Old Whirlpool Automatice 214C fridge-freezer had been sitting in theshed unused for nearly a year. It was moved into the house yesterday -carried in on its side - and turned on immediately (oops!). The freezercooled down immediately and is well frozen. The element at the back ofthe fridge is only moderately cool, however, and the air temperature inthe fridge is practically room temperature. It has been nearly 24 hourssince it was turned.
Is it likely we have damaged the fridge? Should we turn it off and let it rest?
They started putting evap fans in refers in the '60s. Is this one frost free, or do you have to defrost it?
If it's frost free, 99.99% chance it has a fan.
And get ready for that ice to melt, slowly. Freezers should be between 0 and 10 degrees F, refer's at 40-45 degrees F (sorry, my mind is not doing the conversions to night. Too much wine.). At .5 C, ice will melt.
I am going to bet either a fan is not running, the condensor fan is not running, the condensor is plugged with 30-40 years of dust/dirt, and last but not least, slightly low on R-12 (yes, one of the bad guy refrigerants.).
Let me know what you find.
And if there is more of the model number than you have given, please do. I might be aboe to look at a breakdown for it, tell you if it has that fan.
Well, it could be. You know how those Aussie's can be when it comes to labeling things. But I'll go with what your saying. If you can see the evaporator, as in it's a plate at the bottom of the freezer section, or you can see channels running in the metal of the freezer compartment, then it's not frost free.
As for will it ever work, don't hold your breath. Unit's like that used steel condensors and what is called a steel yoder tube, which was refrigerant tube that ran around inside the cabinet at the door frame. It's purpose was to warm the door frame where the gasket landed to prevent condensation.
We all know what happens to steel with time, when it's not painted. And when it's a tube with refrigerant in it at 100 PSI, and the refrigerant has a very small molecule, well, you realize your contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer don't you? :-) (13 oz, and we're all going to burn to death!).
Anyway, honor me with a FixYa if you don't mind. I don't think your going to get any closer to fixing this than we've gotten so far and you know how to make the repairs, which I can instruct you on.
×
271 views
Usually answered in minutes!
Thanks!
I just put my thermometre in and to my surprise it registered about 0.5 celcius in the freezer. Maybe not as "well frozen" as I thought. Fridge is at about 21 celcius.
The freezer doesn't seem to have an evaporator fan. Bear in mind it's probably from the 1970s or early 80s at a guess.
I'm going out to buy some ice to cool the fridge so the cheese doesn't go off!
Oh - and it's not frost free as far as I know. It was a friends' so I haven't used it but it doesn't say frost-free and it seems to old for that.
Plate on the back says
Refrigerant charge: 13oz R12
Model No: EC2
Serial No: 10002
Made in Australia by Malleys Ltd
Your OK. Or at least any damage that could be done is already done. But, too many people are afraid to lay a refer on it's side, and it makes them think it's bad to do so. You can lay 'em on their side, but only one side, and in today's refers, its the right hand side as you looking at the door.
Now to your problem. You say the freezer is "well frozen", but the refer is at room temp. We really need to know what the temperatures are, rather than going by touch.
And, we need to know if the evaporator fan inside the freezer is running.
Reply back what you see, and we can help further.
But you do not have a problem with the compressor that you can do anything about at this point.
×