Refrigeration Upgrade

[NightCrawler]

Recently we had a compressor failure on our refrigerator/freezer combo. Cost to replace (repair was out of the question) was steep. Met a couple on the ICW who shared their experience with installing a SeaFrost unit themselves. Being a bit handy, I contacted SeaFrost. Cleave at SeaFrost is a gem. We spent a number of fone conversations discussing power, routing tubing and cabinet size. I ordered the cold plate and compressor after we double checked sizes.

Everything came in two boxes, received in under a week. Installation instructions were very clear. Unit included a new 12v sea water pump for additional efficiency. When I did get to a question on wiring, Cleave took the call and clearly explained what to do.

Our original design refrigerator now holds mid 30's and you CANNOT hear it run. Nearly silent, even sitting right next to the compressor. Which is about the size of two shoe boxes.

Thanks to the SeaFrost team, Cleave especially - for what ended up being a trouble free upgrade.

 

[Gdavid]

Did you install this in an existing built-in cooler/freezer or were you replacing a freestanding unit and had to build a icebox to house the cold plates? This would probably be obvious to someone more familiar with grand banks, but I'm not.

 

[NightCrawler]

We wanted to keep the wood door original GB 'ice box' look. So the new cold plate was installed in the existing unit.

Additional info - the freezer (which looks identical from the outside, just in a different location in the salon) was on the original compressor with the fridge. We will upgrade that cold plate with it's own compressor at a later date. We removed the old compressor unit completely.

 

[Carolena]

Just want to add our own great experience with Sea Frost, and with Cleave. On our old sailboat, we wanted to convert the icebox in the galley into a fridge. After doing a lot of research we found ourselves looking at SeaFrost. Becuase we have family in NH, we made an appointment to stop by the factory. What a great small business operation! Cleave helped us design the perfect system, including lines that were just teh right lenght. when everything was done and shipped to us, it was really simple to install. We had one problem in the way of a leak at a fitting. Called Cleave and he informed me we needed to tighten the fitting, add a little gas and it would be fine. He was right - my operator error and it was a simple fix. Try getting that type of service from an off the shelf unit manufacturer.