Realistic temperature for freezer/frig?

[SeaBreeze78]

Greetings all:

Doing a bunch of research right now. I found my fan was not operating. After reconnecting the wires the freezer is down to 15-18 degrees F. With Outside Air Temps 85-92F. Frig is hovering around 40. FDA says freezer should be zero or colder and frig below 40.

What are the rest of you getting? And in what OAT? What is realistic?

Dana

[belladonna]

Dana - If I measure the temp within the cold plate box with a laser temp gauge, it's read 15 - 20 which is where I store my gin & tonic ice so that's good. The main part of the freezer box however hovers around 35 and the fridge around 40. Each time I start-up the refrigeration system, which is in the evening, before I need it the next morning, I place a 10 lb. bag of ice cubes in the very bottom of the freezer compartment which helps the cool-down process tremendously. That 10lb bag of ice will eventually go into a separate beer cooler which is why I use cubes instead of a block. The mainly negative thing about the whole system is that it runs almost constantly, which is the main reason I have solar panels. I recently installed a new thermostat which didn't help at all. In my humble opinion the freezer/fridge is the worst feature on my 2005 C350. Either Catalina used an undersized refrigeration system or scrimped on the box insulation. Hope this gives you a reference.
Cheers, Jim

[SeaBreeze78]

Jim:

Thank you.
Yes, the big variable is where the temp probes are placed. Right now the freezer probe is sitting on the outer edge of the shelf in the middle of the evaporator. My frig thermometer is hung half way up on the side opening door.

After doing more data collection. I have a second fan that ready to suck air from the starboard stern vent through a short 4 inch hose to a computer fan. This fan has a source of cooler outside air and will “blow” onto the coils. Versus the A/B fan that is larger and sucks air by the coils. Then I am going to beef up the insulation in the box. Hopefully I will get it down a few more degrees.

We always pre cool the freezer/frig., we usually go out for 3-7 days and we also got to do a 3 month trip to the Bahamas. Just need to maximize the freezer for the trips.

Dana

[KenKrawford]

Jim & Dana - the problem is definitely the amount of insulation in the freezer and refrigerator compartments. Many years ago I checked the compressor run times with an hour meter and documented 80 - 85% run times here in the south in the summer. After completing the ice box upgrade my compressor now runs 55 - 60 % of the time under comparable environmental circumstances.

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