I have an older Engel MR040 portable
freezer refrigerator. It functioned flawlessly until 3 years ago. We powered up the unit after it having been off for about 3 months and it would not cool. When we shut the
freezer down at the end of the previous season it was functioning well and keeping the freezer cold enough to keep ice cream in the
Bahamas in August.
Since I discovered that the unit had died just as we were preparing to
head out on our cruising season, I bought a replacement rather than deal with an out of warranty dead unit. The dead unit was placed in the box the new one came in and it has been sitting in my garage for 3 years.
I have a little time on my hands and a call to Engel basically told me that they were not interested in working on a unit that old. I was advised that the symptoms I described were an indication of a capillary blockage but since there were no
service valves on the system the solution was to turn the unit upside down while it was operating to try and dislodge the obstruction. If that failed to restore
cooling then it was time to buy another unit or run up some pretty heavy shop bills with no guarantee of success.
So all of the rotating, tapping and
heating of the capillary has yielded nothing. I am basically at the can't spoil rotten
fish stage so I am preparing to take more drastic measures. Has anybody installed a
service valve on a SawaFuji swing
compressor. If so where did you place the valves. There is a 1/4" tube in the center of
compressor that has been crimped and soldered closed. Presumably this is the suction side of the compressor and it was used to charge the system initially. Is this the proper place to install a service valve? There is no way I can install a high side valve because the tubing is so small that I have neither the dexterity nor the eye sight nor the tools to tackle that job.
Any practical
advice welcomed
Addison