My fridge died....I think, how do I check the condencer?

I have been hooking my ranco up to the garage fridge to do fermenting lately. On my last beer, I did this and the fridge stopped cooling after like 5 days. The light would come on when it got to the right temp but the condenser would not kick in and hence the no cooling.

When in that case, I unplugged the fridge, moved the fermentors back to a water batch and gave the fridge a 24 hour break. I plugged it back in and was working again.

Now I am on another batch, about 5 days in and the same thing although I can't get it to come back on but I am not as patient this time as I have a lager going.

Does anyone know how to troubleshoot this situation? Any ideas? I am getting fed up with this crappy thing.

Does the refridgerator work normally without the Ranco control?

Is the original temperature control holding the unit out. Set the inside controller to it's lowest (coldest) setting and use your Ranco to control box temperature.

Salute!

bmckee56 said:

Does the refridgerator work normally without the Ranco control?

Is the original temperature control holding the unit out. Set the inside controller to it's lowest (coldest) setting and use your Ranco to control box temperature.

Salute!

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The cooling portion of the fridge will not come on even if I plug it straight into the wall. It is over 70 in the fridge now so I am pretty sure it would turn on. I don't hear any noises or anything coming.

Humann, I'm in the same boat. I don't have a temp controller, but I was using the beer fridge to store the bottled beer. When I opened the fridge one day, it was just blowing out regular air. Does anyone know if I just need more freon, or is the whole compressor shot??

Check the defrost timer, it probably died or has not cycled compressor back on yet. Most companies put it at the bottom front behind kick plate, put a screwdriver in center and rotate until compressor kicks in again.

karmabrew said:

Humann, I'm in the same boat. I don't have a temp controller, but I was using the beer fridge to store the bottled beer. When I opened the fridge one day, it was just blowing out regular air. Does anyone know if I just need more freon, or is the whole compressor shot??

Click to expand...

Well, I would be further than I am now if it actually put out air, but I have absolutely nothing except the light, which doesn't really help for cooling

kladue said:

Check the defrost timer, it probably died or has not cycled compressor back on yet. Most companies put it at the bottom front behind kick plate, put a screwdriver in center and rotate until compressor kicks in again.

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I didn't see anything to dial with a screwdriver. There was a plastic piece that looks like it was holding a metal cylinder looking thing to the center frame. It would twist one way, would not go back though, so I gave it a twist and plugged it back and bam, back in business. I don't know if that did it or it just needed more time, but it is back on again.

humann_brewing said:

I didn't see anything to dial with a screwdriver. There was a plastic piece that looks like it was holding a metal cylinder looking thing to the center frame. It would twist one way, would not go back though, so I gave it a twist and plugged it back and bam, back in business. I don't know if that did it or it just needed more time, but it is back on again.

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Awesome humann, glad to see you're back in business! I think my compressor just plain died.. I've got an older GE fridge..oh well.

The defrost timer runs when the compressor runs, usually they have an 8 hour cycle time, with the controller shutting of power they can make for a looong defrost time.

I guess that is one of the advantages to using a manual defrost freezer for fermenting & keezering.

if you need to trouble shoot your fridge or freezer check out Refrigerator manuals, user manuals, owners manuals, how-to instructions and help.

by the way, this has happened a few times since this occurrence and all it takes is a little twist of this plastic piece that I referred to. In case anyone comes up to this thread in the future.

humann_brewing said:

by the way, this has happened a few times since this occurrence and all it takes is a little twist of this plastic piece that I referred to. In case anyone comes up to this thread in the future.

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The plastic piece is probably the start relay on the compressor. The modern solid state relays are pieces of crap and die all the time. It's being "fixed" each time by getting a bunch of the busted ss material jammed up in it. A new relay should cost <$10. Take a loot at this article: Refrigerator Warming Up and Makes an Occasional Clicking Noise | Refrigerator Repair | Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man

To remove it you usually just give it a good tug. You can also carefully pry it off with a small screwdriver. Make sure you do this with the power off. Last thing you want is something kicking the circuit on with a screwdriver jammed into it.