Is it worth repairing the fridge?

[Ian_Edwards]

The Frigoboat on my boat isn't cooling well, the freezer compartment is wet but no ice has formed.
I had the fridge re-gassed back in March, and it's the first time on board today since then.
Is it worth getting an engineer to see if the leak can be found?
Which will cost money, or should I just cut my losses and buy a new one.
It's a large front opening one, so not cheap to replace.
Anyone had experience of repairing a 12 year old Frigoboat?

 

[Daverw]

What you have is the normal issue following a simple regas without actually finding the original leak, leaks rarely fix themselves. If you do anything further to the unit it needs to be leak tested and repaired, This unfortunately is the main labour part and depending of the location of the leak may not be fixable if it’s on the plate.

it all depends on the cost of a new unit whether it’s worth spending what msy be about £300 for a repair

 

[pvb]

If the actual cabinet is in decent condition, it's surely worth repairing, as a new one's likely to cost £1000 or so. Best to take it out of the boat and take it somewhere for repair.

 

[Plum]

The Frigoboat on my boat isn't cooling well, the freezer compartment is wet but no ice has formed.
I had the fridge re-gassed back in March, and it's the first time on board today since then.
Is it worth getting an engineer to see if the leak can be found?
Which will cost money, or should I just cut my losses and buy a new one.
It's a large front opening one, so not cheap to replace.
Anyone had experience of repairing a 12 year old Frigoboat?

I had the same fridge with the same symptoms. The refrigerant guy told me, given it was 15 years old, there was no point in regassing without finding the leak first and paying him to do that as well was not value for money and I should go buy a new one.
I replaced it with one of these for £550 Dometic Coolmatic CRX 50 CRX50 Compressor Fridge . This was not who I bought from, just an example, I found one on special offer in my local chandlery. Has been brilliant for 3 years now. It is the identical width, i just had to increase the height of the opening by about 20mm.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Daverw]

Often with built in units like domestic ones the small evaporato pipes are painted steel, these corrode as they go through the insulated panels, you cannot get at these to do a repair with damage to the insulation. This normally makes repair not cost effective. You cannot leak test what you cannot see.

 

[stu9000]

Interesting thread. My Engels fridge is currently working but im guessing has leaked a little gas since its inception in 1988. It has to work pretty hard to get reasonably cold. I dare not fiddle with it as it technically does cool the beer albeit with a lot of energy used and a fair bit of noise.
I have read stuff on ybw that suggests I could regass but its not that simple.
The leak is the thing and as mine is still working Im guessing any leak must be infinitesimally small. Would soapy water work? Maybe epoxy suspicious rusty bits? The odds against a successful outcome seem to stack up when both the repair and the regass are a bit sus.
What we need is someone with the right gear and skills, prepared to travel in the Thames estuary area and do the job for no more than £200.
Anyone offering?

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Thanks for the replies.
The Figoboat is built-in and has a separate compressor mounted under the floor. Getting it out would probably cause more problems than it's worth, and the access isn't that great.
The equivalent Dometic would be the CRX110, which is much cheaper than Frigoboat and has a built in compressor, that will be easier to fit.
So thanks you Plum for the suggestion.
I'll have a careful measure up tomorrow, it looks at first sight that it is 5mm shorter and 5mm wider than the existing Frigoboat.
Then is down to price and delivery.

 

[Daverw]

Interesting thread. My Engels fridge is currently working but im guessing has leaked a little gas since its inception in 1988. It has to work pretty hard to get reasonably cold. I dare not fiddle with it as it technically does cool the beer albeit with a lot of energy used and a fair bit of noise.
I have read stuff on ybw that suggests I could regass but its not that simple.
The leak is the thing and as mine is still working Im guessing any leak must be infinitesimally small. Would soapy water work? Maybe epoxy suspicious rusty bits? The odds against a successful outcome seem to stack up when both the repair and the regass are a bit sus.
What we need is someone with the right gear and skills, prepared to travel in the Thames estuary area and do the job for no more than £200.
Anyone offering?

Not enough pressure in system to show small leaks with soapy water, to check for leaks especially very small you use nitrogen to pressure up to about 15 bar and then can leak test using soapy water. You can also do a standing test when any leak fixed, then vacuuming system and do a vac test, this also checks for vacuum leaks.

Epoxy will not work to repair, pipe needs to be silver soldered, you are unlikely to get someone to do this for £200 unless mates rates, if I do private jobs for the local butchers or chip shops etc they pay me £30 per hour minimum plus materials and I turn jobs away as busy enough in my day job.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Close out, I've just ordered a Dometic 110 refrigerator, I got a good price on ebay, but they didn't have the "protruding" fixing kit or the 240 v AC box of tricks which automtically switches from the 12volt battery supply to 240v AC as soon as it senses the presence of AC. I've ordered those through the local chandelier, who could not match the ebay price (not remotely close) Ebay is ex stock, the chandelier 7 to 10 days delivery.
Now for the fun of extracting the old Frigoboat and fitting the new one.

 

[superheat6k]

Interesting thread. My Engels fridge is currently working but im guessing has leaked a little gas since its inception in 1988. It has to work pretty hard to get reasonably cold. I dare not fiddle with it as it technically does cool the beer albeit with a lot of energy used and a fair bit of noise.
I have read stuff on ybw that suggests I could regass but its not that simple.
The leak is the thing and as mine is still working Im guessing any leak must be infinitesimally small. Would soapy water work? Maybe epoxy suspicious rusty bits? The odds against a successful outcome seem to stack up when both the repair and the regass are a bit sus.
What we need is someone with the right gear and skills, prepared to travel in the Thames estuary area and do the job for no more than £200.
Anyone offering?

A 1988 fridge will almost certainly be using R12, so long long obsolete, and now there is no sensible replacement. Make the most of it and when you get fed up with the lack of cooling, then its time for a nice new shiny one.

 

[ashtead]

If buying a new fridge is it worth having a keel cooler ? Ours has been regassed but not going to do again so replacement seems likely so just wondering really and what unit is best for keel cooler version ?

 

[Plum]

If buying a new fridge is it worth having a keel cooler ? Ours has been regassed but not going to do again so replacement seems likely so just wondering really and what unit is best for keel cooler version ?

It depends on the climate where you will be using your boat. Here in the UK probably not worth having an additional through-hull fitting for water cooling but in a, say, Mediterranean climate getting rid of the heat generated into the air is less efficient.

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk