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Post by icebox on Jun 27, 2018 17:26:10 GMT
I'm so sorry the service call didn't go as planned, I think we all feel your pain. OK so we need to find out what's wrong here, I think there are 2 likely possibilities, 1 low on gas, 2 blockage. I did think maybe the compressor had its valves damaged with a slug of oil, but usually a poorly pumping compressor will have the whole evaporator sweating (not frosting) and the compressor getting very hot because it's under heavy load. So I don't think it's this. I think if it was oil getting pumped through it should have cleared now, my experience is that there is no cooling whatsoever if the capillary tube if blocked from oil until it clears, and then things soon get back to normal. Oil logging in the evaporator shouldn't be so much of a problem with R12 as it mixes well with it. I do think you can hear oil in the evaporator, but this is a symptom of the evaporator not getting full of refrigerant to flush it out. So - how do we tell if it's a partial blockage or low on charge ?
1 - If it is low on charge, most likely there is a leak, it could be a very very small one, that has taken years, but there are electronic leak detectors than can detect very low leakage rates (not too expensive on ebay), maybe you could hire one ? It used to be troublesome on fridges to detect a small leak because the foam insulation leaches out gas, but that shouldn't be a problem with fiberglass!
2 - Blockage. So if there's a blockage, the liquid refrigerant backs up in the condenser. You might feel a temperature change, so the first part of the condenser is quite warm, and a large section will be cold (ambient). This won't be the case if it's low on charge. Also when you switch off the compressor you might be able to hear refrigerant still passing to the evaporator as the condenser empties - it's not the bubbling sound you can hear. It's difficult to describe, but if you wanted you could post another video of you switching off the compressor while recording the evaporator and the panel of experts here can have a listen :-) If you cover the condenser so it gets warmer, you should expect the frost line to get further, but be careful not to let the condenser get too hot and overload the compressor.
Don't give up hope, in the end it might not be easy to repair, but we'll do our best on here to get it working again.
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Post by icebox on Jun 27, 2018 17:30:12 GMT
Try running the frig till the compressor is warmed up and then shut it off. Listen to the sound of the Freon going thru the cap tube. Time how long it takes for the system to balance out. It should not take more than 5 mins. If so it may be oil logged or restricted. I would think if it was just oil that it should have started to clear out though as you do get some flow. Its not like its totally plugged. Sorry missed this post when I wrote mine - good idea!
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Post by turbokinetic on Jun 27, 2018 20:58:47 GMT
I'm so sorry the service call didn't go as planned, I think we all feel your pain. ......... Don't give up hope, in the end it might not be easy to repair, but we'll do our best on here to get it working again.
Yep that's the spirit I think we all have!
There have been quite a few good suggestions here. I'm hopeful to hear a positive outcome soon.
Maybe my technique, but I seem to have limited success with the halogen leak detectors. They are great for confirming evaporator coil leaks on cars, though.
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 27, 2018 21:44:02 GMT
Wow lots of information ! :-) I’m may have to go back through re-read all the comments. Last night I did try the hot water bag. Left it run for an hour. Nothing changed . Today I stopped at Harbor freight picked up a heat gun ,kill a watt meter and One of those Freon gas detectors. I also noticed they have more things there for refrigerators and then I realized. They have manifold gauges vacuum pumps etc . So if it would happen to come down to it , at least I have a place locally to pick up supplies. I’m going to let it run for a little bit and see if I can find any leaks with both the meter and the soapy water . Maybe before heating it with the heat gun I will try covering the condenser for bit first. Idk if this helps but the amps are 2.50 at start up and after its running for a bit, it drops down to 2.36 amp. I did time the how long took for the System to balance out last night. It took 16 minutes total. I’d say it started to settle pretty good around five or six minutes but you could still hear every now and then something sort of squirting through the lines or moving through the lines up to about 15/16 minutes. I’ll post a you tube video of how The evaporator sounds when I shut it off here in a little bit. As always Thank you to everyone for all of your input ! :-).
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 2:51:04 GMT
Wow lots of information ! :-) I’m may have to go back through re-read all the comments. Last night I did try the hot water bag. Left it run for an hour. Nothing changed . Today I stopped at Harbor freight picked up a heat gun ,kill a watt meter and One of those Freon gas detectors. I also noticed they have more things there for refrigerators and then I realized. They have manifold gauges vacuum pumps etc . So if it would happen to come down to it , at least I have a place locally to pick up supplies. I’m going to let it run for a little bit and see if I can find any leaks with both the meter and the soapy water . Maybe before heating it with the heat gun I will try covering the condenser for bit first. Idk if this helps but the amps are 2.50 at start up and after its running for a bit, it drops down to 2.36 amp. I did time the how long took for the System to balance out last night. It took 16 minutes total. I’d say it started to settle pretty good around five or six minutes but you could still hear every now and then something sort of squirting through the lines or moving through the lines up to about 15/16 minutes. I’ll post a you tube video of how The evaporator sounds when I shut it off here in a little bit. As always Thank you to everyone for all of your input ! :-). Hi. Here’s a video of the evaporator at shut down. youtu.be/gmPJmdF3Q2s
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 8:44:53 GMT
Hi all I tried heating the evaporator and the lines with a heat gun and it didn’t seem to change anything. I also tried placing a blanket over the condenser and letting it get pretty toasty and it didn’t change anything . I tried a little bit of soapy water spritzing it on the capillary tube and what lines I could get to I didn’t see any bubbles but the gas meter did chirp some when I put the probe behind the compressor . It looks like the line, not sure of the proper term but it would be the line that’s going to the evaporator it comes out of the left side of the compressor and then angles back and up and goes behind the compressor then actually wraps 1 turn around the right side of the compressor then angles back sort of along the rail and then it joins with the capillary tube. I can’t actually see it. I’m just guessing from feeling around with my finger, everything is really tight quarters behind there. but if I let the refrigerator on until everything is good and warmed up. placing the probe behind it, it does chirp a little bit . Like it’s picking up something faint. This has me thinking 2 things . 1. maybe it did have some what of a clog and it’s possibly cleared up now or has moved through the evaporator some. With me getting a little bit more of a frost line. 2. It may have a slow leak in that line behind the compressor as well .
I’m thinking it’s possibly a combination of the 2 ?
The older couple that I bought the fridge from had said that it worked good and that the husband had bought it 5 years ago at an auction and that it was mainly used around the Holliday’s when they had lots of company visiting and they didn’t have it running all the time. So that would mean the majority of the year it would sit turned off. The reason for selling it was that they had bought a new refrigerator for the kitchen and the previous one they move down to the basement. ( A very nice finished basement) They told me this one sat for about a year. the husband didn’t really want to sell it but the wife didn’t want the junk floating around the house and she made him sell it. They seemed sincere and she seemed really happy that it was going to a home where it was going to be used. She even commented how fast the freezer would freeze all 4 ice trays that she never had a freezer make ice so fast. so I don’t think they were lying or trying unload it on me . the husband really didn’t seem too excited about getting rid of it. he seemed kind of unhappy. But still maybe I should’ve had them plug it in and stood there and watched it for a while? One of my faults is that I can a be a little to trusting some times. But also thinking back to that day. We laid it on its side to get in the back of my friends SUV. The compressor is stabilized by four Springs two on each side so perhaps it shifted and maybe caused a leak in that line that runs behind it? I had read on previous tread. Someone had a fridge the wouldn’t leak unless it sat turned off for long periods of time. Maybe that’s what happened with this one ? Thanks again for all the helpful comments :-) AJ
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Post by turbokinetic on Jun 28, 2018 13:31:42 GMT
