So... if you remove power to the unit totally (like during a power outage) - will the compressor re-start when power comes back, or will it 'lock up' again? I understand it is cycling on and off now, but there is constantly power applied to it. Would it behave any different if power is removed totally vs. just normal cycling on and off?
Ahh ok. It's hard to say because it's done it three separate times under three different circumstances here's the details........
1st time...... I first brought the machine home from buying it. It had sat in the guy’s garage for approximately 2 years without running other than the 5 mins when i went to initially went to look at it to make sure it worked. Got it home, set it up, plugged it in, it fired right up and it ran great.
About three days later i was sitting on the couch next to it and the compressor fired up like normal, then about 5 mins into cooling you could hear the relay clicking. It never stopped running, and continued to cool. It clicked for about 30 seconds then the clicking stopped and it continued to cool without issue and shut off when it reached the desired temp.
2nd time......About a week later, all ran well since the first "incident". Then i pulled the guts out to clean/paint. Put everything back in and this was the first "locked" situation. It wouldn't fire up, it just clicked. I rechecked all my wiring and fiddled with it a bit and looking back now I must of bumped something (probably the compressor itself) because I tried plugging it back in after about an hour of messing around and it fired up and ran great again. It had been off for about a total of about 18 hours.
3rd time (and final time I’ve had an issue)….The following morning after the 2nd incident, i got up for the day, went downstairs to find the machine clicking again, no start, internal temps were in the upper 60s and the compressor was too hot to touch. I unplugged it for a couple hours and plugged it back in, same issue (clicking, no start). Read on the forum some where people have had luck with tapping it. So I tried pounding it with my fist a couple times, plugged it in, and it fired right up. That was 3 days ago and haven’t had an issue since then.
So the LONG answer to your question (sorry, I’m all about the more info the better, ha ha), there doesn’t’ seem to be any correlation to if it’s cold, hot, been running, been unplugged for long periods, it all seems kinda random. That’s why I was curious if it’s safe to put the 3 in 1 on there even if it’s acting like it doesn’t need it now, or if that will “overload” it and send it to the grave? Since it may decide to do this again when we are gone for the weekend? And sure I can unplug it if we are gone, but I’d rather not since that kinda defeats the purpose of having a soda machine in your house.
