Selecting the correct options for your 12V/24V marine fridge or freezer
Frigoboat cabinets are supplied with heated door seals as standard. Select either 12V or 24V depending on your boats DC power.
We offer two brands of Italian built marine refrigeration; Frigoboat and Vitrifrigo
Frigoboat
Frigoboat is built in stainless steel inside and out to an extremely high specification. Their fridge cabinets are built to give the best performance and lowest power consumption, whilst able to withstand the harshest conditions. To minimise power they are very well insulated – 50mm minimum thickness for fridges and 80mm for their freezers. They all have heated door seals as standard with positive locking compression latches to ensure the best seal. Internally they feature a polished stainless interior with adjustable height grill shelves with fiddle upstands. The bottle holders on the doors are also stainless steel so very strong and durable.
Choose Frigoboat if you need durability, minimum power consumption and maximum performance. The ideal solution for blue water cruising.
Frigoboat cabinets door types and options
The standard option is a brushed stainless rolled edge door in 304 stainless steel with locking slam latch catch. Select this option for all interior applications.
Use the 316 brushed stainless rolled edge door with slam latch for external applications such as wet bars and other outdoor fridges.
The integrated throw hinge door is for built in fridges or freezers. Allowing you to build in the fridge to your furniture, mounting your timber door directly to the front of the fridge door using the fridge hinge to open. The throw hinge allows the door to open in the same width as the fridge. Note: Throw hinges can only be used internally.
Vitrifrigo
Offering better value for money, Vitrifrigo products are well built and have a great reputation for performance and reliability. Vitrifrigo also offer an extremely wide range of sizes and options. Similar in specification to other brands like Isotherm and Dometic (formerly Waeco), the fridges are supplied with air cooled compressors as standard, but fridges or freezers with remote mount condensing sets can be upgraded to Frigoboat keelcooled or pump water cooled options. Vitrifrigo fridges have easy to clean white plastic internal liners and white grill shelves with fiddle upstands. Door options are light grey, black, or brushed stainless steel. The doors are secured with the Airlock catch which has a vent position for when the fridge is not in use.
All Vitrifrigo fridges and freezers have an optional fitting frame to help you to fix the fridge with either the door flush to the galley or with the door proud. {See diagram below:}
Choose Vitrifrigo for coastal cruising, power boats or to find the ideal size cabinet to suit the space available.
Vitrifrigo cabinet door types and options
Standard cabinets are available in black, grey or in many cases stainless steel.
Black and grey fridges and freezers can be supplied with or without a fitting frame and are all supplied with the Airlock catch with vent position to air the fridge when not in use.
The stainless fridges are supplied with fitting frame as standard and have the positive Steelock catch centrally mounted in the door.
All Frigoboat fridges and freezers are supplied with resealing quick couplings. The Frigoboat cabinets have a 2.8m pipe set as standard and we can also supply pipe extensions from 1m to 6m in length so you can mount the compressor up to a maximum 8.8m from the cabinet.
As standard Vitrifrigo fridges with remote compressors do not have couplings. They have a 1.4m pipe set which is permanently braised to the compressor. However, we can supply them with couplings and either air cooled or water cooled condensing sets and you can select this option on all their remote compressor options.
Air cooled? Keel cooled or Pump water cooled?
The most efficient compressor and condensers are water cooled – either keelcooled, or pump water cooled. Water cooled refrigeration reduces power consumption by a minimum of 20% (often significantly more in high ambient conditions), because water dissipates heat approximately 20 times better than air.
Follow this link for more details on fitting a keel cooled system.
All our fridges with remote mount compressors can be supplied with either air cooled, keelcooled or pump water cooled compressors.
Air cooled condensers are the standard for most marine fridges. Both the Frigoboat and Vitrifrigo air condensers are highly efficient, forced air, aluminium finned condensers and will work up to an ambient temperature of 40 degrees C, as long as they have the correct ventilation.
Water cooled and keelcooled compressor and condensers are more far more efficient and will reduce your power consumption significantly.
Blue water cruising?
If you are going blue water cruising, you need the maximum fridge and freezer volume you can fit, the best cabinet with the highest insulation, running in the most power efficient way possible. For this reason we recommend selecting a Frigoboat cabinet with water cooled condensing set – either keel cooled, or pump water cooled.
Water cooled systems will run from your solar power and minimise consumption wherever you are cruising in the World.
Of the two options the keelcooled system is the simplest and most efficient for single fridges or freezers as the heat exchanger is bonded on the outside the hull and the compressor pumps the refrigerant through so there is no requirement for a sea water pump or strainer, making it virtually maintenance free – apart from the occasional scrub off. Pump water cooled can make more sense for multiple fridge and freezer systems or for aluminium or steel hulled boats where the keel cooler is more difficult to fit to the outside of the hull or there are issues of dis-similar metals that could lead to galvanic corrosion issues. With a pump water cooled system you do have to protect the pump with a fine gauze strainer.
Coastal sailing in Northern waters?
For boats cruising in northern Europe water cooled is still way more efficient, but the demand on the refrigeration systems are less due to the lower ambient temperatures so air cooled condensers are fine for this type of sailing.
