One for the HVACR experts...

[TomC]

Sean-How're Doin? If you were to do it again, would you buy the same refrigerator knowing what you know now? I'm second thinking using the NovaKool 9000. Why-I have it in my bus. And while it worked well, in the two weeks we were out, had to defrost it twice (which isn't such a big deal with the Norcold chest freezer) and let it defrost again when we got back (maybe a deflector in the front to keep the warm air off the coils everytime you open the door?). Being in the mountains, we weren't running the A/C much, hence it was a bit humid inside. I'm thinking maybe a frost free refer. I have nearly 7ft tall X 24 wide X 23 deep to play with. But-since I'm 12vdc, will be running the Magnum load sharing 3000 watt inverter. What do you think? Good Luck, TomC

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Sorry for the delay here... thanks, everyone, for the help.  I had to set this aside for a while as our schedule got a bit tight.

Sounds like I will be ordering a Supco kit and see if that takes care of the issue.  At the moment it is more of an annoyance than a major problem.  We are otherwise very happy with both the fridge and the inverter, so I'd rather not change either of those out.

Nick, we will be stopping in Cape May on our way south, maybe two weeks from now.  If you carry these I'd be happy to give you the business.

-Sean

Sure Sean,
Would be glad to help you out and sell you the 3 in 1.
Give me a call when you are near and I will deliver it to you
or if you like to stop at our shop your more then welcome!
609-263-2296 office

[Sean]

... If you were to do it again, would you buy the same refrigerator knowing what you know now? ...

I'd have to say "no."  It meets our needs, and was the right size for the space we had, but I did not anticipate this hard start issue on such a small fridge.  I think the small compressor is what let the designers get away with the PSC design -- the average household 15-amp circuit, even an overloaded one in a small apartment, will have no trouble starting this motor because the surge, as large as it is, is well below the threshold of most HVACR breakers, and the power grid behind it is, well, nearly infinite.

All that said, I don't know how to tell what other apartment-sized units suffer from the same issue.  Really all you can do is look inside the back of every one for the circuit diagram.  Wish I had done that in this case.  Now that I have it fully installed, I'm not going to change it, which is why I am looking for the hard start solution.

-Sean

[Sean]

... Would be glad to help you out and sell you the 3 in 1.
Give me a call when you are near and I will deliver it to you
or if you like to stop at our shop your more then welcome!
...

Thanks, Nick.  I'll give you a shout when we get close.  Not sure if we will dock in Cape May or anchor, but if we anchor, I will try to find a spot to land the dinghy and meet you.  No way to get by the shop, unfortunately :-(

-Sean

[TomC]

I was heading towards a Summit FFBF240W which is 73"h x 23.75" wide x 23.5" deep and weighs 150lbs. If on a boat that has nice motion (like a trawler) you can easily control the food inside. But with the truck conversion I'm doing, even though the refrigerator is going to be right over the rear tandem axles with the Kenworth 8 air bag suspension, the ride still won't be the same as a bus. And hearing some that have freon line cracking and breaking on split A/C's made me to this-I just order the NovaKool 9000RFU with 120vac and 12vdc. Delivered to my warehouse-$1,883.00. Not cheap, but it is built in, front discharge of hot air from the under compressor, door locks, and raised ends on the shelves to hold the food in-in other words, it's made for RV. Good Luck, TomC

[Seangie]

I was heading towards a Summit FFBF240W which is 73"h x 23.75" wide x 23.5" deep and weighs 150lbs. If on a boat that has nice motion (like a trawler) you can easily control the food inside. But with the truck conversion I'm doing, even though the refrigerator is going to be right over the rear tandem axles with the Kenworth 8 air bag suspension, the ride still won't be the same as a bus. And hearing some that have freon line cracking and breaking on split A/C's made me to this-I just order the NovaKool 9000RFU with 120vac and 12vdc. Delivered to my warehouse-$1,883.00. Not cheap, but it is built in, front discharge of hot air from the under compressor, door locks, and raised ends on the shelves to hold the food in-in other words, it's made for RV. Good Luck, TomC

Tom - Same fridge we have.  Ordered it new for about 1300.00.  Its a great fridge but overpriced.  We have been full timing with it for a year and its held up well.  Only thing I don't care for is that it doesn't auto defrost and we have to manually defrost about once a month.  Been thinking if I put a fan and a cup of damp rid in the fridge we could go longer without having to defrost.  I think that is also the same fridge Sean is replacing....mostly because of the size.  He is looking for a 2-4week food supply so he can have steaks when they cross the Atlantic
http://baymarinesupply.com/store/refrigeration/marine-rv-refrigerators-icemakers/nova-kool-rfu9000-marine-rv-refrigerator.html
Its now a little more then what we paid last year from the same place.

-Sean

[TomC]

Bay Marine is where I ordered it from. I had to pay sales tax since it is in California. As to the defrost thing-I have the NovaKool 9000 in my bus and it does seem to ice up sooner then I'd like. On the top evaporator, I was thinking about putting a deflector of some sorts to keep the warm, humid air off the coils a little better. I like the refer, except for the defrosting part. When I do defrost, I put the critical food in my chest freezer, then turn off the refer with a towel inside. About 6-8 hours, it's done. Just wipe down the wet coils and restart it up. Good Luck, TomC

[Sean]

Just wanted to update everyone on the outcome.

Nick very generously came down to the boat in Cape May with a SUPCO 3-in-1 hard start unit, and after helping me on the phone to understand how the old start unit was snapped onto the compressor, I finally got it installed.  It's a tight fit in the tiny fridge, and getting to the compressor terminals was a chore.  Also, while there is a wiring diagram on the back of the fridge, no colors are listed, so I had a bit of a puzzle figuring out which wires went where -- they used the terminals on the start relay/overload unit as a sort of junction block.

Now that it's been in place for a couple of weeks I can report that we are no longer seeing the dropouts on the inverter output, and the refrigerator itself is working normally and appears none the worse for it.  Only time will tell, of course -- an improperly sized start cap can cause premature failure of the motor.

A big thanks to Kevin for helping with the diagnosis and to Nick for running the part down to me and consulting on the installation.  This forum will always be #1 in my book.

-Sean
lying Baltimore, MD

[Scott & Heather]

Cool stuff. Love to see members helping each other. Time to rename the forum: "busboatconversions.com"


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