Chest freezer not chilling

[rossbaker]

Hi guys,

I'm running an older Westinghouse chest freezer to chill my kegs, using a keg king temperature controller. There is no collar attached or holes drilled in the chest freezer. After letting it sit empty and switched of for a month or so I've recently started running it again and noticed that it's really struggling to get below 4 deg c and often gets up as high as 5.5.

My set up is:

Set temp: 3 deg c
Hysteresis: 0.4
Time delay: 10 mins

The temp probe sits in a litre bottle of water. The freezer was able to cope with the warmer temperature in the garage prior to its hiatus. It used to get to freezing temps no problem, but I think I'll re-test it without the temp controller and see if it still does. There is a tiny bit of ice build up on the top inner surface, but no major condensation issues. I'm guessing it is just running all the time trying to get to the set temperature.

Does anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions, other than buying one of the newer, bigger ones I'm looking at on eBay?

 

[QldKev]

Have a look around the compressor, some run a fan to pre-chill the gas. If that fan stops working they become inefficient and struggle to keep cool.

 

[Camo6]

It wouldn't surprise me if it was stuffed. Partial freezing in places sounds a bit like a low refrigerant charge. Unless you know a fridgie it's usually not worth the cost to repair.

 

[RobB]

It wouldn't surprise me if it was stuffed. Partial freezing in places sounds a bit like a low refrigerant charge. Unless you know a fridgie it's usually not worth the cost to repair.

Precisely my experience last year. Running all the time, compressor feeling hot and never quite making it to the required temp. Getting a new one on sale was cheaper than getting it fixed. Fingers crossed that yours is something different.

 

[Mr B]

I decided to put my temp probe in a 1l container of water in the keg fridge. After a few days it started running warm, 5-6 deg and varying all over the shop. Think it was running a fair bit too.

Ditched the water, now it keeps spot on between 2-3 deg (sweet according to 2 deg set temp and 1 deg hysteresis

 

[rossbaker]

Thanks guys, I'll check the back for a fan. It is a pretty old model and only cost me $50 so I can live with it if it's busted. I'll try ditching the water. Where/how do you place the temp probe Mr B?