Commercial Fridge: Yes or No?

[Coldspace]

Did the fridgie test the 3 pins on the compressor with multi meter.?

Also did he try a new start capacitor as well?

Burnt out compressors, normally just blow the circuit breaker at the power board.

Clicking sound is the overload cutting out due the compressor failing to start.

Most of the time, a new capacitor will solve the issue. If the windings were not tested with a multi meter then it needs to be done on a hermetic system like this.

Try these first before condemning it.

If he went through these tests , then all good. Proballly a seized compressor.

 

[mtb]

He tested the compressor with a multimeter but didn't try a new capacitor. I did wonder about that - brief online research indicates the capacitor is often the problem and requires far less $$/effort than a compressor.. but he was fairly sure the compressor was a dud.
Time for a second opinion it seems

 

[Coldspace]

Ok good, he used multi meter. If the he got the multi meter out and tested the pins , start-common , run -common should add up to start-run. If not then one winding is out and the compressor won't run and if it does will run hot and trip over load.

He proballly condemned it if he did this test and failed. If the test showed good, then capacitor would be next.

Get another quote, always pays to get. 2 quotes, but a grand would be about right for compressor change, although I haven't done commercial refrigeration for well over 10 years so not up to date with current pricing.

 

[Mardoo]

I've seen commercial fridge compressors on eBay for a few hundred. Might be worth a look. The under-bench ones often have separate compressors and the compressor sometimes gets sold separate from the cabinet.

 

[mtb]

Well, I've not yet done anything about that large steel monstrosity in my shed, mainly because I've been putting off the decision-making. But I might've just partially solved the problem.

My home office is separate to the house and its cooling system, so I'll be sitting in ball soup during the Canberra summer. I bought an air conditioner, just a small one since the office is ~2m x 4m, via my company card (ah those tax deductible costs of running a business from home..). I bought the fridge because I couldn't use my chest freezer as a keezer, because I ferment in it, but I'm going to ferment in my home office and use the air con for fermentation temp control as well as MTB comfort control. Granted, this will not work in winter, and I'll have probably bought some other shit by then which will either solve or complicate my situation further.

80% of what I brew is ale, or requires ale temps, so this is ideal. For the occasional sneaky lager I'm going to go get another fridge. Dem costs of running a home office again..

 

[Coldspace]

The aircon will cost a lot more running each day over summer to temp control the beer than a dedicated cabinet. It will work but struggle to keep the ale down below 20 in primary ferments on hot days .Keep the fermenter in the airflow of the Ac . Plus you won't be able to cc the beer when finished unless you move it into your depenser fridge. Will be a lot better than nothing, and if your pressure fermenting the higher temps will poss be all ok anyway.

At least u will be cool and smelling great smells while working.

Pity about the cabinet, if you wer closer we could of fixed it up on a drinking sessions lol

 

[mtb]

With a name like Coldspace I'd have expected you to have some technical skills with refrigerators
It will cost a lot more, yes. It just so happens I'll be working in that room most days so I need it climate controlled anyway, and I can claim the costs of doing so as a business deduction, whether or not I was using it as a fermentation chamber as well as a home office.
I pressure ferment, so the higher temps will hopefully not be a problem. I will have to wait and see. As for the inability to cold crash, I'll just have to transfer to a conditioning keg, and depending on the recipe brewed I'll use a separate serving keg. Will have to see how that goes though

 

[Grott]

So as you are going to use your office/air conditioning to ferment, are you saying you will then use the chest freezer/keeper for your kegs?
If so then the glass door fridge is going to end up as a storage cabinet? This content here is to make you feel guilty, all the comments and advice and info fellow brewers have been giving you for a potential “storage cabinet”
We need you to complete the project and have 10 kegs in that fridge.

 

[Coldspace]

With a name like Coldspace I'd have expected you to have some technical skills with refrigerators
It will cost a lot more, yes. It just so happens I'll be working in that room most days so I need it climate controlled anyway, and I can claim the costs of doing so as a business deduction, whether or not I was using it as a fermentation chamber as well as a home office.
I pressure ferment, so the higher temps will hopefully not be a problem. I will have to wait and see. As for the inability to cold crash, I'll just have to transfer to a conditioning keg, and depending on the recipe brewed I'll use a separate serving keg. Will have to see how that goes though

Yep, we make spaces cold
It's the name of my business.

 

[mtb]

We need you to complete the project and have 10 kegs in that fridge

Fear not Grott.. I'll have a 10-keg fridge very soon. Every month or so a commercial fridge pops up on Gumtree for half the cost of this new compressor system so it's economical to simply wait for one to appear (and actually test it first - fool me once etc)
Using my office to ferment is an interim solution while I wait for the right one to come along.

 

[Grott]

Good thinking

 

[Pnutapper]

I lost track of this thread a while back and am too lazy to go back and read it all.

Did you buy the Orford fridge? I have a deck for that model that just needs an evaporator fan. I could put it on a truck for you if that is any good to you?

EDIT: Typo

 

[mtb]

I lost track of this thread a while back and am too lazy to go back and read it all.

Did you buy the Orford fridge? I have a deck for that model that just needs an evaporator fan. I could put it on a truck for you if that is any good to you?

EDIT: Typo

Nah, I opted for another one that was being sold from a deceased estate and was a bit of a gamble, because I had no time to test it before buying. Gamble was unsuccessful so now I have a big metal cabinet and the cost of fixing it up is higher than a working bargain one, just have to wait for the right one to come along