Coils loose from liner -GBV-50 Slider

[twold]

How do I reattach the cooling coils to the liner on this Slider??? They all are loose.  What do you recommend?

[johnieG]

If they are soldered on your tank, you can use a propane torch to re-melt the solder while pressing the tubing back onto the steel tank with long handled pair of pliers, you may clean the copper tubing by lightly using steel wool (#001 should work nicely to clean off any corrosion & scale)

don't heat the tubing excessively as the system is still under pressure with refrigerant, but the heat required to melt the soft lead-based solder isn't enough to weaken the copper unless you start to over heat it to the point that it starts to turn dull red, so just use the touches flame like a small "paint-brush" back & forth across the section you wish to tacked back in place. you can use some acid-based solder paste & acid core plumbing solder to reattach the tube. wear a long sleeve shirt , gloves & & eye protection,.  again... you just need to tack in place every 6" or so.

if it's held on with a pitch or tar base substance, you may have to warm it up with a heat gun ( NOT a torch, it WILL burn!) & press the tubing & hold it until the tar solidifies again.

[MoonDawg]

How do I reattach the cooling coils to the liner on this Slider??? They all are loose.  What do you recommend?

      Or do you mean you don't have the liner out of the machine? If so, you might try shoving as much insulation as possible between the tubes and the outside skin of the cabinet without pushing the coils down out of place. This would force the tubes to make better contact with the liner.

[twold]

No Liner is totally out of the machine and I cleaned it up.  The coils were just about totally detached.  I carefully removed them the rest of the way, cleaned the tar and other crap off them now want to reattach them to the Liner.  I guess I will try the soldering route unless anyone has a better idea.  Thanks. 

[johnieG]

If they were tarred in place it may be difficult to attempt to solder them due to the petroleum residue left by the Tar, it can be done, but the tubing & tank must be squeaky clean & totally degrease or the solder wont flow & bond the metals together. But I assume that if it's totally disassembled, then there is no freon to worry about in the evaporator tubing.

Epoxy also works well, but it does take some time to harden & the parts need to be firmly pressed together or clamped in place until it's completely cured.

[twold]

With the epoxy do you completely wrap the coil with the Epoxy?? 

Has anyone used metal strips pop riveted to the liner?

[Jim]

The pop-rivets would work but not a good solution as the rivets would be visible from inside the liner. Not to mention, I wouldn't recommend drilling numerous holes in the liner.

Perhaps an alternative to epoxy would be utilizing Marine 5200 Caulking...
Does pose the drying time issue in that the lines would have to be held down while the caulking bead is placed on each side of the line in various places, and needs to remain help down for 24 hours...
If done properly, 5200 is forever ! ! !

[SIGNGUY]

I've wrapped the wire around the tank to hold the coils tight and then epoxied in spots , also used small wire to make sure the top was held in place and the rest "hung" so to speak in place.
I inserted the liner into the cooler and after a few days, I then cut the wires in the loading area (obviously) and the wire, epoxy and of course the new insulation holds it tight against hte liner..
Units have cooled great!