Thread: One for the fridgies

Would these do, I can't seem to get the Everwell pinch off valve in Australia

Also would JB Weld do for the hole, just roughing up the powder coating enough, it's so thin trying to take it back to bare metal might make it worse.

Originally Posted by sharmy

Would these do, I can't seem to get the Everwell pinch off valve in Australia

yep, vaccing down or purging is going to be the trick, given how much is in the can and how much you need, you might get away with doing a couple of fill and dumps

Originally Posted by sharmy

Also would JB Weld do for the hole, just roughing up the powder coating enough, it's so thin trying to take it back to bare metal might make it worse.

I dont expect so the pressures are pretty good in there any issues youd have with prepping to solder you'd have with prepping for JB to get a hold on. its got to be gas tight.

Originally Posted by sharmy

Also would JB Weld do for the hole, just roughing up the powder coating enough, it's so thin trying to take it back to bare metal might make it worse.

I'm assuming your evap is Aluminium. Ours is.

My experience with JB Weld on Aluminium has been if you don't get it back to the bare metal it'll pop off. I usually get the surface as clean as I can, apply a layer of glue then scrape through the glue with a knife blade to peel off the oxide coating. With the glue sealing the surface against oxygen it seems to get a better bond. If just sticking to the oxide layer it seems to come off when you least want it to.

I'd think trying to stick to powder coating would be even worse.

To be honest I don't see an epoxy fix lasting, if it works at all.

Do you have any fridgies near by you can lubricate with beer to gas it up? By the time you've cut the process tube, (silver) soldered on a service valve, vacced and charged there's a bit of time and tools required.

Charging a small "critically charged" system is a bit of an art. I have a "Charg-Check" which is a small refrigerant container with a sight tube for measuring small charges. The Eutectic on the boat takes 50g. Can't measure that with standard scales.

Because "minus-30" is a blend, you need to charge it as a liquid. You can't just "gas 'er up till she's cold enough". Well, you can but....

Originally Posted by sharmy

I just googled "diy cans refrigerent gas and got some availability " Amazon au " $115 delivered for can of hychill minus 30 including gauge and fittings. Plenty cheaper from temu but probably crap. How would you know what is enough I gather the gauge would be a pressure type.

Once you have the compressor running you fill till its got a nice cool even temp across the evaporator, if its to low on charge the first part of the evaporator will freeze while the rest will be warm, if its over charged, the first part will be cool and then the last part will get colder. Condensor temps and compressor current will also rise as the overfil gets worse. Eventually you'll get liquid feeding into thecompressor and then the whole thing seizes.


Hychill has an australian branch down in VIC

HyChill - Contact

If the blurble Im reading is accurate and I dont need to redo all my RAAF certification stuff to order and handle the gas, I might just get into dealing with it and doing AC work again on cars and small fridges.

Freeze spray from Jaycar is R134a 280g for about $11, i used it to re-gas a small bar sized fridge after installing a bullet type fitting.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Thanks I'll try and trace where it goes.

Can't use an STC1000 in a frost free refrigerator,as it won't defrost,fan also needs to stop and start when needed.The coil will ice up and then it won't cool.
If you want to go that way,you need a low temp Dixel or Carel controller,which can be programmed for the defrosts,fan delays,etc.
And a coil and air sensor.
Cheapest and easiest option maybe to replace the PCB,or the FC(Food Compartnent) sensor if it is faulty.I would read the resistance ad see if it is similar to the Coil(defrost)sensor,they could be the same sensors.This may give you an indication if it is faulty.

Originally Posted by sharmy

I have just come back from a fishing trip to Stanage Bay, while there some clown decided to cook some sausages and used a fishing knife to cut a couple off the string against the internal wall of my 80l engel. The knife cut a hole in the evaporator tubing and ,of cause, the fridge stopped cooling. Has anyone repaired this type of damage successfully without replacing the whole unit. Thanks in advance.

Very difficult to repair,we used to use an epoxy on them years ago,which was successful,but i doubt it is available today.Oil was the main issue,not much will take if there is oil around the puncture hole,it needs to be cleaned up very well,even pull a slight vacuum on the system to limit the chnace of more oil seeping out after it is cleaned up.
Is the evaporator available as a spare part?
The other issue is moisture,with a leak in the evap,often moisture gets in,driers need to be changed often more than once,or you will have other problems.
How long was it left running once the evap was punctured?
A Bullet fitting is what you need to access the system,if there is room to get it onto the pipework.

Who said R12 is not available?
There is still quite a lot around,one just needs to know where it is.

FWIW,some say the same for R22,it is actually still available from the main Refrigeration wholesalers.