Fridge cooling element freezing - not cooling entire fridge

[Newts]

Hey all,

I have a keg fridge that I use that I fitted 4 taps to the front of. Up until a few weeks ago it was working perfect and all of a sudden the element in the fridge is freezing up and the fridge isn't getting cold enough for my beer. The element always had a bit of frost on it but now it appears to have a solid ice block on it. Here's a pic below:



Anyone have any ideas what it could be. It's a pretty old fridge. Was given to me and I painted it up - put a bit of effort into it. I'd hate to see it go on me

Cheers,

Newts

 

[real_beer]

Hi Newts, the first place to have a good look at is the door seals.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

You need to find out why it is icing up. What sort of defrost does it have

 

[Newts]

Hey, just had a look at the door seals. One of them in poor condition at the bottom of the door - as in its split in half. Can you buy these cheap somewhere? If I'm going to start spending money on this old fridge I could possibly look at buying a decent one. Good thing about this fridge is I can fit 4 kegs in!

Ducatiboy, I honestly don't know what defrost it has. I'd say this fridge is 10-15 years old minimum looking at it. I've just been defrosting it manually each day and trying different things to try and get it working properly without freezing. Getting frustrating though with 3 kegs ready to drink and it's warm

 

[Newts]

FYI the fridge I'm talking about is the one in my profile pic - It's in my gallery too showing from start to finish painting it up etc. It's not that flash but it does the job.

 

[thedragon]

Does need a fan in it so that the cold air circulates better around the fridge?

 

[Newts]

Yeah dragon, I thought something like that might help but again I don't know if I'd be going along the right path. If you look at the pic that I posted I think that's the thermostat sensor above the cooling element in the photo in which case you would think it would stop cooling before it hits iceblock status. I've actually fixed that to the cooling element to see if it makes any difference and it's still freezing so I don't know if it's the thermostat, the door seals etc etc. Really I don't know much about fridges - hoping someone here does.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Aside from fixing the door seal, the best thing you could do is rig up a computer fan to an old mobile phone charger to get the air moving. The fridge won't ice up as much and will be more efficient.

 

[wereprawn]

Our fridge is like that in Summer . If there is no defrost cycle on your fridge high humidity will do that. Get it resealed and open it as little as possible.

 

[Newts]

Righto guys. Cheers for the replies. I might see if I can get some new seals on the weekend. If anyone knows the best place to get them at a good price let us know. Big green shed might sell them?

On the computer fan I'll look into it. I do have a couple lying around. Thing that's frustrating is it worked fine this time last year so not sure why it's doing this now.

Newts

 

[QldKev]

I'd be looking at the seal first. If it's leaking, it's costing you money. A new seal will be $50 to $100, if you fit it yourself (easy). ebay or google search, places are everywhere. You will need the fridge model number.

 

[J.T]

Excessive frost on the coil could mean a couple things. Could be a crook door seal letting in extra heat and humidity, the other possibility is that it has a gas leak and is low on gas.

The coil is supposed to be full of liquid refrigerant when its running, as it leaks out the liquid level reduces resulting in less of the coil needing to do the same amount of work to keep the fridge cold.

The result is that the compressor has to run longer, it then doesn't get the down time during the off cycle to allow the ice to melt = Cyclic defrost. Eventually the fridge will start to warm up

Perhaps turn it off long enough for the ice to melt. Then turn it back on and let it run for half hour or so. Test whether the coil is 'full' by licking your finger and touching all parts of the coil. It will stick to the parts of the coil which has liquid refrigerant, this will give you an idea of the gas level.

If a good percentage of the coil frosts up (or your finger sticks!) then try the door seal option.

Plenty of internet companies doing door seals these days.

Good Luck

 

[GalBrew]

I have a fridge of similar vintage for my keggerator. The seals are quite expensive to fix, however I found a solution to keep the temp in check. I used gaffa tape to seal the split in the door seal and bought some cheap latches from Bunnings, almost like to latch on a tool box, that clamps the door tightly shut, giving a far better seal.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Once they ice up it ruins the cycle. The ice doesnt keep the fridge that cold and it messes with the thermostat. I had same prob with my window rattler in my old brew room. Once it iced up it didnt cool but the thermo keept trying to make it cool.

 

[punkin]

I'd be using some closed cell foam and some duct tape to seal all around the fridge door for a couple of days and not opening it. If that fixes the problem then spend the cash on the seals.

A Hungie is a lot to spend on the off chance it fixes a $50 fridge.

 

[QldKev]

Since seals always break at the bottom, since that's where spills leak out and get sticky, and cold air flows downwards. You cold try undoing the seal and put it on upside down for a while to see if it helps.

 

[Newts]

To be honest I'm over this fridge now I've spent a good 10 days trying different things and none are working. As punkin said, 100 bucks to fix a 50 dollar fridge seems silly. I'm gonna have one last crack and ask my mate whos a fridgey to have a look. He may say it's the gas straight away or he might say it's the seals. Gas he'll prob top up for a few beers but the seals sounds harder than what it's worth when i could pick up another fridge for the same.

In future I think I'll go the kegerator option. This is so frustrating. I have 3 kegs of beer and none cold.

 

[Glot]

Defrost timer.
A good sign of a leaky door seal is condensation on the outside of it.
Ice insulates, hence the need to defrost.

 

[Glot]

Sorry, just saw the photo. Low gas. Go down to your local appliance store and see what they have in fridges taken away when a new one delivered.

 

[Newts]

Low gas? If that's the case I think I can get it fixed no prob depending on if they still stock the gas this fridge takes. I imagine they would otherwise we'd have a lot less old fridges around. Here's a better pic after a couple of days. The first one was only after a short while:



Hope your right about the gas. If that fixes the prob then I'd prob look at fixing the seals and hoping it lasts a while.

Newts