Dead freezer?

[mjn12]

Since I'm stuck at work and can't go home to mess with it I figured I'd just see what you guys thought. I picked up a freezer earlier this week of craigs list. My buddy helping me haul it out of the sellers basement slipped when we were loading and the freezer fell onto its back from about 2.5-3 ft (and on my knee, ouch). Anyways, we got it home plugged it in and started cleaning it. Frost started forming on the inside pretty quickly so we figured the freezer was still in working order.

Fast forward 2 days and I've got a temp control box (Love TS-2 in an enclosure with an outlet hooked to the switch so I just plug my freezer into the box, put the probe wherever and plug the box into the wall. Last night it was running fine and dropped about 10 degrees before I went to bed. This morning I wake up and its no logner running and still hanging around 50 deg. while the set point was at 40. The little dot on the TS2 by the snowflakes indicated it was still trying to chill but the compressor would not run, nor attempt to kick on in the 40 minutes I was getting ready to leave. A quick google search says check the defrost timer - any one on here agree with that?

Also, since the TS2 has a defrost time, can I set that up and use it to replace the regular defrost timer?

 

[brewmasterpa]

the controller might be in defrost mode too. if i remember correctly, there is a way to override that, but youll have to read the instructions. also, if the freezer was transported on its side, and you fired it up before the 24 hour rest period was up, you might have locked the compressor. if a fridge or freezer is carried on its side, you gotta wait atleast 24 hours before you fire it up or itll lock the compressor. now since it ran, the likelihood is pretty slim that its locked. id say the defrost timer is kicked on in the freezer, or possibly in the controller. the other thing is that when you install a controller, you have to run the freezer thermostat at its warmest setting or the compressor will go into deep freeze mode, and when its doing this and you turn it off, you blow the compressor up.

 

[mjn12]

The freezer clicked off on its own when the temp in the center was 50-some-odd degrees last night (the love controller was still trying to chill). I was assuming this was because the walls were at 30defF or less and there was a temperature gradient to the center. The love controller has not tried to shut the fridge off at all, the compressor just stopped coming back on to bring it below 50.

Do these have defrost heaters like fridges or do they just stop the compressor for a while in order to defrost?

 

[brewmasterpa]

i believe they just cycle the compressor off. its effective to do this because there is such a large gradiant from ambient to controlled freezer temp.

 

[mjn12]

Got home, put a multimeter on the circuit, turns out that it wasn't even getting power. When the fridge fell it flattened the plug, we bent the stabs (not sure if thats what they call them on a plug, but its what they call them on a high voltage circuit breaker) back an d checked for a short and all seemed to be ok. Somehow, maybe because it spent some time hanging on the wall, it open circuited.

New plug and its purring again. 7pm and I already have that fixed and 2 kegs rebuilt. Not bad.

 

[brewmasterpa]

ok, so i didnt guess that one.

 

[mjn12]

Yeah, it turned out to be a lot simpler than what I expected too.

Also, this freezer must be OLD because doesn't actually have a defrost ANYTHING. Its just a thermostat and a compressor.