Refrigerator ??

[footbrake]

Why can't you buy a 1.6 cubic ft. refrigerator from Walmart for $80.00 for a boat instead of a $600.-$1000 marine unit to plug in at the dock or even use with an inverter? What is the reason the marine units are so very expensive? thanks-Russ

 

[Augoose]

I would think power consumption/efficiency would be the biggest issue - I'd be concerned it would wear down your batteries and inverter in no time. Other considerations would be the jostle and vibration- not sure a household refrigerator could take that.

 

[Grub54891]

Most boat fridges are dual voltage. 12-120. Suppose that's the difference?

 

[wrench 3]

I had one in a conversion van and it went through batteries at least four times faster than the one in my boat.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Any consumer product with the word "Marine" prefacing the product comes with an automatic mark up of more than 100%. There are some marine products such as audio units that can be replaced with less expensive car stereos. I believe in your case a marine fridge would be sturdier as well as dual voltage.

Another interchangeable consumer product would be " cup holders ", that's about it.

 

[fhhuber]

Marine rated electrical and electronic parts are specially tested to be "safe" in case of flammable gases (gasoline or propane) being present. The basic idea being you don't want your boat to explode.

Just about any other application has less probability of trapped flammable gases. Since gasoline and propane fumes (among others) are heavier than air and the boat hull acts as a big bowl to retain them... it can get dangerous very quickly with even a small source of the fumes. A car or RV will be likely for a small leak to be able to disperse.

Maybe in mining or working on repairing the inside of a huge gasoline storage tank there would be more concern about the potential for explosion...

 

[bruceb58]

running a Walmart fridge on the AC produced by an inverter is just plain inefficient.

 

[Chris1956]

It is interesting that no one knows the difference for sure.

Some factoids for consideration:

Dual voltage marine fridges predate the availability of inverters. So a few years ago, there was no choice.

Boats bounce around a lot more than your kitchen at home.

Marine environments are corrosive.

Explosive vapors are a possibility aboard a boat.

I would therefore expect Marine fridges to be more rugged, have some galvanized or SS parts and perhaps have better sealed compressors, fans and light switches. I would expect the average Walmart fridge to break, corrode or spark in the marine environment.

 

[JoLin]

I won't argue with anyone about the desirability of a marine refrigerator on a boat. They are the better choice for all the reasons stated. However, mine is 24 years old, one door shelf is missing and the other is cracked. Those parts are NLA (spent a year searching for them used). The refrigerator's outer shell is starting to 'bow' outward, so the wire rack in the freezer section constantly falls down.

If and when it finally breaks down I'll probably install a craigslist dorm fridge and an inverter. Many have done it with reasonable success, so I'm willing to risk a hundred or so bucks before I lay out a thousand. I'll note that when we're away from shore power, the fridge is normally turned way down or off, and we live out of our Coleman Extreme cooler.

My .02

 

[Scott Danforth]

Why can't you buy a 1.6 cubic ft. refrigerator from Walmart for $80.00 for a boat instead of a $600.-$1000 marine unit to plug in at the dock or even use with an inverter? What is the reason the marine units are so very expensive? thanks-Russ

because the cheap walmartian fridge wont last more than an hour in a boat. one trip and I bet the compressor will have broken loose from its mount.

 

[rlamothe]

You can. My buddy blew out his marine fridge and we replaced it with a walmart dorm room style. We wired it to power off the shore line when hes plugged in at the marina and but not to run off battery power or an inverter. Down side is that the fridge is effectively unplugged when hes on the water but hes not usually out for more than 4-5 hours at a time and just uses the fridge for beer. We keep the food in coolers anyway

 

[Chris1956]

Well, if he doesn't run the fridge when underway, it probably won't spark and blow him up.

 

[JoLin]

Well, if he doesn't run the fridge when underway, it probably won't spark and blow him up.

I doubt he plans to mount his refrigerator in the bilge. Spark protection is absolutely necessary for anything potentially exposed to gasoline fumes. like the water heater typically tucked in below decks

Does your boat have a generator/120-volt electrical system? Wouldn't you ever plug anything into the electrical outlets when the genny was running?

 

[fhhuber]

Generally, the majority of the cabin is below the gunwales in sailboats. I don't care if you are docked or not... the spark issue is very important always.

For the things that look like a camper on top of a boat the cabin is all above the gunwales. The spark issue may or may not be as important... you're the one potentially sleeping on top of a bomb.

 

[JoLin]

I assumed the OP was speaking about a powerboat. One thing I should have mentioned is the inverter. Typically, you'll want to install that near the batter(ies), and that really must be a marine-rated, spark-proof unit.

This subject sparked (no pun intended) my curiosity, so I've tried every google search string I could think of, to find out if in fact one of the features of a marine fridge, is spark protection. Can't find a word about that. The only in-depth tutorials center around power consumption efficiency. I'll also note that the major above-deck components of my marine air conditioner, are not spark protected. It's made by Flagship Marine and uses off the shelf relays and transformers, none of which are 'marine rated'.

Anybody else have anything on the subject of marine fridges and spark protection?

 

[Alumarine]

I don't know if spark protection is an issue for fridges or a lot of other things.
We have open flames, lighters etc being used down below all the time. Heck, even sparklers!

I get it for things in the engine compartment.

I'm just guessing though.

 

[fhhuber]

Look at JoLin's Avatar pic... powerboat with about 50% of the cabin below the gunwales.. the fridge (if he has one in there) is down in the hull where if it sparks and there are flammable vapors... he just blew up the boat.

Looks like a power boat to me.

 

[JoLin]

It is a powerboat. My alcohol stove is in the galley, too. I interpreted your comment as referencing the fact that a sailboat often heels at a steep angle.

If anyone has info to confirm that a marine fridge is spark-protected, I'd really like to know.

 

[CraigBarnard]

I am only going to chime in here in regards to durability and function..Not touching the saftey issue.

I put a 12v cooler/fridge in my boat.
Mounted it vertically so the lid/door swings open from the side.
It comes with a A/C adapter for shore power use etc.
Been using it for years. Works fine.
Keeps food cool and doesnt draw to much off my two deep cycles set up in parallel.

Pics on my Flickr page if you would like to see the setup.

 

[Chris1956]

The reason Jolin and many others have alcohol stoves, versus propane stoves is that alcohol vapors are lighter than air and propane is heavier than air. Lighter than air vapors dissapate, cutting down on the "boom" factor in the cabin. Newer boats have natural gas stoves as their fumes are lighter than air.

I would expect marine fridges to adhere to the SAE marine standard for spark protection, like marine starters and alternators.