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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 10, 2020 6:48:44 GMT
Hey folks! Paul (csulaguy) made the trip from TX to AL this week. His DR3 and Frigidaire are headed home - but during the visit, we're tinkering with one of his DR1's.
Paul brought two nonworking DR1 cooling units to try to get running. One of them is totally a burnout, with one motor lead 10Ω to ground; and two with hundreds of KΩ to each other or ground. The other has perfect motor resistance and no ground faults and runs nicely... but doesn't cool.
We tried all the tricks - hot water, heat gun, tapping on the float etc. It wouldn't work. The worrisome part was the add-on line piercing tap.
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First we let out the remaining SO2.... and there wasn't much. Then the piercing tap came off and was plugged and soldered.
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Then we evacuated it and put 3 cans of R152A in it..... but it didn't work. The float was completely obstructed. No amount of heating and beating and cussing and fussing made it flow.
I cut the line below the float and tried building different reaming tools. Nothing cleared the orifice. Then, I soldered an adapter fitting on the line, and pumped hydraulic oil in from a Porta-Power pump. The copper line split without clearing the blockage. So that float was REALLY clogged.
So, we took the float out of the burned out unit. The outlet tube from the float was rotten badly and cracked; so I replaced it with salvaged piece of line from the junk bin. The "new" float ready to go in the deck.
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We got a vacancy.....
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While the opportunity was present we put a new coat of rust conversion paint on the bottom of the deck.
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Once the paint dried, new wiring went in.
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Then the insulation boards from the burned out unit went in place.
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All insulation in place.
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Then the evaporator plate went in. We cheated and put a low-side port in place to assist with troubleshooting.
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Salvaged float in place.
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Now the vacuum pump is running.... being guarded by Elsa.
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Hopeful for frost tomorrow!
Sincerely, David
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Post by ckfan on Jan 10, 2020 12:06:24 GMT
Wow. Quite a bit of work to get that one going. Good work as always. New wires and rustproofing? So fancy!
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 10, 2020 14:31:12 GMT
Wow. Quite a bit of work to get that one going. Good work as always. New wires and rustproofing? So fancy! Thanks Ray! But in reality; not so much fancy; just making one good one out of two junkers! There was no reason to leave the old wiring in there while it was completely exposed, though.  |
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 11, 2020 5:16:21 GMT
So last night and today we managed to get the DR1 going!
There were trials and tribulations. During the repairs, we tried to use the nicer-looking evaporator from the parts unit. Unfortunately, it was plugged. We couldn't clear it with anything. I finally tried a "coming of Jesus" approach and soldered up an adapter to connect the mighty 4000 PSI pressure washer pump directly to the evaporator inlet. The result was blowing the copper line off the evaporator and bulging the stainless steel evaporator... without clearing the blockage! I don't have any idea what could be in there.
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That meant the old evaporator had to be cleaned and re-used. Just some more time spent but not a big deal.
Then the control base went on. .JPG)
And the wiring connected.... .JPG)
And the control.... .JPG)
Once all the electrics (minus the heater) were in place; it was time for charging. About 25 ounces of R152A was installed. The results were.... .JPG)
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So this one seems to be quite healthy! It was cooling good enough to cycle the control off, without a cabinet, on a 70 degree day with high humidity!
I did deconstruct the old float chamber for learning purposes:
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The repaired DR1 is going to be reunited with its cabinet and put to use! Sincerely David
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Post by csulaguy on Jan 12, 2020 15:25:18 GMT
A few clarifications - I'm going to use this DR-1-F16 on a cabinet that's already restored. This will be used with my backup kitchen fridge (currently just a DR-1-D16).
Both units I brought to David had stainless evaps; the dead unit was a DR-1-E16 (which has a Type D control), and the working one with the bad float and nasty evap deck, was a DR-1-F16. We reused the deck from the dead DR-1, because it was nicer, which meant new stainless bolts, washers and nuts to hold the evap to the lower deck, prior to reconnecting the refrigerant lines.
I need to get all the paint cleaned off and get this thing painted, as I'm very eager to start using it as my daily driver. I'd wanted a DR-1 with a stainless evap for a while!
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 12, 2020 16:34:14 GMT
A few clarifications - I'm going to use this DR-1-F16 on a cabinet that's already restored. This will be used with my backup kitchen fridge (currently just a DR-1-D16). Both units I brought to David had stainless evaps; the dead unit was a DR-1-E16 (which has a Type D control), and the working one with the bad float and nasty evap deck, was a DR-1-F16. We reused the deck from the dead DR-1, because it was nicer, which meant new stainless bolts, washers and nuts to hold the evap to the lower deck, prior to reconnecting the refrigerant lines. I need to get all the paint cleaned off and get this thing painted, as I'm very eager to start using it as my daily driver. I'd wanted a DR-1 with a stainless evap for a while! It was a shame that the evap from the dead one was so blocked! That was a disappointment to have to take it all back apart LOL! |
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Post by csulaguy on Jan 13, 2020 5:16:10 GMT
I'll see about getting some pictures tomorrow. I'm recharging a battery for my Milwaukee M12; I did some sanding, paint stripping, and now the wire brush on a drill, so I can get it ready for a quick paint job (primer, then a coat of appliance epoxy). Should I do a nicer job? Probably. But I also want to start using it, and I won't have anyone to help me lift it up in place for a while.
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Post by elec573 on Jan 14, 2020 4:56:38 GMT
Nice work as always,must be the infamous black crud clogging it up .
Just wondering if on the blocked evaporator if some heat might help loosen things up .
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 14, 2020 14:34:56 GMT
Nice work as always,must be the infamous black crud clogging it up . Just wondering if on the blocked evaporator if some heat might help loosen things up . That's an idea. On another unit, I tried that with a heat gun and wasn't able to clear it. That one had a partial blockage where the frost would start about halfway down the evaporator. I may try removing that evap and back-flushing it to see if that can clear it. |
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Post by elec573 on Jan 15, 2020 2:36:32 GMT
Don’t know if you have an old oven setting around you could use , put the whole evaporator in it and apply some heat . Otherwise I could see the blockage moving one point to another . It’s a thought. Enjoy your videos!
Was wondering how the seat was in the float you removed , and what was the blockage assuming the black crud ?
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Post by csulaguy on Jan 15, 2020 5:26:44 GMT
It actually wasn't black crude, but corrosion. We had a small spec of copper corrosion come out.
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Post by turbokinetic on Jan 15, 2020 14:58:42 GMT
It actually wasn't black crude, but corrosion. We had a small spec of copper corrosion come out. Yep, it was green powdery residue. |
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Post by csulaguy on Feb 15, 2020 7:46:08 GMT
I was typing a reply, and I accidentally closed my tab.
Since I don't feel like typing all of it over again...
I measured run times today. On times are about 2:45 minutes. Off times are 14-16 minutes. Cabinet temp is approximately 35 degrees. Wattage starts around 200w and tapers down to about 175-180w before the on cycle completes. The machine sounds smooth and closer to a CK with R152a refrigerant. You can also hear the refrigerant violently boiling in the evaporator, but it's a different sound than that of an SO2 DR1.
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