and the problem was eliminated.
 
So if the dedicated inverter connects to +12 VDC at my DC refrigerator breaker and -12 VDC at the DC ground bus near the panel, where does the AC ground from the refrigerator power cord find a ground?
 
HeadedToTexas said:
So if the dedicated inverter connects to +12 VDC at my DC refrigerator breaker and -12 VDC at the DC ground bus near the panel, where does the AC ground from the refrigerator power cord find a ground?
Click to expand...

ABYC says the negative and the AC ground are to be connected at one point, as I understand it. So the AC ground from fridge goes to the AC terminal buss as all the other GND do.
 
HeadedToTexas said:
So if the dedicated inverter connects to +12 VDC at my DC refrigerator breaker and -12 VDC at the DC ground bus near the panel, where does the AC ground from the refrigerator power cord find a ground?
Click to expand...

Is your refrigerator an AC fridge?

If yes, the refrigerator has three wires. A positive wire, a negative (neutral) wire, and a ground wire. On some residential appliances, the neutral and the ground are connected in the refrigerator wiring.

You will need to check the inverter to see how it is wired. Many regular marine inverters have a pass through from shore power. In that case, the inverter opens the connection between the neutral and the ground within the inverter when the inverter is in pass through mode. In that case, the ground/neutral connection is at the SP pedestal. Any stray current from a ground neutral connection at the fridge can follow either wire back to the SP, or through the single connection on the boat where DC/AC/bonding come together and then out through a through hull, or prop, or rudder of the boat. That is what happened in my case. It was coming through the rudder.

If the marine inverter is receiving power from the DC battery bank, then the connection between the AC neutral and ground is closed and stray AC current from the fridge can flow back through the DC negative buss to the DC/AC/bonding connection. In my case, that also resulted in AC amps escaping through the water to get to ground.

Either way, it can create a dangerous condition.

I am not a marine electrician, but learned this through study when “the best electrician on the river” “fixed” mine by connecting the ground buss to the neutral buss at the panel. Of course, the SP breaker popped immediately. I removed it and started studying. Found the problem after a few hours of checking and testing, fixed it, and moved on. If an electrician wants to jump in and correct any of this, please do so, but this is the way I understand the issue.
 
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Umm, the fridge comes with a plug that just plugs into the wall socket. This discussion started when it was pointed out check to make sure the green and white are not bonded inside the fridge. There is no other wiring needed as everything else should already be correct.
 
SteveK said:
Umm, the fridge comes with a plug that just plugs into the wall socket. This discussion started when it was pointed out check to make sure the green and white are not bonded inside the fridge. There is no other wiring needed as everything else should already be correct.
Click to expand...

Yep. Thanks. That was not worded well in my reply so I deleted this statement. “So, to be safe, connect the AC wires on the fridge to the corresponding wires on the inverter after insuring there is no neutral/ground connection in the fridge wiring.”

Should have just stated to plug it in after insuring no neutral ground connection! :)
 
Multimeter test for continuity on the male terminals ground and neutral will quickly tell if they are connected inside fridge.
 
Well my optimism was unfounded. Magic Chef lists the height of the 7.3 cu. ft. 2-Door Mini Fridge at 55.3 inches. It was going to be close with the wheels came off since the cabinet on the Mariner 37 is 54 inches. Perhaps some router work would make the difference.

Unfortunately, my tape measure on the actual refrigerator was 55.9 inches and between the feet and wheels, there was barely a quarter inch to gain by removing them. Back to the drawing board.
 
Good to know, I guess I'll take a tape measure with me and open the box to verify. My measurements on the opening and the claimed measurements on the fridge are pretty close.
 
Scottwb96 said:
You can put a Vitrifrigo in that space (with a bit of room to spare). It's also an 8.1 cu.ft. fridge. I put this one in a few years back and it's been awesome! :)

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/vit...erator-freezer-black-8-1-cu-ft/dp2600ibd4-f-3
Click to expand...

In the same size space, you can also fit the Novakool 9000 / 9200 models which give you 9.1 cubic feet. Problem is, especially if you want the dual compressor version (which I'd strongly recommend for more cooling power and better temp control), they're very pricey compared to an AC fridge.
 
The Vitrifrigo and Novakool models certainly offer the best fit. Pricey is right though. The dual compressor 9200 is coming up on $3000.
 
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