refrigeration

[egregerson]

Hi; I'm looking at installing a cooling unit in one of the ice boxes on the E34. Does anyone have any experiences with this? I've seen models of A/B and Grunert on line. any others worth looking at? looks like it AC vs DC; water cooled vs air cooled; any pitfalls to avoid? I'm not looking for a ton of ice; just enuff chill for the beer and mayonaise.

[sailortjk1]

Only feedback I can give you is that my refrig system is a huge drain on my house batteries. We have learned that the draw is too much and that we simply use ice when cruising. When docked with sore power it is great. But to run it off of batteries is not reasonable.

[camaraderie]

In a properly insulated small box, any of the small systems can keep your stuff cool for less than 50 amps a day...which means a hundred amps of planned battery capacity. If you have this to spare or can add it, then you should be OK with any of the major systems. Having owned a system which was either air or water cooled, I found no difference in amp usage,,,the water cooling ran less but used more amps while running due to the pump. The air cooling ran a lot but at 5 amps less draw. The main thing I think on a new installation is to make sure your box is very well insulated. Good luck!