Dead Freezer

Hey All--

I pickup up a freezer at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Was told by the people, who are reputable people in the community (small town), that it worked. Plugged it in, ran for about 12 hours and died. Did some testing, resoldering, etc. and determined it was the compressor. Not worth fixing. Live and learn.

Any suggestions on how I might convert this into modified son of the fermentation chamber or something comparable? Its a 17.1 CF upright freezer.

Thanks,
Dtrain

are you sure it is the compressor? compressors are often condemned when the problem is really the start relay/cap (easy fix)... did you ohm out the windings, check for shorts/grounds, etc before giving up on the compressor?

You got some links for troubleshooting?

I have a HUGE freezer in storage at work that I claimed before it got junked, but havent started looking at yet.

I found these links and ran the tests. My father-in-law is a pretty shrewd electronics guys and we did several tests from the links below. The starter relay checked out and the compressor tested fine. We bypassed the overload protector (as test) and it kicked on but then the compressor started to make a funny noise. So our natural assumption was the compressor. I tested the overload protector and it checked out, too. Not sure where to go from here.



http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appliance/refrigerator/refrigerator.php

Your trouble shooting sounds good. as a final check, do you have an ammeter? check the run amps on the compressor when you bypass the OL and compare to nameplate.

After reading that link I don't know if I agree with some of the instructions, for example:

"Now move the first probe to a different terminal and test the other two terminals with the other probe. Finally, move the first probe to the last terminal and test each of the other terminals with the other probe. Every test should have continuity with the multitester displaying zero ohms. If the compressor motor does not pass all of these tests, the compressor will require professional service."

I haven't worked on a small hermetic since tech school but I think when ohming out the compressor windings, if you are seeing zero ohms, you have a shorted winding, there should be some resistance.

gratefuldisc said:

I haven't worked on a small hermetic since tech school but I think when ohming out the compressor windings, if you are seeing zero ohms, you have a shorted winding, there should be some resistance.

Click to expand...

I haven't ohm'd out a compressor lately, but the VFD motors I work on nearly daily will read 1 ohm or less between windings.

But best bet is google the compressor and get the manual for it.

Thanks for the info, everyone. Unfortunately my father-in-law has headed back home (3 hours away) and he's got the know-how. Even if the compressor is bad, the freezer is quite old (from the 1970's i'm sure) and it won't be worth it for me to fix it.

But because it is large, well insulated box I was hoping to modify it some way to make it into a fermentation chiller. You think it is too big? How about using a small chuck of dry ice to keep it cool in there?

The_Dtrain said:

Thanks for the info, everyone. Unfortunately my father-in-law has headed back home (3 hours away) and he's got the know-how. Even if the compressor is bad, the freezer is quite old (from the 1970's i'm sure) and it won't be worth it for me to fix it.

But because it is large, well insulated box I was hoping to modify it some way to make it into a fermentation chiller. You think it is too big? How about using a small chuck of dry ice to keep it cool in there?

Click to expand...

How about ripping the guts out of a water cooler or small fridge and use that to chill it?