under-counter refrigerator

S

sebastien

New member
I have howned down my choice for refrigeration from
a high-end cooler and ice to a portable 12V/120V fridge
to an under the counter 12V/120V fridge to neatly replace the extremely inefficient under-counter cooler that came with the boat.

There are many choices out there and I wonder if the community could chime in on the specific brand and models they successfully used in their 22 cruisers..

The fridge cubby opening as many of you must know is about 18 x 21 1/4 (with minor alterations possible)
 
My boat came with a Norcold AC/DC fridge. It is installed under the helm seat. Works fine and seems pretty efficient. I think it draws about 2.5 amps when the compressor is running. Usually we set the temp control to 3 (mid range) and it keeps everything nice and cold.

Only thing I did was add a couple of vents and a muffin fan to vent the area behind the fridge where the coils are. The fan is on a thermostat and turns on when the compartment temp hits 90 deg F.
 
It depends on what your use of the boat is. If only day use, the ice chest. If longer trips--then a refrigerator unit. We have had both the refrigerator which comes with the C Dory, and several of the chest type 12 volt or 12v/110 V units.

With the chest refrigeration type, you are probably going to be limited to what will fit in the space, and how you can fabricate the slide out for it. I have only done this on the 25 and Tom Cat under the seats. For the 22's we used a chest in the cockpit. It is our feeling you can put more into the chest type. But the front opening is more convenient, if you can put up with getting down low to see in and use the refrigerator.

My experience is negative with Dometic. We had two of these fail in just about 2 years. They have a known problem, which has apparently not been addressed.

I have had good experiences with Engle, Norcold and ARB. Currently we have a Norcold and an ARB.
 
We changed out our old Norcold fridge for a new more efficient Isotherm Cruise fridge and Dana is very happy with it as she sleeps 4 nights a week on the boat. (To be close to her job).
 
Sobelle, The Norcold is the brand that C-dory uses (or used) from
the factory If I remember correctly (their website doesn’t mention specific optional equipment anymore).
I wonder if you could tell me what specific model Norcold unit you have on Sobelle..
( I know just the friend who could hook me up with a muffin fan set-up just like yours to keep the compartment cool!)

Thataway, I have pretty much made up my mind to get a front loading built-in fridge rather than a top-loading portable in a slide out platform.
sounds like the Dometic brand is not high on you list!
I will stick to the Norcold, Engle, and ARB brands - thanks for the heads up about your problems with Dometic!

Sierra, I wonder if you could tell me witch model Isotherm Cruise Fridge you have. I’ll still need to make sure that size will also fit in the cubby of the 22 cruiser but it would be a great starting point.

Again, it’s amazing to be able to get this kind of feedback as I do my research to outfit my 22 cruiser for a long journey.
 
sebastien":15k2fiaz said:
Sobelle, The Norcold is the brand that C-dory uses (or used) from
the factory If I remember correctly (their website doesn’t mention specific optional equipment anymore).
I wonder if you could tell me what specific model Norcold unit you have on Sobelle..
( I know just the friend who could hook me up with a muffin fan set-up just like yours to keep the compartment cool!)

....
Click to expand...

Don't know the model of the Norcold and I will be away from my boat for the next month at least so I can't get you that information. Sorry.

I used something similar to this to control the fan: https://www.ebay.com/itm/W1209-12V-50-1 ... Sw0Btb03My

Get a silent muffin fan from a computer shop or electronics store. You don't need a lot of CFM. The first fan I used, moved a lot of air, but made a noticeable noise. The one I use now can't be heard and moves less air (but still enough). You're just trying to move enough air to keep the heat from building up behind the fridge. I'm kind of surprised that the boat manufacturer built the fridge compartment as a closed box with no ventilation.
 
Thanks, that device is really affordable!
I think the fridges C-dory put in have a forward facing active venting - I've been seeing some models with that feature.

The fridge project is not time sensitive but I would appreciate knowing what exact model you have.

I should really concentrate on the v-birth storage hatches,
deck pipe and drain and other deck type work I want to do that require epoxy work before it get too cold!!
 
I haven't notice any vents at the front of the fridge. Normally fridges rely on convection to move the air over the coils at the back of the unit.

My boat has a space of several inches between the back of the fridge and the hull side. I put two vents into this space. The vents are in the forward wall outboard of your right leg if you are sitting at the helm. I put a vent at the bottom and near the top. The top one has the fan behind it.
 
"The DE-0041’s self-venting, under counter design, is ideal for smaller galleys."

this is about a Norcold fridge on westmarine's website..

It's not as clean a design as other fridges but it sounds like it has a built in fan and the venting is above the door.

interesting!
 
Sebastien, I am off the boat so I am not sure which Isotherm fridge we have. It was a bit bigger than the Norcold so I had to enlarge the opening on our 25 slightly. I think if you measure the width and height and check the website you may find a Cruise model that may fit. We pulled out our fridge which is just a few screws to double check the depth which was more than enough.
I added more ventilation with a hole saw also.
Good luck!
 
I know I love how Defender choses to include the cutout dimensions in the
first few sentences of their descriptions - it's really helpful.
 
This thread has got us thinking about adding a slide out top loading ac/dc fridge/chest to replace our ice box.
Are there any of you out there with experience/opinions on the top loading chest type fridges?
 
The below is the platform made in the Tom Cat 225 for a Norcold chest.

IMG_0607.sized.jpg

The next photo is the refrigerator on the platform:


IMG_0609.sized.jpg

The third photo is the Norcold 12 volt unit I just put in our 25. Notice that this one has the "door face" on the slide--and it is side opening--this works better than behind the door.


DSC00461.sized.jpg

See my post above about the various units. Isotherm does have drawer units, which might work in the 22. You would have to go with a smaller unit that those pictured above--they were 45 quart size units, but have a greater depth than is available in the 22's.[/img]
 
We have had a few top loading Engels, very reliable and most draw about 2.5 amps per hr. We currently are using one of the small ones that fits in the portside "closet" as a freezer in our 25. They run on 12v and 120 AC.
 
The "Engel" which came with my current 25, is virtually identical to two "Norcold's" which lasted about 12 years each in use. Both used the swing motor, rather than the Danfoss compressor. The Engel which I replaced this year with a Norcold (using the Danfoss compressor), had failure of its 12 volt power supply. The swing motor runs on AC at a low voltage, between 22 and 27 volts (depends on model). The 12 volt power supply is a 12 volt inverter, which puts out 22 volts AC. It is "not repairable". It is possible that the power supply could be taken apart and flailed components replaced.
 
Yes they will freeze anything you put in there. We keep the ARB freezer at 6*. The top temp is from 18* to 26* depending on how hot the sun is (we put a rug over the top. The current draw is about the same as refrigerator--depending on the unit and size, ambient temp--from 2.5 to 5 amps an hour. This last trip our two units were using about 80 amps in 24 hours. Temp was in the 90's most days, and down to the mid 70's at night. You would use less in the PNW.
 
We have had our Engel 35 and 45 run for 5 months of the year for 6 years each and the 04 Engel is still going strong. They will definitely freeze water as we always use our smaller one as a freezer. Now with the smaller boat we had to buy a smaller one to use as our freezer we have the built in Isotherm fridge to do our fridge dutys.
We always ran the Engels plus everything else on the boat continuously for days on end on our sailboat with a net of about 250 watts of solar panels. In Mexico Engels are famous for their long term reliability and economy compared to side door Danfoss compressor fridges. Of all our systems that we used for years including our Furuno electronics our Engels always impressed me the most.
Other fridges may use the very efficient swing compressor but only Engels are Engels.
(Obviously I am a big fan!)
 
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