steelydon
Senior Member
Last year while in Daytona Beach the OE refrigerator finally packed it in so I was faced with a choice. Go back with a dual power plug and play marine unit or go cheap. No surprise I went cheap and bought a Danby 7.3 cf for $250 from of all places, Office Depot. They dropped shipped it for free to a retail store and I flew down form NC for the install. Rented a Home Depot truck for 19.95 and carried it to Halifax River Marina. The Danby was narrower and slighty taller so after I made the modifications, installed it and had ice cubes by suppertime.
I don't know about the rest of you but every so often I reminded myself that I had replaced a $1,500 marine unit with a $250 dorm style fridge. When would it it quit?
Well Tuesday I got my answer. Instead of taking the boat to FL this year I left it in Edenton NC to do the Albemarle Loop in the Winter. (There is always a free slip) After the recent cold snap I went to check on the boat and when i arrived the cabin temp was 31 degrees and the refrig was 34 and not running and the ice had melted in the freezer. Once again my cheapness had followed me down a blind alley attacked and left me for dead.
Since it had a 1 year warranty I called the factory to see what could be done. They needed the serial number which is on the back of the unit so I had to uninstall it and wrestle it out into the salon to check. Upon calling back they walked me through the trouble shooting questions: Is it plugged in? Duh yes. Is it installed inside or outside? Inside a boat. Is the boat heated? Not recently. What is the temperature inside the boat? 31 degrees. Well skipper the refrigerator is plenty cold w/o the compressor running so turn your heat on and see if the fridge doesn't start working. If it doesn't call us back. I did, it did and I didn't call back. I had ice cubes before I left.
I know that 95% of the people on this site knew my problem halfway through this post. To the other 5% accept this cautionary tale of what happens when you don't think things through!
Don
I don't know about the rest of you but every so often I reminded myself that I had replaced a $1,500 marine unit with a $250 dorm style fridge. When would it it quit?
Well Tuesday I got my answer. Instead of taking the boat to FL this year I left it in Edenton NC to do the Albemarle Loop in the Winter. (There is always a free slip) After the recent cold snap I went to check on the boat and when i arrived the cabin temp was 31 degrees and the refrig was 34 and not running and the ice had melted in the freezer. Once again my cheapness had followed me down a blind alley attacked and left me for dead.
Since it had a 1 year warranty I called the factory to see what could be done. They needed the serial number which is on the back of the unit so I had to uninstall it and wrestle it out into the salon to check. Upon calling back they walked me through the trouble shooting questions: Is it plugged in? Duh yes. Is it installed inside or outside? Inside a boat. Is the boat heated? Not recently. What is the temperature inside the boat? 31 degrees. Well skipper the refrigerator is plenty cold w/o the compressor running so turn your heat on and see if the fridge doesn't start working. If it doesn't call us back. I did, it did and I didn't call back. I had ice cubes before I left.
I know that 95% of the people on this site knew my problem halfway through this post. To the other 5% accept this cautionary tale of what happens when you don't think things through!
Don