Hello all, I am about to start a refit of our frig and wondered if anyone has torn into an existing box. It looks like opening up the front face panel would be best but I’d love to hear from someone who’s done this already. We installed a Frigoboat keel cooler system a few years ago and have been very happy with it so now it’s time to refoam the box. Thanx in advance, Ray
I have finished the ‘refoam’ of our frig and it was well worth the PIA job to get it right. We found polystyrene insulation and not well done at that so it’s been a huge improvement in the efficiency since we finished. We used mix and pour polyurethane and except for my mistakes, it was easier to use than I expected. Very expensive but looks like good results. We pulled off the front of the box, then removed the top and removed the old foam. I lined the cabinet with plastic sheet and started pouring. The foam was 2 pound density so there really was no overexpansion risk to the cabinet. The frig used to run a long duty cycle at highest speed and now runs at lowest speed on a much shorter duty cycle(Frigoboat keel cooler with smart controller). All in all a messy, nasty but well worth while improvement. If anyone is looking at this job and would like to benefit from our experience, I’d be happy to share lessons learned. Cheers(cold beer!), Ray
I am definitely interested in learning from your experience. Reinsulating the fridge is on my list. I have a Technautics Cool Blue refrigerator which works well, but I suspect it would be much more efficient if the fridge was reinsulated given that the existing insulation is now 35 years old. I was thinking of accessing the fridge area through the top.
Any advice you can give would be appreciated. What type of polyurethane did you use?
Gary
Dioscouri #064
Hi Gary. We had a Technautics unit before and liked it. I used a 2# foam(good for insulation and flotation) and it was my first rodeo with the stuff. I used an Aeromarine product and can recommend it. We didn’t get the volume advertised but it’s so temp and moisture dependent that we weren’t surprised. I used approx. 12 cu. ft. of mix to fill about 8 cu. ft. of cabinet. Have a look at the pic and you can see what to expect going through the top. There is the countertop and then another subsurface about 3 inches below that the frig liner is actually suspended from. We we’re lucky that the PO had used sheet polystyrene instead of pour. We just had to bust up the sheets and pull out the pieces. It really is amazing how different the frig operates since refit. Cheers, Ray
Ray,
On our list as well.
Any other details would be great- How much room is there between the liner and the surrounding cabinet (i.e. how many inches of foam insulation are there)?
Any hints/tips on removing/reinstalling the top and front?
Any other thoughts would be very welcome!
Cheers,
Mike
BCC #77
Hi Mike, Congrats for joining a small but very happy group of boat lovers. I wouldn’t guarantee the same frig dimensions as yours but we had minimum 3" everywhere and usually more, esp. next to hull. I think we really dodged a bullet as the old insulation was sooo easy to remove. The cabinet comes apart very straightforward though I still had to replace the face and the top because of damage during removal. Can’t recommend the mix and pour foam enough, huge difference for us. Enjoy, Ray