Hi all I tried heating the evaporator and the lines with a heat gun and it didn’t seem to change anything. I also tried placing a blanket over the condenser and letting it get pretty toasty and it didn’t change anything . I tried a little bit of soapy water spritzing it on the capillary tube and what lines I could get to I didn’t see any bubbles but the gas meter did chirp some when I put the probe behind the compressor . It looks like the line, not sure of the proper term but it would be the line that’s going to the evaporator it comes out of the left side of the compressor and then angles back and up and goes behind the compressor then actually wraps 1 turn around the right side of the compressor then angles back sort of along the rail and then it joins with the capillary tube. I can’t actually see it. I’m just guessing from feeling around with my finger, everything is really tight quarters behind there. but if I let the refrigerator on until everything is good and warmed up. placing the probe behind it, it does chirp a little bit . Like it’s picking up something faint. This has me thinking 2 things . 1. maybe it did have some what of a clog and it’s possibly cleared up now or has moved through the evaporator some. With me getting a little bit more of a frost line. 2. It may have a slow leak in that line behind the compressor as well . I’m thinking it’s possibly a combination of the 2 ? The older couple that I bought the fridge from had said that it worked good and that the husband had bought it 5 years ago at an auction and that it was mainly used around the Holliday’s when they had lots of company visiting and they didn’t have it running all the time. So that would mean the majority of the year it would sit turned off. The reason for selling it was that they had bought a new refrigerator for the kitchen and the previous one they move down to the basement. ( A very nice finished basement) They told me this one sat for about a year. the husband didn’t really want to sell it but the wife didn’t want the junk floating around the house and she made him sell it. They seemed sincere and she seemed really happy that it was going to a home where it was going to be used. She even commented how fast the freezer would freeze all 4 ice trays that she never had a freezer make ice so fast. so I don’t think they were lying or trying unload it on me . the husband really didn’t seem too excited about getting rid of it. he seemed kind of unhappy. But still maybe I should’ve had them plug it in and stood there and watched it for a while? One of my faults is that I can a be a little to trusting some times. But also thinking back to that day. We laid it on its side to get in the back of my friends SUV. The compressor is stabilized by four Springs two on each side so perhaps it shifted and maybe caused a leak in that line that runs behind it? I had read on previous tread. Someone had a fridge the wouldn’t leak unless it sat turned off for long periods of time. Maybe that’s what happened with this one ? Thanks again for all the helpful comments :-) AJ
It is interesting the backstory from the couple selling this to you. It really sounds like they were genuinely of the belief that it worked perfectly. Completely understand about being too trusting. I've had my feelings hurt and suffered some major losses for this same reason. The problem could have been that it was slowly leaking refrigerant over a long period of time, and finally reached the point where it affected the operation of the unit. Probably last time they used it, it was not affected to the degree it is now, possibly just a few passes of the evaporator weren't cooling.
There's one characteristic about it that doesn't seem to make sense with a leaking system. I don't see how it could go from "no cooling" to "small part of evaporator cooling" to "slightly more area cooling" if the problem was a symptom of the charge leaking out. Not saying it couldn't happen, just not understanding how it could happen.
It's sometimes hard to interpret the results of an electronic leak detector. Mine is about 10 years old, but the tip gets changed regularly. The new ones could be better, not sure. But - it is sensitive to lots of things other than refrigerant, it seems. I have a hard time "trusting" that an indication is really a leak unless the response of the detector is very clearly repeatable. If there's an indication, I always blow the area out with air to clear anything in the area which might be causing the indication, and then repeat the test. If, after several times, the test is fully repeatable - then I would say there is really a leak at that area.
Here's a somewhat technical question about the frost on the evaporator, which should help determine if it's related to oil in there. There are two lines from the evaporator. One is coming from the capillary tube, and the other is the return to the compressor. In your video, I se one line at the top inside the evaporator which is fully frosted. It looks like it's coming from the capillary tube. Not sure the other (suction) line shows in the video. So, my question is, can you see a frost line, through any possible path, showing that refrigerant is bypassing the non-cooling areas of the evaporator, and making it to the return line? In other words, a single line of frost going from the large frosted area, and making its way all the way to the suction line?
Now for more pure opinionation on my part. If this were sitting here in front of me, at this stage of troubleshooting, my next step would be to add a small amount of refrigerant. I would then observe if this moves the frost line further along the evaporator. If this does, it would indicate that a low charge is to blame. If not, then it would be back to square 1. If this confirmed a low charge, I would remove and weigh the charge and see what was actually in the unit. With the charge out, I would then put in nitrogen to the test pressure stated on the unit, and go over every soldered joint with a bright flashlight and soap water looking for any trace of seepage.
