Refrigeration and battery consumption

[Chris Miller]

We have an older Adler-Barbour condenser unit with a Waeco compressor and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for reducing energy consumption from it (other than the obvious turn it down and don't open it stuff)?
I'm increasing overall amp hours by changing from single house battery to a 2 battery bank, but wanted to see if anybody had any ideas.
Thanks,
Chris

 

[Ray Rhode]

Chris,

Don't know for sure if this idea will reduce run time significantly but I think it helps. I took a CPU cooling fan and mounted it on a piece of PVC pipe with an elbow on the top. This was strapped to the side of the evaporator and wired to the fan output on the controller. The thing looks like a periscope and circulates the cold air from the bottom of the box to the top and eliminates warm spots. The fan draws a tiny fraction on an amp and only runs while the units is running. By maintaining a uniform temperature you can raise the thermostat setting and maintain the food at an acceptable temperature.

Also keeping the box full of cold stuff helps. If we don't need all the freezer space we fill it with a plastic box full on ice cubes.


Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189

 

[ref_123]

Insulation

Chris,

did you try to improve the insulation? There've been quite a number of posts on the subject.

Thanks,
Stanly