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..............................--- EdgeStar FP-630 Fridge/Freezer ---
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The first year that we had the Mac (2009) we used these two coolers just aft of the starboard seat in the cabin. They worked fine and if we were careful we could go 7 days or so before having to replenish ice. Still there were times like on our last 18 day Lake Powell trip where 7 days was a stretch and we almost didn't make it to ice on that trip and probably only did since it was fall and the temps were cooler. We wanted to become more independent and not tied to finding ice on a fixed schedule and were tired of having waterlogged food at times.
We decided to move up to an electric fridge. We didn't want one of the cheaper 12 volt coolers that only cool about 20-30 degrees under ambient temperature. I had one of those and besides not cooling well they would drain a battery in about 8 hours.
We found out that there are very efficient fridge/freezers that use a compressor just like the one in your kitchen refrigerator that didn't use near the electricity of the cheaper ones. Other than the cost if was a win/win situation. At first we narrowed the field down to either an Engel or Dometic/Waeco which are both good makes. We were about to buy a 50 quart Waeco when someone posted about EdgeStar's line of refrigerators/freezers which were quite a bit less money for the same size and in fact one considerably larger (63 quarts) than the Dometic 50 quart was about $150 less. We looked on line and they seemed to get good reviews from users, so we decided to take a chance on one.
We ordered a 63 quart FP630 EdgeStar Portable Fridge / Freezer from compactappliance.com for $448.00 and they also had free shipping. We received it in just a few days. We considered the 43 quart, but since the only difference was in the length decided to go with the longer/larger 63 quart.
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Here the fridge/freezer is being test fitted where the old coolers were located. There are some long channels on the bottom cross-wise that have round rubber feet on them. You can see the end of one under the vents at the bottom right. I plan on sliding some long aluminum strap through them and bolting the strap to the cabin floor. That should secure the unit well. This is not a small cooler and weighs about 60 lbs. Heavy, but probably not much more than the two we replaced that always had ice and water in them. It will hold more than the other two held also, especially since no room is needed for the ice.
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We liked this location for the other coolers as it was easy to get into them from the end of the seat when preparing meals. There is still enough room for us to sleep in the aft berth if we want to. So far we have always slept in the expanded V-Berth and will continue to do so unless we are in heavy seas.
The top arrow points to the digital control panel. You can set it to 'fast freeze' or set the temp between 50 and -8 degrees F. The bottom arrow points to the two input plugs. One is for 110-120 volts and the other for 12 or 24 volts. On fast freeze with the unit empty it went from 54 deg. down to about 10 deg. in about 45 minutes. I'll see how it does later in hot weather and filled with food. The web site says it runs on 5 1/2 amps at 12 volts but the actual tag on the unit says 4.5 amps at 12 volts. Most of these fridge/freezers cycle off and on, being on about 20% to 30% of the time from what I've read. We will see how this one does. One web site poster said he had one in a sailboat in a slip with a 135 watt solar panel and batteries for 3 months and it had drinks in it all that time and the solar panel kept up without a problem. From other reports I think/hope that an 80 watt panel will keep up with it. We bought an 80 watt panel to add to the 40 watt on the boat now and I think I found a place to add another 40 watt panel. That would give us a total of 160 watts solar for the fridge and our other needs like lighting and the computer/chartplotter. We also have the 12 volt charger/generator/alternator if needed.
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We won't be able to lift the lid straight up, but it opens far enough to easily put large objects in like 1 gallon milk jugs. It has a smaller basket on the right side above the compressor and .....
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... a much larger one to the left. The cord in the big basket is the 110/120 cord and the cord in the smaller basket is the 12 volt cord that will plug into a standard 12 volt car type socket.
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This cooler is huge. The two 1 gallon containers fit easily down on one side with a lot of room above them and you could put in two more and still have room to the side and above those.
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Here I laid a 1 gallon container in the smaller basket to help see the size of it. We feel we can carry enough refrigerated food for a month at a time and enough milk also for a week or two before having to switch to powder milk. We have cereal every morning. One nice thing is we can add pop and beer as needed and don't have to keep a lot in the cooler like we did before.
If this fridge/freezer holds up we think we will really like it. We figured if we get to do Florida in the fall of 2010 we would probably have to spend as much in 3 months for ice as what this will cost us and now we won't have to schedule port calls around ice.
We still plan to carry the old coolers back behind this one just in case it goes belly up on a trip. We can use them for food and clothing storage. I'll report back this next year on how we like this unit.
I had thought about building an insulated box around the cooler except where the vents are, but the instructions say to keep the sides and ends about 2 inches from a wall, so I guess that is out. It looks like it is fine to put an insulated blanket or something else on top of it, but I'll probably wait on that and see how it works. I wouldn't want to put a lot of weight on the top and start compressing the top seal.
One last side note: Whynter also has a fridge that looks to be exactly the same as the EdgeStar. Theirs is the FM-65G 65 Quart Portable Freezer except for claiming it is 2 quarts bigger and some difference in the electrical specs they look to be exactly the same. Since these are made in China I think another company is manufacturing them and EdgeStar and Whynter are putting there logos on them. I've had the same experience with shop equipment like mills and lathes that are exactly the same with either Harbor Freight, Enco or Grizzly putting their logos on them.