Fridge settings

[Martin]

We have a 2015 R27 and are planning a trip to Desolation Sound and are not planning to go to any marinas except for fuel.
Does anybody have any experience with what is the best setting to have the Nova Kool fridge on to keep thing frozen in the freezer the dial goes from 1 to 7. We have the standard solar panel the boat was fitted with and do not want to drain the house batteries. Our thoughts are whilst we are cruising to turn the fridge up to seven and whilst at anchor turning it down to two. We would be grateful for any ideas.
Thanks

 

[CaspersCruiser]

On my 2012 R27 with a Nova Cool, we use the “4” setting. Keeps refrigerated section in the mid to high 30s and the freezer functions. I modified my freezer and now it REALLY keeps things frozen.

Here’s link to the thread describing the freezer mod:

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=16860

 

[SJI Sailor]

Same here: "4" has worked well for us and keeps the freezer frozen (although not as well as Casper's nice mod) and keeps the refrigerator not-frozen.

BTW it has also done fine on the hook overnight turning it all the way off (but that is a much longer discussion).

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Once you get the setting in place we found it a good practice to tape the control knob in place. Before we did we’d often find, with a full refrigerator and shuffling stuff around, that the knob would get adjusted unbeknownst to us. The taped knob prevents unintended problems.

Jim

 

[Martin]

Thank you Casper,a great suggestion will give it a go, if you are at anchor do you find that keeping the refrigerator at 4 is a drain on your batteries ? or does the solar panel compensate? Do you turn the temperature setting down overnight.
Thanks
Martin

 

[fishheadbarandgrill]

4

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

In my experience, the setting doesn’t affect battery usage much - if you start with a cold refrigerator. If you don’t keep your refrigerator cold, then obviously going from warm to 7 would take a lot more power than going from warm to 4.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[CaspersCruiser]

......if you are at anchor do you find that keeping the refrigerator at 4 is a drain on your batteries ? or does the solar panel compensate? Do you turn the temperature setting down overnight.

I do not make any adjustment to the refrigerator setting at night. I feel it consumes more energy to bring the refrigerator contents back to temperature than it saves, but I’m certainly not an on-the-hook expert. There are lots of Tugnuts who live on the batteries that may have input on their refrigerator techniques. Somebody with a good battery monitoring system could find the answer to that question easily. I don’t have one.

My strategy for the refrigerator is to be very efficient when opening the door. Know what you want, know where it is, and get it with minimum “door open” time. Reverse that process when putting things away.

I keep a $6 digital thermometer in the refrigerator that displays current temperature with the hi/low temperatures recorded since last reset. That is very useful in refrigerator management.

 

[scross]

On the Nova Cool refrigerator you want to keep track of the frost build up on the cooling plates surrounding the freezer area. After a couple of weeks off shore power this can build up due to PNW high humidity, a slight seal leak, frequent door openings, etc.
A build up of frost on the cooling plates really impacts the ability of the refrigerator to stay cool and how much energy it is using. For our unit, the only frost cure is to turn the refrigerator off and let the built up frost melt. We always have a second cooler in the cockpit to keep the food cool while doing the plate defrost. On a three week cruise we may have to do this once.

 

[Emily Carpenter]

I notice that our freezer flap does not have a good seal. I think this leads to freezer frost build up. Any suggested modifications would be appreciated. Thanks! Emily

 

[Red Raven]

I notice that our freezer flap does not have a good seal. I think this leads to freezer frost build up. Any suggested modifications would be appreciated. Thanks! Emily

I have modified our flap to try to reduce the frost buildup. While the mod may keep the freezer colder I don’t think it helps on the frost buildup much. We still needed to defrost the unit twice this season. scross is correct, it is due to humidity. The number of times you open the main door relates to how quickly it builds up. While a better seal on the flap could reduce the humidity inside the freezer portion it would still buildup around the outside rim of the freezer and have the same effect.

Another thing to watch is to make sure the main door is fully closed after opening. If there is any gap it is a sure way to have quick frost build up.

BTW to OP, after everything is frozen in the freezer with no warm items I the fridge I have found that I can reduce the setting to 3.5 and keep things frozen.

Curt