Frigoboat not cooling

[offshore27ns]

Hello,

I have a Frigoboat in my boat. It’s keel cooled.

We recently replaced the evaporator a couple weeks ago and it was working well
Unfortunately the door on the fridge was not properly closed and stayed open a crack for close to 24 hrs. When I noticed, the evaporator was pretty iced up but had already started to melt as the fridge was no longer cooling.
The compressor appears to to be still running but was quite hot.
I turned the fridge off to let the ice completely melt and allowed the compressor to cool down.

I turned it back on and could hear the the evaporator making some gurgling noises but no cooling took place.

What’s your best guess as to what my problem is?

Do you think the compressor is in need of replacement?

the model of my compressor is E50345X

Thanks,

Scott

[Bill O]

Scott,
What do you have on your system, a merlin II or a manual speed board? Do you have a digital or manual thermostat?
Gurgling is a good sign. When you changed out the evap. plate, did you add more refrigerant?


here is the link to the troubleshooting page: https://coastalclimatecontrol.com/re...roubleshooting

[offshore27ns]

Hi

Manual speed board and and manual thermostat

I believe the tech made sure the proper amount of refrigerant was in where the evap plate was replaced

Thoughts?

[SV Confianza]

Gurgling is only a good sign in that the compressor is running. Frigoboat evaporator should sound more like popping popcorn when properly charged.

Have the orings on the quick connect ever been changed? How old is the system?

The orings are a main failure point in keel cooled frigoboat systems because they leak after overheating. Running for 24 hours may have hastened the process. But i would have a hard time believing that just the 24 hours caused this. It may have been happening for some time, or it was undercharged when the eval plate was added to begin with.

These systems use very little refrigerant, so getting them charged right is pretty difficult, especially if the tech isn’t super familiar with frigoboat.

Mine has a slow leak and will stop cooling well after like 6 months. Maybe a third of a quick 3 Mississipi squirt from a can brings it right back to perfect. They don’t use much.

Another failure point is the caps on the valves on the compressors. They leak as well. And overheating probably doesn’t help.

I actually need to replace one of mine but I haven’t found a suitable replacement. Anyone have a suggestion?

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by offshore27ns

Hi

Manual speed board and and manual thermostat

I believe the tech made sure the proper amount of refrigerant was in where the evap plate was replaced

Thoughts?

Easy to overcharge the unit and typically no gauges needed to fill. Instead need to add small amounts of refrigerant slowly and watch frost line on plate. If overfilled, will frost up tube after exiting the box.


What speed are you running? Is it a spill over or straight fridge?


I replaced my manual thermostat w/an Inkbird 12V (or similar) to set up a digital thermostat and is much better.


Try to go through the trouble shooting guide to eliminate possible issues.

[HaskellOffshore]

Sounds to me like you have a leak and have lost most of your refrigerant.