Repair of CK-30-C16

Mar 1, 2019 16:44:01 GMT tomv said:

Hello Gents-

I have a CK-30-C16, We refer to it as "The Fat Boy". Love this unit!
Had it for years, but this past Sunday, Unit runs all day, can maintain about 40 deg. to 38 deg. runs about 270Amps to 310Amps.
Unit does get warm to the touch and there is frost, but will run for about an hour, shuts off for 6 minutes, turns to water on the evaporator, runs agian for an hour or so??. Just for your info, Frost is at the very top of the evaporator. Im not sure what happened?
When working, This unit would run for a 1-½ minute per every 20 minutes per hour, Not bad. The float would get warn to the touch as well BTW.
Is there someone in the USA that can look/service this unit??, Willing to travel!.

Thanks so much for your timeand help. Tom

Hello Tom. That is a strange symptom it's showing. The frost only at the top of the evaporator symptom is really odd. It almost sounds like hot gas is flowing into the evaporator after shutdown of the unit and causing the defrosting.

What part of the country are you in?

Mar 1, 2019 22:21:11 GMT tomv said:

Im in the Rockford ILL USA area.
Its in the basement, with about 62-deg. ambient temperture.
Its running at 36.6-deg., (Cabinet temperature) but has been running for hours, Im trying to be specific as possible.
The top shelf has 1/3 frost on it, Bottom shelf has frost. Again the unit and float is warm, top of unit though is cold, That to me is not normal!. When I felt the unit in the past, the unit was always warm, including the bumb on top.
BTW, WOW We can take this many ways I guess, LOL, Sorry for that.


Im not sure if I can take a photo and uplaod to this forum??.

Thanks for your reply Turbokinetic, Tom

The details are a good thing, no harm in including them. That's a refreshing thing since so many don't include enough and it makes it hard to help out.

The forum seems to have no remaining storage space for pictures, so you would need to host them on an external site. I have a small private server for the pictures in my recent posts. I sent you the PM with my e-mail, so that if you wanted, you could e-mail a picture of the frost line, since pictures aren't working.

I believe there are members in IL who are very competent to look at your fridge. It would be a long haul to Alabama!

On a CK, the housing of the unit is on the suction (low pressure) side of the system. It does have oil spraying against the inside of the housing, which should be warm. If that is not happening, it seems that the oil may not be circulating well. I also believe that the CK depends on oil pressure for the unloader to function.

You might, possibly, have oil trapped in the evaporator. Have you tried putting a couple bags of hot water in the evaporator to help drive everything back into the compressor dome? That often helps these to start working well again.  The unit may suffer from the cool ambient temps of the basement and eventually, the oil has migrated to the evaporator.

It won't hurt to try the hot water bag trick on it.

Sincerely,

David

Mar 1, 2019 22:45:44 GMT tomv said:

David

How about I put a small electric heat plate under the evaporator??. Im not sure for how long though??


Tom

I'm not sure how that would work. They say that having a direct heat source touching the evaporator is harmful since it is a localized, pinpoint heat source. The water bags or water pans are more spread-out, plus the water has a lot of thermal mass and will put a sustained load on the cooling system.

They did make defrosting heaters, but they were in a cage that kept the element off the evaporator.

I have put warm air heaters in them before, though. Something like a little "cube" ceramic heater. That eventually got the evaporator good and hot.

Mar 1, 2019 22:57:06 GMT tomv said:

Ok Got it, Should the unit be running with the heater? or off. BTW, I have the heater on the shelf below the evaporator, NOT touching.

Tom

Everyone has their own way of doing it. I like to start with it off, and allow the hot air heater to get the evaporator "good and hot" first. Then, with heater still going, put the Ziploc bags of hot water in there and then at that point, power on the cooling unit.