Chest freezer compressor odd behavior

[sleepy hollow]

Ok, here's a weird one:

My son asked me to look at a small new Galaxy chest freezer he got for his company.  It had been sitting for about 6-9 months before he even tried to use it.  When he plugged it in, nothing.  

I took it apart (out of warranty and only worth $250).  I checked all the components and they seemed to be within spec.  I also noticed a barely audible hum when it was plugged in and that the compressor was warming to the touch with a slight vibration.  I went at it again today after reading about another thing to check -the starter relay - which I missed the first time as far as resistance reading.  I put the unit on it's side and about ½ hour after checking the relay (ok) and starting to reassemble the controls, I decided to plug it in.  It sounded normal, compressor made the familiar noise, and I figure I had somehow fixed it.  I unplugged it, put it back together and turned it right side up.  Plugged it in and it sounded just like it did when I first tried it.  Still plugged in, I then turned it in its side and it started to sound normal.  I put it upright and it went quiet.  Banging, knocking noise in between from the compressor.  The closer it got to being upright the quieter it got.

Any ideas?  I am baffled.  But I figure the compressor is somehow toast.  

Thanks.

[Robert Adams]

It was possibly ruined by being on it's side. Oil will collect in places where the compressor can suck in large gulps of it and it can destroy a compressor. Which is why you never turn any refrigeration device on it's side. Always transport store repair with it upright. 

      There are the odd refrigerators that you can tilt and they say right on the box which way you can lay it down and then how long to let it sit upright before turning it on. 


       When he plugged it in did he give it enough time to see if it cooled down(they take a while to start cooling). The reason I ask is because many of these small compressors are so quiet and vibration free that it's hard to tell they are running. Which is impressive considering how cheap they are but they are making them by the tens of millions annually so over time they would just get better.

[sleepy hollow]

It was possibly ruined by being on it's side. Oil will collect in places where the compressor can suck in large gulps of it and it can destroy a compressor. Which is why you never turn any refrigeration device on it's side. Always transport store repair with it upright. 

      There are the odd refrigerators that you can tilt and they say right on the box which way you can lay it down and then how long to let it sit upright before turning it on. 

       When he plugged it in did he give it enough time to see if it cooled down(they take a while to start cooling). The reason I ask is because many of these small compressors are so quiet and vibration free that it's hard to tell they are running. Which is impressive considering how cheap they are but they are making them by the tens of millions annually so over time they would just get better.

Thank you for your response.  My understanding is that he stored it upright as he knows he should not do otherwise.  I am the person who did not get that.  The total time on its side was about ½ hour or so.  When I realized my error, I let it sit overnight upright before trying it again.  Hopefully I did not do damage, but either way, I am wiser now FWIW.  

If it is working there is no evidence to that effect.  But I will go ahead and plug it in for a longer period just to see.  Perhaps it is as simple as the fact that he expected a noise, heard none, thought it was not working, and unplugged it.  Had not thought of that.  But for the time I plugged it in the first time I tried to troubleshoot (it was upright the whole time), I felt no temp changes in any of the tubing connected to the compressor, the larger tubing (I assume return to compressor) was not cold, and the thinner tubing (I assume exiting the compressor) was not hot.  But, while I understand a lot of A/C principles, I have little practical hands-on knowledge of these systems (especially not to turn them sideways).

[sleepy hollow]

Nope, no luck.  Left it plugged in overnight and no sign of any cooling despite the very faint hum from the compressor.

[Robert Adams]

Grr that stinks. I used to run into that on Amana and Lennox scroll condensers back when I did comm refrig. The Amana units were so bad that if a house had two you knew one would be locked up and not start. They easily had a 50% failure rate right from the factory. The Lennox ones would usually start with the addition of a hard start capacitor. If they started up you would take the hardstart cap off and it was good to go. They just had an issue when new and the first start. 

            Yours sounds like the compressor is running. Leads me to thinking it lost it's refrigerant. Those little things are really quiet now and they don't move much as they are designed to run pretty much non stop but they use very little power doing it. 

        One tip when buying a chest freezer. Often the large ones use the same amount of electricity as a small one so if you are buying a small one to cut down on electricity make sure to check that out first. That said they are incredibly efficient these days.

[sleepy hollow]

Grr that stinks. I used to run into that on Amana ...

Thanks for the post.  I'm not convinced it is running.  I noticed some burn marks at the terminals of the starter relay when I disassembled it the 2nd time, so I plan to investigate further.  

I am glad to be learning more and more about these beasts, so worth tinkering.  Hate to stop without knowing hat's wrong.  Brand new unit, never been used.  A shame.

[sleepy hollow]

Ok, so spent time again yesterday trying to figure this freezer out.  

Removed and disassembled the starter relay.  No evidence of any problems.  Looks brand new.  The little disk was spotless.  

Reassembled and plugged in again.  Still getting very low hum and vibration to the touch on compressor.  This time I followed the action a bit more closely.  Here is what seems to be happening:

Compressor hums, small tube (output) gets a bit warmer to the touch.  Large tube gets a bit cooler: not much, maybe 5-10 digrees each.  But it is real.  Then the compressor turns off after 5 minutes or so.  After awhile (5-10 minutes) it turns on again and the cycle seems to repeat.  Never gets seriously hot or cold on either side.  

Is there a definitive compressor test?  As I recall I was getting like 11ohms from the bottom two pins of the three compressor connector pins: 7 ohms from left/top, and 5 ohms from top/right.  Those values seemed to be right in line with what I have seen on line except one ohm higher.    10-6-4 is what I recall seeing online.  

I can only conclude at this point that it is a compressor problem, and maybe a loss of refrigerant.

[Robert Adams]

Sounds like it's low on refrigerant. That's a pain to deal with on those also many of those freezers and mini fridges use a propane based refrigerant which makes recharging cheap but you need gauges and correct sized taps to install and then find the leak or it may just have been low to start with. Even allot of full size units are going to this refrigerant and small AC units as well. Germany and other parts of europe have been doing it for many decades. We haven't because the chemical companies have been putting out the rederick that it's dangerous.

[sleepy hollow]

This one uses 134A, prominently shown on side of compressor, but no easy way to get it in.