Recharging refrigerator

[dpaquin]

I just bought my 42 ft Hunter. The refrigerator runs almost continuously so I suspect it needs a refrigerant recharge. Is this easy to do yourself? It seems fairly accessible but I've never done a recharge.

 

[ttac]

Hello. If you have experience with using refrigerant I would say you can. But if you don't have a license to do so you won't be able buy the older R-12 if that is what you have.

 

[woodster]

I just bought my 42 ft Hunter. The refrigerator runs almost continuously so I suspect it needs a refrigerant recharge. Is this easy to do yourself? It seems fairly accessible but I've never done a recharge.

if you know an hvac tech you might be better off talking to him...theses systems are very delicate and not like the systems on cars or your home systems...it may be that your cooling fan is not working properly or you thermostat is not doing its job...before you go recharging the freon do a process of elimination on everything else first ...by you saying that the compressor is working all the time tells me you may have enough freon in the system....i am not a tech but what i have said is what i have learned about these systems ....hope it helps

 

[Rich Stidger]

Woodster is right - eliminate ALL other possible causes before you open the refrigeration system, Richard Kollmann has a great source of information on his website and he cruises this forum also. These refrigeration systems are very sensitive to the amount of freon- too much or too little and they won't perform correctly. Getting the correct amount can be a black art (IMHO). Kollmann has some tips and techniques for getting it right. See his link below:

http://www.kollmann-marine.com/

 

[Don Lucas]

I just bought my 42 ft Hunter. The refrigerator runs almost continuously so I suspect it needs a refrigerant recharge.

I wouldn't start by suspecting this at all. In fact I would suspect that if it is keeping things the right temperature and it is cycling that it is working correctly. It is supposed to run slow and long for efficiency.

But I would start by cleaning out the condenser coils to be sure they aren't all dirty

 

[sailor420]

Feel the evaporator plate. If it is frosted all the way up its sides, the chances are its not low on freon.