Hello all...

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. The heat in the house is only kept on minimally,
set to about 45-50 degrees.

There has been a lot of cold weather and wind blowing around the old
house, and the temperature at the ends of the house drops to about 36
degrees Fahrenheit. It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally. I've also heard from other people who have told me that new
refrigerators they bought stopped working temporarily when used in
cold places.

I've never seen an older refrigerator that would behave in this way--
usually they'd just keep right on working even in the bitterest of
cold environments. I'm curious to know might have changed between old
and new--surely it wouldn't be a question of the refrigerant...or
would it?

William

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:40:42 -0800 (PST), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hello all...

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. The heat in the house is only kept on minimally,
set to about 45-50 degrees.

There has been a lot of cold weather and wind blowing around the old
house, and the temperature at the ends of the house drops to about 36
degrees Fahrenheit. It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally. I've also heard from other people who have told me that new
refrigerators they bought stopped working temporarily when used in
cold places.

I've never seen an older refrigerator that would behave in this way--
usually they'd just keep right on working even in the bitterest of
cold environments. I'm curious to know might have changed between old
and new--surely it wouldn't be a question of the refrigerant...or
would it?

William
Probably not the refrigerant, but it might possibly be the compressor
oil.

PlainBill

In article
,
"William R. Walsh" wrote:

Hello all...

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. The heat in the house is only kept on minimally,
set to about 45-50 degrees.

There has been a lot of cold weather and wind blowing around the old
house, and the temperature at the ends of the house drops to about 36
degrees Fahrenheit. It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally. I've also heard from other people who have told me that new
refrigerators they bought stopped working temporarily when used in
cold places.

I've never seen an older refrigerator that would behave in this way--
usually they'd just keep right on working even in the bitterest of
cold environments. I'm curious to know might have changed between old
and new--surely it wouldn't be a question of the refrigerant...or
would it?

Could it maybe be that the fridge in question was working, just not
frequently enough to keep the freezer compartment cold enough? Many
fridges, probably all the cheaper/simpler models, only have one
thermostat and one cooling system shared by both the freezer and the
fridge compartments. The fridge I had to monkey with the most, a couple
of units ago, had as far as I could tell the thermostat in the fridge
section and the evaporator basically in the freezer compartment. The
so-called freezer control seemed to merely operate a damper that
controlled how quickly the freezer air could move into the fridge
compartment.

If your fridge was set up something like this, there might not be
sufficient heat gain in the fridge section to cause the compressor to
run very much in order to maintain the proper fridge temperature.

One other unrelated thing to check is that the defrost mechanism is
working properly. The reason I got familiar with the fridge described
above was because the defroster died (probably the timer), and the
evaporator would periodically get choked up with ice, blocking the
airflow through it and making the fridge--especially noticeable in the
freezer--ineffective. The temporary solution was to disassemble the
freezer compartment floor to get access to the evaporator and thaw it
out with heat lamps, fans, etc. The permanent solution was to complain
to my landlords, who replaced the fridge (which was getting rather old)
with a new one that worked properly.

--
Andrew Erickson

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot
lose." -- Jim Elliot

On Dec 11, 7:40*am, "William R. Walsh" wrote:

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. ... It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally.

This is normal operation for many refrigerators. The freezer
temperature
doesn't operate a separate thermostat, so the 35 degree setting of
the refrigerator thermostat determines the temperature of the
refrigerator compartment accurately, and the freezer compartment
loosely.

Only if the refrigerator has TWO thermostats and a complex controller
with valves to separate the cooler coils, will the freezer work under
cold-ambient conditions.

Please clarify: The compressor was running continuously but the food
compartments weren't getting cold and the condensor coils weren't getting
hot.

Or.

The compressor wasn't running.

It sounds like the former but not entirely clear (or I missed it).

--
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Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
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Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
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subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

writes:

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:40:42 -0800 (PST), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hello all...

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. The heat in the house is only kept on minimally,
set to about 45-50 degrees.

There has been a lot of cold weather and wind blowing around the old
house, and the temperature at the ends of the house drops to about 36
degrees Fahrenheit. It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally. I've also heard from other people who have told me that new
refrigerators they bought stopped working temporarily when used in
cold places.

I've never seen an older refrigerator that would behave in this way--
usually they'd just keep right on working even in the bitterest of
cold environments. I'm curious to know might have changed between old
and new--surely it wouldn't be a question of the refrigerant...or
would it?

William
Probably not the refrigerant, but it might possibly be the compressor
oil.

PlainBill

On Dec 11, 3:35*pm, Andrew Erickson
wrote:
In article
,
*"William R. Walsh" wrote:





Hello all...

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. The heat in the house is only kept on minimally,
set to about 45-50 degrees.

There has been a lot of cold weather and wind blowing around the old
house, and the temperature at the ends of the house drops to about 36
degrees Fahrenheit. It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally. I've also heard from other people who have told me that new
refrigerators they bought stopped working temporarily when used in
cold places.

I've never seen an older refrigerator that would behave in this way--
usually they'd just keep right on working even in the bitterest of
cold environments. I'm curious to know might have changed between old
and new--surely it wouldn't be a question of the refrigerant...or
would it?

