R.I.P. 3 year old Whirlpool

WTF.. my whirlpool chest freezer is dying and it's only going on 4 years old. The Ranco is shooting for 40F and the compressor sounds like it's running for ever but it can only get it down to 48F. The Ambient is only 55F so this isn't looking good. I have the ASD set to 8 minutes so it's not like I've been short cycling it. Dammit.. I don't want to build another one.

Sorry to hear your plight, they just don't make'em like they used to...

Have you cleaned the back of the unit? Dust can cause problems. You ought to get a vintage Perlick...they are beautiful and can take a beating

Sorry to hear it Bobby.....that really sucks! Hopefully some of the others' suggestions will help revive the unit, but it doesn't sound good at all. My biggest fear is that the chest freezer I used for my coffin keezer goes out and I have to tear the whole frickin' thing apart and rebuild it. My wife dragged me out on black friday and Walmart had the exact 7 cu.ft. GE that I used for my build for $120. There were several sitting there in the isle and I almost bought one for a back up if my current one fails, but we were visiting my parents for the weekend and had our small SUV, so I didn't have a way of transporting it. Hearing stories like this makes me want to purchase another and just leave it in the box in my storage area of the basement for when the time comes. Good luck....I hope it works out for you.

In your case it may end up being more reasonable to have it fixed if it ever dies.... unless you do buy a backup before they are discontinued.

I don't know why dust would matter in the chest style freezers. I think all the heat dissipation occurs just behind the outer skin.

What's the longest anyone has used a chest freezer as a keezer?

I fear a bunch of these threads popping up in the next couple years as it seems they really aren't designed to cycle on/off as much as it does in a keezer set up.

I didn't expect an early failure because I always have at least 20 gallons of liquid mass in there. It didn't cycle any more than it would have with a few frozen turkeys that I know of.

Bobby_M said:

I didn't expect an early failure because I always have at least 20 gallons of liquid mass in there. It didn't cycle any more than it would have with a few frozen turkeys that I know of.

Click to expand...

That's a good point. I guess I'm just more conscious of my keezer cycling since it is in the house, versus the chest freezer in the garage...

I am betting the keezers cycle more than they would if used an an actual freezer.

WHen the freezer's thermostat is in control, it might be allowing a +/- 10* swing around the set-point, but it always stays "frozen".

With the external thermostats, the range is going to be tighter and it will cycle more.

Maybe?

I dunno. When my kegs are empty, the keezer's unplugged. Granted, that's not exactly a majority of the time, but I give her a break when I can. Mine's going on 4 years, bought it used... time will tell, I guess. This is a good thing to be aware of. If my keezer craps out, I'm going to go with a fridge next time. Sure, less capacity, but it's designed to operate much closer to the temp range for serving homebrew. No worries about cycling/condensation etc. So it goes.

I have a whirlpool. I did NOT spend the cash on a 5-year warranty so I'm guaranteed to have issues. Good news is, Lowe's is great about delivering and hauling away when the time comes.
I only know this cuz I murdered my first W.P. inside the first year.

She may not be dead yet, unplug her for for a day or so if you can stand it.
This will allow all the refrigerant to settle and collect in the compressor, then fire it up and try again.

Mine is older than I am. She occasionally needs a short break...

mredge73 said:

She may not be dead yet, unplug her for for a day or so if you can stand it.
This will allow all the refrigerant to settle and collect in the compressor, then fire it up and try again.

Mine is older than I am. She occasionally needs a short break...

Click to expand...

In a slightly different respect, I have an ancient R-12 Sanyo mini fridge that I converted into a ferm chamber, and I feared I killed it by allowing it to short cycle for a few days when I had nothing fermenting in it. (the fan circulating the air was making it cycle on and off far too frequently due to the exposed temp probe) It started to make a strange noise when it was trying to fire up, and when I unplugged it a loud clunk came from the compressor. I thought I killed it.

A few days later I plugged it back in and it it started cycling fine. No worries.

I think mredge is onto something.

Ok, unplugged and I'll try her again on Sunday night. I've also heard a hammer to the compressor can sometimes unstick it but because I can hear the compressor running, I don't think that's the problem. It would be nice if I could get the same exact model because the conversion is a matter of swapping the hinges to the new body. Hey, I guess I found one more reason collar-on-the-lid can be beneficial.

She's dead. After 5 days of rest, I plugged it back in and the A419 read 58F and kicked the compressor on. It sounds like it's running as normal but after 2 hours it's still at 58F which is just under what the garage ambient was.

Whirlpool has a 10 year warranty on the sealed cooling unit but admittedly we're violating that policy by converting to a kegerator. I doubt I could get it back to looking like a proper-use freezer but then again, I wonder if an authorized repairman would even care. I mean, it's not money out of his pocket right?

And this is why I went to a used commercial Beverage Air Kegerator after my keezer died. If needed I can purchase/repair the actual cooling unit. It comes slides right out after disconnecting a few wires.

Bobby_M said:

Whirlpool has a 10 year warranty on the sealed cooling unit but admittedly we're violating that policy by converting to a kegerator. I doubt I could get it back to looking like a proper-use freezer but then again, I wonder if an authorized repairman would even care. I mean, it's not money out of his pocket right?

Click to expand...

Find a way to get it to me and I'll fix it for you....or find a local and hope
he likes beer

You know what's super frustrating? Someone on Craigslist posts the exact freezer I need for a great price and they won't return emails. WTF. What a tease. It's probably a one time opportunity I have to just swap the collar/lid and be back in business.

I dub thee revived. I'm in the middle of my chest freezer woes. I moved it, cleaned it by spraying it with a hose, then turned it on its side to get the water out. Which may have been one maneuver too many. Tried to fire it up, no luck. Just waited 24 hrs to try again. Please lord use your healing powers to help my beer stay cold.

This thread got revived just like my chest freezer.
No pulse.

diodeart said:

This thread got revived just like my chest freezer.
No pulse.

Click to expand...

Odds are you damaged the overload you can get a "3 N 1" at any appliance repair shop they just plug in pretty easy. I keep a few on hand as I have 5 fridges/ freezers. My lagering fridge is a fridge that I picked up not working but in great shape installed a "3 N 1" 2 years ago sits in my garage in the heat of Florida and running strong

beaksnbeer said:

Odds are you damaged the overload you can get a "3 N 1" at any appliance repair shop they just plug in pretty easy. I keep a few on hand as I have 5 fridges/ freezers. My lagering fridge is a fridge that I picked up not working but in great shape installed a "3 N 1" 2 years ago sits in my garage in the heat of Florida and running strong

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I really didn't want to give up on it. After i moved it i realized it fits 7 kegs with a collar. I have dreams of my 7 taps on the wall that is shared with the garage. Right now i have 7 kegs warming up. Thank god we keep getting blizzards and freezing temps.:cross: