Can I solder in a refrigerator compressor myself?

[Onebadcad]

Big Bob contributing AGAIN!!
Thanks Bob!!

[Trapper Sean]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

First things first- clean the condenser fins. Make sure the fan that draws air past them is working.

I cleaned at least some of them I could view. But they did not span all the way across the front. I will check again to see if I need to remove another fascia to fully access more coils.

[Big bob]

Originally Posted by Trapper Sean

I cleaned at least some of them I could view. But they did not span all the way across the front. I will check again to see if I need to remove another fascia to fully access more coils.

Have you found the ones inside the freezer yet? If it's iced up it is most likely the fan or the defrost relay.

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by Trapper Sean

While we're at it, original problem was no ice. Service allegedly replaced the ice maker, but still no ice. To my estimation, this is actually unrelated to the freezer yes/no? I plan to take out the ice maker and re-install and see what may have been overlooked. If I can't find anything, a new ice maker is only $100-150.

Do you have water to the ice maker?

[PLRX]

To sweat refrigerant you GOT to know the skills. You are not sweating a water pipe, not soldering two wires. Is like tinting windows.

[higgyburners]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

First things first- clean the condenser fins. Make sure the fan that draws air past them is working.

mr obvious ....tell him how to hang a chainsaw....

[Torqaholic]

My advice is to watch u-tube videos on it Saved the day for me this afternoon. Power company shut off my gas to replace some lines. When it came back online I couldn't get the water heater to ignite.

A bit of an emergency. Out of coffee and needed a shower to go shopping! Serious business LOL. After numerous tries to restart it the problem was narrowed down to the thermocouple. Was out of steam and patience so I popped up a video to take a break.

First video did the trick. After suffering through 3 repetitions of how to order the part the guy finally explained how it worked. Blah blah blah, I can't sit around waiting a week for parts to be shipped. I need coffee now! Turns out gas won't flow to the pilot unless the thermocouple tells a controller there's flame. Bingo, that's why it quit working, damn thing got cold. Put a torch to that sensor and boom, what do you know, pilot lit first try. Scorching hot water 20 minutes later

[Trapper Sean]

Originally Posted by Big bob

Have you found the ones inside the freezer yet? If it's iced up it is most likely the fan or the defrost relay.

I'm traveling out of town and will have very limited time to be working on this over the next month. Maybe some activity this weekend.

Related, one part the service co. bought and shipped to me was/is a little heater wire with harness, that heats up coils to de-ice them. When he arrived to use this, he determined this was actually not an issue and never installed. I still have it.

Nevertheless, I suppose I need to take a look myself. Who the heck knows why professional fridge service could not accurately diagnose and fix this in 3.5 visits.

[Trapper Sean]

Originally Posted by TheHammer

Do you have water to the ice maker?

Yes of course.

Well maybe no.

The water dispenser works great so there should be water available to the ice maker. However, YT videos of pros at work show them working through error codes and manual test exercises through the keypad, and dipping fingers into the ice maker to verify that liquid water is indeed present. As if water flow depends on correct computer chip function from a control board. I have not yet worked through error codes to check for correct movement inside the ice maker and liquid water inside. The pro service tech was there three times. Do they not do this??

[Trapper Sean]

Originally Posted by PLRX

To sweat refrigerant you GOT to know the skills. You are not sweating a water pipe, not soldering two wires. Is like tinting windows.

Ya, well one possibility I'm considering, if it comes to trying to replace compressor, is to buy the part myself so it's not marked up to the moon, and then paying a pro to sweat or braze it in for me. And then maybe evacuate and fill for me. My expectation is that they may do it on the side but will not guarantee any such work. Not even sure how to locate such a pro for a quick side gig.

[Trapper Sean]

Originally Posted by Torqaholic

My advice is to watch u-tube videos on it Saved the day for me this afternoon. Power company shut off my gas to replace some lines. When it came back online I couldn't get the water heater to ignite.

A bit of an emergency. Out of coffee and needed a shower to go shopping! Serious business LOL. After numerous tries to restart it the problem was narrowed down to the thermocouple. Was out of steam and patience so I popped up a video to take a break.

