Kegerator stopped cooling! :-( Relay or freon leak?

[GratefulBear]

As if 2020 wasn't bad enough, my CL kegerator that's worked great for about a year has completely stopped cooling. It's an older Summit kegerator. I was starting to have issues with foam (a month or so ago) and never figured out if it was the CO2 pressure or if the kegerator was having trouble maintaining temperature. I recently went a few days without pouring a beer and then was dismayed to pour a room temperature beer. I'm not sure if the foam issue was temperature all along and this was a slow failure of the kegerator. The compressor still runs and I don't hear any clicking noise except for when I turn the temp control from OFF to a coolness setting. Sometimes it takes 20s or so from the click until when the compressor is running. Is there a chance that this is still a relay failure? I hope it's not a freon leak because what I've read so far is that you can't repair freon leaks. The door seal is good and I don't believe this model has a fan. Please help me find a Christmas miracle

 

[day_trippr]

Looking at Google images it appears likely that kegerator has a cold plate inside.
If the compressor is running but you can't feel that plate getting cold, I'm afraid the only logical conclusion is the unit bled out the refrigerant.

You could try recharging it though after this long the system may be contaminated with air and moisture, and the latter will almost surely freeze at the expansion valve to the evaporator. The system would have to be vacuum purged to assure that doesn't happen, then recharged. That would likely run into the hundreds of dollars with zero assurance the recharge wouldn't leak out again...

 

[GratefulBear]

Looking at Google images it appears likely that kegerator has a cold plate inside.
If the compressor is running but you can't feel that plate getting cold, I'm afraid the only logical conclusion is the unit bled out the refrigerant.

You could try recharging it though after this long the system may be contaminated with air and moisture, and the latter will almost surely freeze at the expansion valve to the evaporator. The system would have to be vacuum purged to assure that doesn't happen, then recharged. That would likely run into the hundreds of dollars with zero assurance the recharge wouldn't leak out again...

By cold plate, do you mean this component at the back? (pic attached)

 

[estricklin]

While I'm not a professional HVAC guy, I do have my EPA license to buy refrigerant, so I have some knowledge of refrigeration. If the compressor is running, the relay is working. If you hear the relay but the compressor does not come on, the relay may be bad, or there's a short/open in the compressor windings. Many of these units may not even have a compressor relay. If there has been a refrigerant leak, it's nearly impossible to find and repair on something like that. They are not built with service ports, and the lines are concealed, so even if you added service ports you might not be able to find the leak. There's always a list of other things that could be wrong besides low refrigerant or a faulty relay. Sorry I don't have any good news.

 

[brewdude88]

This brings out my ex-mechanic side! If the problem had a gradual onset, all might not be lost!

Step 1-
My first step for any AC system that's not cooling, but the compressor runs continuously... Find and clean the condenser. Dust build-up on the condenser coil will have a surprisingly big affect on cooling ability. Make sure the condenser also has a little air space between the fridge and the wall.

Step 2-
Confirm there is refrigerant in the system. Let the compressor run for a while and then turn it off and put your ear to the side of the fridge in a few places to see if you hear any hissing or gurgling. If you hear either, you have refrigerant.

Start there and see what you come up with.

 

[GratefulBear]

Thanks, guys! I'll try the things brewdude88 mentioned. I did read about sometimes relays will get stuck in "start" mode where the compressor is running but it's running continuously in "start mode" instead of in "run mode". Is that a thing with kegerators or just normal refrigerators?

 

[GratefulBear]

I tried cleaning the condenser and it's already away from the wall, but not cooling. I can hear what sounds like dripping noise inside the kegerator. It has a cold plate and I can hear fluid moving through it. The line running to the cold plate is cold to the touch whereas the line connected to the condenser is either room temp or close to it. The cold plate itself is also a little cool but not nearly cold enough to accomplish anything. Maybe this means there was freon leak but there's still a little bit left in the system...

 

[day_trippr]

The condenser receives compressed vapor and at the output of the compressor is quite hot (physics), so if the condenser input is hot and the output warm that's all fine. You should not expect to feel "cold" or even "cool" anywhere near the condenser. That happens on the far side of the expansion valve where the high pressure side is released into a comparatively low pressure evaporator.

The line to modern coldplates is typically a coaxial affair with the condensed vapor input running in the inner tube and the cold plate output running in the outer tube (this is why it can be such a dicey ***** to move cold plates - it's wicked easy to crimp that inner tube). If there's enough working fluid in the system that tube should be plenty cold to the touch - but even more to the point, so should the cold plate.

It's somewhat encouraging that you are hearing dripping or other "fluid-y" noises - but that again indicates the compressor has been running just fine all along but the unit is so low on refrigerant it can't beat its own thermal losses...

Cheers!

 

[GratefulBear]

The condenser receives compressed vapor and at the output of the compressor is quite hot (physics), so if the condenser input is hot and the output warm that's all fine. You should not expect to feel "cold" or even "cool" anywhere near the condenser. That happens on the far side of the expansion valve where the high pressure side is released into a comparatively low pressure evaporator.

The line to modern coldplates is typically a coaxial affair with the condensed vapor input running in the inner tube and the cold plate output running in the outer tube (this is why it can be such a dicey ***** to move cold plates - it's wicked easy to crimp that inner tube). If there's enough working fluid in the system that tube should be plenty cold to the touch - but even more to the point, so should the cold plate.

It's somewhat encouraging that you are hearing dripping or other "fluid-y" noises - but that again indicates the compressor has been running just fine all along but the unit is so low on refrigerant it can't beat its own thermal losses...

Cheers!

Thank you. I'm tempted to have an appliance repairman take a look at it. While I could take the 4-tap draft tower off of it and buy a chest freezer, this model fits nicely in the space and it's easy to slide kegs in and out instead of lifting them up and over into a keezer. It also fits 4 corny/sixtel kegs (CO2 tank is outside of kegerator) and it seems like those dimensions may be hard to find with craigslist kegerators, and even harder to get accurate measurements from someone off of craigslist.

 

[day_trippr]

Right, here's what a tech should do: after giving it an eyeball for anything obvious, at least one access port will be installed - that would go on the low pressure side - but I believe to really do a full vacuum purge and charge a high pressure port may also be required. A gauge/manifold set will then be attached, then a vacuum pump and a capture tank will be attached to that, and the system will be drawn down end to end to spec. The pump and tank are then removed, and then - if the system maintains the vacuum pressure - an r134a canister is attached to the manifold and the system charged to spec.

Figure at least a couple of hundred bucks to get to the vacuum check. If it gets that far the actual charging should be no more than $20 as all the work was already done and a canister of r134a costs under $10. The only thing I don't know is if it is standard practice to replace the receiver/drier in such cases. I'm guessing that would be another $50-100 for the part and installation labor as it has to be sweat soldered in place...

Cheers! (and good luck!)

 

[mcmeador]

If you only started noticing the first symptoms a month or so ago and are already at room temperature inside the kegerator, it sounds like recharging the system might not last you very long.

I ran into a similar situation not too long ago. I had an expensive custom-built keezer that stopped cooling while the compressor continued to run. Two big appliance repair companies in my area wouldn’t even come look at it due to the custom nature of the unit, and at least one of them had never even heard of the brand of the chest freezer. I did enough research to know that there was no fixing the obvious problem (refrigerant leak), so I ended up just buying a kegerator.

Obviously that’s no small decision, but just letting you know I feel your pain.

 

[Mark3885]

I have revived my 2 chest freezers with this valve, a can of auto refrigerant and 20 min time. 2 yrs now and still cool faster than my new chest freezer. You tube video, check it out. I just put in an order for 3 of these valves and the company sent me 3 boxes equals 36 valves . I have extras.

 

[50calshooter]

99.9% of the time foamy beer is the result of a temperature issue. Put bullet valve on it and put in a can of 134a.