SMC Discussion Areas

Hi all I am a newbe to the group. I just picked up a Vendo 63 that I will be restoring so I am sure you will see a ton of questions. My first question is the compressor starts and runs nice and cold when it starts; however if I unplug it or turn it off it has a probem starting. I can tell it is trying to start by listening to it and watching lights dim from the current it is pulling. If I leave the machine sit for a while it will then start and run with no problems. Does anyone have any recomendations on what to look at? TIA John

I would replace the starter relay with a 3 in 1 starter. It is an easy replacement and you can find them at your local HVAC shop or buy one from www.thesodajerkwerks.com or funtronics. They are both great companies and both are fantastic source of reproduced parts and a wealth of knowledge for restorations. Welcome to the site. Please post some pictures of your machine if you can. There are several of us here that have had at least one V63 over the years. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

The cooling assy. of a V63 is a capillary tube type system, & the compressors' (typically 1/4 HP) are of a low starting torque design, (meaning that they weren't designed to run with a lot of back pressure on the compressors' cylinder head) which is fine, because normally in a capillary tube type system, there is a given amount of "off" time ( 10-15 minutes) that allows the pressure to equalize after the compressor shuts off from the prior cooling cycle, before it has to start up again when the thermostat turns on form the cabinets temperature rising above its "cut-in point" ( the maximum temperature that the thermostat will allow before it turns "on" the compressor to start cooling the cabinet) ,

so in the event that you've unplugged the machine, did an adjustment, then replugged it back in, you may be forcing the compressor to start up against a high head pressure, at which point it will struggle to start & draw too much current, ( you'll see the lights dimming & the compressors over-current circuit breaker may "click" off)  so first off you shouldn’t keep plugging & unplugging a machine when working on it until it has had enough time to equalize. but if the thermostat is short-cycling the compressor (turning it on & off too many times in a given time period) this can cause a problem for a low torque compressor like you have in your V63. this short-cycling can be caused by a few things, an empty machine, a leaking cabinet or glass-door gasket letting in too much warm air, or a defective thermostat or a thermostat that's not the correct type for the machine, ( an air temp sensing type VS a evaporator-direct contact type) & sometimes a blocked capillary tube itself can cause high back pressure by being partially blocked by a piece of debris.

you can try the mentioned 3_in_1 booster starter, this will give the compressor a kick in the pants on startup, & help overcome the low starting torque mentioned above, but if the compressor is experiencing excessive mechanical wear internally, and / or over heating, it may be causing the piston to stick in the bore & cause the same symptoms.

also an over-charged system will caused a high head pressure & would require a longer "off" cycle in order to give the system time to equalize.

see? easy as 3.14159265 (pi)  :biggrin: