Ideal 150 cooler wont set temp

[scottransell]

I have a ideal 150 slider, I just finished having the compressor recharged as I had a small hole in the line, and its fixed. I bought a ranco thermostat but my issue is this. When I turn it on the lowest the temp reading is 48.7 degree F and from posts I see that it should go down to around 36 degree F. I have adjusted the screw with large turns and it has dropped a little but not that much to bring it down. I am wondering if it needs more freon or do I have the wrong type of thermostat running it. The thermostat is a Ranco AA30-2210, so not sure if this will drop it low enough or not, or it just needs more freon, to drop it down. The compressor runs ands can here is kick in and isn't getting hot, but is running none stop, any help would be appreciated with this, as I not a wiz with refigeration at all. thanks

So I took the thermostat out of the picture and added a jumper wire between the two to run the compressor and fan, the temp, still doesn't drop below 48.1 degree F, this is with the slider empty no bottles, Would anyone think this is under charged with freon, if it doesn't go below this temp. I know with bottles in it changes but the machine should drop down lower you would think.

[johnieG]

The testing with the thermostat jumpered out was a good move, Ideal sliders use convection cooling which means it relies on the tank liner to become chilled which in turn cools the air to refrigerate the bottles, Sounds like your evaporator lines (tubing) has lost contact with the tank liner, the bottle compartment basically is a metal box with copper lines physically attached to the sides of the tank horizontally running back & forth on both the right & left sides, they were only attached with pitch (tar) as an adhesive, over time & use ( aging & thermal stressing/shrinkage, the pitch cracks & the tubbing falls away from physical contact with the tank-sides & although the system is charge & running, it can't take any heat from the tank/liner itself & so it runs warm,   the cure (unfortunately) is to discharge the system, disconnect the tank from the compressor deck & remove the tank & reattach the tubing to the tank. this is a common problem for the Ideal models 35, 55, & 150, the larger model 300 used a forced air system that slid in & out of the machine like a file-cabinet drawer making service much much easier.   another hint that the tubing has become separated from the liner is that sometimes it falls against the outer shell & you'll get a cold/sweating spot on the outside surface of the machine.

[scottransell]

thanks for the response, I have had the tub al a aprt and all the tubes are attached well, to the tub, I have replaced the thermostat and it still isn't getting colder, I have reserched and read a lot as the machine cooled down before, but got a hole in the compressor line leaking the freon out, so tore it a part as wasn't sure where the leak was, but with a nitorgen charge found it to be right off the compressor, I had the HVAC guy solder the line up and charged it back up, but wonder if he over/under charged it but also questioning if the pencil filter may be plugged, or saturated not drawing enough off heat and running through causing the higher temp. I have the guy going to come back to put the gauges back on to see the pressure soon, but also got a new pencil filter just incase it needs to b changed out, not sure some solder might have got pushed into it, but know it was getting temp before the hole in compressor line,
What is your thoughts about what I just wrote, as I am no expert on refigeration but under stand the process how most of it works.
Thanks for your response again.

[johnieG]

without a gauge set looking at both the high & low side of the system while it's running you'll only be guessing & taking shots in the dark. if the freon flow is restricted due to a plugged filter/drier or even a occluded capillary tube it'll show quickly with a sky-high pressure on the high side of the system, & a low side running towards a negative scale.  it's also possible to undercharge a slider system when your tech didn't weigh-in the full charge amount & only eyeballed it just using his gauges based on observed pressure.