Refrigeration Isotherm 2503

[sy_gilana]

Like buying Viagra...I'm asking for someone else. Hopefully Richard the Guru Kollman will chip in here.


A friend had a system that was undersized for the volume of the cabinet.


She has just purchased a new system Isotherm 2503 comprising of a bigger evaporator plate, a BD50 air cooled compressor, in order to be more efficient at cooling the entire box.



She arrived back in Panama, did a wonderful installation, and on powering up, it did not cool at all. I was in another island 200 miles away so asked her to attach a gauge to the Schraeder valve, and it read 2psi with system off. It looks like the TSA guys must have purged the system as it was carried as luggage. (This is a guess)


So she got a local "expert" to come and re-gas the system, and then she called me as it was acting weirdly. Namely ice on the return line near the compressor!



I told her that it had too much refrigerant, and she should bleed it till:
The frostline was at the end of the plate,

and
The Amperage was about 5-ish.
and
The running low side pressure was about 15 psi.


All of that done, but I got back here yesterday and went to take a look.
There are some strange things.

When it is cycled OFF the filter and capillary and HP quick connect get really cold.
The amperage is approximately 6-7 during a run cycle.
The cycle time is approx 3 minutes on and 6 off.


The whole purpose of the job was to reduce the daily Ah consumption and its gone UP!


Please can someone comment.

What does your Isotherm system draw at 12v in amperes?
Does your cap tube at the compressor get cold when off?


Is this indicative of a non-condensing gas in the system?


All suggestions warmly welcome.

[OzePete]

If I were you I would contact the supplier / manufacturer demanding a replacement system under warranty as this one appears to have been DOA!

Regards the repair done, there are too many unknowns, like was it out of gas due to a leak caused while installing or does it have a long term leak and therefore now well and truly contaminated? Did the local 'expert' leak test, locate and repair the gas loss cause, evacuate the system properly, and what refrigerant and how much did he put in it?

All just a few reasons to start fresh with a warranty replaced system or if proceeding to repair may I suggest....
Locate and repair where the refrigerant leaked from, replace the spun copper strainer with a proper filter dryer like a Sporlan 032 if possible, extensively evacuate the system, then recharge slowly with the correct refrigerant, most likely R134a.

Good luck with that..

Cheers OzePete