Repairs in Exotic Places: Frickin Frigo Freezer

Hi All,

Well after 9+years of Mr POS Grunert and POS Frigo freezer we have done what Jerry Dow told us to do right from the beginning!!!! We have bought a chest freezer and installed it on the Fly Bridge!!!!!! Of course, this was “fixing things in exotic places” and a 3 day ordeal…..why o why Lord are boat projects soooooo frickin hard!!!

Mr Frigo was not doing so well at the end of last season but we just didn’t have the time to work on it in NZ…..I was convinced the root of our issues is poor insulation. I tried to find some better insulation but no luck….although our good friend Adam on sv Bravo had a great suggestion of getting small vacuum sealed insulation panels and filling in the gaps with our blue board……so we said ok, let’s do that but it will have to wait until next season. When we got to Fiji the Frigo started a slow death march…..high teen’s, low 20’s, mid 20’s, high 20’s…..Kathy then inspected and found almost all the meat on the bottom…yes, that is right, the bottom was thawed……arghhhhhhh!!! So, it must be a combination of compressor issues, a small gas leak and poor insulation, too much food and poor air circulation….none of which will we get fixed in Savusavu…..ugh!!!!

We were then stuck with losing all the food we had bought in NZ or go find a chest freezer…..so off on the hunt we went!!!! We found a 143 L (5 cu ft) chest freezer….a Hisense made in China (did a little research and found this brand is sold in Lowe’s)…..a little bigger than we wanted but it fit on the FB grab rail under the bimini. But, it is for 230 V 50 hz, at least fairly efficient at about 200W…..we only have 120V 60 hz from the inverters on Mystic…..and only 240 V when we run the GEN. It was then 24 hours of problem solving which is pretty comical in hindsight, but not so funny at the time…..remember our food is thawing every minute.

First, we found Ozzie who ran an electrical store and was convinced we could run the freezer from a 600W 12 V to 230 V 50 hz inverter…..sweet…..especially that the hertz match….of course, the inverter costs as much as the freezer:((((( So, we bought the freezer, hauled it up on the FB and went and and got Ozzie who wanted to install the inverter himself and ensure it worked….ok, let’s do it……we plug it in and pop, crackle, pop…..hmmmm…..not good…..let’s try a 1000W inverter…..ok, back to shop and back to Mystic…..plug in and all sorts of alarms go off….but, wait, I have this super duper inverter that will work but it’s like $700 US…..uh, no thanks…..cheaper to just loose the food!!!!

OK…..we go to bed with a freezer but no power…..ah, the body sleeps but the mind continues….at 1:30am the light bulb goes off…..I recall the boat was prewired for a davit which is on the 240 electrical panel…..sweet…..the wires are about 8 feet from the freezer…..so up early and get the voltmeter and test the wires….oh crap, we have 50 volts….that’s just plain weird….back to the electrical panel under the console where you have to be a midget to do anything…..find the davit wires…..yes, I can read Chinese:))))….test and find 240 volts…..great, must be a break in the line somewhere…..have some more coffee….another light bulb goes off…..the davit wire ends (3 wires) were individually protected with wire crimps and maybe they are corroded and compromised….I cut these off and test again…yes, we have 240 volts…..now that little ordeal took about 1.5 hours…..ok, now to put a plug on the davit wires….crap, our plug is too small…..but then Jim on Somerset is calling to ask how things are going…..he has a 230 V plug…sweet…..he comes over, takes 30 min or so to hook everything up and viola, we have a freezer running from the GEN…..Kathy and I are transfixed on the thermometer and watch the temp go from mid 80’s into the teens…..mouth salivating on upcoming dinners of lamb chops, steaks et al!!!!

But, that is only half the battle……we can not run the GEN 24×7 so we need to be able to run the freezer off Mystic inverters…..since the 12V to 230V inverters did not work we will try a transformer. So, call Melvin (he sold us the freezer)…..tell him the inverters did not work and we need to find a transformer….no problem, I’ll call my brother, Elvin, and call you back…..2 hours later, Melvin calls and says he has a used 500 watt inverter. I go to the store and pick it up….it’s a bit rusty but looks ok…..I do notice a slot that looks like a spot for a fuse that is empty….I ask Melvin and he says no problem, it doesn’t need a fuse. Also, the slots for the plugs are not either Fijian or USA…..Melvin says no problem, go see Elvin and he will give you the special plugs….ok, I go find Elvin and after some discussion he says follow me…..we go to 3-4 stores in search of the special plugs….we end up @ Ozzie’s shop…..Ozzie tells me the 1st inverter we tried the previously day was indeed fried (oh, great, how much can we spend on this frickin freezer)….I was just about to say how much when he breaks into a big smile and says he was able to fix so no charge…..oh, bless you my man!!!!! He then goes back into his shop and comes back with the special plugs!!!!

So back to Mystic and I wire the plugs and try the inverter…..and NADA, NOTHING, ZILCH….I test the transformer…..120V on the boat side but zero on the freezer side. I call Melvin back and tell him the transformer doesn’t work. He says no problem I’ll call you back. He calls back and says he has a friend who is a professional electrician who wants to come to the boat and fix the transformer….ok, I go pick up Vinesh and he tests the transformer….same result….he then flips over the transformer and says it’s missing the fuse…..yep, my eyes roll upward….but, no problem, back at my shop I have fuses and the fuse cap that screws into the transformer….ok, I take Vinesh back to shore, he goes to the shop and an hour later I go pick him up…..he puts in the fuse….we turn the freezer on…..and we all break out in the HAPPY DANCE…..YES, WE HAVE FREEZER!!!!!!!

As I write up this blog post the freezer has been running for ~40 hours….the temperature at the very top is now @ 12.7 deg F…..can you see the big smile on the Princess:)))))

Hope all is well!!

Happy John

PS: Oh, and Mr Frigo is at 37 deg F and getting warmer each day…..we still have some butter and bread in it and as soon as we make some room in the GE and Mr Freezer we will take everything out and shut it down for good!!!