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 16:37:51 GMT
Hi all I tried heating the evaporator and the lines with a heat gun and it didn’t seem to change anything. I also tried placing a blanket over the condenser and letting it get pretty toasty and it didn’t change anything . I tried a little bit of soapy water spritzing it on the capillary tube and what lines I could get to I didn’t see any bubbles but the gas meter did chirp some when I put the probe behind the compressor . It looks like the line, not sure of the proper term but it would be the line that’s going to the evaporator it comes out of the left side of the compressor and then angles back and up and goes behind the compressor then actually wraps 1 turn around the right side of the compressor then angles back sort of along the rail and then it joins with the capillary tube. I can’t actually see it. I’m just guessing from feeling around with my finger, everything is really tight quarters behind there. but if I let the refrigerator on until everything is good and warmed up. placing the probe behind it, it does chirp a little bit . Like it’s picking up something faint. This has me thinking 2 things . 1. maybe it did have some what of a clog and it’s possibly cleared up now or has moved through the evaporator some. With me getting a little bit more of a frost line. 2. It may have a slow leak in that line behind the compressor as well . I’m thinking it’s possibly a combination of the 2 ? The older couple that I bought the fridge from had said that it worked good and that the husband had bought it 5 years ago at an auction and that it was mainly used around the Holliday’s when they had lots of company visiting and they didn’t have it running all the time. So that would mean the majority of the year it would sit turned off. The reason for selling it was that they had bought a new refrigerator for the kitchen and the previous one they move down to the basement. ( A very nice finished basement) They told me this one sat for about a year. the husband didn’t really want to sell it but the wife didn’t want the junk floating around the house and she made him sell it. They seemed sincere and she seemed really happy that it was going to a home where it was going to be used. She even commented how fast the freezer would freeze all 4 ice trays that she never had a freezer make ice so fast. so I don’t think they were lying or trying unload it on me . the husband really didn’t seem too excited about getting rid of it. he seemed kind of unhappy. But still maybe I should’ve had them plug it in and stood there and watched it for a while? One of my faults is that I can a be a little to trusting some times. But also thinking back to that day. We laid it on its side to get in the back of my friends SUV. The compressor is stabilized by four Springs two on each side so perhaps it shifted and maybe caused a leak in that line that runs behind it? I had read on previous tread. Someone had a fridge the wouldn’t leak unless it sat turned off for long periods of time. Maybe that’s what happened with this one ? Thanks again for all the helpful comments :-) AJ
It is interesting the backstory from the couple selling this to you. It really sounds like they were genuinely of the belief that it worked perfectly. Completely understand about being too trusting. I've had my feelings hurt and suffered some major losses for this same reason. The problem could have been that it was slowly leaking refrigerant over a long period of time, and finally reached the point where it affected the operation of the unit. Probably last time they used it, it was not affected to the degree it is now, possibly just a few passes of the evaporator weren't cooling.
There's one characteristic about it that doesn't seem to make sense with a leaking system. I don't see how it could go from "no cooling" to "small part of evaporator cooling" to "slightly more area cooling" if the problem was a symptom of the charge leaking out. Not saying it couldn't happen, just not understanding how it could happen.
It's sometimes hard to interpret the results of an electronic leak detector. Mine is about 10 years old, but the tip gets changed regularly. The new ones could be better, not sure. But - it is sensitive to lots of things other than refrigerant, it seems. I have a hard time "trusting" that an indication is really a leak unless the response of the detector is very clearly repeatable. If there's an indication, I always blow the area out with air to clear anything in the area which might be causing the indication, and then repeat the test. If, after several times, the test is fully repeatable - then I would say there is really a leak at that area.
Here's a somewhat technical question about the frost on the evaporator, which should help determine if it's related to oil in there. There are two lines from the evaporator. One is coming from the capillary tube, and the other is the return to the compressor. In your video, I se one line at the top inside the evaporator which is fully frosted. It looks like it's coming from the capillary tube. Not sure the other (suction) line shows in the video. So, my question is, can you see a frost line, through any possible path, showing that refrigerant is bypassing the non-cooling areas of the evaporator, and making it to the return line? In other words, a single line of frost going from the large frosted area, and making its way all the way to the suction line?
Now for more pure opinionation on my part. If this were sitting here in front of me, at this stage of troubleshooting, my next step would be to add a small amount of refrigerant. I would then observe if this moves the frost line further along the evaporator. If this does, it would indicate that a low charge is to blame. If not, then it would be back to square 1. If this confirmed a low charge, I would remove and weigh the charge and see what was actually in the unit. With the charge out, I would then put in nitrogen to the test pressure stated on the unit, and go over every soldered joint with a bright flashlight and soap water looking for any trace of seepage.
