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American Tug 34 Owner Experiences
Chapter 10 Galley Page 10-1
Chapter 10 Galley
Refrigerator
Manufacturer
Nova Kool Manufacturing Inc.
Website http://www.novakool.com/
Phone (604) 523-6515 (This is an International call from the US).
FAX (604) 523-6674
Email: sales@novakool.com
support@novakool.com
purchasing@novakool.com
Address 1578 Hartley Avenue
Coquitlam, BC
Canada V3K 7A1
The model and serial number is located on a silver sticker on the inside of the refrigerator
on the left hand side.
We have a model RFU8000 which is a 6.8 cubic foot fridge/freezer combo with the
refrigerator on top and the freezer on the bottom.
Defrosting
The refrigerator needs to be defrosted when ¼ inch of ice forms on the cold plate which
is located in the top of the refrigerator compartment. This ice tends to insulate the
components, and prevent efficient cooling. In really warm weather we do this every
week.
If the fridge needs defrosting often, check the door seal and the latch. If the bottom corner
has a small gap, adjust the latch receiver on the frame.
Remove heavy objects from the door – it tends to distort this seal.
Venting
Tomco seem to have a blind spot about refrigerator venting: I guess it must be a Seattle
cold-weather thing, as in hot climates the refrigerator on our boat was not been able to
maintain the ideal 38-40deg F temperature. It was running closer to 50 deg, which was
turning much of our food into science experiments….
When we called the helpful people at NovaKool, and told them it was an American Tug,
they right away said “It needs more venting”. They’ve seen this issue before (both with
American and Nordic Tugs !). NovaKool specifies a total of 120 square inches of
ventilation for the type of fridge that we have (60 square inches at the top for venting out
the hot air and 60 square inches at the bottom for letting in the cooler air). This is actually
specified in the user’s manual on page 4. On my boat (hull #48) there is a narrow grill
above and below the fridge for ventilation. This provides about 80 square inches in total