What Is Happening To My Chest Freezers?

[Parks]

This explanation doesn't seem right to me. Tubes to be used for refrigeration must comply with AS/NZS 1571. This standard specifies requirements for round, seamless copper tubes manufactured from phosphorus-deoxidized copper containing high residual phosphorus (UNS alloy C12200). Requirements including chemical composition, hardness, grain size and manufacturing tolerances are specified.

I doubt mild steel with a thin copper inner tube is used.

The explanation does make some degree of sense, even if the standards dictate otherwise.

Would love to know if anyone has actually cut their freezer apart to find the actual cause of the leak.

 

[remi]

So, thought I'd give you guys an update on my dilemma.

Thanks for all the suggestions re: alternative freezers/ fridges to use. As my space is quite tight, I came to the conclusion that a fridge that fits 5 kegs wouldn't work, as I would have no room for the gas bottle, and would lose access to the area behind the current chest freezer (see picture below) as suitable fridges would be 160-170cm tall.

Luckily, the cheapie electrical place near me had a new Westinghouse 210L chest freezer (which is the same as my old Kelvinator) on sale for $370 due to a scratched lid...I jumped at the chance. Added a 5yr warranty for $75 for some piece of mind. Simple matter of swapping the collar over- picture below.



As you can see, space is tight in my laundry- not sure why the picture has been rotated?

The old chest freezer hadn't completely died, and was still holding 4-5 degrees. If anyone wants it, even for a fermenting box or similar, let me know- otherwise it's off to the tip.

If this new freezer claps out in the next 5 years, I will seriously reconsider my keg-fridge plans. 3 freezers in 3 1/2 years is already a bit ridiculous.

Remi

 

[QldKev]

So, thought I'd give you guys an update on my dilemma.

Thanks for all the suggestions re: alternative freezers/ fridges to use. As my space is quite tight, I came to the conclusion that a fridge that fits 5 kegs wouldn't work, as I would have no room for the gas bottle, and would lose access to the area behind the current chest freezer (see picture below) as suitable fridges would be 160-170cm tall.

Luckily, the cheapie electrical place near me had a new Westinghouse 210L chest freezer (which is the same as my old Kelvinator) on sale for $370 due to a scratched lid...I jumped at the chance. Added a 5yr warranty for $75 for some piece of mind. Simple matter of swapping the collar over- picture below.

View attachment 49318

As you can see, space is tight in my laundry- not sure why the picture has been rotated?

The old chest freezer hadn't completely died, and was still holding 4-5 degrees. If anyone wants it, even for a fermenting box or similar, let me know- otherwise it's off to the tip.

If this new freezer claps out in the next 5 years, I will seriously reconsider my keg-fridge plans. 3 freezers in 3 1/2 years is already a bit ridiculous.

Remi

Do your freezers have the radiator at the back? If not, then they have the lines running through the body to get rid of the heat, and with no air circulation past the sides they will find it really hard to get down to temperature.

QldKev

 

[Diesel80]

Do your freezers have the radiator at the back? If not, then they have the lines running through the body to get rid of the heat, and with no air circulation past the sides they will find it really hard to get down to temperature.

QldKev

As kev says, I have a rebadged old kelvinator that disperses heat through the walls of the chest freezer. the sides get really hot to touch (as it is meant to do) but, i have heaps of space about it for the heat to dissipate. Interested to see how this plays out.

 

[WitWonder]

Well, coincidentally I noticed the same issue with my F&P freezer recently (280L job). I have it set at 6 degrees and going past a few times noticed it was sitting at 8 degrees. Upon opening the lid, I noticed some frost around the top which is highly unusual. I relocated the probe and this morning it was down at 6 degrees and I thought problem solved. Tonight, same issue. Changed probes on my fridgemate and used another thermometer - same deal, 8 degrees measured on both. &*))!

I bought this unit NEW in January last year. Not happy. I assume the warranty is 12 months, too. I want the space that comes with a freezer but not if I have to replace it every 1-2 years.

UPDATE

Well, the freezer was covered by a two year warranty and, after a swift sledgehammer blow to remove the collar (which was glued on with liquid nails) and some patient work with baby oil to remove the liquid nails left on the freezer, I restored the freezer to *cough* near-new condition and made a claim. The official diagnosis was that it had no gas and it was replaced under warranty.

I think I will just use a bead of silicone around the new freezer and collar this time to hold it in place and seal it. Plus maybe some thin sticky-backed foam from Clarke rubber between the timber and plastic of the freezer for a better seal and so it's easier to get off next time (if required).

All's well that ends well :icon_chickcheers:

 

[WitWonder]

Well it's happened again. My F&P replacement freezer appears to be on the way out as it's struggling to get the temperature down to 4 degrees. The outside is cold to touch and the compressor has been on for 3 hours and it's gone down about 1 degree. So to recap - the original unit lasted about 22 months, this (new) replacement unit has lasted about 2.5 years. Not good enough. I'll give F&P a ring and see how I go about getting it fixed but don't like my chances. If I can't I think I'll give up on the chest freezer idea and get a fridge instead.

Conclusion: Fisher & paykel are shite. :angry2:

 

[yum beer]

There were warnings.......warnings people....

 

[Batz]

I have always bought older secondhand freezers, I like 500lt models. I'm on my second keg freezer first one died at 3 years, present is still going after 6 years.
My fermenting chesty ( again 500lt) died after a couple of years.

I have never paid more than $100.00 for any of them, but it's a pain when one dies and your looking for another.
Oh it costs me $15.00 to dump the buggers now as well.

Batz

 

[Bribie G]

the other thing with turning a freezer into a fridge is it will make the compressor short cycle because the whole system will be oversized for that temperature.
ive got one at home too i bought new from aldi and it been going well for about 2 years i think but it wont last as long being used as a fridge as if it were a freezer.
for your freezer its probably either short of gas or the compressor valves are worn out and you're not getting enough compression which might explain why the side of the freezer doesnt get hot anymore as thats your condensor.

Cheers,

Stewart

That was my first thought, and a reason I never went the chesty route. My Aldi food freezer is a ripper, it sits there and only flicks on for a few minutes every now and again, and with the top of the food covered with a few sheets of bubble wrap and a beach towel on the lid (more to keep it clean as it's in the garage) it hardly does any work and costs little to run.

However I've long suspected that forcing a freezer to run at a high temperature it's not designed for could well stress it out both from the compressor point of view and also the physical, due to many bits at 8 degrees not being the same length as they are supposed to be at -18, and make it work harder than its job description.

 

[real_beer]

fellas, dont buy F&P. its chinese? crap now. no longer made in NZ and tends to fail quickly. your paying extra for brand name and getting nothing in return

I think they had no choice but too relocate to China/Thailand because all the Kiwis have moved to Western Australia!

 

[gap]

I have had my F&P freezer running as a fridge with a STC100 temp controller
for nearly 6 years without any problems.
It was purchased new.

 

[sav]

Same my F and P is 4 years old still going
Sav

 

[MarkBastard]

Same. I wonder if collars are doing it or making it worse. I dont use a collar.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Well it's happened again. My F&P replacement freezer appears to be on the way out as it's struggling to get the temperature down to 4 degrees. The outside is cold to touch and the compressor has been on for 3 hours and it's gone down about 1 degree. So to recap - the original unit lasted about 22 months, this (new) replacement unit has lasted about 2.5 years. Not good enough. I'll give F&P a ring and see how I go about getting it fixed but don't like my chances. If I can't I think I'll give up on the chest freezer idea and get a fridge instead.

Conclusion: Fisher & paykel are shite. :angry2:

By chance have you had other electrical items die during this time?

 

[WitWonder]

Well it's happened again. My F&P replacement freezer appears to be on the way out as it's struggling to get the temperature down to 4 degrees. The outside is cold to touch and the compressor has been on for 3 hours and it's gone down about 1 degree. So to recap - the original unit lasted about 22 months, this (new) replacement unit has lasted about 2.5 years. Not good enough. I'll give F&P a ring and see how I go about getting it fixed but don't like my chances. If I can't I think I'll give up on the chest freezer idea and get a fridge instead.