Here’s a quick video showing the path way of the lines. Sorry my allergies are acting up pretty bad today. It’s been raining like crazy here for days. So if I sound a little blah in that video, that’s why :-) youtu.be/RNBOcTGRncM As far as I can tell. There isn’t a complete path of frost to the return line. In this video a the refrigerators only been on for about five minutes so it may seem that the frost line is actually retreated back further but it’s just that it hasn’t been on that long. I sort of did that on purpose because I wanted to show at what point it seems the progress starts to slow down. Thanks AJ
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 16:49:55 GMT
Hi all I tried heating the evaporator and the lines with a heat gun and it didn’t seem to change anything. I also tried placing a blanket over the condenser and letting it get pretty toasty and it didn’t change anything . I tried a little bit of soapy water spritzing it on the capillary tube and what lines I could get to I didn’t see any bubbles but the gas meter did chirp some when I put the probe behind the compressor . It looks like the line, not sure of the proper term but it would be the line that’s going to the evaporator it comes out of the left side of the compressor and then angles back and up and goes behind the compressor then actually wraps 1 turn around the right side of the compressor then angles back sort of along the rail and then it joins with the capillary tube. I can’t actually see it. I’m just guessing from feeling around with my finger, everything is really tight quarters behind there. but if I let the refrigerator on until everything is good and warmed up. placing the probe behind it, it does chirp a little bit . Like it’s picking up something faint. This has me thinking 2 things . 1. maybe it did have some what of a clog and it’s possibly cleared up now or has moved through the evaporator some. With me getting a little bit more of a frost line. 2. It may have a slow leak in that line behind the compressor as well . I’m thinking it’s possibly a combination of the 2 ? The older couple that I bought the fridge from had said that it worked good and that the husband had bought it 5 years ago at an auction and that it was mainly used around the Holliday’s when they had lots of company visiting and they didn’t have it running all the time. So that would mean the majority of the year it would sit turned off. The reason for selling it was that they had bought a new refrigerator for the kitchen and the previous one they move down to the basement. ( A very nice finished basement) They told me this one sat for about a year. the husband didn’t really want to sell it but the wife didn’t want the junk floating around the house and she made him sell it. They seemed sincere and she seemed really happy that it was going to a home where it was going to be used. She even commented how fast the freezer would freeze all 4 ice trays that she never had a freezer make ice so fast. so I don’t think they were lying or trying unload it on me . the husband really didn’t seem too excited about getting rid of it. he seemed kind of unhappy. But still maybe I should’ve had them plug it in and stood there and watched it for a while? One of my faults is that I can a be a little to trusting some times. But also thinking back to that day. We laid it on its side to get in the back of my friends SUV. The compressor is stabilized by four Springs two on each side so perhaps it shifted and maybe caused a leak in that line that runs behind it? I had read on previous tread. Someone had a fridge the wouldn’t leak unless it sat turned off for long periods of time. Maybe that’s what happened with this one ? Thanks again for all the helpful comments :-) AJ
It is interesting the backstory from the couple selling this to you. It really sounds like they were genuinely of the belief that it worked perfectly. Completely understand about being too trusting. I've had my feelings hurt and suffered some major losses for this same reason. The problem could have been that it was slowly leaking refrigerant over a long period of time, and finally reached the point where it affected the operation of the unit. Probably last time they used it, it was not affected to the degree it is now, possibly just a few passes of the evaporator weren't cooling.
There's one characteristic about it that doesn't seem to make sense with a leaking system. I don't see how it could go from "no cooling" to "small part of evaporator cooling" to "slightly more area cooling" if the problem was a symptom of the charge leaking out. Not saying it couldn't happen, just not understanding how it could happen.
It's sometimes hard to interpret the results of an electronic leak detector. Mine is about 10 years old, but the tip gets changed regularly. The new ones could be better, not sure. But - it is sensitive to lots of things other than refrigerant, it seems. I have a hard time "trusting" that an indication is really a leak unless the response of the detector is very clearly repeatable. If there's an indication, I always blow the area out with air to clear anything in the area which might be causing the indication, and then repeat the test. If, after several times, the test is fully repeatable - then I would say there is really a leak at that area.
