Ericson 323 NorCold Refrigeration
Art,
I finally made it out to the boat.... been busy doing house & yard projects all week.
My boat has a NorCold SCQT-6406 refrigeration system in the icebox. It doesn't show on the original Ericson invoice, so it must have been a PO add-on. It runs off AC and DC: the placard says it draws 0.45 at 117 VAC or 4.5A at 12VDC. Refrigerant is R12. I have no idea how old the unit is, or how these specs compare to a modern unit.
I should thank you for your post. I think I mentioned I've never run the refrigeration since I got the boat 2 years ago. Probably a bad idea to let any mechanical system sit idle for that long. I fired it up today and it ran just fine. The AC side is wired through the AC "outlets" switch. The DC side has its own switch/20A breaker on the DC panel. I have no idea which it defaults to if both sources are available, though hopefully it would default to AC.
The chiller plate was developing frost after just a few minutes of use. I was surprised how quiet the unit was--barley any noise or vibration. Through the miracle of the internet, I searched the model number and a post on Cruiser's Forum popped up with a link to the Operator's Manual.
The photos show most of the setup. The only complaint I have with my system is that the chiller plate literally sits on top of the removable plexi-glass shelf in the icebox (see picture #3). This makes it extremely frustrating to remove and re-insert the shelf, which must be raised/tilted to be removed to access the chiller space below the shelf (the chiller plate doesn't leave enough clearance to raise the shelf). If your installation is similar, make sure you give yourself enough clearance to remove all interior shelves/panels easily.
Stbd Seat Locker................. ..........................Compressor...............................................Icebox & Chiller Plate....................................Insulation
In a related issue; I also got a little refresher on the salt-water-footpump/icebox-drain today. A PVC valve under the galley sink controls whether the salt-water foot pump draws in seawater or ice-box drain water. I had left this valve open since winterizing last year. So, when I opened the sea-water-to-footpump seacock a few weeks ago, a few inches of seawater entered the bottom of the icebox. Thus, the icebox had a not-so-fresh smell when I lifted the lid open today.
Hope this helps.....