Curing Cabinet: Adventures in Fridge Repair

OK, round two. At the end of my last post I may have come across as a little more prepared than was the case. Alright, it came across that I was a lot more prepared than was the case. Look, I'd just gotten a steal of a fridge, I'd seen a very solvable problem, (I thought) and I could already taste the cured bacon.

I found out the fridge used 134r, the same refrigerant type used in automotive applications. You can fill those systems yourself, why not a refrigerator? Turns out after servicing a fridge the repair companies seal the system closed, no access points, no way for your average Joe to mess around. Luckily for this post, safety and common sense don't often get in between me and a project.

Using a propane torch and silver solder, (15% seemed to be the recommended the most) I brazed the two holes at the old access lines. The next step was to install myself some access ports over where the old ones resided but I could not for the life of me find anyone who carried them here in Berkeley. Granger carries them but no longer have a store near me. So off to the Internet. These bullet piercing valves were recommended on a couple of videos and I was able to find them here in town.

Now conventional wisdom would indicate that two holes directly where the service ports are is a bit suspicious, and to be honest I had my reservations, but I was so close!!! I decided to install the bullet valve on the line itself instead of the service line because the line was smoother and the saddle of the valve would grab a better seat. Don't forget to clean and prep the area with a little sand paper before install.

Since I wasn't really sure what I was doing yet, I installed a valve on both the high and low side of the compressor. Even after reading pages and pages of forum tips everyone seems to disagree which side they like to use better, or in what instance. (I'm sure if a professional reads this he'll tell me I'm completely wrong, but hey, this is my blog and my fridge works)

Up till this point I really had only been casually glancing at repair points so I just jumped into charging the system. This was way wrong for two reasons. Number 1, I found out that the system cannot contain any air as it will block the coolant from cycling through, and thus cooling. The manufacturer recommended a minimum of -11psi. Second, and this is the most important part, there was ANOTHER LEAK I didn't know about.

At this point you might be asking yourself, "but wait, isn't freon bad for you, or the environment, or something?" Yes, Yes, and not quite so much as it used to be. R22 is what we used to use as coolant, it is highly harmful to the environment and deadly in concentrated doses, like say a one car garage where this hapless protagonist was working for a couple hours while an 18oz can was pumping away right back into said garage.

Thankfully we now use 134R. It's no peach itself as far as hazards go but it's a saint when compared to its older brother. It's still deadly in way high concentrations, has some nasty side effects but mostly for pregnant women, children, those with respiratory illness, ext. Despite its kitten like comparison I don't think anyone is recommending it as a good alternative to air. When I noticed I had a headache, and hadn't been drinking this week, I got suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when I found the leak in the most annoying of places. Seriously you don't even get a picture because it was wedged in between a drain line and the fridge body.

After nearly gassing myself, (insert dutch oven joke or muse on this weird Nazi trend in Thailand) I hit the reset button, minus 43.50 in freon, and started over. To do the job properly I needed to vacuum the line, make sure it held, meaning no more leaks, and then charge again. But I don't have a vacuum pump? Back to the Internet!

So instead of describing everything, here is the link to get you started. I'll describe everything I did differently. From reading the posts I gathered that this system was good, but might have trouble getting the necessary pull on a system as big as mine. Really this pump idea is for things like food preservation. Intention be damned, I had a plan. I one up'd the original builders buy getting a bike pump at Walmart for $9.99 in store, or you can get it on Amazon for $14.00 which might be better then the off chance of being found at Walmart. I gotta say they have everything but what if by chance you die randomly in and around Walmart? Is that really where you want people to remember as the last place you spent on this earth?

This model of pump requires that you drill the piston out to reverse it, but it works just as well.  Also it occurred to me that the pumps themselves easily go to 100psi or more when inflating, so what was holding them back from vacuuming more then say -10psi? The check valve... Word to the wise, don't over tighten this thing. I had to buy a second one because I pressed the valve section into itself. Also I had to put a ball valve on the pump side of the check valve because the pressure is too low at the start of vacuum to hold the ball of the check valve in place. After a couple pumps it's not necessary but it also serves as a double hold if you're going to leave it under pressure for extended periods of time.

And wallah...

The steps were simple enough after that. Pull the plunger and hold, wait for the vacuum to equalise the pull with the line, close the valve, release, pull, open valve, repeat. Like I said before, after the third or fourth pull you don't need to use the ball valve anymore. The pump brought me down to -15 psi pretty quick, 5 min or so. Then it got slow, real slow. I packed it in at -19 psi or so, and waited. Now the line will equalise overnight so a drop in vacuum is to be expected, just not a huge drop. The next morning it was still holding at -16 psi so I had a winner.

Both filling up and vacuuming out through these bullet valves takes a lot longer than I expected, especially with a fridge the size of mine. You'll also need an adapter for the canister which can be found at any auto parts store along with the coolant. You need the piece on the right which has a Schrader valve inside. You don't need the valve but it also doesn't get in the way either.

I left the 134R canister on the line the whole next night. It was near empty the next day which is about right for the amount needed in the fridge. (17oz fridge, 18.5oz can including oil) Another side note, don't turn the canister upside down when filling. We want gas not liquid. If you do it isn't the end of the world, just let the fridge settle for a couple days before turning it on.

I waited a few hours before turning it on and silently prayed to the pork baby Jesus, which I assume looks like Babe with a crown of rosemary. It took all of about 30 seconds to figure out it worked, this fridge has the ability to go ice cold, instantly. If anything it's a liability to the curing process and honestly if it gets too hot at any point this summer I might rent it out for 20 min chill sessions. You know how rent is here in the Bay.

Anyways - that's all for now, stay tuned tomorrow when I'll start laying out the actual conversion process.

Pork is coming, Best - Tyler