What is Marine Refrigeration?  The major parts of this refrigeration system include the refrigerant, a compressor, a condenser, and plates inside the refrigeration unit.

What is Marine Refrigeration?  The major parts of this refrigeration system include the refrigerant, a compressor, a condenser, and plates inside the refrigeration box.

The compressor in the marine refrigeration system is part of a closed loop pumping refrigerant through the system and through the evaporator plate in the ice box. The compressor has two sides- the High side or discharge side. The discharge side pumps refrigerant into the condenser. The cold plates in the fridge space have either expansion valves that separate the low and high pressure sides of the refrigeration system.

The refrigerant in the compressor starts as a gas. The compressor condenses the refrigerant gas, from low pressure to high pressure between 100-150 psi. When the pressure is increased like this its temperature is raised significantly. This hot high pressure refrigerant is then fed to a condenser, where it is cooled and turned into a liquid. The condenser is cooled by either air or water. The refrigerant is now a cool high pressure liquid and is fed to an evaporator plate inside the boats refrigerator box.

The evaporator plate in the marine refrigeration system takes the refrigerant from the condenser and then boils it rapidly & evaporates it back to a gas, at a very low temperature. This transformation soaks up vast amounts of heat from the evaporator which in turn eliminates heat from the insulated refrigeration box- lowering its temperature. The BTU is the amount of heat eliminated. From the evaporator plate the refrigerant is returned to the low side of the compressor, to start the process again.

Evaporator or Holding Plates

Marine refrigeration systems use either an evaporator plate or a holding plate in the boat’s refrigeration space or freezer space. Each plate works in a different way to draw heat from the boats refrigerator and ice box area.

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