SMC Discussion Areas

I have a circa 1970 Lacrosse Pepsi machine with a loud noise coming from the area of the compresser and fan at the bottom of the machine.  The noise does not quiet down at all when I apply pressure to the compressor, so I believe the noise to be coming from the fan and have purchased a new one from fun-tronics.  The fan is located behind the condenser fins and looks a bit hard to replace. Will I be able to slide the old fan out and new one in between the fins and the compressor, or do I need to remove the whole deck that holds the compresser, fan and fins?  Is that hard to do?  Will I mess with the refridgeration connections up to the top portion of the machine if I do this?  This is my first machine so this is all new to me.  Thanks for your help.

A quick way to check if the fan is at fault is to UNPLUG the machine, jam a rag or small towel under the condenser fan so it can't spin, then plug the machine back in for a few seconds to see if the noise is still there.  Don't let it run for too long or you'll burn the motor out.

     Yes, first make sure it is your fan motor making the noise.
     If it is loud, don't try and change it in place, the compressor deck and evapotator units were made to be easily removed for this reason.

Use the force Luke ( what they said)  :smile:

you won't hurt anything...

break loose the lower unit and pull it out far enough, giving you some "elbow" room.
you'll get it from there, and it's fairly easy...

Well, I took your excellent advice and put a rag in place to stop the fan from spinning in order to check the noise.  The same noise remained when the fan was stopped from spinning, which means the noise is coming from the compressor.  The noise is not overly obnoxious, but is loud enough that it prevents me from having in the basement rather than the garage. The unit cools just fine.  Is this the nature of the beast when dealing with a 40 year old machine?  Any suggestions?  Thanks.

      I've never owned a Lacrosse, but several Cavalier machines have been just plain loud.

Could be just a copper line rattling around & banging into something, or a loose/rattling compressor mounting plate.

No obvious rattle or fix for the compressor noise, so I guess that's the way it goes.  Can't imagine it is worth the expense to replace compressor.  One other question I have is which way is the fan supposed to spin?  The fan currently blows the air away from the compressor toward the fins.  Is this correct?

It should draw air through the fins and over the compressor.

Can you tell me how to reverse the direction of the fan?  Or, is it possible to install the blades backwards on the fan?

The motors rotation can not be reversed ( in this case) & the fan blades "pitch" ( or the angle of the blades in regards to it's rotation) is matched to the motors rotation, so if you try to reverse the blades, it will just "bat" the air around & very little will actually be drawn in the correct direction. ( which as stated in the last post, the air should be drawn/pulled through the condensers fins & blown back over the compressor.