Kegerator won't stop running. Help!

[indymedic]

So I got a free fridge a while ago to build my kegerator. It's an admiral frost free top freezer model if that matters. I have used it for a year as a beer fridge with no problems. It gets very cold and cycles on and off just fine.

About a week or so I unplugged it to paint it and convert it. I plugged it back in and turned it on and it came on fine but would only cool to about 60 or so. So I turned it off and unplugged it for a few hours and then restarted it and now it is cold again but hasn't stopped running for about 4 days. I turned it off and unplugged it again for just a few minutes and it kicked back on and has continued to run.

Any information would help. It's really hot and humid right now and this is in my garage so part of me thinks it's just keeping up but I never had this problem before. Thanks in advance.

 

[CU_tony]

When you say converted it. What do you mean? Did you drill holes, add a collar?
Pictures always help too!

 

[indymedic]

Painted it and drill through the door to add a tap. There was already a whole in the side which has not caused problems before. it is plugged with foam.

 

[mongoose33]

Do you have anything in the fridge? When there's a lot of beer or whatever, the fridge has less air to cool, and there's more thermal mass to moderate temperature swings.

Have you adjusted the interior thermostat? If you put it on "coldest" it may not be able to keep up w/ a very hot garage. How's the airflow around it? Have you blocked off coils or fan or some such so it can't cool as well?

 

[jabba11]

yep check the simple stuff first...blocked/dirty coils? I too kind of wonder about the paint maybe effecting its ability to cool as often the heat is dissipated from the sides soo to speak but I know lots of guys paint their fridges with no problems.

 

[indymedic]

Ok so I do have some bottles in it and an empty keg which I will be filling soon. It is placed in the same spot in was before although I guess it could be pushed back a little further. I have not tried adjusting the temp down. To be clear I did not paint the back. I can't imagine paining the outside would have this effect although I suppose overspray could have coated the cooling coils. I will check all these things tomorrow and report back. Thanks guys.

 

[jabba11]

sometimes there are cooling lines in the side of the fridge as well

 

[Runyanka]

as stated above try putting some mass in there. Fill the empty keg with water and see if that helps.

 

[indymedic]

Well good news. Today I pulled it from the wall and turned it down to about half and it began cycling as normal. I pushed it back but left more space and turned it back up but not quite as high as I had it and it has been working great. So I think my problem was that it just wasn't keeping up and it prob wasn't cooling the coils very well.

I can feel good about getting my other three taps in. Thanks guys.

 

[CU_tony]

Do you have a thermometer to know how cold it actually is?