Public Discussion Forum

here are some pictures of the compressor and cooling plates.

Jerry Nelson

correction on freezer type.

not SEA FREEZE but SEA FROST.

Jerry Nelosn

I had a Grunert freezer on Forever young for 17 years worked great the whole time.

Major energy hog. but 1 1/2 hours, on in the morning battery charge with the generator. it would last the while day.

But now that I have sold FY and Bought now Indigo moon, it came with a retrofit SEAS FREEZE conversion. The cooling two plates fit nicely, inside on the top and the in the back. It is 24 volt unit with a suggested water cooled sea water pump. They say the compressor will work with the incorporated fan cooling, but highly suggest to use water cooling that is set up for, for optimum results.

The compressor is 24 volt and draws 6 amps. it runs when it wants and keeps it below zero easily.The compressor unit is about 18 inches long and 9 inches square.

We did Alaska this year and it was nice, never have to worry about it on. I put a remote temprature senor on it so I can monitor it in the Salon.

I also power it up through the stern thruster Batteries. while under way and at anchor the those batteries are doing nothing. best for the batteries to be used.

I also did the same concept the the heating system and ratiators power I took off the Bow thruster batteries, same reason.

It also adds more power capacity to the boat instead of every thing on the house batteries.

Jerry Nelson

Indigo Moon 5376

Oops, I meant to include the attached photo of it installed in a compartment on the port side lazarette. WAY smaller than the Grunert.

Richard Nye

Untethered, 57-22

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/

Stephen, Digby,

When I bought my boat the prior owner removed the Grunert compressor and left the cold plates (2) in the freezer. So I needed to come up with a solution, and I'm very happy with what I arrived at.

I chose to install a Technautics CoolBlue compressor (link) and hook it up to my existing cold plates. At medium speed it gets my large (17 cubic foot) freezer down to about 12F with sunny 80 degrees bearing down on my flag blue hull. It runs off of 12 or 24VDC very efficiently. Here's the best part...IT'S NOT WATER COOLED SO YOU CAN RUN THE FREEZER WHEN THE BOAT IS HAULED OUT OF THE WATER!!!

I have had one problem with it that almost caused me to loose $1000+ of frozen food. After 5 years the compressor motor controller board failed and I had to have one shipped to me in Inaugua, Bahamas (a.k.a. Nowheresville). But CruiseRO/Technautics is renowned for excellent 24/7 customer service, so Charlie walked me through the diagnosis and shipped a new (and spare) controller out, under a warrantee that had expired 3 years ago. If you go this route, buy a spare controller and a way to fill the refrigerant.

Before I installed the system, I had to remove and return the 2 Grunert cold plates to Charlie in San Diego. I drained them first to make them lighter. Charlie made the necessary fitting changes, leak tested everything and put the kit together with plug and play fittings. Fortunately I was driving from SoCal to Florida so I could pack the kit in the truck. He will send it too, but the plates will be filled with eutectic solution and heavy.

I used the AC wires that powered the Grunert, making the necessary reconnections at the pilot house panel, to power the compressor. The Grunert wires were sufficient gauge for my 24VDC application. The compressor works very different from the Grunert. My compressor draws about 4A at 24VDC (+/-) and runs maybe half the time. That may be a little off, but it's never drawn so much power that I've been concerned about it. It will take days to get your cold plates and your food frozen. It will take maybe a week to get the freezer down to a steady state temperature. But when everything is at a steady state the compressor works very efficiently, silently and reliably.

Every time I haui out I'm glad that I can run the freezer off the house bank and need to find a place to keep the frozen food frozen.

Their website has a lot of information about the compressor, including an online manual. I hope that helps.

Richard Nye

Untethered, 57-22

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/

We have never bothered to even try to turn ours on or fix it. When we purchased in 2018 the prior owners said it did not work. I store antifreeze in mine for the diesel heater. Here in stateside I don’t feel I really need it. If headed out to da islands… that might be different - though I would consider replacing guts with modern compressor and such like Celebrate did for their 49 down at AYBC.

Corey

I have the same Freezer in my 2004 53. I will have it looked at next month and hoping it can be repaired. I don't like the thought of replacing it or the wasted use of space. Hopefully I will have good news to share. It has not been operational for at least the last two owners. I am interested in other experiences with this Freezer.

I have a original 21 year old grunert holding plate freezer in my lazarette. It has given up after use over the years. Has anyone tried to replace the compressor without changing the configuration of the freezer. I don't want to rip out the freezer since it seems to be well insulated and the plate holds very well when it was working.