Fridge Unit Replacement Help on Beneteau 40 (oceanis or not). How did you get it out?

[paulheth]

The refrigeration unit on my recently purchased Beneteau 40 - 3 cabin isn't functioning. The prior owner made some odd attempts to assess it, but didn't get far. I have tried shorting the thermostat contacts which did result in the fan starting, but nothing else from there. It's old enough now that I'm happy to put the funds into replacing it (have done the same on a past boat with great success), but how the heck does one get it out without serious destruction of the cabinetry around it? It clearly won't fit out the front, and even unscrewing and ungluing the front of the cabinet doesn't look like it will provide access.

Would love a few tips from someone who has done this. I am guessing that given these units are now 16+ years old I'm not the first.

Thanks for any comments in advance.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

These units are what are called a split unit. Unless the plates in the refrigeration compartment have been damaged, there is no need to replace them. Only the compressor and condenser require attention and possible replacement.

I have tried shorting the thermostat contacts which did result in the fan starting, but nothing else from there.

If you're doing this work yourself, you're going to need a hell of a lot more checking than that before making the decision to tear it all out. This is the equivalent of getting rid of your car because the ash tray is full.

Would love a few tips from someone who has done this. I am guessing that given these units are now 16+ years old I'm not the first.

16+ years old and you're ready to deep six it ? ? ?
My refrigeration unit is now 25 years old and behaves perfectly. I clean the fan and condensor every other year or so and recently rewired the compressor to run at high speed while AC is available and low speed while at anchor for a slight increase in efficiency.

If you are not capable of doing the work yourself, I would suggest you call in a refrigeration mechanic and probably save yourself a few boat units when you find you have nothing more than a simple problem.

I you insist on doing it yourself, determine the manufacturer of the unit and then search their pages for how the unit works and troubleshooting.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I agree with Ralph, more investigation is required. My unit is from 1986 - do the math - it still works just fine. I replaced the electronic module in 2016. There are many different parts to any refrigeration unit, any one of which could lead to an inoperative condition. You need to be a better detective or find someone who knows what he's doing. Good luck.

 

[RitSim]

Why not just replace the compressor/condenser, unless the evaporator is compromised?

 

[jssailem]

Why not just replace the compressor/condenser, unless the evaporator is compromised?

If the unit still functions but has a circuit connection issue then you are spending a lot of money unnecessarily

 

[paulheth]

Ha ha ha. Thanks for the responses everyone, and the 'gentle encouragement' to DYI a bit more before giving up on it. And to that I agree, but I have a number of large jobs on this boat right now so am having to pick my battles.

I have found that there is a chance that it might be the control board but can't seem to source the parts locally. Vitrifigo sounds like they don't provide much support. Nova Kool is based 20 minutes from me and are incredibly helpful, and their units are much more efficient in my experience. Ideally they would have connectors that mate with the existing cold plate, but that might be wishful thinking. All that said once i get the unit out (access to it) I will do a bit more diagnoses on it.

BUT, to my original question, can anyone comment how they got theirs out, or access to it (on a beneteau oceanis 40)? Did you pull the front of the cabnet off, or access it from the side somehow? It is tucked in there more so than on any other boat I have seen.

 

[jssailem]

Nova Kool is based 20 minutes from me and are incredibly helpful,

Cannot help with the removal. You might post images of the area concerned. One of us may see something to help.

about Novo Kool. They build a great product. I have one of their units in my boat and love it.

 

[Hello Below]

Cannot help with the removal. You might post images of the area concerned. One of us may see something to help.

and the 'gentle encouragement' to DYI a bit more before giving up on it.

