Fridge/freezers

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Burchman82

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Hey all,

just wondering exactly how a fridge/freezer combination works?? does the freezer continually run and the fridge is operated by the thermostat? or what?

wondering cos my fridge freezer/ontop is doin weird things, the freezer is keeping the meat nice and snap cold really good and frosting up etc, but the fridge isnt really holding a great temp (around 7-11ish). its not frozen up, so its not that.

Ive heard that replacing the thermo will help... unsure...

hope its not kaput, i just fixed it up with stainless steel and nice black paint etc.


Any ideas from you fridgeys... PLEASE HELP ME.
 
Hi Burchman,

I had a similar problem last year, just after getting a fridge.
Fridge Question
I now have a converted freezer.

Cheers,
Jase
 
hmm i see your fridge wasnt icing up at all, mine is getting frost on it, so its getting coolness fer sure, so is the freezer. so i dont think mines as far gone as that. Also the compressor hasnt bugged out.

Its a kelvinator 380 btw.

i might bridge the thermostat tonight and see if i can make it run constantly for a while. Then ill probably get the ts-040 or whatever its called.

i did notice the other day that the thermostat has 2 wires comming off both terminals, the other pair run up to a wire running around the evaporator, i thought it was the cyclic defrost heater element. However my Bro reckons its a sense wire of some sort. he works on industrial fridges so he wasnt sure.

That wire was fried too incidentally, so i just cut it. it is a REAL thin core wire, almost human hair, and has a fair bit of insulation round it.
 
oh and regards to how much frosting im getting, its mainly at the back of the fridge, doesnt really extend right around the sides of the evaporator.
 
my recently aquired beer fridge, a westinghouse 310l - im guessing 10 years old at least, has a freezer thats well below zero but the fridge part seems to vary between 2 & 6 with the thermostat at about 3/4. however if i put a load in the freezer, ie large tray of water, the fridge temp drops down to 1 or less. im guessing the gas is ok but the thermostat has seen its best years & is on the downward slope ... ?
 
Hi Birchman2,

I am not a fridgee but we did own a kelvinator 380 for years as our kitchen fridge and what I found (after paying for a dude to come and fix it once ) is that there is a small tube that runs from the freezer compartment to the fridge section at the centre of the base of the freezer box and if this is blocked by ice build up or cardboard/ foam trays, lettice leaves (lol) etc, then the cool air doesnt get to the fridge but the freezer still works.
I believe that the thermostat controls the freezer and because cold air falls the fridge is cooled by the air that comes down that tube I mentioned.
This may be the case with yours,

Cheers
 
Im with dicko,
I found akelvinator 420L up the road from my house about 2 months ago now. PLugged it in and fixed teh door. The freezer was definately freezing, but the fridge is controlled by a mechanical thermostat whereby it swings a door to allow/restrict cold air flow from the freezer. The pipe behind this was full of peas, corn, carrot and crap like that. I basically pulled all of it off, including the thermostat and just installed a tobins in it. Ony wanted it for fermentation anyway, but it runs a treat now and without the tobins there the whole lot acts as a freezer provided the load isnt too great on a hot day.
 
interesting thought, ill check it out when i get home.

However, there is a cold-plate in the fridge, so i dunno if this tube theory applies with this model
 
Im a fridgey but I like to avoid domestic fridges and stick with precision air conditioning.

Depends on whether its frost free or cyclic defrost. on a frost free the thermostat controls the freezer while the fridge side is controlled by metering a small amount of freezer air into the fridge space.

In a cyclic (the one with the evaporator plate / shell freezer) the thermostat controls the cool side but the freezer gets the first of the refrigerant from the capillary.

Now burchman, does yours have separate doors for cool and cold or is it a single door with the freezer inside the evap shell? I i knew what type it is i could tell u what to look for.
 
its a 2 door job.

inside the freezer is no plate or anything at all for that matter... just a box.

The fridge underneath has the cold plate at the top running from the back around the sides. its about 20-25cm wide.
 
If the evaporator plate isn't frosting at all or only at the first few inches of the coils then it has a leak. yuo can top it up but if it's pre 1994 it will be running R12 (the old ozone eating refrgerant). R12 used a mineral based oil where most new refrigerants require synthetic oil.
You can get it retrofitted or if you know a fridgey you can get a drop in put in. the trouble will be when in 6 months it's doing the same thing again, domestic friges, are damn near impossible because 90% of leaks are in places that you cant access without destroying the fridge. Thank murphy's law for that one.

If the plate is frosting when its running then look at door seals.
 
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