Keeping it Frosty

 We've spent a few hours here and there over the last month on the SV-Time and Tide, oiling the wood, cleaning out storage, and washing off bird poop.

One of the items on the to-do list was to crank up the freezer/refrigerator and when we did, it ran, but the cold plate didn't turn, well, cold.  I got the gauges out and found that the system was low of R-134, though I didn't have my adaptor for the can I had on board (long story, but it's in Tennessee).  One Amazon delivery later, and I was ready to add the freon.

Cute little unit.  It's actually a commercial 3-phase compressor used for water fountains that is "pulsed" into life by the 12VDC control board.

The unit only holds 5 ounces of the R-134 refrigerant at most, and it had a bit left before I started to top it off.  In less than a minute I had overfilled the unit.  10 psi on the blue dial, when it first gets going, is where it should be.


I bled a bit out and started checking the cold plate temperature.  We've got cooling!  Far from where it needs to be, but moving in the right direction.


I bled out a bit more gas and let the compressor do its thing.  30 minutes later it was there.


And finally, below what I could read with my infrared thermometer.


I have a couple of wireless thermometers on the boat that tie into the Wi-Fi.  This allows me to see remotely, the temperature and humidity inside the boat and the refrigerator.  The fridge is similar to a regular refrigerator in that it uses a fan to bring cold air over from the freezer side.  The graph from today shows when I got the compressor going, and the "bumps" in the humidity graph are when I opened one of the doors to check things out.


We have a few other items to attend to, then we'll pick some days and head out for some R&R on the water.






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