Throw it away just because it's old. Half of us on this forum would be in the trash heap already.
Nor can I help with your removal on your Beneteau; but, I second your incentive to continue to investigate.
My 12 year old top loading Dometic fridge stop working a couple of weeks ago. I could hear the compressor try to start but there was not the usual fan noise. I tried jumping the thermostat, as you did, to no avail. With all the other loads off and with the solar charge controllers and battery charger disabled, the initial start up current was normal at about 8 A as displayed on my Victron battery monitor. After about 5 seconds the fridge went silent and the current dropped to zero. I took to the internet in my troubleshooting efforts. Lots of good information as I learned that the compressor (BD35F) and controller (101N0212) were made by Danfoss (Secop) and the fan (AFB1212H) by Delta. But I could not find out how to access the innards of the fridge on my Hunter. I tore half of the galley apart before I happen to notice the whole body of the fridge move inside its cavity. It was then a simple matter of lifting the fridge out of the hole. Well not really simple with old fingers and hands but I did manage to wrestle it out. Once the fridge was sitting on the countertop and through info from YouTube videos I disconnected the fan from the controller and voilà the compressor started up and stayed on until I turned it off a half hour later. Frost could be seen on the plate side of the fridge An OEM fan is on order. Possibly a cheap an inexpensive fix at $14. A side benefit is a good cleanup of the space around our 2 fridges. Yum. And I have an HVAC super engineer coming today to advise me on the benefits and pitfalls of adding insulation, adding an enclosure ventilating fan and/or replacing the mechanical thermostat with a digital one. Thank you @Stu Jackson. It's been awhile.
And good luck @paulheth.

 

[jssailem]

Len. Great story. It seams that many of our boat challenges are dealing with convenience items.

 

[Hello Below]

Len. Great story. It seams that many of our boat challenges are dealing with convenience items.

One needs redundancy especially when it comes to keeping the beer cold.

 

[BigEasy]

how the heck does one get it out without serious destruction of the cabinetry around it? It clearly won't fit out the front, and even unscrewing and ungluing the front of the cabinet doesn't look like it will provide access.
Thanks for any comments in advance.

My 2006 BEN 343 has an Isotherm refrigerator (cruise 130) with freezer compartment. There is a wood cabinet door that attaches to the refrigerator door that needs to be removed. Then remove four screws, from the inside bottom of the refrigerator, that attaches the refrigerator to the cabin sole. The refrigerator unit can then slide out of the galley cabinet. Hope this helps.

 

[paulheth]

bigeasy thanks for your response. On the Beneteau 40 there is a built in top loader. The cooling mechanism is stuffed in along the forward side. It looks like I basically have to destructively dismantle the whole cabinet just to get in far enough to troubleshoot it. This is my 5th boat and I have never seen anything like it. I'm hoping I am wrong.

Hello Below, thanks for your post. Lots of good information there. Using a camera on a stick I have confirmed I have the same parts as you have mentioned. But can't see any way to get it out without a total dismantling. While I am hopeful, with the encourangement and information here I could trouble shoot what looks like a dead compressor, I'm less positive about being able to dismantle and re- assemble the entire galley cabinetry without it looking distinctly 'stressed' after. But it is looking like that may be my only choice. It doesn't look like there would be ay way to get it out the top as you did. But will have one more look when I am at the boat next week, before I start the ripping and tearing.

 

[paulheth]

As an update, with the forum's encouragement I have watched many videos and read many posts and feel like I am closer to figuring out if it's the power, thermostat, control box or compressor (or other). I have the diagnostic LED on the way. But still don't have a clear (non-destructive) plan on how to access the unit. I now have a video scope that will help me see around a little better, but depending what I find out (bad compressor) I still may be gated by actually getting at the thing.

If there is anyone out there who has deconstructed a 2000ish production boat cabinet (glue and screw) without destroying it, and successfully put it back together I would love to hear form you.

 

[east coaster]

Coastal Climate website has a very good diagnostic procedure to determine what is actually wrong with your unit. Simple but effective.

 

[paulheth]

Coastal Climate website has a very good diagnostic procedure to determine what is actually wrong with your unit. Simple but effective.

Thanks, yes I have stumbled across there resources and am learning a lot. But thanks for the mention.

 

[Hello Below]

Captain Obvious here. Have you tried contacting Grand Yachts in either Vancouver or Sidney? Maybe a trip to Coal Harbour to talk to the service manager may help.

 

[paulheth]

Update: As it turns out I only had to cut out one section of baseboard, and now have access to the unit. Much less than it originally appeared. No response at all from the custom crafted diagnostic LED. Control box on order as a next step. Sneaking up on it.

