Sanyo BC 1206 Odd Noise?

Just put together a 1206-3 and am concerned that the evaporator inside the unit makes sounds like water running. Most evaporators make a subtle hissing sound. Cause for concern? Any 1206 users noticed this, or can confirm that their unit doesn't do this?

Seems normal to me.

To all new BC1206 buyers:

I was concerned that I heard liquid sounds in my evaporator (inside the refrigerator). Sanyo support was very thin, and essentially said that any noises it made were normal.

Beverage Factory was very accommodating, and offered an in place swap out with free shipping. The new unit is here and making the gentle hiss one expects from the evaporator of a small cooler.

A 'water trickling down a drain' sound coming from a evaporator is a sign of an over serviced system. Over serviced freon systems can seem to perform, but if that fluid is able to get back to the compressor then you have a failure waiting to happen.

Thanks to Beverage Factory for taking the matter seriously, heads up to anyone about to get a new unit. Like all other small refrigerators, you do indeed want to hear a very slight hiss from the inside of the box when the compressor is running.

Just curious to what you mean by 'over serviced'? I have this sound in my kegerator but it seems to work fine. How would fluid (Freon) get back to the compressor and cause an issue?

I guess I was under the assumption that if the fridge gets cool, its fine. Where did you get this information from if you don't mind me asking?

I service older freon coolers on yachts. R-12 and it's family but the cooling cycle is still the same. The freon is always being changed from a liquid to a gas and back. The compressor squeezes it and passes it to the condenser which are the hot coils on the back. Heat is lost and the gas condenses into a liquid at room temperature at high pressure. It then passes inside the box and goes through a very tiny orifice which causes a large pressure drop and in almost all cases converts the liquid to a gas converting that big pressure change into a big temperature change. (spelling out latent heat/change of states not withstanding)

The danger I was concerned with is what happens when the freon doesn't completely boil ( convert to a gas ) and gets back to the compressor in its liquid state. Compressors can squeeze gas but for all practical purpose cannot squeeze a liquid. How much liquid is getting to the compressor will determine how soon the compressor will die prematurely. The biggest cause for this problem (and really the only variable in a well designed machine) is how much freon was put in the unit. Not enough and you get boiling too soon often seen as lines frosting on the back of the fridge. Too much and you get late boiling or no boiling at all, showing degraded performance, louder than designed pump noise, and/or the sound of liquid trickling down a drain in the evaporator.

I just proofed my comment and realize I left a big question hanging. "If you service freon then why didn't you just fix the one you had?"

That is a fair question. The BC 1206 is built simply serviced and sealed by crimping. Unless they have come up with something really new, there is no way to service the unit as is. Of course a servicing port can always be installed and this is often how they get serviced the first time they get some work done. But that would of course void my warranty. So I took the lawyerly route.

Would that unit have continued to work? Yes, no doubt. How long? Who knows? Probably longer than it would take me to eventually break the door off or somehow otherwise mistreat it, but it may have died in a matter of weeks. In fairness the guys at the end of the production line are probably padding the servicing just a little to account for leakage over time, I do.