Low Refrigerant?

[Dan Staples]

Good Morning,I have a Cold Machine that I love and it works great on my 1977 Columbia 8.3 sailboat. I do not know when the unit was installed, as I just purchased this boat about 3 years ago. My question is, when it runs, the refrigerant makes a sound of bubbling and gurgling during the whole running cycle. Does this mean it's low on refrigerant? It cools very well and will keep ice frozen indefinitely. I perfer to have a quiet refride if possible! Common sense tells me the liquid refrigerant has gas bubbles in it which is what I am hearing, therefor may need a recharge?? I timed it, and it is on for apprx. 8mins and off for apprx 8 mins. The manual said this was normal for it to run 50% of the time. Yes/no?Thanks in advance!Dan Staples

 

[Gary Buttrey]

running times

Dan, Running time will vary with heat load. 50% of the time is not unusual, especially for a box built in the 70's. The quality of production boat boxes has dramaticlly increased in the last 10 years.Gurgling is normal, and as the old saying goes "if it aint broke, don't fix it".