 

[paulheth]

Another update and question. So I thought I had won. Was very excited.

Installed (test fit) a replacement controller box, topped up the r134 and boom up it came, even made icecubes. But I was having a really hard time getting the controller box to properly affix to the condenser like in this video (

). I tried 100's of times. But because the fan unit in this very compressed Vitrifrigo was so close to the compressor it seemed like I just couldn't get the angle steep enough for the back lip to snap in. So I made a couple of minor modification to the plastic of the case to see if I could encourage it to snap on, and somehow killed the new controller. When I put it all together again (still with the controller box not quite snapped on to the compressor), nothing. No fan, no diag led, no compressor, nothing.

I sit now $400 poorer and a bit crest fallen. All I can think is to buy another controller and try again. Any other thoughts? Seen anything like this before?

 

[paulheth]

Throw it away just because it's old. Half of us on this forum would be in the trash heap already.
Nor can I help with your removal on your Beneteau; but, I second your incentive to continue to investigate.
My 12 year old top loading Dometic fridge stop working a couple of weeks ago. I could hear the compressor try to start but there was not the usual fan noise. I tried jumping the thermostat, as you did, to no avail. With all the other loads off and with the solar charge controllers and battery charger disabled, the initial start up current was normal at about 8 A as displayed on my Victron battery monitor. After about 5 seconds the fridge went silent and the current dropped to zero. I took to the internet in my troubleshooting efforts. Lots of good information as I learned that the compressor (BD35F) and controller (101N0212) were made by Danfoss (Secop) and the fan (AFB1212H) by Delta. But I could not find out how to access the innards of the fridge on my Hunter. I tore half of the galley apart before I happen to notice the whole body of the fridge move inside its cavity. It was then a simple matter of lifting the fridge out of the hole. Well not really simple with old fingers and hands but I did manage to wrestle it out. Once the fridge was sitting on the countertop and through info from YouTube videos I disconnected the fan from the controller and voilà the compressor started up and stayed on until I turned it off a half hour later. Frost could be seen on the plate side of the fridge An OEM fan is on order. Possibly a cheap an inexpensive fix at $14. A side benefit is a good cleanup of the space around our 2 fridges. Yum. And I have an HVAC super engineer coming today to advise me on the benefits and pitfalls of adding insulation, adding an enclosure ventilating fan and/or replacing the mechanical thermostat with a digital one. Thank you @Stu Jackson. It's been awhile.
And good luck @paulheth.

Wanted to thank you for this comment. It got me going and I have learned a lot. Once I get over this last hurdle i'm sure I will be happy I went the DYI approach.

 

[paulheth]

Update: (Chatting mostly with myself at this point, but hopefully this is helpful to someone). Learned to never DYI when tired. turns out the 2nd dead controller board wasn't dead but just had the polarity switched. Noticed as soon as I got to the boat today. Fixed that and up it fired. As it turns out of the 4 possible main problems a marine fridge can have (controller board failure, low/leading freon, thermostat failure, compressor failure) this unit had 3 of the 4. So far the compressor seems to be fine. When I left the boat tonight it was making ice again.

Key learnings:
- the hose/gauge to fill the unit is available on amazon, but it took a while to nail down the 3/8 inch schrader adapter valve. It was actually available at Canadian tire for $8. Getting your hands on 134 in Canada isn't easy. Had to buy it off of some guy on facebook.
- the controller unit is actually made by Secop but you can find it under Danfoss, or in my case the distributor listed it under Nova Kool. It came with a 101N0202 (scratched out) and 101N0213 part number. Apparently they are all the same? At least they function the same.
- Getting hold of the diagnostic LED in Canada was going to cost $50 including shipping (for a $9 part). Turns out there is still one electronics store left call Lee's Electronics in Vancouver. Think old time Radioshack but way better.

I think I may still have a freon leak in the main line, but I hear JB weld can be quite reliable for fixing that. I have soapy water at the ready.

Thanks to all who encouraged and provided many critical elements. Took way more time than I had really, but saved $$900 bucks to re-allocated to other projects, and learned a thing or two (my boat neighbour already has me booked too top up his gas).