Bavaria 38 Ocean fridge conundrum.

[AB1707]

We have a 1997 Ocean. We've had to replace the fridge with a fan assisted Waeco  system.

The problem is that the new fridge is not retaining its temperature.

The gas has been checked and the pressure had been too high but it's fine now.

The temperature rises crazily quickly from 2deg to 8 deg in less than two minutes.

The walls are boxed in. Any ideas as to possible reasons we are all confused.

Thanks

Adam

[Yngmar]

See here for an excellent guide to diagnosing fridge problems yourself: https://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Refrigeration.aspx

Might be over- or underfilled. Mine was overfilled and venting some of it made it work much better.

If the old fridge worked fine, insulation isn't the problem, although on my boat someone had cut holes in the four sides and gone on a mad rampage with a PU foam cannon in an attempt to improve insulation.

[sailprincess]

Curious how the spray foam in your fridge @Yngmar works if at all? Insulation in the Bav fridges is very lacking. Friends of mine invented a fridge optimizer (also Bavaria owners) You can buy there device here: http://stainlesslobster.com/ Works AWESOME! Regulates the temperature and self-defrosts, which is amazing.

[Yngmar]

Curious how the spray foam in your fridge @Yngmar works if at all? Insulation in the Bav fridges is very lacking. Friends of mine invented a fridge optimizer (also Bavaria owners) You can buy there device here: http://stainlesslobster.com/ Works AWESOME! Regulates the temperature and self-defrosts, which is amazing.

It works very well, in the places they've got it into. Alas, they seem to have missed an area where the fridge joins the partial bulkhead towards the couch, so there is condensation behind the couch cushion. I'm considering getting a hole-saw and cutting a part out of the bulkhead, filling up the missing foam and closing it again (it's hidden behind the cushion, so visually not a problem).

I'm also considering adding a small 12V fan inside the fridge, fed from the fan port on the Danfoss/Secop controller (parallel to the existing fans moving air over the cooling fins of the compressor). This is because the heat distribution inside the fridge is pretty uneven and it would be vastly more efficient with a fan, not to mention ice up less.

[AB1707]

Hi all,

It took a while to solve but this has now been successfully completed.

We had two causes, during the investigations (Paul the Fridge, Haven Refrigeration - based in Ipswich)
changed the thermostat from the new air thermostat to the more common wire around the evaporation plate. In hindsight this created a further complication.
The real culprit was the auxiliary fan. The effect of this was to slow down the internal fan and prevent it doing its job. It was difficult to identify as it was still spinning and appeared to be working. This fault was causing the evaporation plate to clog up with ice.

The solution was to return the air controlled thermostat and disconnect the auxiliary fan. The fridge now works perfectly. I know many people including ourselves use auxiliary fans but for our system they need an independent power source.

Paul the Fridge was excellent. Throughout this he was helpful and reassuring. He followed the problem solving diligently, was always supportive and left us in no doubt that he wouldn't walk away from the job until we were happy. I cannot recommend him highly enough to other East Coast sailors.

Fair winds

Adam

[Steve burt48]

We have a 1997 Ocean. We've had to replace the fridge with a fan assisted Waeco  system.

The problem is that the new fridge is not retaining its temperature.

The gas has been checked and the pressure had been too high but it's fine now.

The temperature rises crazily quickly from 2deg to 8 deg in less than two minutes.

The walls are boxed in. Any ideas as to possible reasons we are all confused.

Thanks

Adam

Is there enough ventilation to have heat from condensor escape the area> Maybe

[DT]

I recently replaced heat exchanger fan 120mm and added an exhaust fan from under the fridge area , where the condenser is situated.The modern computer fans are just so much more efficient than the ones used by Waeco also with an ip rating. Check Nocura industrial fans.
additionally i added some stick on insulation under the fridge bottom , hard to quantify but seems to have worked particularly when the cabin is hot,very easy fix with nothing permanently modified.
next i will replace the condenser fan to provide a bit more circulation around the fridge itself.

[SV Chill]

I'm in Sydney Australia. Sailed to the Whitsundays last year. Gets very hot.
I've replaced the standard fridge with the larger Danfoss/Waeco unit, swapped out the evaporator for a custom Chill plate, installed new batteries to increase the power. But the thing that made the most difference was adding 40mm insulation inside the top of the fridge and below, then cutting off the front cover and adding expanding foam on three sides.
Put simply, Bavaria  don't insulate them well. Certainly not to the fridge manufacturers specifications.