First video did the trick. After suffering through 3 repetitions of how to order the part the guy finally explained how it worked. Blah blah blah, I can't sit around waiting a week for parts to be shipped. I need coffee now! Turns out gas won't flow to the pilot unless the thermocouple tells a controller there's flame. Bingo, that's why it quit working, damn thing got cold. Put a torch to that sensor and boom, what do you know, pilot lit first try. Scorching hot water 20 minutes later

Ya, I think there are a few needle among haystack YT videos of my exact model. Most are for other models that do not look the same. I did find one so far that is my exact ice maker, a little more complicated than most to access and change out.

[Tikiman]

Originally Posted by PLRX

To sweat refrigerant you GOT to know the skills. You are not sweating a water pipe, not soldering two wires. Is like tinting windows.

Pretty sure you should pump an inert gas like nitrogen through the lines while you solder.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Trapper Sean

I cleaned at least some of them I could view. But they did not span all the way across the front. I will check again to see if I need to remove another fascia to fully access more coils.

Condenser = "radiator" on the back or bottom to remove heat from the system. Usually painted black with wire "fins".
Evaporator = "radiator" to absorb heat from inside. Usually unpainted aluminum.

The evaporator can freeze up if there is a problem with the defrost cycle. During that cycle, frost on the fins converts to water and has to drain out the bottom of the cabinet. If the drain becomes clogged, water can build up on the evaporator hampering its ability to absorb heat.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by higgyburners

mr obvious ....tell him how to hang a chainsaw....

Rent free, Himey.

[04 commemorative]

Originally Posted by Aerovette

You should braze instead. Propane and oxygen.

I repaired a water dispenser / ice machine by brazing, but it has not been recharged yet. Information on charging is pretty sparse. Not like home AC or car AC.

This

[Big bob]

Originally Posted by Trapper Sean

I'm traveling out of town and will have very limited time to be working on this over the next month. Maybe some activity this weekend.

Related, one part the service co. bought and shipped to me was/is a little heater wire with harness, that heats up coils to de-ice them. When he arrived to use this, he determined this was actually not an issue and never installed. I still have it.

Nevertheless, I suppose I need to take a look myself. Who the heck knows why professional fridge service could not accurately diagnose and fix this in 3.5 visits.

From what you have posted it sounds like it is in the defrost system. I bet the professional got paid every time. It has been my experience that the more someone claims to be a (professional) the more they are full of shit. And their work speaks for itself.

[slewfoot]

I can appreciate repair work on a fridge within its warranty period but if not and a projected cost/estimate on a repair is $400, I would buy a new one.

[6spdC6]

Originally Posted by Trapper Sean

I know nothing specific about this. It appears I may lose battle to replace a bad fridge. See Other Forum for that.

Not sure yet that it needs a compressor. Will try just tapping into low pressure line and adding some R134a first. I bought a gadget on Amazon for this.

In case this doesn't work, I can buy a new compressor for less than $400.

Can I just solder this in with a propane torch and no-lead solder? I do not have oxy-acetylene and have no plans (yet) to go to this level.

What else do I need to know? Does the system need to be evacuated? Are there actually some kind of mechanical compression fittings or similar that would be preferrable?

I'm counting on VB to be smarter than that other place for do-it-yourself. Those other pansies just call The Man and bend over.

Not to be a wise ass, but if you have to ask those kinds of questions your in over your head.


FWIW retired 45 year pipe fitter and welder! (that included brazing and silver soldering)!

[slewfoot]

Originally Posted by 6spdC6

Not to be a wise ass, but if you have to ask those kinds of questions your in over your head.

This^^^^^^^^ We still have our original new fridge we bought along with the new home back in 1997. Maybe 10 years later, the ice maker quit. I make some calls and such and the suggestion was a bad solenoid.

Okay, where is it? I'm not a pro in the field. Well, I was told and pushed the fridge away from the wall and there it was, right in front of my face. I removed it, got a part number, ordered one, installed it and been fine ever since. No screwing around, just remove and replace.

Then maybe 5 years ago, the ice make itself quit, I pulled it out ordered a new one and is fine.

However, the fridge is 27 years old and overall is crapping out since the fridge side is freezing up the food. So it's time and we're out looking at new ones.

I'm not paying the guy and end up spending half the cost of a new one to fix this fkn thing.

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by slewfoot

I can appreciate repair work on a fridge within its warranty period but if not and a projected cost/estimate on a repair is $400, I would buy a new one.

Probably your moist logical post since you've been on the interweb.