chilliwilly
15-06-2011, 09:32 PM
Evening all
Went to a newly opened farm shop near Bradford that a customer of mine reccomended me to on the way home, wish I hadn't have bothered. He's bought a walkin cooler/fridge off ebay from a pizza take away down in Essex that went out of business within the first 12 months. Its a Scandia unit, less than 2 years old, and its not holding temp, it cools down to it’s set point of 3 deg C when he first turns it on, then the walkin it starts gaining temp. He told me when he bought it last November, it pulled down to temp within the time it took to make and drink a potta.
The pot is pumping its bollocks off, condenser coil airways are blind with sh!te, evaporator icing badly (which looks home made not factory), and the condensor unit and fan is horizontal? How that's suppose to work I don’t know, it looks a proper Mickey mouse unit although the pipe work is quite professional. At first I noticed that the evaporator fan was running on the slow side and maybe causing the coil to ice up, he told me it was catching so he fiddled with it to stop the noise. Anyway I ended up changing the motor (10w for 16" fan?) for a new 25w, and the icing up seem to get worse, with no reduction in temperature. Don't you just hate that when that happens?
After attempting to connect the guages with no success due to no high side schrader, and not being able to back or front seat the rusty service valve on the pot. I came to the conclusion that it could be overcharged, and or the capillaries are blocked, (2 in total feeding 2 rows), they also seem a bit on the short side too. Checked for leaks and non found. So I've told him that the usual meggering, degassing, vacking, new drier, new service and schrader valves, pressure testing, and regassing needs doing before it will start to cool again, that’s if it ever did in the first place. I don’t think he was convinced though, so I told him to have a think about it and feel free to get a second opinion from someone else and let me know the outcome. I just don't want to be the one to tell him that he's been ripped off and the system may need to be modified for it to work properly. Especially when he didn't seem convinced.
Its just that I've never seen a condensor and fan oriented in the horizontal position, how on earth can it work efficiently and for the gas to condense and run down the coils to the receiver? Which in turn seems to be mounted horizontally in the same orientation of the coil, but the lowest point is only 4 rows deep, but at the opposite end to the high side feed to the condensor? Also my thoughts and instincts tell me it should be a XV and not a cap feeding the evaporator.
The charge is only about 1.5 kg stamped on the decal, but I've known that amount to be metered with an XV, and it seems strange with the cooling load being variable that its cap fed. The walkin is about 3m*2m*2.5m, but not enough information about the system regarding power and pot size. I also noticed a lead with connectors taped up marked up door switch, but no evidence of one being fit on the door. There's a hot gas defrost, which I couldn't get to, to check due to the condensor unit being fit back to back with the evaporator, and less than a foot of working space between the condensor unit and the wall of the room where its sited.
I just wish that I had a couple of line taps with me just to see if the high side was abnormally high, and the low side almost in vacuum. My camera on my phone doesn't work so sorry no pics. I'm not that bothered about going back to it to be honest, but I know that it will bother me for months to come if I don't, and whether or not my instincts were correct. And I just wondered if anyone else has had a similiar experience with a system like this?
Went to a newly opened farm shop near Bradford that a customer of mine reccomended me to on the way home, wish I hadn't have bothered. He's bought a walkin cooler/fridge off ebay from a pizza take away down in Essex that went out of business within the first 12 months. Its a Scandia unit, less than 2 years old, and its not holding temp, it cools down to it’s set point of 3 deg C when he first turns it on, then the walkin it starts gaining temp. He told me when he bought it last November, it pulled down to temp within the time it took to make and drink a potta.
The pot is pumping its bollocks off, condenser coil airways are blind with sh!te, evaporator icing badly (which looks home made not factory), and the condensor unit and fan is horizontal? How that's suppose to work I don’t know, it looks a proper Mickey mouse unit although the pipe work is quite professional. At first I noticed that the evaporator fan was running on the slow side and maybe causing the coil to ice up, he told me it was catching so he fiddled with it to stop the noise. Anyway I ended up changing the motor (10w for 16" fan?) for a new 25w, and the icing up seem to get worse, with no reduction in temperature. Don't you just hate that when that happens?
After attempting to connect the guages with no success due to no high side schrader, and not being able to back or front seat the rusty service valve on the pot. I came to the conclusion that it could be overcharged, and or the capillaries are blocked, (2 in total feeding 2 rows), they also seem a bit on the short side too. Checked for leaks and non found. So I've told him that the usual meggering, degassing, vacking, new drier, new service and schrader valves, pressure testing, and regassing needs doing before it will start to cool again, that’s if it ever did in the first place. I don’t think he was convinced though, so I told him to have a think about it and feel free to get a second opinion from someone else and let me know the outcome. I just don't want to be the one to tell him that he's been ripped off and the system may need to be modified for it to work properly. Especially when he didn't seem convinced.
Its just that I've never seen a condensor and fan oriented in the horizontal position, how on earth can it work efficiently and for the gas to condense and run down the coils to the receiver? Which in turn seems to be mounted horizontally in the same orientation of the coil, but the lowest point is only 4 rows deep, but at the opposite end to the high side feed to the condensor? Also my thoughts and instincts tell me it should be a XV and not a cap feeding the evaporator.
The charge is only about 1.5 kg stamped on the decal, but I've known that amount to be metered with an XV, and it seems strange with the cooling load being variable that its cap fed. The walkin is about 3m*2m*2.5m, but not enough information about the system regarding power and pot size. I also noticed a lead with connectors taped up marked up door switch, but no evidence of one being fit on the door. There's a hot gas defrost, which I couldn't get to, to check due to the condensor unit being fit back to back with the evaporator, and less than a foot of working space between the condensor unit and the wall of the room where its sited.
I just wish that I had a couple of line taps with me just to see if the high side was abnormally high, and the low side almost in vacuum. My camera on my phone doesn't work so sorry no pics. I'm not that bothered about going back to it to be honest, but I know that it will bother me for months to come if I don't, and whether or not my instincts were correct. And I just wondered if anyone else has had a similiar experience with a system like this?