side-by-side Ferm chamber/kegerator just bit the dust

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

_JP_

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
310
Reaction score
13
Location
Woodstock
UGH! - last night, I noticed the LCD's were out on my temp controllers. Hmm, tripped breaker? Opened fridge door, and light is on. The circuit I had powering the controllers is dead (which also fed the compressor start/stop). No problem, I'll rewire it to use the light's 120V circuit. Not using the freezer light, so load should be OK. Compressor comes on (after 10min delay), everything seems back to normal.

This morning, freezer with 1 keg in it, is at 55°C (133°F) and ferm chamber, with 1 carboy, a secondary in it, is at 45°C (113°F).

Maybe I bypassed a safety to the compressor by using a different power source to run it? Where do I start with this? I know controls, but not small refrigeration circuits (no wiring diagram on this guy).
 
UGH! - last night, I noticed the LCD's were out on my temp controllers. Hmm, tripped breaker? Opened fridge door, and light is on. The circuit I had powering the controllers is dead (which also fed the compressor start/stop). No problem, I'll rewire it to use the light's 120V circuit. Not using the freezer light, so load should be OK. Compressor comes on (after 10min delay), everything seems back to normal.

This morning, freezer with 1 keg in it, is at 55°C (133°F) and ferm chamber, with 1 carboy, a secondary in it, is at 45°C (113°F).

Maybe I bypassed a safety to the compressor by using a different power source to run it? Where do I start with this? I know controls, but not small refrigeration circuits (no wiring diagram on this guy).

If the compressor is running and it's not cooling, it may have lost the refrigerant charge. The other possibility is that the compressor is shot and even though still running, it's not compressing anything. I'm not an HVAC guy, so that's about all I can help with.
 
OK everyone - LESSON LEARNED:

UNPLUG THE DEFROSTER!

Looks like I was powering everything off the output of a timer, which every month or so, decides it's time to defrost. So, it powered up the defroster circuit, which cut power to the circuit my temp controllers were on (the compressor enable). The defroster didn't receive a signal from the thermostat (I guess?) so it never turned off, hence the freezer section getting to 133°F.

Now the defroster's unplugged (it's a heating element that encircles the evaporator coil in the freezer), so I should be all good.

If you were using this as a ferm chamber, you could use that heating element, and evaporator fan, as heat in the winter time.
 
Back
Top