Here's a somewhat technical question about the frost on the evaporator, which should help determine if it's related to oil in there. There are two lines from the evaporator. One is coming from the capillary tube, and the other is the return to the compressor. In your video, I se one line at the top inside the evaporator which is fully frosted. It looks like it's coming from the capillary tube. Not sure the other (suction) line shows in the video. So, my question is, can you see a frost line, through any possible path, showing that refrigerant is bypassing the non-cooling areas of the evaporator, and making it to the return line? In other words, a single line of frost going from the large frosted area, and making its way all the way to the suction line?
Now for more pure opinionation on my part. If this were sitting here in front of me, at this stage of troubleshooting, my next step would be to add a small amount of refrigerant. I would then observe if this moves the frost line further along the evaporator. If this does, it would indicate that a low charge is to blame. If not, then it would be back to square 1. If this confirmed a low charge, I would remove and weigh the charge and see what was actually in the unit. With the charge out, I would then put in nitrogen to the test pressure stated on the unit, and go over every soldered joint with a bright flashlight and soap water looking for any trace of seepage.
I forgot to mention in my last post . It has never been to the point of not cooling. The first time I turned it on. That top shelf got good and frosty and about 1/4 of the right side of the evaporator frosted up. The only changed has been on the right side of the evaporator, being that it when frosting up a 1/4 fourth of it to about 1/2 of it. Thanks AJ
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Post by turbokinetic on Jun 28, 2018 17:03:48 GMT
Here’s a quick video showing the path way of the lines. Sorry my allergies are acting up pretty bad today. It’s been raining like crazy here for days. So if I sound a little blah in that video, that’s why :-) youtu.be/RNBOcTGRncM As far as I can tell. There isn’t a complete path of frost to the return line. In this video a the refrigerators only been on for about five minutes so it may seem that the frost line is actually retreated back further but it’s just that it hasn’t been on that long. I sort of did that on purpose because I wanted to show at what point it seems the progress starts to slow down. Thanks AJ
Thanks, that video reveals a lot. You're right there doesn't seem to be a frost path showing any blocked parallel areas of the evaporator. One thing that DID stick out to me was the connection point of the return line to the top of the evaporator suction header. That looks like an old repair with epoxy. There were kits available in the past which were supposedly able to repair leaks in the evaporator with a putty compound. It's hard to see in the video, but that looks as if someone might have applied that putty there. Have you used the sniffer around that area?
forgot to mention in my last post . It has never been to the point of not cooling. The first time I turned it on. That top shelf got good and frosty and about 1/4 of the right side of the evaporator frosted up. The only changed has been on the right side of the evaporator, being that it when frosting up a 1/4 fourth of it to about 1/2 of it. Thanks AJ Sorry about that, I misunderstood something.
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 17:19:26 GMT
Here’s a quick video showing the path way of the lines. Sorry my allergies are acting up pretty bad today. It’s been raining like crazy here for days. So if I sound a little blah in that video, that’s why :-) youtu.be/RNBOcTGRncM As far as I can tell. There isn’t a complete path of frost to the return line. In this video a the refrigerators only been on for about five minutes so it may seem that the frost line is actually retreated back further but it’s just that it hasn’t been on that long. I sort of did that on purpose because I wanted to show at what point it seems the progress starts to slow down. Thanks AJ
Thanks, that video reveals a lot. You're right there doesn't seem to be a frost path showing any blocked parallel areas of the evaporator. One thing that DID stick out to me was the connection point of the return line to the top of the evaporator suction header. That looks like an old repair with epoxy. There were kits available in the past which were supposedly able to repair leaks in the evaporator with a putty compound. It's hard to see in the video, but that looks as if someone might have applied that putty there. Have you used the sniffer around that area?
forgot to mention in my last post . It has never been to the point of not cooling. The first time I turned it on. That top shelf got good and frosty and about 1/4 of the right side of the evaporator frosted up. The only changed has been on the right side of the evaporator, being that it when frosting up a 1/4 fourth of it to about 1/2 of it. Thanks AJ Sorry about that, I misunderstood something.