Could it maybe be that the fridge in question was working, just not
frequently enough to keep the freezer compartment cold enough? *Many
fridges, probably all the cheaper/simpler models, only have one
thermostat and one cooling system shared by both the freezer and the
fridge compartments. *The fridge I had to monkey with the most, a couple
of units ago, had as far as I could tell the thermostat in the fridge
section and the evaporator basically in the freezer compartment. *The
so-called freezer control seemed to merely operate a damper that
controlled how quickly the freezer air could move into the fridge
compartment.

If your fridge was set up something like this, there might not be
sufficient heat gain in the fridge section to cause the compressor to
run very much in order to maintain the proper fridge temperature.

One other unrelated thing to check is that the defrost mechanism is
working properly. *The reason I got familiar with the fridge described
above was because the defroster died (probably the timer), and the
evaporator would periodically get choked up with ice, blocking the
airflow through it and making the fridge--especially noticeable in the
freezer--ineffective. *The temporary solution was to disassemble the
freezer compartment floor to get access to the evaporator and thaw it
out with heat lamps, fans, etc. *The permanent solution was to complain
to my landlords, who replaced the fridge (which was getting rather old)
with a new one that worked properly.

--
Andrew Erickson

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot
lose." *-- Jim Elliot- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I vote with Mr Erickson

I never turn on the heat in my condo -- there are better things to do with
my money -- and the temperature is currently hovering a bit above 50
degrees.

The user manual for my GE says the refrigerator's behavior might be erratic
in cold rooms, and it might not maintain the desired temperature.

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:35:06 -0500, Andrew Erickson
wrote:



Could it maybe be that the fridge in question was working, just not
frequently enough to keep the freezer compartment cold enough?

Bingo, someone knows the right answer. This is a common problem where
the freezer doesn't get enough cooling because that would over cool
the rest of the box!

Hi!

The compressor wasn't running.

The compressor was not running.

At first I thought this problem might have something to do with the
way the refrigerant would behave--if it got cold enough outside, maybe
the refrigerant couldn't do what it needed to.

However, it seems that Andrew Erickson has come up with a very good
suggestion. In this particular refrigerator, there is only one
thermostat and it is in the refrigeration area. I hadn't thought about
the possibility of the refrigeration section being kept cold enough
(by virtue of the low room temperature) that the unit would not have
to run and therefore could not keep the freezer compartment cold
enough.

William

Hi!

Could it maybe be that the fridge in question was working,
just not frequently enough to keep the freezer compartment
cold enough?

I think that's a very good suggestion, and it certainly could make
sense. This refrigerator is a "grown up" version of something like a
dorm fridge, and the only thermostat it has is in the refrigerator
portion. Cooling is accomplished by a "pad" mounted in the bottom of
the freezer with refrigerant running through it. A similar method is
employed in the refrigeration compartment, where the pad is located in
the rear of the unit.

I'm still wondering about why it is that old refrigerators will work
where new ones do not. I've seen a lot of old fridges in unheated
garages that work perfectly no matter the temperature--units made in
the late 40s all the way to the early 80s. There's not a lot of
obvious difference in the later ones compared to brand new units--both
usually have a fan and the majority of cooling functionality centered
in the freezer where a damper directs some air off to the fridge. The
actual working thermostat is in the refrigerator portion.

One other unrelated thing to check is that the defrost mechanism
is working properly.

There isn't any defroster in this particular unit. It has to be done
manually for the freezer. In the refrigeration section, the coil can
drain into a pan on top of the compressor.

I am thinking about obtaining a very low current "thermostat warmer"
device and mounting it in the fridge near the thermostat. When it's
very cold, I could energize it every so often on a timer to force the
refrigeration system to run.

William

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:40:42 -0800 (PST), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:

Hello all...

I bought a secondhand fridge (a Franklin Chef FCD401BL) a few months
ago for use in a house where I am only storing stuff. This fridge uses
R134A refrigerant. The heat in the house is only kept on minimally,
set to about 45-50 degrees.

So the fridge is not going to run much, right?

There has been a lot of cold weather and wind blowing around the old
house, and the temperature at the ends of the house drops to about 36
degrees Fahrenheit. It was around 44 in the room where the fridge is.
I dropped into check on things and that's when I noticed the fridge
(in particular the freezer compartment) was not working. I have
thermometers in both compartments, and both were at around 35 degrees.

I turned the heat up in the house and the fridge began to work
normally. I've also heard from other people who have told me that new
refrigerators they bought stopped working temporarily when used in
cold places.

All fridges have always stopped working when they reach the desired
temperature.

I've never seen an older refrigerator that would behave in this way--
usually they'd just keep right on working even in the bitterest of
cold environments. I'm curious to know might have changed between old
and new--surely it wouldn't be a question of the refrigerant...or
would it?

Did any refrigerator/freezer ever have two thermostats? The normal
design for such a device would cool off one area A no more quickly
than B, so the thermostat would be in A. I think A is always the
freezer, no matter how the controls are labeled.

Fridge/Freezers now and for the last 30 or more years have one
thermostat and one compressor. They have two controls, one that is
the thermostat, and one is just a physical control to determine how
cold the freezer is compared to the freezer. YOu probably need to
adjust this second control to make your freezer colder.

I think if you are not there much and you almost never open the doors,
defrosting is not an issue. It probably defrosts much more than it
needs to.

William