Moving Fridges

[dreamboat]

I picked up a new (well... new to me anyhow) fridge today, but was forced to transport the thing lying down in the back of the ute.
I believe that there are some problems with this type of thing due to the movement of compressed gas within the cooling system..... what is the go??? Is there anything that I should or shouldn't do before turing the thing back on?


dreamboat

 

[redbeard]

from what ive heard, if you transport the fridge on its side, at destination u need to leave it upright for an hour before turning on the power. apparently the oil in the compressor needs to be drained back into the sump or something. im sure one of our resident fridgies can confirm / deny this

 

[Jazman]

i have layed it on the siode and watch out for the bag u dont damagae it and when i moved it i waited 24 hour before i turned it on no problems and do a search on grumpys as they have jsut talked about that topic

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Done that a few times, leave it overnight then switch on, it will take longer than usual to cool down but should be ok.

 

[Ross]

Picked up a new one Friday - told by shop to leave upright for an hour or 2 before switching on - working fine...

 

[pint of lager]

Have been told by fridge people that the compressor has oil in it, and if the fridge is turned the wrong way on its side, this oil ends up in the cooling coils. If the fridge is switched on while this oil is still in the coils, this is bad. The compressor is not being lubricated, and maybe the oil does not allow the cooling to work properly

If you look in the back of the fridge at the compressor, to one side is the lines that lead to the cooling coils standing proud of the back. The other side has the short line that is crimped, this is where they gas the fridge up, then crimp this line over.

If you have to lie the fridge over on its side, you want the compressor lying so that the short crimped line is pointing down, this means that the oil in the base of the compressor has nowhere to go, except to slosh around the compressor. If you lay the fridge on its side the other way, the compressor oil will end up in the cooling coils.

Even then, it would probably still be advisable to stand the fridge upright for a few hours, or even overnight before starting.

 

[dreamboat]

Thanks for all the replies.
Sounds like I will have no worries as I will be leaving the fridge off for at least a few more days as I clean out all the associated taps and lines before starting the whole lot back up again.


Cheers
dreamboat

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Yup. The guy that delivered the chest freezer to the shop told me to wait 3-4 hours to switch it on, due to this oil problem, and the freezer was upright the whole time

JM