|
Post by turbokinetic on Sept 19, 2019 4:58:26 GMT
Two Saturdays ago I pulled the top and defrosted it. Here is what it had for frost lines after running for weeks with 10.5 lbs of R124 in her. I redid the sensing tube to evap and made it fit much tighter to the evap. After putting the top back on the test cabinet it was cycling even shorter cycles. I checked and the cabinet was running at 47F. I cranked the control down and added 1.5 lbs r124, total of 13 lbs the factory recommended so2 amount. After getting the control set for around 37-38F and adding the extra gas it is running much more normal cycles. Hard to stay close enough to time it but it runs for 35-45 mins and off aprox the same. Not bad for the cabinet its on. And it just nicely hums along now, drawing right at around 200 watts, give or take 5. That is including the 40 watt oil heater. Almost never rattles but the garage has been warmer again. Here is the frost line with a 13 lb charge. A few days ago I bumped the charge to 14 lbs and have the best frost lines yet. Gonna soon put the 20 watt oil heater back in and see if she starts to rattle and what the watts draw is. Interestingly when I bumped the heater from 30 watts to 40 watts the total watt draw was about the same. The compressor draw evidently went down. Here are pics with 14 lb charge.
That's looking great! It's interesting to dial-in the charge amount and see the effect on the unit. Looks like the 14 pounds charge is pretty appropriate for it.
I bet Garrett is antsy to get it back! LOL!
|
|
|
Post by birkie on Sept 20, 2019 15:45:12 GMT
Nice! I ended up giving my DRA2 1/4 lb extra, and it looks like it could use a little more. I think it's the fact that R124 gas is much more dense than SO2, so the weight of refrigerant in the dome, coils, etc adds up to a significant number of ounces.
Even though the manual mentions the oil conditioner lowering the run watts of the compressor, I did't really believe it. I think you've shown it to be right!
Eager to see how 20W does
|
|
|
Post by elec573 on Sept 21, 2019 6:16:40 GMT
Nice job it’s well be better then new when done. I wonder about putting to big a heater in it wouldn’t that also increase the heat the motor has to contend with?
|
|
|
Post by coldspaces on Sept 22, 2019 14:29:47 GMT
Nice job it’s well be better then new when done. I wonder about putting to big a heater in it wouldn’t that also increase the heat the motor has to contend with? Thank you. 20 watts extra is not that much heat in all that metal. The oil must be kept free of liquid for lone term reliability.
|
|
|
Post by coldspaces on Sept 22, 2019 14:36:26 GMT
I put the 20 watt heater back in two days ago. It takes about 24 hours after increasing or deceasing the watts to see the full difference at the present ambient (75-85) The rattle at start up is back more now and as the dome gets hotter the rattle comes back during the latter part of the cycle. Sure sounded better with the 40 watt. And yes by the end of 24 hours with the smaller heater the watt draw was back to about 190. That would mean the compressor watts went back up about 10,very interesting.
|
|
|
Post by turbokinetic on Sept 22, 2019 15:20:10 GMT
I put the 20 watt heater back in two days ago. It takes about 24 hours after increasing or deceasing the watts to see the full difference at the present ambient (75-85) The rattle at start up is back more now and as the dome gets hotter the rattle comes back during the latter part of the cycle. Sure sounded better with the 40 watt. And yes by the end of 24 hours with the smaller heater the watt draw was back to about 190. That would mean the compressor watts went back up about 10,very interesting. The wattage change for the motor is really interesting. I wonder if it is improved because of better lubrication; or because or less viscous oil which has less pumping losses?
In my opinion - the sound and reliability are more important than the power consumption. I say this because of the use of these machines now. They are valued antiques which someone runs because they want one of them and not because they want to save some small amount of power. Again in my opinion; I would want the machine's life to be longest and the owner's experience to be best even if it took a 50 watt heater.
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Sept 23, 2019 3:01:06 GMT
Knowing Garrett, he’ll use whatever heater his precious DR is happiest with. At least it’s not a 1960’s-70’s energy hog.
|
|
|
Post by birkie on Sept 23, 2019 4:00:18 GMT
The wattage change for the motor is really interesting. I wonder if it is improved because of better lubrication; or because or less viscous oil which has less pumping losses? I hope it's not because of better lubrication, but I fear that's part of it. I believe the GE literature at the time suggested that rattle was harmless, but I have always felt that wasn't the case. Refrigerant in the sump from a stuck float seems capable of causing DRs to eventually seize, so...
|
|
|
Post by ckfan on Sept 24, 2019 11:51:07 GMT
I’ll have to find that part of the manual. Really? Harmless? They knew better, even back then or they wouldn’t have added a heater in the first place.
|
|
|
Post by Travis on Sept 24, 2019 14:00:01 GMT
Do any of us think that any manufacturer would have thought someone would be repairing or restoring their products in 70-90 years?
The word “harmless” was used because harm was minimal. The manual was written in the 40’s I believe. That was well after GE knew the DRs had their issues and even the CAs had theirs.
No one creates a perfect machine and they all have a lifespan. Nearly everything done on this forum is repair that would’ve been considered excessive and not worth doing by the techs of the day.
|
|
|
Post by coldspaces on Sept 24, 2019 21:59:36 GMT
Last night after the 40 watt heater had been back in over 24 hours I was in the garage working. and had my Westinghouse Mobileair fan running about 5' away. It was on its higher speed but they are not real loud. At one point I was leaning with my forearms on the top of the condenser coil on Garett's DR3 and using my phone.It must have started shortly before that as the coil was not warm yet. Hell it was so quite and smooth I didn't even know it was running for some time. It was only 70 in the garage at the time last night.
|
|
|
Post by turbokinetic on Sept 24, 2019 23:31:24 GMT
Do any of us think that any manufacturer would have thought someone would be repairing or restoring their products in 70-90 years? The word “harmless” was used because harm was minimal. The manual was written in the 40’s I believe. That was well after GE knew the DRs had their issues and even the CAs had theirs. No one creates a perfect machine and they all have a lifespan. Nearly everything done on this forum is repair that would’ve been considered excessive and not worth doing by the techs of the day. This is another case of "You don't appreciate what you have until it's almost all gone."
Now that there are fewer and fewer of these machines, they are worth more in-depth repairs to save them.
|
|
|
Post by turbokinetic on Sept 24, 2019 23:35:39 GMT
Last night after the 40 watt heater had been back in over 24 hours I was in the garage working. and had my Westinghouse Mobileair fan running about 5' away. It was on its higher speed but they are not real loud. At one point I was leaning with my forearms on the top of the condenser coil on Garett's DR3 and using my phone.It must have started shortly before that as the coil was not warm yet. Hell it was so quite and smooth I didn't even know it was running for some time. It was only 70 in the garage at the time last night. This is good that the larger heater has improved things so much!
|
|