H290 Refrigeration, part III

J

Jon Bastien

.
Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
(To recap: The refer didn't work when I bought the boat two years ago, and there's no way of knowing how long it sat before that. First round of troubleshooting yielded 5 blinks on the freshly-installed troubleshooting LED, without trying to start the compressor- indicating the control module needed replacement.)

So... New control module finally arrived yesterday, and I installed it on the unit today. Connected all the wiring, flipped the switch, and... Huzzah! It came to life! :dance:

...For about 20 seconds. :cussing: Now the LED is showing three blinks.

Figuring that the unit had been sitting idle for a while, maybe the pressures in the lines need to equalize and get the refrigerant moving before everything evens out... Flip the switch off, wait 2 minutes, flip it back on. Huzzah! It came back to life! :dance: Even better, the plate in the ice box is cooled from 78 degrees to about 58! :dance::dance:

... For about two minutes this time, before the three-LED warning came back again. :cussing:

What the heck. Wait two more minutes, and give it one more try...

...And it kept working for about 10 minutes. Two blinks this time (Fan overcurrent). During these 10 minutes, the bearings in the cooling fan had given up the ghost (They were a bit noisy through all this...); Add THAT to the list of items to replace... :bang:

SO, I disconnected the fan (The boat has air conditioning running and the locker was open, so I figured I could get by for a short while). Crank it up one more time, and it runs for about 30 seconds before the Three-Blink LED kicks in again.

According to all the literature I can find, this indicates a compressor that can't get up to operating speed. Possible causes include...
a. Too much friction within the compressor [Replace compressor! :eek: ]
b. A major pressure imbalance within the system, or
c. Some jackweed put too much refrigerant in the system trying to charge it.


So... Any recommendations on what to do next?

(Richard Kollman, are you still out there?)

--Jon
 
R

Richard Kollmann

.
Jun 11, 2004
73
- - Ft. Lauderdale FL.
A false 3 LED code is possible if fan code is covered up by a quick overload start. See Tech Tip #2 on my web site. To clear a code turn power off first and watch for first code when power is again applied.

Need to know what system you have or what the amperage draw is just before compressor stops I can only guess now as to what is wrong. Because there is a three LED code it indicate this is a BD35 or BD50 compressor because older BD units can only produce a voltage code if LED is installed.

Too much or contaminated refrigerant condition will cause an overload that you describe if unit is off for several minutes and restarted it will then begin its pump down cycle and start building up high pressure side of system. If there is one to two ounces too much refrigerant pressure and amperage will increase to a point where amperage trips the overload safety circuit in a few seconds. If fan quits compressor may run for more than 10 minutes before pressure/amperage is high enough to signal compressor to stop.

With the black fan wire disconnected and compressor OFF remove a small amount of refrigerant is one way to confirm slightly too much refrigerant. Another less destructive way is to place ice in box against evaporator and wait till evaporator is cold. Cooling evaporator will reduce refrigerant gas volume/pressure by cooling it.
 
J

Jon Bastien

.
Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
Since I'm not a big fan of doing 'destructive' tests on units, I'm a little leery of reducing the pressure in the system if I can't measure what's going in or out of it-- I can't re-fill it myself if I let out too much, and if it wasn't the problem in the first place, then I'm SOL (and have to pay a technician lots of money that I really don't have).

I went down to the boat yesterday, and replaced the cooling fan on the compressor with a computer case cooling fan (120mm square x 25mm thick, 12v, 0.3 Amp draw, 88CFM, $10 at local TigerDirect store). I forgot to bring the LED from the house (It was connected to the old fan), but figured I would hook up the new fan and try the unit anyway.

Once I got the fan hooked up, I flipped the switch and started observing the unit. The fan is working now; I wonder how long this will run?...

An hour later, it was still running, and the evaporator plate was down to 49 degrees. :dance: Unfortunately, I had to leave the boat at that time, so I switched on the battery charger and left the refrigerator running. I wonder what I'll find when I get to the boat today?

I recall reading somewhere that, if the unit has been sitting for a while, I should wait 15 minutes in between attempts to start the unit (to allow the gasses to settle and equalize). I didn't do that over the weekend... Maybe that was my problem leading to the 3-blink code? :confused:

I'll let y'all know what I find!

--Jon
 
J

Jon Bastien

.
Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
Success! ...Sort of.

So, went down to the boat, and the first thing I did was check on the fridge unit... It's still running!

Opened the box, and... it's around 58 degrees in there. Hrmmm...

The compressor is running just fine, so I took some temperature readings of various pieces...

Evaporator: 49 degrees (+ or - .5)
Compressor: 85 degrees
Condenser: 125 degrees
Control Module: 115 degrees

Ambient temperature inside boat cabin: 85 degrees

SO, my fridge woes aren't quite over yet. I turned it off long enough to re-install the troubleshooting LED, and turned it back on to see if it would get cooler over the course of the day. In the next 4 hours, there was no appreciable change.

Off to re-read about what to do when it isn't cold enough in the box...

--Jon
 
GeorgiaBII

GeorgiaBII

.
Jun 14, 2011
277
Hunter 22 Fin Keel Lake Martin
Kinda looks like it's low on refrigerant. If it was a R12 or R134a unit I'd be sure of it.
 
J

Jon Bastien

.
Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
Update time!

I finally got to a place where I could get a tech on board to look at the system... and within 10 minutes of stepping aboard, we determined it was WAY overcharged. After letting about 20psi worth of refrigerant out, it works like a champ! It's been keeping the box cool for about a month now with no further issues.

The only remaining concern is whether or not the person who overcharged it used a leak-sealing type refrigerant... in which case, it could fail at any time. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Jon Bastien
H290 Just Enough
Currently waiting out the cold weather in St. Augustine, FL
 
Sumner

Sumner

.
Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
Jon Bastien said:
Update time!...and within 10 minutes of stepping aboard, we determined it was WAY overcharged. After letting about 20psi worth of refrigerant out, it works like a champ!..
Click to expand
Richard Kollmann said:
. (09-07-13)... If there is one to two ounces too much refrigerant pressure and amperage will increase to a point where amperage trips the overload safety circuit in a few seconds. If fan quits compressor may run for more than 10 minutes before pressure/amperage is high enough to signal compressor to stop.

With the black fan wire disconnected and compressor OFF remove a small amount of refrigerant is one way to confirm slightly too much refrigerant.....
Click to expand
I would of been like you and been very reluctant to let some of the charge out but once again Richard knows his stuff ;).

Thanks for updating with what finally worked. All too often people ask for help, which usually will also help someone else that doesn't post but has a similar problem, and then never followup so then who knows if any of the suggestions posted helped or not :cry:,

Sum
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Bottom