Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

[walnut]

Called out to a Candy Frost free. customer called in morning saying fridge was icing up, compressor running constantly.
visited later on and customer had unplugged the fridge.
I swapped out the PCB and tested, the compressor came on after 5mins, after 10 mins of running the evaporator was not getting cold.
Is this a gas problem?
Any advice much apreciated.

[VillageIdiot2]

Re: Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

Aii! I would say it’s a gas problem, would explain why the compressor is running constantly…………the fridge/freezer temp sensors are prob fine……..sensing it’s too warm, and if there is no gas in the system, it’ll never get cold! but please dont take that as gospel 😕

[whitevanman]

Re: Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

walnut wrote:Is this a gas problem?
Any advice much apreciated.

To test for Gas in system, place lighter on pipework to condensor if the pipework is still hot when you take heat away there is a lack of gas , The gas should absorb the heat, ps take care not to burn yourself , however this could be open to debate.

just a thought

Wayne

[Penguin45]

Re: Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

Er, I’m not an expert on fridges by any means, but aren’t some of these gases highly combustible? Can’t be a good idea, surely?

Chris.

[welsh__boy]

Re: Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

Maybe a hairdrier would be a safer option, saying that though, a lot of the gases used in refrigereation aren’t combustable, I’m pretty sure you can put a match to R134a and it won’t light, mind you, it’s late and I may be wrong!!! I’m not clued up on Candy equipment, are there any fans that should be going? Is it stuck in a defrost? The drier on the gas line may be blocked or a small gas leak? I doubt it is a gas leak because the customer said it was icing up in the morning, which to me would suggest that there is enough gas in it, hot gas coil could be out of order. I don’t know if these parts are on the Candy equipment, but they’re on most refrigeration stuff.

Hope it helps.

[expertcat]

my advice would be leave alone and let a refrigeration engineer visit.
As all domestic refrigeration works the same in principle apart from a few slight differences with mag valves,pcb,timers and thermostats.
Most engineers will always go for changing the pcb but seasoned refrigeration engineers know that pcb tends to be fairly reliable its nearly always the sensors.Could be restriction but R600a is not supposed to restrict in the classroom but it tends to completly block up.It really depends what you mean by freezing up was it just the fridge side that froze and not the freezer?
If your not sure and it seems that you are not refrigeration based then i would leave alone.

[walnut]

Re: Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

Thanks for the reply’s.
I have fixed about 10 of these fridges so far, all without any comebacks.
There is a common fault on these PCB’s that cause the PCB to stop working.
when they go faulty the relay is designed to keep the compressor running continuous (saving the frozen food).
The customers PCB was faulty as when you power up the compressor should run for about 5 secs then stop for 5mins, this PCB just ran the compressor continuous.
What confused me is that after changing the PCB compressor was running but evap was not getting cold, even after 20 mins of running.

[expertcat]

yes there was a common fault with the yellow capacitor on the board these was replaced free of charge by candy.

[roly16]

Re: Candy Frost free – Was over icing up now stopped cooling

If the motor is running but the evaporator isn’t getting cold it has to be either
no refrigerant,
blocked system
condenser fan not running, but there isn’t one on these, or
compressor not pumping.

It’s NOT A GOOD IDEA TO TEST FOR A GAS LEAK WITH A NAKED FLAME on an R600a [which is butane] system unless you’ve got good public liability and life insurance 😯 . If you just happened to time your test when the leak occurred and the butane concentration in the air was wrong you could blow the customer’s house up. The probability of this happening is very small though as the leak will already have occurred or you wouldn’t have been there. Some of the gas can stay in solution in the oil though and be released later.

R12 and R134A don’t burn. if you put a flame to them they change into mustard gas producing choking fumes. R49, the R12 replacement, contains both R134A and Iso-butane.

geoff

[Author]

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