Skope Glass Door Fridge Problem

[kirem]

My Skope glass door fridge has been running very nicely for a few years now. I removed the original thermostat and wired up a fridgemate to control temperature. A few years back the fridge had enough grunt to freeze a 60L fermenter. It was a mistake, but the beer I racked off the slushy was one of the finest beers I have made.

The fridge is invaluable this time of year.

Anyway....Now it has a problem and before contacting a local fridgey I thought I would post some pictures of the issue, in case anyone had a similar issue and had solved it.

I have removed the fridge controller and run it straight from mains and it still has the same issue.

I have disconnected the start cap from the compressor and power on and as expected it does not start, reconnected the cap and the compressor starts.

removing the lid of the 'cool box' shows an iced up copper pipe, so I can assume the compressor is doing it's thing.

the copper pipe from the heat exchanger to the compressor is hot to touch as is the compressor. (I have never touched it before so not sure if this not normal)

So I am wondering, if it needs regassing, if there is blockage in the fridge gas lines or something else. any ideas or help is greatly appreciated.

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[QldKev]

Cold pipes on the out side, and hot on the in side is good.

Have a look inside the fridge, is there a fan to circulate air past the evaporator. My first guess is the evaporator fan is not working. You may need to remove a panel to see it.


QldKev

 

[Smokomark]

+1 most likely evap fan.
Also make sure the large fan on the condenser is running.

 

[J.T]

The flow of refrigerant goes from the compressor to the condensor (outdoor coil) this pipe should be warm/hot, after, it flows inside to the small capillary tube which drops pressure and temp of the refrigerant. There should be frost on all coils of the evaporator and obviously the fan should be running. From the indoor coil the refrigerant returns to the compressor, this pipe should be cool and helps to keep the compressor cool. The compressor then compresses the gas and the cycle starts again.

A warm line returning to the compressor and not much frost on evap coil is a sure sign of low in gas.

 

[kirem]

thanks a lot for the great responses, I really appreciate it.

I found the fan on the 'cool-box' had stopped working once before and got it working again. That was my first thought this time, but alas it was fine.

From what J.T describes, I think I might have low gas.

The fridge was transported between the last time I used it and this time when it has developed an issue. I removed the cooling unit and transported separate from the cabinet. I am hoping that there isn't a small leak somewhere in the pipework, but would that allow all the gas to escape or would some remain in the system?

I'll ring a local fridgey tomorrow and see what my re-gassing options are?


thanks again to all that responded.

 

[J.T]

I am hoping that there isn't a small leak somewhere in the pipework, but would that allow all the gas to escape or would some remain in the system?

If its low on gas, there is a leak somewhere. It sounds like there is still a little bit of gas in the system, but not much. If its a major leak it would leak out in one hit, but most seep out over time. Fridgies aren't supposed to regas a system without finding the leak and searching is often the time consuming part.

 

[kirem]

If its low on gas, there is a leak somewhere. It sounds like there is still a little bit of gas in the system, but not much. If its a major leak it would leak out in one hit, but most seep out over time. Fridgies aren't supposed to regas a system without finding the leak and searching is often the time consuming part.

So if I got soapy water and spray the pipework until I found bubbles, I would save myself some $$$?

 

[J.T]

So if I got soapy water and spray the pipework until I found bubbles, I would save myself some $$$?

Yes, providing there is positive pressure in there, which there should be with the system off. Its worth a shot.
If you do that while its running, you run the risk of there being negative pressure on the low pressure side and it sucking detergent in which is not good!

Start on all the joints with flare nuts.

 

[kirem]

Dropped the fridge plant off to a fridgy today. Hopefully it doesn't break the bank.

I should take the cabinet to a paint shop and get it stripped and resprayed.

 

[QldKev]

Hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix.

kirem: Is that you're phone number?
fridgie: Na mate, that's the bill


Before you do up the cabinet I would wait for the quote

QldKev

 

[kirem]

Hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix.

kirem: Is that you're phone number?
fridgie: Na mate, that's the bill


Before you do up the cabinet I would wait for the quote

QldKev

for sale one reconditioned cabinet sans cooling plant

 

[drunkenmonkey]

we've got 6 skope fridges at work and most of the times its a fan that goes and the fridge owners pay to fix that, but any other problems and it's usually just cheaper for them to send out a new compressor unit

 

[kirem]

I've got one similar to this, except it is black and does not have a cover over the cooling plant.

Oh and mine is U/S atm.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Skope-bar-fridg...1#ht_500wt_1299

 

[Malted]

:icon_offtopic: Kirem, how noisy are these fridges? Could you have one in the room beside your bedroom (not the ensuite or dunny) without it making enough noise to keep you awake? Thinking of such a unit in my family room that is central to the bedrooms.

 

[kirem]

:icon_offtopic: Kirem, how noisy are these fridges? Could you have one in the room beside your bedroom (not the ensuite or dunny) without it making enough noise to keep you awake? Thinking of such a unit in my family room that is central to the bedrooms.

they are very noisy

 

[booargy]

I got given a massive upright stainless freezer (.7mx.7mx1.8m internal) from local TAFE. The thermostat was rooted, they were quoted $1600 for replacemant. STC-1000 and contactor fixed that but have no room to put it so it sits in storage.