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 Topic: Quest 3 way fridge
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13/8/2020 at 5:13pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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'My fridge has packed up' is not specific enough to give definitive help, without more info there's 4 potential major faults, it doesn't work outright, or doesn't work only on one of the 3 power source choices!
These fridges are inherently reliable as there are no moving parts. They can suffer from 'Vapour Lock' whereby the refrigerant ceases to circulate properly and it won't cool. Simply fix is as mentioned above, remove ALL power sources then turn it upside down and leave it like that for refrigerant to settle out, can work in as little as 30min, but up to 24 hours may be necessary. After turning right way up again, leave for a while, certainly until all 'gurgling' noises have stopped, say minimum of 30 min, then reapply power and wait usual time to see if cooling is working again. If it doesn't work, leave upside down again for longer and try again.
These fridges are quite sensitive to being level to operate correctly, limits are plus/minus 3 degrees side to side, and plus/minus 6 degrees front to back.
There are two (one for 12v and one for 240v) cartridge heater elements, these sometimes fail, but one failing does not affect any other power source working. The gas burner can get sooted up and/or clogged with debris preventing the flame either working well enough or even lighting, again this has no affect on 12v or 240v working.
I'd hazard a guess it's the simple vapour lock that is your problem. If the refrigerant was/has leaked out you should notice a strong smell of Ammonia, but I've never come across one that leaked.
Good luck.
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29/1/2024 at 11:08am
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Hi The Fridges are cunning devices, work on a simple principals but with some substiles with pipes and pinch points. It uses ammonia hydrogen and water, the hydrogen increase the effectiveness of the ammonia gas, it is a close cycle and needs heat to make it all flow. I have scoured many forums looking at way to fix my fridge, there are a lot of urban myths out there include loads from so called refrigeration engineers, all rather suspect and dismissive. Nothing is impossible including re gassing, but no one bothers with absorption fridges. OK things to check, 12V check drawing 6-7 amps, if not 12V element is open circuit, or wiring corroded, 240V check it draws 0.3 of an amp, things to check thermostat switch if you get zero amps. Another clue is zero heat of course.
In the boiler section, the heating pipes are narrow, one weakness is if the inhibitor used to stop the ammonia corroding all the steel gets too hot, it can set like concrete, end of fridge! This is rare.
The inaccessible gas jet and burner get sooted up, so sort this out like any other gas fridge, to clear the gas jet I used the nozzle of lighter fuel can to blow it clear, if you have access to 3000 psi air, so much the better, my diving cylinder helped me here.
So if all three heaters all work and the fridge does not, you can tip upside down listen for girdling, then tip it up the right way, take 2-3 mins you do not have to wait 12 hours or overnight.
Now you have done all this and it still does not work or works a bit then stops, what else is there, what no one has mentioned, is the evaporator and how that works; It works by absorbing heat from the inside, ah! You say how does this help me? The absorber is a long black tube with a white aluminium plate bolted to it, so I took it off and guess what all the thermal compound had gone brittle and formed into lumps, so useless. I replaced with a healthy amount of white transistor heat sink compound. This stuff is sticky and gets everywhere but it makes a good thermal contact with the evaporator, now the heat from inside can flow into the evaporator, and the whole fridge gas system can now flow, before it could not, my evaporator trey iced over in 15 Mins!! A record.
So check yours and remember you cannot have too much thermal paste, my fridge now even makes ice!! Never did before, PS make sure the thermostat tip in in the clear as this is next to the evaporator.
KR Andrew
Post last edited on 29/01/2024 11:17:04
Post last edited on 29/01/2024 11:18:57
Post last edited on 29/01/2024 11:20:11
Post last edited on 29/01/2024 11:20:45
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via mobile 15/8/2020 at 11:21am