Conclusion: Fisher & paykel are shite. :angry2:

Well, they may make a crappy product but I need to congratulate the Kiwi bastards because they have replaced my freezer, again, with the difference being this time that it's out of warranty. Tech reckons the other one must of had either a slow leak of coolant (which may have come from being poorly handled) or a blockage somewhere in one of the pipes. One of the things I have used is a trolley to sit the freezer on so I can pull it out and replace kegs and I think perhaps this moving around may have contributed to the problem though I'd be surprised that such small movement could fracture a weld or some such so that gas leaks out. So, I'll stop doing that and just ruin my back dropping kegs in instead and see if it lasts any longer this time around.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Excellent thread blokes.

I'm (subject to continued tacit approval from SWMBO) going to get back into kegging at that mysterious time when the ATO send you money for being smart enough to ask your employer to tax more tax than you need.

Weighing up whether to get a pre-made kegerator or a chestie and gradually build a kegging system around that (this allows me to buy curly-hose picnic taps in the initial time and replace with a good quality font and taps in the future - possibly about the same time next year when the ATO are nice enough to pull their well vasolined finger out of me).

Leaning towards freezers - firstly cost, especially when considering any kegerator will have a fairly substantial postage figure attached to it for me (as opposed to having a Harvey Norman nearby), secondly, I think my poor DIY skills won't be an issue long term for fitting a font to the thing, if I leave enough line out when doing it and thirdly, because the temperature variation between serving temp and beer temp are less in Tassie than I'd have experienced in Brissie. Oh and I have a leftover STC-1000 that would be great for the job.

Pretty much a buy once, cry once thing.

Anyone have experience with the HiSense or Haier brand stuff brand new (only other chesties are F&P at a significant premium)?

Secondly - are the dimensions they give internal or external?

Thirdly - if anyone has experience with the above, is there a hump or anything else inside that would render the 34cm high Keg keg new kegs unable to be put in? (I'm going without a collar at this stage).

And finally - can anyone see a reason why paying up to $200 or more extra for a kegerator? Cost to run freezer? Compressor hating being used with STC-1000? Reliability of the limited range of cheap freezers available brand new to me here?

 

[pk.sax]

Kegerator for 2 reasons:

380 bux for the fridge + castors and guard rail and drip tray from pinnacle + freight.

Font, shanks, taps and disconnects in great quality are getting way cheaper - cheaky peak.

If postage on fridge is an issue, can look at getting 1 tap job is off keg king (apparently free freight) and ditch the font/shank/tap and go to step 2 to complete.

I like the height of the taps and the ease of sliding kegs in/out.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Single Tap from Keg King is $589.

Pinnacle I'm looking at anywhere up to $530 (their BIN now on ebay) plus $140 postage to Tas. That's $670.

240L Freezer Brand New from HN is about $449, and I can get it local.

Not sure the castors, guard rail and drip tray are going to make the $140 difference up.

I'm happy to be wrong and I reckon that this sort of discussion will help most brewers out.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Yep, I love the look/cool factor of chesties, but my kegerator is so practical, a full fridge with fan in it (has NO problems holding kegs at 1-2C), fits 3x cornys, easy to take in and out, could put 3x 9L kegs on the shelves if I re-arrange/wanted to, but I am a two tap + pluto man anyway. Having the 3 shelves above for bottled beer and wine and glasses sitting in the upper door compartments is a huge win.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Yep, I love the look/cool factor of chesties, but my kegerator is so practical, a full fridge with fan in it (has NO problems holding kegs at 1-2C), fits 3x cornys, easy to take in and out, could put 3x 9L kegs on the shelves if I re-arrange/wanted to, but I am a two tap + pluto man anyway. Having the 3 shelves above for bottled beer and wine and glasses sitting in the upper door compartments is a huge win.

What is it that makes it more practical from your POV, DJ_L3ThAL?

I'm trying to see what the pros and cons are for me - and I have the feeling I'm missing something.

I'll add a caveat - if I was still living in Brisbane, the decision would be - drive to craftbrewer and do a deal with them. But delivery, regardless of retailer is obscenely prohibitive and the ease of a bricks and more store for something like this does appeal.