I did use the sniffer in that area and it didn’t pick any thing up. I also noticed that dark patch around the return connection . It feels pretty smooth for having putty on it. But then again if it’s an old repair . People use to take there time to do Quality work. So it may have been smoothed out really well. The only place it went off was around the compressor and I haven’t been able to get it to go off again since. I wonder if by chance it’s picking up the heat from the compressor? It was pretty warm when I checked it .
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 19:15:33 GMT
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 28, 2018 23:11:28 GMT
Ok. It took some doing but I was able to get the back cover off with out taking the condenser off. Man the last 2 screws at the bottom were a pain ! Turbo had mentioned there maybe a bulb some place along the capillary tube. now that I’ve gotten a good look at things I’m gonna say this refrigerator does not have one of those. I’ve seen them on other refrigerators in the past . Unless it would happened to be in that conduit tube that the return and capillary tubes run through. Now that I can really listen to the lines . I find it interesting that I can not hear anything at all going through that return line . I can hear some hissing from the capillary tube but that’s it. Even when shutting it down. I can’t hear anything at all settling in that return line . The gas sniffer isn’t picking anything up In there either. I haven’t put any soap or water in that spot cause I don’t want to get the insulation wet. I did heat the newly exposed lines up some with the heat gun but you can see in the picture there’s an electrical wire running through there and I don’t want to burn it, it started to smoke a little bit so that was a red flag to stop! Here are some pictures of what’s behind that cover. And another shot behind the condenser.
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Post by birkie on Jun 28, 2018 23:27:27 GMT
Great! You found the capillary tube. As others have said or implied, it's either low on refrigerant, or there is a restriction at that point (that is the most likely place). The symptoms very similar for either scenario. I think we can safely rule out the evaporator being restricted or oil logged. So it'll be interesting to see if heat in that location helps. If not, then I echo the advice of turbokinetic that the easiest thing to do would be to start adding refrigerant and see if the frost improves, otherwise pull and weigh the charge. If it turns out to have had a full charge, then a restriction is definite.
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Post by ajc31980 on Jun 29, 2018 2:40:05 GMT
I heated lines/tubes up and even heated the evaporator again for good measure. I was pretty aggressive this time and no changes :-(. So I guess it’s time to attempt adding coolant. ( said with a slightly nervousness voice ) I need help putting together a proper shopping list . I figure first thing to find would be a can of R12. I’ve been browsing eBay . I saw 2 12 oz cans listed for $75 yuck. Haha. Along with a bunch of other listing at even higher prices . There is a disclaimer about being properly licensed and by buying it it’s my electronic signature that I am licensed. Do they really check on the stuff? I figure I should get one of those manifold gauges? Do I need a special tap for the can of R-12? . And if comes down vacuuming the system out. I need a vacuum pump? And a tank of some kind to put the current charge in ? Because not only would it be nice to save the current charge.I really wouldn’t feel good about dumping it into the atmosphere if it truly is bad for it. Plus it’s illegal.
Also the service ports , they need a hermetic service kit to be able to access them? I think it was ckafan that gave me the link for one on eBay. But wasn’t sure if it was the proper kit or not . Also they have what looks like a plastic cover over them . And I how do I remove that cover ? I have a feeling my credit card is going to be hurting till this is all said and done with lol. If I missed anything or anyone’s comments. I apologize. As I said in an earlier post refrigeration is foreign territory to me and pretty much this is all new. I’m trying my very best to absorb all this new information. The most experience I have with refrigerators is replacing a relay and that was easy unplug it and plug in the new one. And once I added Freon to an older car of mine that was pretty easy. It was a kit that came with the gauge and a hose, popped a gauge on the top of the can, hooked the hose up to the The system and pull the trigger till the gauge read the right amount of pressure and it was good to go. Also I have to add in a short story . When I was 14 a friend and I attempted to fix one of those small refrigerators like you’d see in an office or take in a camper. we were messing around and we tried to pull the compressor out of the back not knowing any better busted a line and filled my parents basement with Freon. My mother, Who is walking down the basement steps with a basket of laundry just as this happened, was less than thrilled LOL. Oh and my friends younger sister is standing there saying “I told them not to do it ! “ Thought maybe you all mite get a little chuckle out of that one . :-) Thanks AJ.
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