Bring Out Your Dead

I don't like to throw things away when they break. I prefer to fix them. Even if I can't fix the thing, it's interesting to take it apart and see how it works. My biggest success last year was fixing Muffy's air conditioner. It turned out that the problem was simply a loose wiring harness. Unfortunately, by the time I got to NYC and fixed it, most of the summer was over.

I fired up the fridge on the boat a couple days ago. It runs off 110 volt ac current or propane. It's a little counter intuitive that burning propane would cool a refrigerator. Don't ask me how it works. After a few minutes of the fridge running, there was an overpowering ammonia odor. It turns out that the fridge uses an ammonia based refrigerant instead of freon. There was a leak in the system and ammonia was escaping.

I was planning on trying to fix the fridge, but that turned out not to be practical. First, I decided that the fridge was occupying the ideal space for my new heater. Second, the fridge was too large to move anywhere else on the boat. It barely fit out the door when we removed it. Truly, I think the fridge was too large for the boat. It was certainly too large for my needs. Also, it was taking up prime real estate on the boat, just inside the salon door. Now that it is removed, the salon feels a lot more open. I don't know why the manufacturer installed the fridge in the salon, instead of the galley. Not very feng shui. When I get around to it, I'll install a smaller twelve volt fridge in the galley.

Pic is of me hauling the fridge to a dumpster. It wasn't all that heavy, unlike a household refrigerator. Muffy and I were able to get rid of it without much trouble. I would have taken it to the dump, but I wasn't able to find one. I don't know where garbage on Hilton Head goes. I do know that the rich don't recycle. I haven't seen a hint of recycling since I've been here.

Heater is installed and running! I'll post about that tomorrow.