Ideal 55 troubleshooting question

[kerran]

The top area of one of my cooler walls gets cold. My understanding is that the cooling tubing often gets separated from the liner on these units.

But, is it possible that only one section would get cold if the unit was low on Freon?  I would think that if the unit were low on Freon all of the tubing would just be kinda cold instead of just one specific section being cold and the rest not.

Also, just to confirm a cooling system is 100% closed and thus low Freon implies a leak of some sort?  Are there instances of recharging and the thing not having any issues?  In that case is the leak just super tiny?

Thanks!

[johnieG]

True, when a system develops a leak & starts to loose gas/pressure at first the freon at the point of entry/to the evaporator coils ( where the capillary tubing is attached to the near end of the evaporators inlet line) ironically it actually gets colder than normal due to the lower pressure.

But this doesn't last long as the system continues to leak down lower. so what you'd observe ( if you could see behind the liners wall & see the tubing) is the first couple of inches of the evaporator will be abnormally colder than normal & a heavy frost can accumulate along it length, but since there isn't enough freon to continue to run through the rest of the evaporators length, it obviously can't absorb heat as well & the temperature in the "box" starts to rise. so a slider that's low on gas/freon tends to frost in just one of the upper corners typically towards the rear upper corner of the cabinet.

Your slider is a convection cooled machine. it's designed to start the beginning of the evaporators tubing circuit arranged  along the top section of the tank/liner, why? because cold air is heavier than warm air & tends to fall like water over the falls, so it's not unusual to see the top 3-4" along the top of the tank (lengthwise) getting a bit frosty on a humid day, that, plus air leaking in along the edge of the top lid.  remember,  sliders are coldest at the top edges.

the only reliable way to check to see if it's truly low on freon is to put a set of gauges onto service port fittings & see what the running pressures are.  now that being said, yes it's also true that sliders have a tendency to have their evaporators tubing detach from the liners/tanks inner wall, this will also make the bottle area warmer. sometimes you can remove the plastic thermal breaker-strip between the tanks upper edge & the outer shell & push it back a bit to sneak a peak at he evaporator tubing towards the top edge & see if it's starting (or has) to detach off the inner liners wall.

Now if it is low on a charge, there IS a leak, "tiny" leaks never get smaller, you can however try some HVAC stop leak into the system when you do recharge it, this should work well with slow leaks, DON'T use the automotive crap they sell at Autozone, big box auto stores, this junk is NOT designed for hermetically sealed , electrically powered refrigeration systems, it contains additives that will attack the insulation of the inner electric motor & cause it to seize up or dissolve the varnish off the electrical windings & cause it to plug the capillary tube or just plain short out the motor.    I prefer using Nu-Calgon EasySeal brand Ultimate LS/UV  it has UV dye in it & is also visible  in ordinary light ( lemon lime yellow florescent) the "LS" means "large system" it will be better in your slider as you've got a lot of evaporator tubing inside that puppy.

[kerran]

Very helpful. Thank you!

In addition to “all it needs is a shot of Freon”

I’ll add “gets cold”

Been doing as much reading up on these coolers as possible before getting down and dirty on this thing. I had been assuming this whole time that the tubing had separated from the liner. Now I realize that may not be true. If I’m lucky maybe a tiny leak or fixable leak, but it also may be a leak and separation

[johnieG]

Yep, you gotta start tearing into it with the basic tests to see where it stands on the 1 to 10 scale of beinga  pain in the A$$...

[kerran]

Something else I’m wondering.

My understanding is that this unit had been sitting undisturbed for a LONG time. The temptation for me is to think that since it does get cold in the upper portion of the liner that the leak must be tiny since it’s been sitting a LONG time. But now I’m wondering if that is necessarily true.

When the unit leaks Freon out is it then under substantially less pressure allowing some small amount of Freon to stay in the system for a long time since it’s not under so much pressure?  Or if there is a leak, it’s all gonna come out anyway?

I’m thinking about a water hose with a spray gun at the end of it with a tiny leak in the hose. Starts leaking as soon as full amount of pressure from the water is realized but stops when some of the pressure is released. Water would stay in the hose for a long time since the leak is only “realized” under full pressure.

Does running the compressor introduce “full” pressure back into the system?  Thus causing the remaining Freon to leak out?  I’m guessing if this is the case I may be able to ascertain how bad my leaking issue is by running the system for a while. Unfortunately my thermostat doesn’t work either (go figure).

Contemplating and hoping my system isn’t Swiss cheese.

Thanks

[johnieG]

Don't kow since you cant give me any pressure readings, just guessing at this point, it's a closed loop/sealed system if there were a leak, it will continue until it's internal pressure reaches equalization with atmosphere. after sitting for so long, you may have scaly rust on the condensers steel high side line fed from the compressor, when you fired it up, you may have induced a leak at that point. ( this is quite common on these machines)   or there may be no leak at all & just loose lines, other that telling me that it "cold" at the top, whats the actual air temperature in the bottle compartment?

Again, you have to test the system & stop guessing because it wont fix the machine.