Engel portable fridge repairs

[Alan ashore]

Can anyone recommend (or otherwise!) somewhere to get a portable Engel compressor fridge repaired (London/home counties) ? It's about 20 years old, came to me with the boat 10 years ago and has been brilliant till it died this weekend. I was thinking of ditching it till I realised a similar box now will be North of £400.

I'm keen to find someone who has experience of these little Engel units rather than stick a pin in yellow pages for general fridge engineers, to maximise the chance of quick accurate diagnosis and cost effective repair.

A.

 

[superheat6k]

Can you offer something more in way of a description of what might be wrong with it ?

I did read an article where someone installed a new cooler system into an older fridge, worked out about £150 for the kit. Either on here, the Mobo forum or possibly the Sealine Forum

My Engel packed up on 12v due to a dirty fuse end cap, but worked fine on 240v. These fridges have a weird solenoid which acts as a compressor, with a voltage convertor or inverter when running from either or of the supply voltages, but not sure which does which, e.g. 12v DC steps up to 240vac or vice versa.

If its lost its gas then repair attempt will be costly, so the new cooler kit might be preferable.

 

[Alan ashore]

Thanks for responding. Symptoms: compressor seems to run - i.e. it sounds normal, but no change in temperature either at evaporator or condenser side.
Obviously lost gas is a possibility; my hope is that if there's someone who knows these units that I could take it into to avoid call out charges then a repair might be cost effective, or they'll be able to determine cheaply that it's not worth trying.

Apart from anything else it seems a shame to trash what has been one of the most impressively fit-for-purpose things I've ever owned (seriously!).

A.

 

[Antony Collis]

I need a norcold re-gassed. It has a single fill line that is crimped over. I saw a guy on you tube (in the states) fixing his with parts he got from wallmart. Over here I cant even get anyone to look at it.
If anyone in kent area has the stuff and a compression valve, id gladly have it fixed.

 

[lupa]

I am a fridge engineer, firstly need to know what refrigerant it uses.
This will be on the compressor label or on the Id plate somewhere.
Let me know and pm me, I am not to far away.

 

[William_H]

I had one of these Engel many years ago. as you say an excellent freezer/fridge. However mine got symptoms similar to what you described. Yours may have lost gas due to damage of the avapoprator plate or pipes. However what I understand is a likely common problem is that the flapper valves in the compressor fail so no compression. The fix is a new compressor unit which is likely more cost if it can be obtained than the fridge is worth. The fridge engineer put guages on the fridge to detemrine that compressor was not compressing even though it was making a noise. I ended up with a WAECO that seems to be just as good though won't run on 240cAC. good luck olewill

 

[superheat6k]

If a fridge has lost its gas then re-gassing is only half the answer. The leak needs to be found, and fixed, then the system needs to be evacuated and re-charged. Problem with small fridges is that unless this is on the accessible pipes, a brazed joint, or the original crimped over charge point then likelihood of a lasting repair is remote. A common cause of leaks on domestic fridges and freezer is a kitchen knife or similar being used to remove ice which pierces the tubing grid on the evaporator plate. If this is the problem then chance of a viable repair is remote.

For a unit of this type made before 1994 expect to find R12, between 1994-96 R12 or R134a, after 1996 R134a and since 2002 possibly Isobutane or even propane. For an older unit there are some viable replacements available for R12 (not R134a), but you will be unlikely to find any R12, nor anyone willing to charge the stuff if you do find some.

For a compressor that sounds OK but does not pump then it is possible the internal valves are broken, and this is not repairable on these tiny hermetic compressors.