Need repair advice: My beer fridge broke.

[Dom]

Sad day in Dom Town...one of the metal hoses in the back of my fridge was snapped in half by a fast moving projectile and all of the Freon hissed out of my precious little beer fridge.  Repairing the hose isn't the part that I have a question about.  I was wondering if there's a way to reintroduce the Freon to the system.  Any advice would make my summer a heck of a lot cooler.

Thanks, Dom

[Anonymous]

You SHOT your refrigerator?

Anyway.  You can usually braze in a piece of tube to fix the leak.

Now, to do it right and have it last.  You'd want to install a "moisture collector" because water is the enemy to refrigeration innards.  In fact, depending on whether you "shot" the low or high pressure side you might be able to just insert it where the break is.

Then, IF it's set up to be serviced you should be able to refill it wil oil/refrigerant.  Some are NOT made to be serviced and you may have to chuck it.  Or do a lot of work to get it to be refillable.

I'm no expert here, maybe an HVAC guy or a refrigeration mechanic can give you more info.

Good luck!

[Dom]

I was thinking about some way to use the freon from an AC refill bottle for cars...seems like you would just solder on a fitting that will accept the bottle, put a petock on one end of the tube and a petcock on the tail end and blow the freon into it with both petcocks open then close them at the same time trapping the freon in the system.   :dunno:

[davipu]

hurry, quick, bring the beer before it warms up

[Dom]

"Low pressure" and "high pressure" is the part that confuses me.  By the looks of it, the breakage would be on the high pressure side, assuming that the high pressure side is the part that runs back and forth in the grid array on the back of the fridge, and the low pressure side runs to the cavities that actually surround the food and do the real cooling.  I figured the latter was the low pressure side because I've popped another fridge before with a screwdriver in a de-icing incident and the freon is just encapsulated in 1/16" plastic...not exactly capable of containing anything under "high pressure".

Hmmm...then what "freon" to use;  R12, 134a, SP34e, R414?  Probably the latter two because they are compatible with all freon types.

[goat]

I have seen someone use a compressor from a mini-fridge to temporarily replace the A/C compressor on a ford explorer, but It didn't work for crap. Yes, it did cool the air enough to consider it an A/C system but it was a bad way to do things.

I don't know much about the differences between refrigerants, or refrigeration systems, but given that experience I'm not sure all refrigerants are created equal.

[Daniely]

Im still stuck as to what type of projectile could break brass tubing...

[cernunos]

Seed blew out of his pipe?  :lol:  (ya know I'm ribbin' ya Dom). Love the toddling 500 and the world's greatest forum.

C.......

[Dom]

Seed blew out of his pipe?  :lol:
C.......

It's no secret that I love my beer and have as a result of beer found myself in some pretty kinky situations, though never involving a beer bottle...but I would have to consider myself a beer enthusiast rather than a beer fetishist.

[cozy]

Start saving for a new one. You'll waste time and money trying to fix the old one, and might not succeed. You HAVE to put the same type of refrigerant back in that came out. I used to work on ice machines, You couldn't use the same parts for different types of refirgerant. And trust me, we would have recycled parts. They're designed specifically for each one. God i hated that job.

[davipu]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/zip/66225090.html

[Anonymous]

You were right about the high/low side...

The compressor compresses Freon gas, causing it to become hot, high-pressure Freon gas. This hot gas runs through a set of coils so it can dissipate its heat, and it condenses into a liquid. The Freon liquid runs through an expansion valve, and in the process it evaporates to become cold, low-pressure Freon gas. This cold gas runs through a set of coils that allow the gas to absorb heat and cool down the air inside the refrigerator. Mixed in with the Freon is a small amount of a lightweight oil. This oil lubricates the compressor.

I'd agree...  Buy a new one.

[roguegeek]

Isn't freon illegal to have in most states unless you're certified in some way? I think I remember hearing stories in high school of some kid who got his high from sucking on freon. Makes your voice all low I think too?

[yamahonkawazuki]

um correct me if im wrong here, but if this person was sucking on freon, would the hospital i assume, have to defrost his windpipe?  :dunno:

[Blueknyt]

toss the fridge, r22 is expensive and you have to be licensed to handle it. 134a used in cars wouldnt cool it well enough, without changing expasion valve and changing the condensor rig(black tubes on back) funny think i just gave away a .7 CF kenmore, worked great.

[Michael]

Red wine.     Doesn't need a fridge.
Or, go pommy and drink the stuff at room temp.
Of course, their room temp. is 40 degrees.    :lol:

[Dom]

um correct me if im wrong here, but if this person was sucking on freon, would the hospital i assume, have to defrost his windpipe?  :dunno:

No, actually Freon is the trade name for the gas that up until very recently was used in asthma inhalers.  Squirt squirt.

Also, from from this website

"Because Freon is non-toxic, it eliminated the danger posed by refrigerator leaks. In just a few years, compressor refrigerators using Freon would become the standard for almost all home kitchens. In 1930, Thomas Midgley held a demonstration of the physical properties of Freon for the American Chemical Society by inhaling a lung-full of the new wonder gas and breathing it out onto a candle flame, which was extinguished, thus showing the gas's non-toxicity and non-flammable properties. Only decades later did people realize that such chlorofluorocarbons endangered the ozone layer of the entire planet."[/quote]

Do I sound like an expert smarty pants?  I learned this today while trying to get my beer fridge back in the game.   :mrgreen: