[immingct]

I picked up a used BM23 (8 years old) for $300. I let it sit for 12 hours and plugged it in, setting the thermostat on 6. The condenser kicked in and started cooling just fine. After an hour, the unit had a wonderfully nice cold temperature inside (I have yet to put a thermometer in it to read it). Then, I checked the unit a few hours later, the inside was unpleasantly warm. When I turned the thermostat back up to 1, then back to 6, the unit came back on and started cooling again.

In the morning, the unit was warm again, only the inside fan (I believe this is the evaporator fan) was running. Repeating the thermostat up/down again kicked the compressor right back on and the fridge was cold again within an hour.

So, that evening I played drink beers and watch it (unit was warm again). I let the fridge get cold on setting #5. An hour or so later I came in, compressor was off, unit still cold, but I turned it up to 6/7 and compressor kicked on, hour or so later, repeat, going up to 8/9. Later, while the compressor was still running, I set it back to 5. I started the thermo game around 6PM and last checked at 10:30 and went to bed. This morning it was warm again.

The coils are spotless.
The door seal is good.
The compressor is “warm” but nothing I would think is abnormal.
I don’t find any ice on the coils.

So, I’ve read many a posting and figured I’d add my own.

1. Could it be a faulty thermostat not letting the condenser come back on?
2. Am I freezing the unit? (How exactly does this work?)
3. Did I not let the unit set/compressor reset long enough following transport (unit was on it’s side for 30 minutes).

I wanted to use it this weekend for a party and probably still will since I have found I can manually play with the thermostat to keep it cold, but any thoughts would be much appreciated.