$20 Non-Working Freezer from Lowes

Hey All – My Coronado upright fridge from 1968 died on me the other day, so I’ve been browsing new freezers :frowning: I happened to come across a deal (hopefully) at Lowes.

For $20 I got a brand new chest freezer that was marked non-working/parts only. The lady said that it had been dropped, maybe off the truck. There is a dent on the end opposite the compressor compartment, but nothing real bad.

I plugged it in, bypassed the temperature control and the compressor runs. It vibrates and gets warm, but the freezer wont get very cold. Its in the garage, so I’m not sure if it’s cooling at all. The temperature outside was 55-70 today.

Any ideas? thanks for your help in advance :slight_smile:

Here are some pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/101037598806130528881/albums/5869480489657867985

Check the small tubing coming from the compressor, if hot, but little cooling, the compressor is running, but probably very low on refrigeration, not worth fixing.

Thanks for the reply. Is is possible to add refrigerant to these newer models?

It looks to take R134A. My old Coronado had a line value where it looked like you could add some (like a bicycle air valve).

The new R134A compressor refrigeration systems typically develop an evaporator leak where most of the refrigerant leaks out rather fast and the compressor sucks in non-compressibles (air) and gets damaged, too costly to fix.

Thanks again for the reply! Is it possible that when the freezer was dropped that a line got pinched or ruptured on the one end? If i somehow cut the side panel off the dented end, could I maybe unpinch the refrigerant line?

It seems to cool when running, but just doesn’t get REAL cold/freezing.

A pinched line, other than the capillary. will have little effect on performance.