Chest freezer died

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Cregar

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Hopefully someone might have a way I can fix my chest freezer.

I purchased it about 5 years ago to use as a fermentation chamber. For some reason it stopped getting cold. The compressor(????) get very warm when I try and use it.
Any suggestion on what might have happen and a way to fix it.

Th
 
You might have a relay or capacitor problem. You probably have a refrigerant leak problem though. Refrigerant leak and components in the refrigerant circuit (the compressor) are basically not repairable at the household appliance level.

One thing is for sure though. You do not have a freon leak. (Because freon is a DuPont trademark for refrigerant that has become a dirty word and they abandoned many years ago)
 
Gartywood said:
You might have a relay or capacitor problem. You probably have a refrigerant leak problem though. Refrigerant leak and components in the refrigerant circuit (the compressor) are basically not repairable at the household appliance level.

Have to disagree with this. They are repairable, I do appliance repairs and do repair them. Will the repair be affordable? Depends on the problem. Start relay/capacitor problem $150-250, accessible leak $300-400, compressor replacement $600-800, un-accessible leak - buy a new freezer. Only way to know for sure is to have an appliance repair person give you an estimate. Call some appliance repair shops (look under appliance repairs NOT sales) in your area and ask how much to come do an estimate and make a decision if you want to pay that much to find out, or just go buy a new one and trash the old one.
 
Craigslist. Price of one off there will be about as much as a repair man will charge you to come look at it. That is where I got mine for $100.
 
YEa.. I was thinking it would probably cost more to fix then what I paid for it new ($150.00)

Wonder if its insulated enough to keep cool (64-68 degrees)with just adding a bag of ice.
 
YEa.. I was thinking it would probably cost more to fix then what I paid for it new ($150.00)

Wonder if its insulated enough to keep cool (64-68 degrees)with just adding a bag of ice.


Yes you can

When I was building my keezer the first freezer I bought crapped out-same as yours. Until I found another, I put a frozen gallon jug of ice in it in the morning and one at night and I maintained good fermentation temps in my garage in the middle of the summer. It would have been a lot of work to try to lager in it, but I could keep my beer in the mid 60s pretty easily.
 
Since the OP's question has been answered, I'll do a thread jack and ask a similar question.

Moved my keezer to the basement and it's been struggling to stay cold ever since. Holds the 42 degrees that the controller is set at, but it runs way more than it use to. Seems to be on almost all the time. I keep thinking it's going to die, but it's been this way for almost six months with no change. I'd think that if it was a coolant leak, it would have died by now. Any ideas?
 
Replace it or fix it because it's wasting electricity and costing you money.

I just junked an old fridge with broken seals for this reason. PECO gave me $15 for it under their recycling program.
 
Yes you can

When I was building my keezer the first freezer I bought crapped out-same as yours. Until I found another, I put a frozen gallon jug of ice in it in the morning and one at night and I maintained good fermentation temps in my garage in the middle of the summer. It would have been a lot of work to try to lager in it, but I could keep my beer in the mid 60s pretty easily.

How warm is your garage in the summer? I keep my apartment at about 78 to 80 during the day when I'm not home.
 
If you're concerned about the insulation, just add to it. It's already a dead freezer, so just glue some pieces of rigid insulation to the outside. Or the inside. A full sheet of the stuff at Home Depot isn't very expensive.
 
i fixed a fridge with a broken start relay for $0. you can take apart most start relays and there is a ceramic disk inside, if you rotate it, that will sometimes fix the problem.
 
Since the OP's question has been answered, I'll do a thread jack and ask a similar question.

Moved my keezer to the basement and it's been struggling to stay cold ever since. Holds the 42 degrees that the controller is set at, but it runs way more than it use to. Seems to be on almost all the time. I keep thinking it's going to die, but it's been this way for almost six months with no change. I'd think that if it was a coolant leak, it would have died by now. Any ideas?

Check and make sure the condenser isn't clogged up with dust and that the fan is working.
 
Good idea... I will check everything first. If not, I will just try the frozen gallon bottle water.

It's not ideal and you obviously won't get the same consistency that you would have with a working freezer and temperature controller, but if you have to do it it will get you by until you find another freezer. (and it is a lot less trouble than using a swamp cooler)
 
This will replace the overload, start relay if this doesn't get you cooling your coil is super dirty/clogged pr you have a leak

image-3502452056.jpg
 
Have to disagree with this. They are repairable, I do appliance repairs and do repair them. Will the repair be affordable? Depends on the problem. Start relay/capacitor problem $150-250, accessible leak $300-400, compressor replacement $600-800, un-accessible leak - buy a new freezer. Only way to know for sure is to have an appliance repair person give you an estimate. Call some appliance repair shops (look under appliance repairs NOT sales) in your area and ask how much to come do an estimate and make a decision if you want to pay that much to find out, or just go buy a new one and trash the old one.

