Charge Your Own 'Fridge?

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Well, hooked the hose up, opened the valve on the can adapter. I could hear air rushing, but didn't see or feel any obvious coolant leaks.

Gauge moved up and down as I opened or closed the valve. Can got colder to the touch.

Not sure if I put coolant in or leaked it all out.

 

[mindless1]

You look at where the gauge needle sits before you open the can valve, open it for a moment, close it, wait a moment, then see where the gauge needle reads. It should read a little higher, with each time you do the valve open and close cycle.

I assume you had the fridge running a minute before starting, and that you opened the valve on the tap. You open the tap valve to get the initial reading with fridge running, with the can-side valve closed, then the bursts from the can.

 

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Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Waiting to see if it cools any better. I have a thermometer on the outside with a remote probe inside. Was showing around 25.

 

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Reattached the gauge and rechecked it and it's now showing up towards the top of the blue range. Initially it was near the bottom of the green.

But, this is a kit I got for a car, so I don't know if the green and blue mean the same thing for an appliance.

Manufacture date on it is '13 and I was paid off by the extended warranty company years ago as the service tech wrote it off. That's when he appplied the tap and charged it one last time hoping it would last a few months until the warranty company paid the claim. It's remained working all this time, so if it finally fails and has to be replaced, I won't really be out anything. I just need to try and get it to last until the first of the year if at all possible while I get some other stuff resolved.

 

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I let it run for a while, then shut it down to defrost the frozen areas. Maybe I should have done that first. Almost all of that gone now. I'm not confident it will cool properly again., but I guess we'll see. It wasn't cooling well as it was.

I'm just hoping that can was OK and didn't put a bunch of air into the system.

 

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Been running most of the night and it just doesn't want to get below 25.

I've got a deep freeze, so the stuff that needs to be frozen is in there. I just want the lower box to keep milk and eggs cold until I can figure out my next step.

Pay a tech to evacuate and charge or buy a new one.

 

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Hanging in the 18 degree area. Probably should get colder but room temp is 80+.

It's keeping stuff frozen though, so hopefully it'll last a few more months.

 

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Been watching the temp and it has pretty much held in the 15 - 20 degree range. It's also been running the defrost cycle every few hours and will get to 30-35 for short periods. Using plastic ice trays, it was freezing those solid overnight, maybe faster.

I had taken the ice maker out thinking it was defective since it wasn't making ice any more. But that was before I did the rest of the above and the box wasn't reading much below 25 most of the time. I went ahead and put the ice maker back in yesterday sometime and it's been making ice batches about every 2-3 hours today.

Maybe I'll get through to Spring after all.

 

[mindless1]

Put a bunch of jugs/tubs/whatever of water in the freezer. It will run more efficiently from less air exchange when the door is open, and will also recover faster to sub-32F from defrost cycles. That will also buy you days more time to find a new freezer if it fails (or keep food from spoiling during a few days of power outage), as long as you keep it shut.

However if it takes years to leak too much, you might have a lot of life left in it.

 

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Not working well and before I spend the big bucks, I figgered I try another way.

That old can of freon ... who knows.

So, I picked up one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374233471746

No can tap/top, so I'll need one of those when I get new gas.

But of course, the instruction booklet (not manual) is in that half translated something to English that makes little sense.

Blue hose to blue valve and low side in Fridge is simple. Yellow hose to center fitting seems right. That will go to the vacuum first and then the gas can later, I assume? There is no tap on the High side that I know of, so I'm guessing I won't be using the red.

When sucking the system down, should the Fridge be running or not?

When adding gas, I know the Fridge needs to be running. Or?

Gauge is in degrees (F), not pressure, so what do I shoot for?

Also not sure exactly what order to open and close valves.

I won't be going to town to get the gas and the tap until later this week.

If you're tired of my questions and don't want to answer, so be it.

 

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First problem when checking to see what else I need.

The guy put the tap on the Low side line at such an angle that this new, larger quick connect fitting won't go on. I had an adapter left out in the garage to change the screw on fitting on the tap to an automotive style quick connect and the simple hose from the old freon can was able to snap into place.

By taking the adapter off, I can get the blue hose directly on the fitting though. Hopefully that will work.

 

[mindless1]

Too many variables, you may be on your own for the rest of this unless you can find a youtube video using that exact setup?

I'd imagine the old freon was fine. It doesn't go bad and any leaks would be outward, not inward, so as long as there was liquid in the can, it should be equally as good as a new can.

 

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Harbor Freight sells the same manifold and their instruction booklet is a lot more clear.

Not sure it was old, but maybe the leak seal was, or ... well, who knows, it just ain't cooling. Not sure how to describe it, but it didn't sound quite right when adding from the can the first time and the can didn't really get cold indicating gas transfer. It was partially used and the hose/gauge/fittings were still on, so maybe some leakage.

It's still icing up on the right end of the coils though. Got the rig for $80 and coolant will be another $15-20. If I can get it running better, that's better than $800-900, and if not ... 'learning experience'

Maybe the leak seal needs to be sucked out. Maybe I'm just nuts.

 

[iRONic]

Can you make a video while you’re attempting this for us? I'll add the Benny Hill soundtrack later.

kthx

 

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Do I want the Fridge running when I use the vacuum to suck it down?

 

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More like Fine, Howard and Fine.


It's at 9 degrees which I haven't seen in quite a while. But the copper line that tap is connected to is frosting up. Not sure if that should be and I don't recall ever having looked at it before as a comparison.

 

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Maintaining 0 degrees or so, making ice every two hours or less. Cycling on and off, but I haven't picked up on any regular interval.

Still not sure about the ice on the copper line in back, maybe too much gas?

It should get me through another few months ... unless the compressor seizes.

 

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Top box around 0. Bottom box in the low 40s. Added a KillaWatt just out of curiosity and it's running around 140-150 watts.

 

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Progress?

It'll run for a while, drop the top box temp to 0 or below, then shut off. It might stay off for an hour or more but the top box temp never rises about about 20 before it comes back on. Making ice like crazy, less than two hour cycles.

So far, the right end of the coils aren't showing any significant frost accumulation.


Sure beats running 24 hours a day, not getting below 30 and not making ice at all.

 

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Still going. No icing on the coils. Maintaining 0-5 degrees, sometimes lower while running. Once it cycles off, it stays off for quite a while, maybe hours in the cold weather while the house isn't real warm. Currently showing 20 degrees or so and probably due to kick back on since the sensor is in the lower box and that's in the 45 degree range.

 

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Got a few more months out of it, but with the warmer temperatures it started acting up again. New box ordered. Got this one bandaided one last time to run until the new one arrives later this week.

Found one on sale. Found a promo deal on a new credit card that gives me $200 back, so it wasn't too bad. Not looking forward to the upcoming wrestling match though.