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Depends whats wrong, and if anyone local will service it. Ist thing would be to check if it has any gas in it - take off the caps on one of the valves on the compressor, and press the center bit - like a bike or car tyre valve usually. If there is no hiss of escaping gas its probably empty. If it does not have a valve like that, its a bit more complex.... 

Have a look, then if needed post a pic...

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If you are going 12 v don’t get a heat/cool type they are useless. I have had plenty of Engel waeco type 12 v compressor fridges and they have all been great and trouble free even some that are over 25 years old. Plenty available second hand too.

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Do not buy the waeco tropica??cold/warm useless,as above the waeco cfx 40 is the way to go.can leave running all day/night no problem but like every others chiller food/drink needs to cold first for best result.

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I’m the NZ agent for Ozefridge.

The main issue with cabinet retrofit is insulation quality and thickness. Also, cabinet leaks - penetrations, seals, etc. It does not matter if you buy a cheap plate style unit like the burnsco one above, or a decent twin tank eutectic type, if the cabinet is not well insulated. Insulation degrades over time, but how fast depends on cabinet design, seals, and condition.

For anyone wanting to make a good job of this, send me an email or pm, and I’ll give you some info on testing cabinets heat loss, using a block of ice.

Or you can read it on the Ozefridge website - in the cabinet ideas section.

Thin plate systems have little hold over capability - they will run more than a good eutectic (holdover) system.

Boats tend to have two states of available electricity - feast or famine. Good systems will use power when it’s plentiful, so they don’t have to run for the longest possible time when it’s not. This, of course, is more important in a cruiser out for longer periods, than it is in a day or weekend boat.

The reason that some of the compressor driven bin units work pretty well is down to their insulation.
 

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You are not alone, since repowering I have not recommissioned my old compressor set up just used a Waeco 40 and we are used to the constant cold and low low draw so contemplating converting my large freezer and well insulated fridge to one of these electric set ups. 

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+1 on the CFX-40

Did 2 weeks last summer with one of these on the 930, with 170 watts of available solar and 196 amps of deep cycle batteries.

Started with all the meat packed in and frozen while on 240v at home, drove to BOI with it running on 12v in the ute, chucked it in the boat and buggered off.

Ran it on -18deg C during the day and switched it off at night. came home with still frozen meat.

And during the day, as the food ran down I replaced the gaps with water bottles and beers. They went from bilge temp to frosty in an hour...

One day I'll have a grown ups boat with charging systems and inoard/icebox and I reckon I'll still rock the Waeco!

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I put electric into my 1020 a few years ago,  but did the cabinet at the same time and had the copper fused to the back of the stainless,  worked exceptionally, and was great as i had shore power so ice stayed there 24/7  but be aware you cannot reuse the existing stainless box if it has been for a compressor as you need to remove the brine tanks,  this could have been 5k on its own, luckily I didn't have brine tanks so reused and the whole job was about 4k including a digital controller so the freezer stayed at -15 constantly.  used about 3amps an hour for 100litres so was pretty efficient.  New boat has compressor,  no where near as good as i have to start the motor even when it is sunny!

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Fridge tech kit retrofitted to the original freezer compartment in 2015 plus a couple of solar panels, I left it on until 2018 when I turned it off for a few months. It just did 4 months in Fiji at minus 17 or so, we brought a couple of sausage packs back. It's on now turned down to fridge temp so there's a cold beer ready when we get back to the BOI.

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Freeze salt water in suitably shaped plastic containers, squeeze a little water out when filling to allow for ice expansion. We have an Engel 40l and turn it down to lowest freeze temp and refreeze the bottles we use in the auxilliary chilly bin, if / when they start to thaw, only takes an hour or two.

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