Broken mini fridge??

Just picked up a Haier 4.5 cubic foot mini fridge on CL for about half of what they normally go for. I was bending the freezer tray out of the way (probably not going slow enough) and I heard a hissing noise. Turns out I put a kink in the hose and pinched it.

What can I use to fix this with and is there a way to put some regular r134 from an autoparts store back in?

 

Take it to the dump.

Thats all its good for.

From what research i did, you have to have specialized tools to pressurize coolant lines when you fill them. Tools that will cost more than the entire fridge.

 

If you know someone in the refrigeration biz who will work for beer, they may be able to help but to hire someone with the tools, equipment and knowledge would probably cost more that a new one.

I do this kind of work, and I like working on junk but I don't think I'd even want to mess with it!

 

Pretty much garbage now. You'd first have to somehow fix the line you cracked like brazing or silver soldiering maybe, and if that holds, you'd have to find a way to vacuum the system and then refill. Those units usually don't have any fittings to allow vacuuming and refilling; they're sealed basically with the intention that it will never leak (and usually they don't). And if it was new enough to use 134A, if it's older it might have been R12.

 

Toast. I've done exactly the same thing. Sad, I know.