Sail life - Technautics CoolBlue refrigeration & varnishing - DIY sailboat project

00:00 Introduction
00:30 This week's goal
01:40 Technatics CoolBlue
03:10 Kitchen island
04:17 Holding plate
05:21 Compressor
06:20 Mounting location
08:53 Installing the holding plate
13:44 Insulating copper tubes
14:20 Wiring
15:33 It's alive!
17:02 Oh glorious sanding
17:44 Last coat of varnish
18:20 Cya!

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[jasonjazdzewski]

@Sail Life, sorry for this being my first comment on one of your videos. But as an HVAC/R Tech I have to say you did a decent a job, however, you're going to see a minimum of a 5% efficiency loss do to insulating both the low pressure return line, and the high pressure feed line. Insulating the low pressure line does two things, it prevents condensation and more importantly decreasing the amount of heat the low pressure line absorbs, reducing the amount of work the compressor and evaporator have to do to remove the heat. Insulating the small high pressure line, decreases the amount of heat the system expels into the air, increasing the amount of work the compressor and evaporator have to do. Insulating them in the same jacket, just doubles in the inefficiency by creating a closed heat loop the will build up the longer the system runs reducing efficiency even further. But otherwise you did a good job.

[mkrsek]

Insulating both pipes together seems like mistake to me, in fact, isolating them from each other is your ultimate goal. It is basically heat pump, temperature difference in lines defines the efficiency.

[dommynovvy]

Don't wrap both hoses into the same insulator, that way you are creating a "temperature short-circuit", with a lot of energy loss due to heat exchange outside the refrigerated box. Basically the cold fluid get heated before reaching the plate, and the heated fluid returning to the compressor get refrigerated again between the plate and the compressor.

[PaulBartomioli]

A suggestion. Mount a small computer fan to act as an "exhaust" for the compressor box. Air-cooled is great but requires air flow. In several restaurants I worked for, we mounted the air cooling outside the restaurant to improve the unit's efficiency. Just a thought. The downside is that the exhausted warm air will flow into the galley area. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.

[robertorzech]

If you look at the back of any domestic fridge inside the pipe foam you will see that the capillary line is soldered the full length of the suction line. The purpose for this is for heat exchange .If you look at a Psycrometric chart you can see that it is a boost in efficeincey . On TX valve systems like yours they sometimes install a heat exchanger to the system. Just taping your liquid line to your suction line and wrapping them together with foam is sufficient . Cheers

[urlkrueger]

Ahhh! Seeing the sanding at the end was like
taking your boots off after a long day of hiking.
Now I can relax. Journey complete.

[RenegadeADV]

I have the cool blue on my boat, great system. And yes you will want to add more ventilation than that, might be fine in the winter but when you get down where the water is warmer, it will really hinder it.

In the summer if I have been doing a lot of motoring and it is a hot day mine has to work pretty hard to keep up, so I pull the engine cover and that makes a huge difference.

It is however a great system, mine quit on me and Rich called me on a sat phone from Mexico on a Sunday and helped me get it working within an hour of me sending the email! Met him at the Seattle boat show, great guy!

[robw]

Great work Mads,
Short comment: don't insulate the high pressure line, and try to thermally separate the two lines.
Long comment: the refrigerant coming from the compressor will be hotter than room temperature. The more heat it sheds on the way into the freezer, the faster and more efficiently it will cool your box. If it sheds its heat into the return line, the compressor won't be able to cool it down as far.
Also, the efficiency of the compressor is highly dependent on how much cool air blows over the radiator. I think that location may get hot when the compressor is running. Might want to check out the compartment temp when the unit has been running for a while.
Happy holidays!

[rasmuskurten]

We always giggle at "[...] a somewhat extensive refit [...]". Thank you for your videos and documentary!

[roberthayward]

A few points.:

1. Follow the installation instructions regarding wrapping forward and return lines together. From my recollection, sometimes the liquid line in refrigerators is actually located inside the gas return, so some designs obviously expect close thermal coupling between the lines. Bottom line is, the amount of thermal coupling is one of the design parameters and should be addressed in the instructions.

2. Vibrations in those copper lines might induce wear at contact points. Insulating the lines together may be fine but they perhaps should only be in contact where they are strapped together, not where they might randomly rub each other.

3. The evaporator in the bilge may be cooled by the water outside the hull but you may want to duct the warm air from the fan so that it physically passes along the hull. This will ensure the air gets cooled.

Thanks for your presentation. I do enjoy watching someone else work!

[JeffryGilbertBKK]

Glad to see another cool blue customer.

[joesmith]

wow! that boat has some serious freeboard.

[gregcooper]

Merry Christmas Mads - Great work on the fridge - as always your willingness to tackle new tasks is most impressive.

[jakobnordin]

Watch this show EVERY sunday! Don’t own a boat and won’t own one in many many years but I find everything Mads does entertaining.

[jamesconger]

Besides the insulation issue, it would be good to install an air ventilation vent to the compartment holding the compressor. The lower the temperature of the air reaching the heat exchanger, the higher the efficiency. Love the size of that fridge.

[mikefetterman]

What you should have gotten was a copper tube bender used by HVAC service techs and plumbers. They are fairly inexpensive and easy to use, and you can make some tighter bends without kinking. Note for the future?

[simpsonservicesllc]

That loop.is actually a good thing as it will act like a trap and help create pressure to force the oil back to the compressor from the plate.. So its a good thing, not needed on the smaller tube.. Hopefully you have a small vacuum pump, it will be a good keeper should you need it in the future..

[shanearnold]

Yes there is a downside to wrapping those pipes heat transfers from one to the one pipe carries the fluid with heat, one pipe carries the fluid heat has been removed from.... when you put them right next to each other you made a heat exchanger that will reduce a lot of cost saving you went on about

[billb]

Excellent work, as always, and great to see progress coalescing on a finish :-)))
Just a thought re the assumed absence of water in the bilge beneath the compressor - water usually gets in here from sources such as wet weather gear, (sails of course on a race boat), spillages, overflow taps, hatches left open etc and that bad day when water comes down the companionway, directly, so it may be worthwhile at least coating the elecs to prevent/limit water ingress or possibly a custom enclosure - sounds tricky, but you always do tricky so well. Cheers and good wishes for 2021!!!

[peterjoyce]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, --- Peter, New Zealand.