Sorry I used a little incorrect wording. Instead of "basically not repairable" i should have said "the economics of repairing cheap residential chest features basically make repairs, if possible not feasible" I bought mine new for under $200 and I personally would buy a new one before paying a repairman his $50 to $100 evaluation fee to find out that the repair is going to cost almost as much or more than the unit cost new.
 
This will replace the overload, start relay if this doesn't get you cooling your coil is super dirty/clogged pr you have a leak.
I'm pretty good with electronics, but not with refrigeration. This is all I see in the back of my Woods freezer. No fan. No coils. It's working, just runs way more than it did when I got it. Anything look repairable in there?

.

DSCF4406.jpg
 
Sorry missed the part about it being a freezer. On the left hand side hard to tell from angle of the pic, the grey cord goes to the compressor. The black molded piece on far left may be the starter relay. Post a closer pic please
 
"One thing is for sure though. You do not have a freon leak. (Because freon is a DuPont trademark for refrigerant that has become a dirty word and they abandoned many years ago)"

That's not in one iota correct. I purchase thousands of pounds of recycled "Freon" 22 and "Freon" 502 yearly from Dupont. The word "Freon" is stenciled on the tanks right from DuPont. I have a machine, certified yearly by the EPA that purifies 2000 pounds of Dupont "Freon" 22 and 502 at a time and brings it to ARA standards within 24 hours. For re-use. Where you are confused, is certain types of "Freon" made by Dupont as well as others, like Genetron, are ozone depleting and those refrigerants are phased out or are in the process of being phased out. The word "Freon" is like the word gasoline and the word "Freon" is still used. The OPs freezer has R-134A in it. The box was manufactured after the EPA stopped the producing of R-12. If the R-134A is made by Dupont it's called Suva.

OP. The coil isn't dirty because it's in the jacket of the freezer. If the lid gasket is good and sealing right and your not looking at your fermenting beer every hour, good. Now, if the compressor is running and not cycling on the overload. In your picture you will notice a bullet shaped device with a very small tube coming out of one end and two tubes brazed in the oposite end. It appears as if the very small tube is bent, right where it is attached to the bullet thing. The bullet thing is the liquid filter. The small tube is the metering device. If the tube is kinked, it can choke down the refrigerant going into the evaporator. But, here's what I think has happened. The liquid filter is partially blocked. It has a screen in one end and there is silica inside of the bullet. The silca absorbs moisture from the refrigerant. Running a freezer at temps of 30-50 F never allows the compressor to operate at the pressure it was designed for. The high pressure liquid going through the filter packs the silica, until it hardens almost like concrete. The flow of liquid is reduced. Thus, cooling is reduced. If the compressor is running and not cycling off and on and if the frost line in the freezer doesn't change, the filter is blocked or the capillary tube is kinked. If the frost line dimminshes. You have a leak. The red/orange thing is where the factory put in the refrigerant. In any case, the compressor motor will overheat and fail. The compressor is suction gas cooled and since the freezer isn't cold. The compressor motor will over heat. Eventually, burning out the start relay and or the motor. I mentioned in other posts, that the family Maytag, is in no way, shape or form, a fermenting chamber. It's a meat pop freezer and designed as such. A Fermenting chamber is designed much differently, than a 200 dollar freezer bought from Sears. The problem with running a freezer at high temp is that the compressor is always working during a high heat load. It never has a chance to run long enough to pull down the load and reach the temp and pressure it was designed for. The more heat it has to remove, the higher the temp and pressure of the refrigerant. Sometimes the bullet thing will be warm to the touch if it's blocked. If none of things I mentioned are causing the problem, then the compressor is worn out and not pumping as it should.
 
"
One thing is for sure though. You do not have a freon leak. (Because freon is a DuPont trademark for refrigerant that has become a dirty word and they abandoned many years ago)

Maybe not, but to those of us that don't work in the industry and really don't give a **** Freon is refrigerant the same as a tissue is a Kleenex.


BTW, is that the second time I've seen you post this in a thread today?

If so, lighten up dude. It's only Freon...;)
 
My apologies I didn't realize that DuPont hadn't abandoned Freon branding of R-22. I haven't seen a can of DuPont refrigerant come through our shop in many many years. Living in overly environmentally conscious (but not as ridiculous as California) New England consumers generally know one thing about "Freon" and that's that it's bad for the environment and they all want the air conditioner that doesn't have the freon in it. Maybe that's why we cont have cans of DuPont Freon 22 here :)

I don't think I did it twice if I did I'll blame the obnoxiousness on one too many homebrews.
 
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